My Amish Buddies Sewing Machine

[Itch]

I do a lot of business with the Amish and as they do not have electricity they manage to get by pretty well.Here is a picture of one of his sewing machines with peddles and a 3 speed manual car transmission to drive the head..They make a lot of harness,belts,and saddles..

[mogwild]

What is the saying...

Necessity, who is the mother of invention.

[KAYAK45]

Just proves there is more than one way, to sew a cat.

[Techsew Ron]

can't think of a clever quote...but the Amish sure are creative people!

Ron

[cdthayer]

.... Amish....sewing machine with peddles and a 3 speed manual car transmission to drive the head.

I really like that setup! The peddles should give absolute control of the stitches, without the “run backwards” problem that can occur with a treadle. Tell him I’m impressed and really enjoy seeing his ingenuity. Thanks.

CD in Oklahoma

[leatherkind]

So, you can not use electricity but you can use a machine that was made with it.... hmmmm.

[Happy Hooligan]

they can also ride in cars and talk on phones!

It's not a fear of electricity or what's it's made but living a simple life. They don't use zippers either.

I grew up as an "english" kid in an amish community. I visited a few harness shops as a kid and loved it. The ones I visited used mostly older machinery and I know they ran on a leather belt system, like they use too before... electricity.

[TwinOaks]

I can't help but wonder how often the phrase "Get your stitcher in high gear" is used.....

[Ferg]

We buy finished logs and finished timber from an amish gentleman in Ohio. His shop runs on belts connected to a long shaft in the floor that has a V-8 Ford truck motor at the end.

I love the Amish folks and have never had a bad experience dealing with them.

BTW: The telephones are usually located off their property for the businesses and they ride in small buses that mostly German Baptist folks drive.

They have had to change their ways a little along the way to be able to survive. Fewer of them are farmers these days but most are very astute business people and I absolutely love their food.

Excellent craftsmen.

ferg

I can't help but wonder how often the phrase "Get your stitcher in high gear" is used.....

[leatherkind]

Simplicity of life is in the eye of the beholder.

I bet someone came up with a sewing machine to do just that - to make life simpler.

Maybe someone made electric motor for the same purpose?

Why in pursuit of simple life use one and not another?

seems complicated

[Sylvia]

I love to see ingenuity like this. I wonder how a set of bicycle gears would work? Instead of 3 gears, one could get 15 speeds... Hmmmmmm.... wish I could weld.

[Happy Hooligan]

I saw this old drawing of a Singer and thought of the original post...

[SooperJake]

He needs to upgrade to a Muncie M-22 Rock Crusher tranny..paint some flames on that bad boy...

Jake

[dirtclod]

Do you have a picture of how the transmisson ties into the pullies ? Neat ideal !!

[Dirck]

I use a standard Singer treadle for my patch and have tried it on a GA5. Haven't gotten the pulley's right for the GA5. I normally hand crank.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/05/history-of-pedal-powered-machines.html#more I love low-tech....

I'm not all low-tech. I have a 111...with a ....motor.

[Itch]

Do you have a picture of how the transmisson ties into the pullies ? Neat ideal !!

No I dont but next time I am over there I will try and get a better look.

[dirtclod]

Thanks !

[TexasJack]

When I was in high school I worked for a furniture store. The owner had an old sewing machine he used for putting edging on pieces of carpeting. It was originally designed to be pedal operated and had a heavy flywheel, but an electric motor had been added. Being kids we played with it a bit and found that it sewed just fine without the motor - it would get pretty tiring if you did a bunch of rugs.