Clones And Originals

[PineyWoodsRooter]

Has anyone written (or seen) a history of sewing machine clones and which original they belong to?

Thanks, PWR

[houndsnmules]

I believe Singer has the most copied designs

[Uwe]

I've not seen one and I'm afraid it would be like Game of Thrones with a bunch of characters claiming to be the true kings and having the place run wild with bastard children.

There are just a few seemingly clear "Luke, I am your father" examples with prominent originals like Juki TSC-441 and Durkopp Adler 205 that have sired and bunch of undisputed offspring. The Juki TSC-441 itself apparently was an answer to the Adler 205. Another popular class of machines Singer 111/Consew 225/ Juki 562/etc. and other variants, I have no clue which came first.

I read some story about a prolonged, nasty patent battle in court over who invented the "first" sewing machine. This was around the time of the American Civil War. I was convoluted and confusing, and apparently it only got worse from there.

Part of the problem is the 150ish years of history, mixed with murky international patent laws, combined with two world wars and dismantled factories and a decades-long orgy of corporate mergers and acquisitions.

It would be easier to write a definitive history of dog breeds. All we know for sure that ten thousand years ago there were only wolves. What exact lineage led to pugs? Who knows!

Edited January 6, 2016 by Uwe

[Uwe]

I believe Singer has the most copied designs

So that seemingly simple statement can be interpreted two totally opposing ways. Did Singer have originals that were copied the most BY others, or were Singer machines mostly copied FROM others? It seems that Singer has a popular reputation of being an "original." But I've also heard people comment that SInger hardly invented anything original at all, but mostly copied and borrowed from others to build their empire. I don't know which version is closer to the truth, actually.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Uwe

[houndsnmules]

I just thought of Singer 111,144,733,136,29 I believe most of them are still being made, with minor changes My statement was just a thought not fact

[TinkerTailor]

[Budd]

111/211singer--> 255/225 consew , singer 45k/17-16-->adler105 adler 48-7 / 10 sew-on sew-forth

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

I've not seen one and I'm afraid it would be like Game of Thrones with a bunch of characters claiming to be the true kings and having the place run wild with bastard children.

Game of Thrones and sewing machines both in the same sentence. Who knew? Nice example as well!

[Hockeymender]

+1

[Darren Brosowski]

This is a very, very complex subject and would take a huge amount of research. Unfortunately in many cases the information no longer exists.

A good example is the Singer 15 domestic machine where Japanese machines are usually described as a clone the 15 BUT while they are very similar on the outside to the Singer and many internal parts are the same the Japanese took the best of European designs and then added their own features to come up with machines better than what Singer ever built.

The Seiko TE is not a clone of the Singer 17 as Seiko built this for Singer in the 1960's. When Singer went belly up the only thing that changed was the badge.

There are hundreds of examples and every one is different!!!