Singer 16-41 Treadle

[cdthayer]

My 1917 Singer 16-41 is approaching its 100th birthday at the end of August of next year (probably made sometime during September or October), and I guess it will then officially become an “antique”.  I’m running Tex90 thread in it with a size 18 needle, and it clicks right along.  The outer foot clicks every time that it takes a stitch, and I like that.  The sound reminds me of my Singer 29s.

I had a small alterations job come in last week that it handled just fine.  I had to move the leg zippers over to snug-up the fit around the thigh in a pair of old shotgun chaps.  The small foot on the 16-41 let me stitch closer to the zipper slide than any of my other walking foot machines would have allowed.  Everything went fine except that I was reminded right away that I hadn’t gotten around to mounting a presser foot knee-lift lever on the treadle that it’s in, so I got busy this morning and mounted one on it.  I selected an old knee-lift that may be of about the same vintage as the machine, and one that I don’t see very often.  Its part number is 227781 if anyone has any information on the time period that the style may have been used.  I figured that this application was a good place to use the less-adjustable light-duty rigid style of lifter.

CD in Oklahoma

[Darren Brosowski]

I do not suggest old iron to new sewers in most cases as it takes some getting used to.

That is a beautiful machine. I have to say that I have never seen that type of knee lift and I am not even sure that it is Singer.

Does it say "Simanco"?

 

[cdthayer]

On 12/6/2016 at 1:34 AM, Darren Brosowski said:

I do not suggest old iron to new sewers in most cases as it takes some getting used to.

That is a beautiful machine. I have to say that I have never seen that type of knee lift and I am not even sure that it is Singer.

Does it say "Simanco"?

I understand why you don’t suggest old iron to new sewers much.  I don’t recall ever getting one that I could set down to and sew as-is when I first got my hands on it.  That can be a problem for new sewers, but for old iron collectors like me, it’s just part of the fun.  Getting them to actually sew well again is even more fun.  Being able to use them in my repair business is an added bonus.

Thanks for the compliment on the machine.  I bought it as-is and untested at the Wichita Falls Texas Boot Show this past October.  It came out of Colorado, but other than that, I don’t know any history about the machine.  The more that I use it though, the more likely it is that it will replace my Singer 31-15 roller foot as my go-to light stitcher.  I’m sure liking it so far.

The old knee-lift doesn’t have any text cast or stamped on it that I can find.  It only has the number 227781 cast in large numbers as shown in one of the photos.  Chances are, it’s probably not a Singer-made lift.  Singer tended to put Simanco or some other identifying text on most of their stuff, especially parts as large as a lift.  There is no number at all on the back of the knee pad, which is not like Singer at all.  The lift came to me from that online auction site several years ago, along with another “unknown brand” unusual lift and a genuine typical Singer lift that I used on another treadle stand.

CD in Oklahoma

 

[machinehead]

45 minutes ago, cdthayer said:

 

 

The old knee-lift doesn’t have any text cast or stamped on it that I can find.  It only has the number 227781 cast in large numbers as shown in one of the photos. 

CD in Oklahoma

 

227781 is a Singer part number for the Knee Lifter Rock Lever

[cdthayer]

You’re right machinehead!  Thanks!  You got me to looking through old parts books, and I finally found a reference to it in the parts manual for a Singer 72W19 hem-stitching machine.  So I guess maybe it is a Singer lift after all.  Maybe the part was made by Singer before it got into such a war with people trying to copy the Singer parts and started putting Simanco on nearly everything?

I don’t find a copyright year on the parts manual that I’m looking at, so I still don’t know when this style of lift may have been common.

CD in Oklahoma

 

[Yetibelle]

I suspect if is from the 72W19 machine that is also early 1900's.  They were unique machines. 

 

http://www.hemstitchers.com/

[cdthayer]

13 hours ago, Yetibelle said:

I suspect if is from the 72W19 machine that is also early 1900's.

I’d say that’s fairly likely.  I wonder if the lift with part number 227781 was a Wheeler and Wilson design that Singer got when it took over W&W in 1905?

CD in Oklahoma

 

[machinehead]

For a general time frame, several of the machine manuals that I see are dated from 1915 through the mid to late 1920s.

[cdthayer]

....not my favorite job, but the Singer 16-41 treadle makes replacing a front zipper in insulated overalls go as well as can be expected. (Tex90 thread top & bottom, size 18 regular point needle, #10 brass zipper.)

With manufacturer’s putting small zippers (size 7 maybe?) in new work clothes these days, I will probably get lots of practice in replacing zippers.....

CD in Oklahoma