19th century Hugo Werteim shoe patcher

[RichardPorley]

 Hi all, greetings from Brisbane, Australia, I recently acquired in very poor condition a Hugo Wertheim branded leather patcher machine, (no base just the head), apparently this were assembled in Melbourne, Australia, as you will see in the branding on the hand crank  wheel cover, it is very much alike to all the other shoe patchers of that era, the machine is very much complete except for the shuttle? and bobbin, the shuttle and bobbin must be really small as the one  on my Singer 29k71 does not fit in it, is bigger, I have not done any measurements on it yet as I am in the process of cleaning and painting it at the moment, maybe some one can point me in the right direction to source this items as I really like to make it work again,

I have over 100 photos of the disassembly and restoration process I would like to share if there is any interest let me know, here is a couple of the before ones,
       these are the photos of the add when it was for sale, a retired elderly man had it and wanted AUD$80.00, when I saw it I was not going to take it because I did not think it would be any good as all seemed to be seized up with rust, he ask me to take it and if I could get it moving I would pay him the money, worried that some thing would break I offered him $50.00 and said if it cleaned up ok I will give him the rest, the money is on it's way!!, this old machines you can not break, well, there where 3 insignificant breakages, the thread spool holder pins both on the bobbin winder as well as the machine's one, and a flat spring on the bobbin winder, every nut screw moving part and coil springs came undone without anything more than WD40 and a bit of perseverance.
Love this machine and is not even running yet!!.
thanks for looking, 
Richard.

[RockyAussie]

Now that is something different. Never seen that one before and I look forward to seeing your journey as it comes back to life again.

Brian

[RichardPorley]

Hi Brian, I have only started with this machines last year, I saw on eBay a Chinese patcher, I thought I could use it for hobby use now and again, then the wife said, that would look nice on a Singer base!!, 6 domestic Singers later and 1  29k71,  plus the Chinese patcher, and then i saw this one, I just had to have it,  as I started researching it, I could find very little reference or photos to any other ones been assembled or manufactured here, or any with the Wertheim brand other than domestic ones, from the condition that this is in I think the rest of them must have rotted away in the good old Aussie paddocks. hopefully I can get the shuttle from somewhere so i can get it stitching!! 

Thanks for your interest, I will post more photos as I resize them.

Richard

 

[Constabulary]

These "Colibri" / Patent Elastic type patcher have been sold by many Co. in Germany who often just relabeled them. You can find the same patcher with many different Mfg. names on them - just like the Chinese sewing machines nowadays. Yours (I guess) is made by CLAES, the auto bobbin winder is pretty distinguishing. If I recall correctly CLAES & FLENTJES (as a manufacturer) only had this type of bobbin winder. But I´m not 100% sure - there are just too many with sometimes just minor differences.

To get an idea check out this website - maybe you find one similar to yours:

https://schiffmann-orthopaedie.de/fussorthopaedie-beckingen-merzig-lebach/antike-schuhmacher-naehmaschinen/

 

Edited May 16, 2018 by Constabulary

[RichardPorley]

Thanks for the information Constabulary, but the link does not work for me,

do you have any idea where I may be able to get  the shuttle?

Richard.

[Constabulary]

check the link again

Reg. shuttle - check with LW member SHOEPATCHER - he has a huge collection of patcher machines.

[RichardPorley]

Thanks, will get in touch with him.

Yes the link works now, thanks, of all the ones I have seen, none have the automatic bobbin winder☺

Richard.

Edited May 16, 2018 by RichardPorley

[DominickTuroski]

Another person you may try to get in contact with is Wayne from Sew what Maryborough. He and his wife do sewing machine repair in Australia as well and may have an idea on where to source parts. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTgxgcI54ZS3g35dAPlyHgQ/featured You can email them if you go to the "About" tab and it should show the email there.

[RichardPorley]

Thanks Dominick, I will get in touch with them.

Richard.

[shoepatcher]

the handle on the balance wheel is broken off.  The stud for the handle from the balance wheel will have to be removed , made as well as the wood handle.

glenn

[RichardPorley]

Thanks Glenn, I have removed the broken stud, making the wood handle won't be a problem,

They tell me you're the man to talk to about a shuttle for this machine, any idea where to get one from? ;-)

 

[RichardPorley]

Hi all, it seems I am going to have to make a shuttle hook for this machine, I have exhausted  all my known avenues to find one, I know there are different sizes for different machines but if any one has some reference measurements of one and care to post them I very much appreciate it, the shuttle carrier pics are at the end, thanks for looking. 

 

 

First repairs to be done, Auto bobbin winder,
after cleaning some parts by sand blasting, and wire brushing as the parts in the boxes show then I used cold gun blue, I would have like to leave the bare metal look but here in Queensland the humidity is a killer and would have soon rusted again, now just a wipe with an oily rug will keep it rust free, had to make a couple of parts, new screw and discs for bobbin thread tensioner and discs for main thread tensioner as well, because they are so thin the rust weakened them, and  not to mention the one that shot across the workshop never to be seen again when I tried to buff it on the bench grinder,  and a return spring for the winder. 

More to come.
Richard.

           

Edited May 19, 2018 by RichardPorley

[Rockoboy]

That machine is a classic, and you appear to be just the right person to bring it back to life. Well done with the repairs you have already done.

As @RockyAussie said,
 

On ‎16‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 4:14 PM, RockyAussie said:

I look forward to seeing your journey as it comes back to life again.

 

[RichardPorley]

8 minutes ago, Rockoboy said:

That machine is a classic, and you appear to be just the right person to bring it back to life. Well done with the repairs you have already done.

As @RockyAussie said,
 

 

Thanks Brian, I guess my love for restoring old tools is paying off, hehe!!

Richard.

[Rockoboy]

Paying off BIG time!! and worth every cent invested IMHO.

[RichardPorley]

Today's effort,

Auto bobbin winder, there is a before image previous post,

 

the thread spool holder/pin is the original main one from the machine that broke, I machined it to fit the bobbin winder as this was a smaller diameter and shorter, so it worked out well, 

also made a tapered pin for one of the arms that had a split pin holding it together out of the broken winder pin,

Tomorrow the machine assembly begins!!

Thanks for looking,

Richard.

 

 

[shoepatcher]

I would need to have an overall dimension  of the opening in the shuttle carrier to see how big the hook could be, then we have to figure out a bobbin to fit it.  I would make a new shuttle carrier so that we can start fresh on what the hook should fit into.

glenn

[RichardPorley]

Hi Glenn, here is what I have, main body,

This bobbin is from a Chinese patcher, used it to get an idea of carrier size, that is the bobbin size,

this is a 29k71 bobbin in the carrier, that is centered with a brass rod,  smaller size

and this is the 29k71 hook, to big for that carrier,

I am getting some measurements from another machine emailed to me today, that should help.

thanks.

Richard.

[RockyAussie]

I have an old 29k-13 here which has a hole in the main body very close to the size you have shown. Your showing around 22.48 and mine is 22.8 which could be wear as it has had a lot of use. It takes a very small bobbin about 16.3mm dia. The hook number for it is 8654 which as far as I can make out is the same as a 29k51. I have attached a pdf that may be of help if you dont have it already. 29K51_53_55_56.pdf29K51_53_55_56.pdf

[RichardPorley]

Hi Brian, I check for that part 8654 on eBay and they guarantee  it will fit a 29k71 as well, if that is the case it will not fit mine, aliexpress has one for $15.00 free postage I may get one just to try and may be able to modify it, it won't mater to much is I wreck it, Haha!! thanks for the parts list, 

Got it running today

https://youtu.be/6lFju3z5XA0

Richard.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by RichardPorley
spelling

[Constabulary]

All standard 29K have the same (small) hook - the one for the 100 years old 29K3 is the same as for the 29K51 from the 1930´s and later model 29K71 and so forth - there is a larger hook too but as I said its larger and will never fit your machine. You have to look for an original hook and that pretty much is a challenge. To said it with WIZ´s words - "They are made out of unoptanium".

The rattling sound is a bit "unhealthy" but thats probbaly you have no shuttle driver installed.

[RichardPorley]

Yep, is a challenge alright! I will keep looking, but in the mean   time I will try and make one. I like the rattling, there is something appealing about it! 

"unoptanium", I like that,

Richard.

[RichardPorley]

This are the photos from the other machine that looks exactly like mine, I printed  the photo to scale and measured the parts as best I could, the bobbin is about 16.5 mm, the hook is around  the 22.something mark. 

[shoepatcher]

Now, here is the good part.  A new hook can be made on a #3-D printer.  The shoepatcher on steroids I got in Australia a couple of years ago has the very large hook.  I have talked with a 3-D manufacturer and distributor.  He feels the hook can be made out of stainless steel on a 3-D printer including the taped screw threads and a hard Rockwell !!!  Your hook can probably also be made on a 3-D printer.  The hook would have to be scanned on CAD but it would be cheaper than having to build and polish one on a mill. from scratch.  I figure about $200.00 or less to have it down but you do not have many choices like me.  Your hook is different than any that I have as to size.   

[RichardPorley]

Well it all comes down to finding the right hook for my machine, then have it 3D scanned, and then printed, like you said, my hook is different size to most of the machines I have seen  out there, so I'm going to go with making one, it seems to be my only choice at the moment, :-)

Thanks for your input much appreciated.

Richard.