Not many people are posting as much lately, so I hope to start a conversation or two. I wanted to throw a thought out for debate/second opinion about the Singer9w7 bobbin and why singer switched to it circa 1910. First off, we know that the first things to come to mind are as follows;
1-Size; The 9w7 bobbin is larger then the D9 bobbin, and thus has a greater cotton capacity.
2-Nostalgia; The W&W bobbins were very different from any other Singer bobbin. The 9w7 bobbin falls in line with other Singer family bobbins like the 66 class bobbin.
3-Cheaper; W&W SM were a luxury compared to Singers, which were more of an economy model sewing machine. The same can be said for the bobbins, the 9w7 bobbin was? simpler to mfg.
Yesterday I came up with another theory. I was browsing the Singer catalogues available in the link section. In the catalogue, the 9w7 is described as follows;
"Especially recommended for Dressmaking on account of the minimum of noise, facility with which the bobbin can be removed, the large cotton capacity, etc."
In addition, page 2 shows diagrams of Oscillating shuttle and vibrating shuttle, stating that the oscillating system is "the dressmakers machine", while the vibrating system was labeled "for the home". Implying Singer divided their Home machines into two categories. By 1913, the catalogue does not mention the 9w7 at all, and replaced the Singer 15/115 model(s) for their dressmaking choice. The 15 and 115 used a 66 style bobbin with holes drilled in it and flat sides similar to the 9w7 bobbin.
So for dressmaker designated machines, Singer provided flat sided bobbins with multiple holes located on the side. Two reasons why are; The holes allow the thread color, and capacity to be viewed while in the bobbin case, and the large holes are located midway in the bobbin, making it possible for users to wind multiple times on one bobbin, without removing all of the previous thread(I tested this today on my 9w7 and it works perfectly and evenly-Something 66 bobbins cannot claim, with a thread hole located next to/against the core).
If you read all of this you might be able to tell I have far too much time on my hands lately. If you have any opinions or ideas I would love to hear them. If you own both a Singer 9w7 and a 66 class/d9 try determining the color/capacity without removing the bobbin from its case. Try winding multiple times on 9w7 and 66/d9 bobbins and tell me the difference. I would love to hear other peoples experiences.
Sincerely~
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Anthony from N. California
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