----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Fox <pgf@...>
To: Wheeler and Wilson-Sewing-Machines <[email protected]>
Sent: Sun, 24 Apr 2022 14:09:29 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: [Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines] Reversing the bobbin winder on a #9

My #9 (1889 or so) came to me with a treadle from which the pedal, the
pitman, and the band wheel had all been removed. I used to wonder why,
until I noticed the three clearly non-factory holes in the pillar,
which were almost certainly added to mount a motor. When they added
the motor, they likely stripped the irons at the same time. I guess
that made sense, to a modern sewist in the 1920s or 30s.

More recently I got a new treadle. (This is the one I asked about the
other day, missing the drop leaf support arm.) It came with another
#9, and when I installed mine in the treadle, I noticed a significant
difference: the bobbin winder wheel on my original head sat to the
left of the pivot arm, had a tire on it, and rode somewhat off-center
on the hand wheel. The wheel on my "new" machine has no tire, sits
to the right of the pivot arm, and, probably like all of your #9
machines, the wheel rides on the belt.

My conclusion was that when they electrified, they also reversed
the bobbin winder in the arm, since there was no longer a belt to
drive it. Flipping it side to side let them drive it from the wheel.
You can see the two bobbin winders in the first attached picture.

I wanted to flip it back, but it's not at all obvious how one removes
the bobbin winder from its pivoting arm, and it was a little scary
finding out. I tried unscrewing it, by clamping the spindle in the
jaws of my drill press, but that got me nowhere. So I decided it must
be pressed on. I had a spare I could use from the "new" machine,
so I resorted to a hammer. :-)

I balanced the wheel on top of the (loose) jaws of my vise, with the
spindle hanging down, and used a nail punch and a small hammer to hit
the end of the axle. A few taps and I felt it give. It took me more
time to find the axle after it fell on the cellar floor than it did to
get it out. I cleaned all the pieces (for the first time in many many
decades, I'm sure), flipped it around, set the wheel on a
block of wood with a small clearance hole for the axle to come
through a bit, and tapped it in the other way.

So. If your bobbin winder points the wrong way, don't replace it. Just
hit it with a hammer. (Carefully. :-)

(Many Singer bobbin winders have similar construction. I'll certainly try
this trick next time I need to clean one up.)

paul
=----------------------
paul fox, pgf@... (arlington, ma)


Attachments:
ww9_winder_01.jpg: /g/Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines/attachment/4111/0
ww9_winder_04.jpg: /g/Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines/attachment/4111/1

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Roxy via groups.io
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 6:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines] Treadle drop leaf question

?

Mine slides in more than an inch.? Looks to be the same type of bar as on Enid's cabinet.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Fox <pgf@...>
To: Wheeler and Wilson-Sewing-Machines <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, 22 Apr 2022 16:07:04 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: [Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines] Treadle drop leaf question

I recently got a Wheeler & Wilson treadle table with a drop leaf on
the left end. It looks as if the support for the leaf should be a bar
of some sort that slides out from a gap above the drawers just under
the tabletop. When retracted, it may have extended all the way into
the little cubby beside the bobbin area.

Can anyone tell me what that support should look like, or be made of?
Dimensions?

From the opening that it retracted into, it looks like it had just a
rectangular cross-section, perhaps 1" x 1/2" (from memory), lying on
its side. Which makes me think it might not have been wood, but
perhaps steel.

paul
=----------------------
paul fox, pgf@... (arlington, ma)