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  1. Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines
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Rare W&W machines

 

Hi all you W&W fans;
I have been granted permission to post pictures of a couple of very rare curved needle #1 machines. These machines belong to a collector from the Netherlands named Rijnko Fekkes.
One machine is a very early one dating back to 1853 By that point in time less than 1500 machines had been built & not many of these have survived. This one was apparently exported to France as it has French markings on it.

The other one is a hand crank machine, of which only a very few are known to exist. It is a later machine & was a UK export. I think it highly likely the UK importer simply imported the machine & then had the base with crank assembly fabricated there, so would not have been made by W&W but was used originally. I have seen pictures of another which appeared near identical, so likely from the same source.

I did feel these very rare machines would be a good addition for our group & am greatly appreciative to Rijnko for permission to use them. Rijnko is a noted collector & has many fine machines. He is a member of Needlebar & ISMACS & possibly others but is not dedicated to any single brand of machine that I am aware of.

Miller/TN
 

Sorry;
Meant to add the album name is Rijnko Fekkes.
Miller/TN
 

beautiful. unique.? similar to drawing, or cuts, you call these. and the mechanism of the handcrank, very clear.? thank you both
 

Hi Miller & all,

I fully agree with you in respect to Rijnko's hand crank being fabricated in the UK and that this type is extremely rare. I have been collecting for well over 20 years and am only aware of five other hand crank machines including Rijko's.
I also have one of this type and the mechanical workings in the base are identical. I found mine in the UK many, many years ago so that would help to verify the bases and crank assembly being made there.
If you are interested I can put some pictures on the site??
Wheeler & Wilson were not alone in having this style of hand crank set up. I also have a very rare machine called 'The Royal' which is a clone of the W&W curved needle machine but was manufactured by the Royal Sewing Machine Company.?

Lee in Australia
 

Hi Lee;
Yes, by all means we would love to see pictures of your machine, do rut them in the photo album
Miller/TN


--
Miller
 

Thanks for posting these. Interesting to see machines of this age and so beautiful too.?
 

Hi Miller

Pictures of my machine are in the album 'Lee's W&W #1 Hand Crank'

Lee
 

Hi Lee;
Beautiful machine, thanks for putting up the pics for us to share. Looks as if both the silver plate & decals are in great condition. You are indeed fortunate to have found this rare machine.?

I don't recall if you have stated or not, but what time frame was this machine built. It is obviously after they began placing the brass medallion on the bed. My 1860 wide bed #1 does not have it while an 1870 narrow bed #3 does.?

Also, my 1860 machine has a wider cloth plate (as you sit in front of it, the long dimension)? than does my narrow bed #3s. I have not yet determined if this is because off the different time frame or because of the different bed style.

Miller/TN
 

Lee, your handcrank is splendid!
 

Hi Miller,

The serial number on my W&W #1 hand crank is 824890 so from my serial number listings makes it 1874
I could be wrong but I make Rijnko's machine 1875 not 1874 as mentioned, your thoughts?

I have an 1859 machine so when I get a chance (over the weekend) I will check the bed dimensions as you now have me curious about that also.
Because they do not sit next to each other I have not noticed that......interesting.

I will also add a couple of pictures to the same album of 'The Royal' machine I spoke about.

Lee
 

viavillecinque

Thank you for the compliment, that is very kind.

Lee
 

Hi Lee;

I do not know how many folks are aware of it but there are two sets of serial number charts extant for these curved needle machines. One set was worked up my Grace Rogers Cooper, former curator for The Smithsonian. She based it on licenses sold through the Sewing Machine Combination. The Combination was not formed until, as I recall 1854, so she had to do some estimating for the first years.?

The 2nd chart disagrees on how many were made in the first 2-3 years & puts everything from that point on 1 year later than did Cooper. Needlebar used this chart & may in fact have been the formulators of it. Based on the "Few" bill of sales, Warranty cards or other known purchase dates I have managed to find, I have come to accept Cooper's dates. This would put your machine as an 1873 & Rijnko's as 1874 as he stated.

My #1 is #60,422 which by Cooper's chart makes it 1860. This is the only wide bed machine I have. The cloth plate on it measures 6 3/4" x 4 3/4".?
I have an 1870 #3 in a half case treadle as well as two extra heads, also 1870. These are all narrow bed machines & their cloth plates all measure 6 3/16" x 4 3/4". What I am trying to determine is if this slightly larger cloth plate is a feature of the Wide Bed machines, or is it just a matter of the time frame in which it was built.

The bed posts to which the plate attaches by the rapped holes are the same so the plates will interchange. All of them do have the SN stamped into the tops of the posts & all match their plates so they do all have their original plates intact.

Miller/TN
 

Hi Miller,

I can't speak for W&W but do believe Coopers chart is a year late for Davis.? In the early 1870's Davis made a deal with the Combination to make 30,000 machines over 3 years. I have period newspaper articles that reports this work went on 1870, 71, 72.? Coopers charts lists these years as 1871, 72, 73.? Davis did not pay royalties before or after the contract.? If you look at 1871 as representing the complete year 1870 like taxes then Cooper would be accurate.??

Jon
 

Link to The Invention of the Sewing Machine by Cooper Ebook



Jon
 

Hi Miller

My reference to the W&W serial numbers was from the Needlebar dating book that they published in 2003, I was part of that group back then. They state the source of the serial numbers was in fact from Grace Rogers Cooper.
They may well have used the original figures and then adjusted them to suit what they believed at the time?? However I do not remember that being discussed.
You may well be correct as your serial # 60,422 is listed as 1861 in that Needlebar book. I will have to get a copy of Coopers original listings for future references.

I have done some measuring of my machines stitch plates.......however I used mm instead of the imperial measurements. I have grown up with metric so don't really understand fractions of imperial.

Serial 12445 #1 wide bed in parlor cabinet stitch plate length 171 mm so that would make it equivalent to your 6 3/4" I believe.
Serial 824890 #1 wide bed hand crank stitch plate length 160 mm
Serial blank #1 wide bed head only stitch plate length 160 mm I had to clean the plate to find the numbers but to my surprise it stated 'No' then nothing.. no numbers at all??????
Serial 174165 #1 wide bed in parlor cabinet stitch plate length 160 mm
Serial 263240 #3 narrow bed in half case treadle stitch plate length 160 mm

So from these serial numbers, body types and length of stitch plates I would say it was a time frame change and not a feature only for the wide bed machines.

Now you have highlighted the serial number discrepancies (thank you) I will have to change all of them to a year earlier.
So my 12445 is not 1859 but 1858?? correct?

Thank Miller this has been enlightening.

Lee
 

Hi Jon

Thank you for that link.

Lee
 

Lee;
Thanks for those measurements. Yes, they very closely match my measurements in the inch system so it does appear the larger plate is a time frame situation & not a factor of it being a wide bed machine. There are incidentally 25.4 mm per inch so not hard to convert. As to the one without a number if you remove the cloth plate you may find the numbers stamped on the tops of the posts which hold the plate. They will normally have two numbers per post so you have to be sure & get them in the correct order.

Jon & Lee;
I cannot guarantee the correctness or incorrectness of either of the W&W SN charts. I only know that of 2 or 3 I have found positive dates on they correspond with Cooper's dates. In this case, her dates are a year earlier the Needlebar's. When you find a bill of sales with a date the machine would not have been made the following year, which is why I have decided to go with Cooper's dates for the W&W machines. These are listed only through 1876 when the combination dissolved, so apply only to curved needle machines. Between 1856 & 1867 it is normal to find on the W&W cloth plate along with the list of 4 A B Wilson patents "Licensed under E Howes patent of Sept 10, 1846". Sometime in the 1860s, the bronze medallion was added to the bed of the machine. 1856 is the correct date for the forming of the Combination, not 1854 as I stated earlier.

I have done no research into Davis serial numbers so can make no conclusions to the accuracy, or lack thereof, on Cooper's dates for them.?

Miller/TN

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