Posted 15 days ago
thenance
(3 items)
I think this is from the mid 1930's (ish). The base and case were in distressed condition when I aquired it, but a bit of woodworking and finishing brought its beauty back. the wood case spent a few months in the chest freezer to rid it of weevils.
This lovely machine sews "like buttah".
Many of this type are considered Singer 'clones' and all of the various Singer, Griest, etc. feet and attachments fit it perfectly.
Hi, thenance. Cool. :-)
For some reason, your pictures are on the small side. Not quite thumbnail small, but smallish, and downloading one to enlarge it didn't help.
Anyway: a vibrating shuttle with a trapezoidal inspection plate (this is definitely reminiscent of the Singer 27/28/127/127 family of vibrating shuttles), a forward-facing upper tension mechanism, a stitch-length mechanism on the pillar, and two spool pins.
Dunno what that slanted piece of nickel-plated metal is to the left of the stitch-length mechanism is.
Also dunno if you've seen these resources:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/other_manufacturers/antiques/makers/harris/
https://www.fiddlebase.com/british-machines/w-j-harris-c0/
I took a quick look around, and didn't find any free downloadable user manuals for it, but perhaps you already have a copy.
Whoops, found another on Worthpoint:
*snip*
Available for your consideration is a Harris No. 9 hand crank sewing machine. It has a serial number of 1719167. W.J. Harris was a distributor of sewing machines based in London, England. According to my research, Harris bought sewing machines from German and American companies which would put the Harris name on them. Because of war with Germany, many British people would not buy German made items so Harris turned to American made machines. This was made, according to research, by the German manufacturer Stoewer in the early 1900s.
*snip*
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-harris-hand-crank-sewing-1828448496
So possibly yours is also a badged Stoewer.
Hey again, thenance. :-)
Your post caught me at the end of my 'interactive' day yesterday, so I was a bit scattered.
Some Stoewer history:
http://stoewer-museum.de/stoewer/bernhstoewere.htm
Here is another Stoewer that looks a lot like yours:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/stoewer-sewing-machine-8069007
I see now that that slanted piece of nickel-plated metal to the left of the stitch-length mechanism looks like it's part of the bobbin winder.
I don't know if your post here is just a "Look at this cool thing I have;" however, if you need any help with your VSM, it's probably best to ask over on the Victorian Sweatshop forum, because there are some members there who have extensive knowledge of German sewing machines.
I found a manual for a Stower vibrating shuttle that looks quite like yours (it has that nickel-plated bar next to the stitch-length mechanism on the pillar). The manual is in German, but at least it's not in Fraktur font, and deep.com can help with translation:
Thanks to Olaf of the victoriansweatshop forum for the soft copy!:
https://w123.no/Stoewer-VS-manual.pdf
Oh, and thanks to the last two pages of that manual, I think I've found that slanted, nickel-plated piece next to the stitch-length manual.
I think it's part number 382, the "spulbügel," which if you seed deepl.com with the German word for sewing machine (Nähmaschine), it translates it as "Sewing machine bobbin winder."