SteveH

here is a rough estimate of age based on serial numbers
http://www.sewingdownmemorylane.com/...erorJones.aspx

manicmike

I bow to the superior Google-fu master. Very useful and now bookmarked thanks Steve.

Cari-in-Oly

Mike, why do you say that?

Cari

manicmike

I don't share your enthusiasm for Brothers Cari. Nearly all the stories I've heard have been very negative. My sister bought one 20 years ago and it never worked very well. A few people I know have had modern ones and the experience has been so horrible they've been put off sewing. The lady I sold my 830 Bernina to had been given a new Brother as a wedding present: She said she'd have been put off sewing forever if she hadn't been given the opportunity to use her aunt's Bernina.

I read (probably here) that even the late '50s galaxy models had plastic gears and didn't work well. Until I read that I was very keen on getting one (was blinded by the chrome).
Of course many of the Japanese clones were made by them, and they're usually good machines.

Cari-in-Oly

My enthusiasm does not reach to the modern ones(except high end ones I'll never be able to afford), I know some of them are beyond bad. Yes, the plastic gears came into play in the later part of the 60s, not the 50s. the machines still worked well until that top gear started to fail, but hey, once I hit 40 parts of me weren't so great any more either. Find one from the 50s, down there I know of a couple Brother badges. Empisal(some were Brother, some were Maruzen/Jaguar), St. James and LeMair are ones I've seen but I don't know when they were made. I have an internet friend in New Zealand who's even had a couple 50s Brothers shipped over to him from here, he likes them that much.

Cari

manicmike

In Australia (and probably NZ) Lemair and Empisal go for almost nothing (I picked up two from the side of the road). Your friend could have had loads of them (more) locally. They also sold machines under the Pinnock name until about 1984. Importing a 110V one when they're so plentiful under other names sounds crazy.
The machine I have in the lounge room is 123 years old and still sews like new. This is why a lot of us are enthusiastic about the older models. Up to the last of the 201s, these machines don't show (m)any signs of age or wear. My latest machine is 126 years old and I expect it to also sew like it were new

wilburness

teacherbaily, did you ever get this machine? do you have a picture of it? I am courious ehat they look like.

Cari-in-Oly

So Brother made the Pinnock machines? Or just badged some of them? I've seen a couple and wondered. The machines my friend had shipped to him weren't ones that were sold there, in fact one is a rare model that was only built for 2 years, he saw a pic of mine and had to have one.
Eventually I'll get my treadle machine over here. Don't know what kind it is or how old it is. It's buried under boxes at my Aunts' house. Can't get close enough to tell anything about it.

Cari

manicmike

Pinnock had a purpose built sewing machine factory in Elizabeth, SA and made their own machines from the mid-50s until 1966 when they closed it. A company called CFM industries in Victoria put the name "Pinnock Craftamatic" on imported Taiwanese machines from about 1968 until the early '70s. From about 1975 Brother put the Pinnock badge on their Japanese machines. I had one of these and it was a really nice machine: It had built in stitch patterns and was quiet and smooth.

Original Pinnocks are excellent machines: I bought a mid-60s one a couple of years ago and it came with a set of cams. Only sold it on a few months back. Also had several other models, most of which were free or very cheap. The sewing machine market in the '60s slowed quite a lot, with dept stores selling cheap, mass produced clothing and wages went up at the same time, so manufacturing just stopped.
That was just the beginning: Australia doesn't really have any manufacturing left now, and all the factories are being demolished to make way for cheap, high density housing. Wages and cost of living are sky high here and nearly everyone goes for the cheapest, crappiest products available. One side effect is that if there's ever a war, there are no factories available to re-purpose to make things for the war effort, and we'll rely on China. Of course this will be a huge problem if China's not on our side!
Preaching to the converted now, I guess.

Cari-in-Oly

Thanks Mike, that's exactly the kind of info I love to find. I've saved it to my computer, now if I can find it again I'm good!

Cari