Anyone know how to thread this machine?
 

This is a Wanzer Handcrank. I have ZERO information on it but it does work. I put a boye 15x1 needle in it. The shuttle was already threaded so I didn't change it, but if its not right I wouldn't know.

If anyone knows anything about these please let me know, because I sure dont.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393102[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393103[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393104[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393105[/ATTACH]

A few more pics of the machine...and if anyone knows where I can find a top for this I'd love that too! She needs a cover.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393106[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393107[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393108[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393109[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]393112[/ATTACH]

That last photo is the underside of the slide plate. Both have that same stamp which is also the last 3 of the serial number so I guess that means both plates are original to this machine?

doing research now...

found these for now, good reading.

http://needlebar.org/main~nb/manuals/wanzer/index.html

http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/wanzer%20sewing%20machine.htm

http://www.sewalot.com/wanzer.htm

Pretty machine, I'd try threading like a Singer 27 / 28. Wanzer was a Canadian outfit, this is made by Muller, German. Have fun.

Jon

Hello Jennb,

Lovely machine!

Absolutely no problem with the top thread - exactly the same as the Singer long bobbin machine I show on my Youtube video - go to my channel through the link below. Also, the shuttle will be loaded into the bobbin the same way as a Singer - watch my video on how to wind a Singer long bobbin.

The only thing that is different is the bobbin winder itself. I have been meaning to do blog posts about German bobbin winders for ages. Look at my blog over the next few days and I will show you exactly what to do.

Look at my blog under the headings at the side for long bobbin machines, vibrating shuttles and shuttles.

Also it is important to lubricate the oil well for the shuttle race. I can do a post about that tomorrow.

In fact, thank you for planning my next few blog posts!

You could have that machine up and running by the end of the week!

Good luck - let me know how you get on!

oh its ready to go if I can just get it threaded. Its oiled and turning like a champ. I'll go check out your videos later this evening. I'm hoping I can take it threaded with me tomorrow so the ladies at the bee can have a go at it if they like.

Thanks Muv!

You are so lucky, that machine is in such wonderful shape and I can't believe that the decals are still so intact and vibrant. When you get her going, she will sing.

Jenn, beautiful machine! It is easy to thread! You will figure it out with all the information already given you!

Nancy

Hello Jennb,

I've done a blog post about oiling the shuttle race. Your felt is there - if it absorbent stick some oil on it.

I have done photos today of the method for winding bobbins and will do tomorrow's blog post about that.

You might need a few days' practice before you take it to show your friends, and I suggest you cut a short piece of pipe lagging or protect the handle in some other way when you are transporting it. German machines came with beautiful porcelain handles - hardly surprising when many of their machines were made in or near Dresden - and if you crack or chip it you will be hard put to find a replacement.

I'm puzzled by it being marked Wanzer, if they were Canadian manufacturers that went out of business in 1892. This is a vibrating shuttle machine, and in 1892 Singer still had the patent for them. They took out the patent in 1886. Perhaps the name Wanzer carried on here as an import agency for German machines for sale in England, or perhaps it is a coincidence that agents in London for Muller machines had the same name. It would be interesting to find out.

Hello Jennb,

I have done a long blog post today showing a similar bobbin winder - not exactly the same as yours, but it should help you work out how to wind bobbins.

Jennb,

I have just been looking at your machine and noticed the tiny tension discs above the bobbin winder. Try taking the thread to the top left, back to the right and between the tension discs, and then through the top of the upright of the bobbin winder. That's my best guess, without having the actual machine in front of me.

In reading about Wanzer, he basically stole the patents held by Singer and because he was outside the USA he had some measure of immunity. He was a cunning little guy. A bit of a weasel it seems.

What confuses me, though, is that I can't find any "model" for this machine. None of the photos I can find show this. They almost all show models that resemble Willcox & Gibbs machines. I wish I could date this machine. My best guess is that it is one of the last models made by Wanzer, though the London stamp on the slide plates and Dresden on the front metal cover, Wanzer being a Canadian company, and Muller on the brass plate makes this one a bit of a mystery.

Hello Jennb,

Essentially this is not a Wanzer (ie Canadian) machine, it is a Clemens Muller (ie German) machine, a vibrating shuttle, sold through Wanzer and Co of London. Whether they were anything to do with the Canadian Wanzers (which I think unlikely, because they ceased trading in 1892) or a firm of importers that kept the Wanzer name after the Canadian company went out of business, or was run by someone with the same surname, I do not know. There were lots of companies in London importing German machines prior to 1914.

Alex Askaroff of the Sewalot website is well up on Wanzer and on London importers of German machines. Why not email him?

There are plenty of photos of Muller vibrating shuttles just like this on the Needlebar website.

This thread is like a history lesson for me! And I love it! All the old machines have such a history and life to them.