German Vintage Machines and Their Ingenious Features
 

Rain has recently started a thread about how to fix stop motion screws, and I mentioned that I particularly liked machines that didn't have them. This led on to me enthusing about German machines because they have so many ingenious features. They make Singers seem a bit pedestrian. Rain and Miriam said they were interested in hearing more, so here goes!

I know there are a few German machines lurking about on the opposite side of the Atlantic, so please feel free to post pictures here. Meanwhile I will put up pictures of my machines to show you why I find them so fascinating.

The first machine that I will show you is the Little Vesta. Photos showing the whole machine are at post 46 of the thread Vintage Sewing Machine Shop Machine Photos. The photos below show the wheel and how the shaft is driven. The main central cog links to the upper cog which drives the shaft. The smaller cog to the left drives the bobbin winder, which is pushed into place when in use so that the cog engages with the teeth on the inside of the wheel.

To disengage the shaft when winding bobbins, the metal stud (at the right of centre in the first photo) is pulled out. It is on a spring. Then it needs to be rotated 180 degrees and the tiny pin on the back of the stud keeps it in place in the out position. This is just about visible (I hope) in the second picture. By doing this a larger pin is pulled out from the hole in the large central cog (the hole is visible in the third picture), disconnecting the large cog from the wheel.

I hope you enjoy squinting at these photos. Tomorrow I will post more photos of this machine showing more fascinating features.

I should have been a sewing machine salesman in the 1920s.

I so need one of the Vesta machines! That's just way cool!

My only German made machine is the Köhler that I just got, and it's got the stop action screw/nut/knob/whatever... :)

My A.G. Mason (now known to be made by White :) ) however, has a little lever that you pull out. I don't know if you want any American machines in this thread or not.

Charlee - Congratulations on your Kohler! Tell us more, is it a transverse shuttle? Post pictures here as soon as you like. I think it will have to be German machines only here, otherwise they could end up hopelessly outnumbered by American machines. But there is a scope for a thread on interesting features on American non-Singers, surely?

Hello Caroline - German engineers are geniuses, that's the whole point. Just wait till I get onto bobbin winders...

Muv, this one is post WW2, there are a couple of "pre-pretty" photos in the Vintage Shop thread...this machine is interesting (to me, anyway) in it's likeness to a Singer!
It's much like a clone in that the bobbins, bobbin case and slide plate from my Singer 115 will fit it. It's got the front tension tho, of a 66. The feed dogs drop. It has a reverse, altho in the Singer the lever for stitch control is down for forward stitching, and up for reversed stitches. The Köhler is opposite of that...up is forward, down is reverse.

I'd love to find a manual for it... it's a model 11-30. That's in big gold lettering on the front of the machine, and reminded me of a Pfaff in the way they put the model numbers on the front pillar.

Muv, how cool! It looks like a clock with all of the gears. I really respect that German engineers of the time devised clever and original solutions rather than copying market leaders.

You mentioned the 1920s, is that the era the Vesta model shown is from?

Hello Charlee - Yes, I've found the pictures of it now, and I've been grubbing around on the net for information about Kohler. Kohler was a partner of Dietrich, but they parted company and Dietrich later used the trade name Vesta. Pre-War Kohler and Vesta machines look very similar. The best information I have found about Kohler is on the Needlebar website in the article about L. O. Dietrich, the manufacturer of Vestas. Also, if you go to Treadle Lady's Youtube channel she has a video about a post-war Kohler zigzag machine in a cabinet. The cabinet has a wooden treadle like yours. It was made for the Russian market and she has a manual in Cyrillic.

So how did machines made in Eastern Germany for the Russian and Eastern European market end up in the States? You need to interrogate the person who sold it to you. There is a Cold War tale of intrigue attached to your machine.

Oh Muv, my imagination has run wild, but alas, there is no one to ask! The machine was donated to a local thrift store.
:(

I would SO love to know the story behind this machine!

Hello Rain, Glad you liked it! Yes, this machine probably dates from the late 1920s or early 1930s, but it is hard to be precise. Vestas were made in Altenburg, way over in Eastern Germany, near Dresden. This type of machine, with the large handwheel and open gears, is known as the Saxonia, named after Saxony. It is especially interesting because it is a very antiquated design, dating back I believe to the 1870s, that just kept on going - probably because it worked so well and was pretty.

Today's pictures are of the lubrication holes. They were outlined in red, easy to spot, match the decals and save you wasting oil down holes where it doesn't need to go. The manual doesn't need to show the impossibly tiny illustrations pointing out the lubrication points with a maze of arrows, which you will see in Singer manuals.