miriam

wow!!! something like that could be made in a pinch

SteveH

OK, Yeah, these are officially way too cool!!! they fit flawlessly and spin as smooth as the steel ones.
Original shown for comparison (this is Mina, the 1873 two foot New Family treadle from San Francisco)

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J Miller

That's cool.

Someone with a lathe could use some oak dowel rod and make some of those very easily. Don't know why they would, but they could.

Joe

costumegirl

Great accessory find! I can't imagine wooden bobbins! I like the boxes too! Perfect fit for your machine!!

manicmike

Is the thread cotton or silk?

Rodney

I've been thinking about how they were made. My best guess would be a turret lathe if they had them back then, if not then a regular lathe fit with a collet to hold the dowel. They would have used a very sharp scraper cut to the profile of the bobbin. The process would most likely have been at least semi-automatic. Making them by hand would have been way too inefficient. However they made them it had to be quick and cheap for them to make any money. The wood is most likely not oak. They would have used something fine grained for pieces that small.
A neat little glimpse into some of the manufacturing technology available back then.
Rodney

SteveH

Cotton. Burns like a slow fuse.... Smells like burnt cotton

manicmike

A law suit was the first hit when I looked up that company. It was by J.P. Coats, who sued because this company's cotton production technique duplicated that of Coats. Six strand IIRC, so I thought it was probably cotton.

Is it brittle? I haven't seen old cotton that's not but never if it's more than 50 years old. If it were kept well I'd be happy to be wrong particularly since you have so much of it and I'm sure they were all filled beautifully.

J Miller

Rodney,

Stupid question(s), what is a "turret lathe", and what would be wrong with oak?

I'm not familiar with lathes, the last one I used was in high school. That's been a couple years ago ... .

I only mentioned oak because the oak rod I have here is prettier than the regular dowel rod and a bit harder. Just thought it might be more durable. Probably not what the manufacturer had in mind though.

Joe

Rodney

A turret lathe can crank out small parts without the operator doing much of anything but feeding it once they're set up. They are all mechanical, CNC has taken over mostly now. It may not have been a turret lathe. I don't remember the wood working equivalent. Duplicator lathe maybe?
Oak has really coarse and open pores. Not what you want when making small items. You want something much finer so it maintains it's shape and strength even at small diameters.
Rodney
Rodney