Vintage Japanese 'Badged' Zig Zag and Straight Sew Sewing Machines
06-30-2015, 09:41 AM
#271
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 4
Elite zz
Originally Posted by greywuuf
I forgot to mention it is a very solid and appealing looking machine... to bad about the "pin rash" type damage on the pillar, she appears almost pristine other than that.
06-30-2015, 09:44 AM
#272
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by Rodney
Welcome. Neat looking machine. What's behind the bulge in the nose?
Sanshin would be the manufacturer. Japanese companies would put any brand the buyer wanted on their machines as long as they bought enough of them. That or leave the brand off and the buyer would put their own brand on. It could go either way. It's common to find several different brands on what is basically the same machine. The belt might be a replacement. I want to say Alphasew is still around. It's also possible the belt is original. Either way I wouldn't go by what it says for machine ID purposes. I think I read that there used to be a high tax on importing motors here, also not every country uses 120VAC as the standard voltage. Sewing machine companies would ship the machines without motors and install them where the machine was to be sold.
Japanese companies made a lot of Singer 15 clones. A lot of Japanese machines are descended from those Singer 15 copies. Your machine uses basically the same bobbin/hook assembly as a Singer 15 but the rest has been changed.
Rodney
Sanshin would be the manufacturer. Japanese companies would put any brand the buyer wanted on their machines as long as they bought enough of them. That or leave the brand off and the buyer would put their own brand on. It could go either way. It's common to find several different brands on what is basically the same machine. The belt might be a replacement. I want to say Alphasew is still around. It's also possible the belt is original. Either way I wouldn't go by what it says for machine ID purposes. I think I read that there used to be a high tax on importing motors here, also not every country uses 120VAC as the standard voltage. Sewing machine companies would ship the machines without motors and install them where the machine was to be sold.
Japanese companies made a lot of Singer 15 clones. A lot of Japanese machines are descended from those Singer 15 copies. Your machine uses basically the same bobbin/hook assembly as a Singer 15 but the rest has been changed.
Rodney
06-30-2015, 09:47 AM
#273
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by surelyujest71
(in response to a post from a yr ago - then I discovered other's had already posted much of what I had to say here. Ah, well.)
I know that machine! My own vintage machine is a SewMor 900 Zig Zag. Every detail is exactly the same, aside from the badge on the front. I picked mine up at Goodwill a couple years back for $10. I only just started using it, though! I had the hardest time getting my mom to teach me anything about it - she always had other things she wanted to do while visiting. So, I've oiled it, and found out what I could about it. For this machine, parts were apparently sourced from multiple countries in Asia, but the motor itself was from Belgium. And.... that's all I could find out. That, and the original sewing machine manual for the machine! So if you haven't found the correct manual for yours yet, I'll gladly email copies of it out. For comparison's sake, I'm including a photo of my machine. I had to replace the belts - the drive belt worked, but was showing it's age, but the bobbin winder tire was just missing. Good thing this machine takes the standard "singer" belts. She runs beautifully, and quietly, too. Forgive the surrounding mess - I've got her set up on the dining table, for the moment.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]523571[/ATTACH]
I know that machine! My own vintage machine is a SewMor 900 Zig Zag. Every detail is exactly the same, aside from the badge on the front. I picked mine up at Goodwill a couple years back for $10. I only just started using it, though! I had the hardest time getting my mom to teach me anything about it - she always had other things she wanted to do while visiting. So, I've oiled it, and found out what I could about it. For this machine, parts were apparently sourced from multiple countries in Asia, but the motor itself was from Belgium. And.... that's all I could find out. That, and the original sewing machine manual for the machine! So if you haven't found the correct manual for yours yet, I'll gladly email copies of it out. For comparison's sake, I'm including a photo of my machine. I had to replace the belts - the drive belt worked, but was showing it's age, but the bobbin winder tire was just missing. Good thing this machine takes the standard "singer" belts. She runs beautifully, and quietly, too. Forgive the surrounding mess - I've got her set up on the dining table, for the moment.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]523571[/ATTACH]
06-30-2015, 09:53 AM
#274
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Victorian Sweatshop Forum
Posts: 4,096
Originally Posted by Midgetty
Aside from the pin rash, it looks like it's never been used! I've gone through it, and there's no old thread, or fabric junk anywhere.
Cari
08-02-2015, 04:02 AM
#275
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 4,249
J-A 5 & J-C 16 Model 1620 B.I.C.
This machine currently isn't in working condition and doesn't have a "badge" on the arm .. so hopefully okay to post here. It had a Brother motor on it, but that is currently on a Singer 319W. The switch for the light is broken off and the thread tension is a kludged assembly which is not connected in any way to the presser foot lifter.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]526667[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526668[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526669[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526670[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526671[/ATTACH]
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]526667[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526668[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526669[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526670[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]526671[/ATTACH]
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
08-02-2015, 06:58 AM
#276
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Centralia, WA, USA
Posts: 4,890
Neat machine! Great colors and nice details like the rocker "switch" to control the feed dog height. I know I've seen those Vs on the knobs elsewhere. The Brother I'm messing with right now has a movable spool pin holder too but it's a little different than yours.
Rodney
Rodney
08-02-2015, 10:03 AM
#277
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Victorian Sweatshop Forum
Posts: 4,096
Janey that is a Brother built machine. It was probably badged with another name. It looks exactly like a Home Mark machine that recently sold on Ebay for an obscene amount of money. The spool pin design is common for machines that are twin needle capable and came with a pack of twin needles. It's a later 1950's machine. A replacement tension and light switch shouldn't be too hard to find. Unless it's been dropped in a previous life it should be a good machine.
Cari
Cari
08-03-2015, 06:12 AM
#278
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Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 4,249
Thank you, Cari. I don't know if we will actually get this one back operational. We kind of figured the light switch shouldn't be too hard to fix/replace. I had wondered about the thread tension assembly. Would any Brother tension work? After looking again to take the picture of the tension that is on there, I did NOT see any parts that would connect to release the tension when the presser foot was raised. I guess one could just remember to set tension to -0- when lifting presser foot -- kind of like the tension releaser on the early Singer 27's. I haven't ever taken anything OUT or OFF of the inside nose area.
Do you have any theories about J-A & J-C designations.... Some seem to be engraved or embossed in the base, some are on the Serial Number plate and others seem to be "printed" somewhere else. I'm wondering if one is for the manufacturer and then the other is for who the manufacture is making them for.
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Do you have any theories about J-A & J-C designations.... Some seem to be engraved or embossed in the base, some are on the Serial Number plate and others seem to be "printed" somewhere else. I'm wondering if one is for the manufacturer and then the other is for who the manufacture is making them for.
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Last edited by OurWorkbench; 08-03-2015 at 06:19 AM.
08-03-2015, 12:05 PM
#279
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Victorian Sweatshop Forum
Posts: 4,096
Here's a machine being parted out-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-brot...item232db4087b
The tension assembly isn't an exact match to what was originally on your machine but it should work. There isn't a connection, per se, between the presser foot lifter and the upper tension assembly. The "hump" on the part of the lifter that's inside the machine pushes against a pin that runs through the center of the tension assembly when the lever is lifted. That pin releases the tension discs. What's on the machine now has a bolt running through it instead.
I don't have any idea about the numbers, letters or symbols cast into machines. Certain ones are known to be from a particular manufacturer, others are just guesses. We really have no way to search out the facts when it comes to Japanese machines. The best we can do is compare known machines to try to figure out the unknown ones.
For the Penncrest machine, I knew by looking at it that it wasn't a Brother machine, and of all the badges I know Brother used(I certainly don't know them all but I know more than 20) I know Penncrest wasn't one of them.
Cari
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-brot...item232db4087b
The tension assembly isn't an exact match to what was originally on your machine but it should work. There isn't a connection, per se, between the presser foot lifter and the upper tension assembly. The "hump" on the part of the lifter that's inside the machine pushes against a pin that runs through the center of the tension assembly when the lever is lifted. That pin releases the tension discs. What's on the machine now has a bolt running through it instead.
I don't have any idea about the numbers, letters or symbols cast into machines. Certain ones are known to be from a particular manufacturer, others are just guesses. We really have no way to search out the facts when it comes to Japanese machines. The best we can do is compare known machines to try to figure out the unknown ones.
For the Penncrest machine, I knew by looking at it that it wasn't a Brother machine, and of all the badges I know Brother used(I certainly don't know them all but I know more than 20) I know Penncrest wasn't one of them.
Cari
08-11-2015, 10:32 AM
#280
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Ponchatoula,La.
Posts: 294
McKee's - Dressmaker Standard
Hello all,
Here's another badged Japanese from the fifties'. It has a 1.5 amp made in USA motor. It sews a good stitch.
It weighs 34 lbs. And it has an all steel/bronze drive train.
Soman2
T O Rodney
Here's another badged Japanese from the fifties'. It has a 1.5 amp made in USA motor. It sews a good stitch.
It weighs 34 lbs. And it has an all steel/bronze drive train.Soman2
T O Rodney
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