Originally Posted by tortoisethreads
I don't think its a knee pedal, but I could be wrong.
Someone else has given you a good explanation about the way that foot pedal is meant to work.
Re your comment about the knee pedal ... if your machine was in a cabinet, the foot pedal would be mounted, and then there would be a knee pedal that would press on the foot pedal to make it go!
That's how I learned to sew ... and it was so hard to get used to the idea of a foot pedal!! :)