Originally Posted by BoJangles
Ok all, I got that Hitachi I have been talking about for the last couple weeks. It is a Hitachi, not a Necchi - I have no doubt about that. It has Hitachi written in long hand, embedded, or welded, or however they did it on the actual underneath part of the bed. It also has Hitachi written in metal on both ends of the treadle and in the middle of the treadle. There are needles and bobbins that came with the machine that have a price tag written in Chinese (I think, it is Chinese) in the drawer. The thing weighs a ton. Has a reverse bar. It also has a knee lifter for the foot. Here are some pictures.
Billy, Charlee, Miz Johnny, what do I have? I can't find anything on the inernet about a Hitachi Treadle anywhere! I know it must be an industrial machine. It has a full 9" harp space. The face is solid iron and heavy - almost dropped it when I took it off to oil the machine!
Nancy,
Those characters are Japanese and not Chinese since Hitachi is a Japanese Company. I'm beginning to believe that someone of Japanese descent had that machine shipped over to use here after they moved here. They may have started some business and just preferred using that machine over an industrial Singer or whatever was the popular machine of that time. This could be just one reason for why it is difficult to find info on this type of machine and why we don't see many now since few made it to the States. But then I could be all wrong with this. Were you able to get any history on the machine? Looks industrial! I would love to see this machine.
Congrats!