Now that I know that chainstitchers are good for general sewing I wonder why they're not more common? They certainly look mechanically simpler and that's usually a good thing. No futzing with bobbins! It does look like they'd use half again as much thread as a lockstitch machine since the underthread is basically doubled but I don't know if that's too big a deal.
I love the casting on this one for sale on ebay but I can't bring myself to pay that price, particularly since the decals are either missing or were never there:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1872-Wilcox-...-/310418999093