Originally Posted by
ArchaicArcane
See that's the problem, I have probably over 100 manuals up there, and to research each one of them would take days.
I suspect that DB and Google would just delete before checking too.
You're right, it is a tedious process. There is one exception, and that is if the copyright date is between 1950 and 1963. For those 13 years you can use the US Copyright Office 1978-present database which searches all years. However, there may be something wrong with that database. When I search "Singer Sewing" I get only a handful of results.
Originally Posted by
ArchaicArcane
Which book did you post from? I have a number of them here, but I'd be interested in knowing what was deleted, especially if I haven't seen it.
I have various parts charts here that may or may not be public domain, I know that they say on them that they're or Singer employees only, etc.
I mis-spoke, it's not really a parts list but a chart of feet/attachments with part numbers, geared towards the consumer. You've probably seen it -- it's "Machine Sewing [something, something]", copyright 1948. It's Singer's form # 1876, published multiple times from the teens through the 60s, with slightly different titles. The latest version I have is the "Teacher's Textbook of Machine Sewing" (softcover), copyright 1960. The parts chart in 1948 and 1960 are virtually identical. I've checked a bunch of years and couldn't find any renewals. The 1960 book has all new illustrations (compared to the prior years) and it was not renewed. I suspect that Singer did not renew the copyrights because they were superseded with new copyrights, and in 1988 they considered the 1960 book to be so out-of-date that they did not bother. But I'm just guessing.