BTW - New Home become affilated with Free around 1930, and the they moved production to Rockford Ill, so maybe the R denotes that it was made in there and not in MA. Not long after the move, the name "New Home" ended up being just a name on Free machines, and this style disappeared.
It is likely that Free was using up already manufactured parts - and that would make since with going to the standard size base and then this style goiing away all together. Just speculation on my part, but it's a rather common practice when one company takes over the assets of another.
I'll also add that the base on my 3/4 size machine is also different than the earlier smaller New Homes (and they all look tiny compared to the Singers).
Last edited by Macybaby; 02-02-2014 at 05:43 AM.