SD,
The term "clone" as used here refers to the Japanese, and sometimes Chinese and Indian made copies of the Singer Model 15 machines. After WWII Singer's patents on the model 15 had expired and when our government relaxed tariff laws so our former enemies could rebuild there economies at our expense, the Japanese used the Singer 15 as a pattern and went on to embellish it. Many of them were made in colors whereas Singer only made the original style of 15s in black. Other minor changes such as the bed mounted knob to lower the feed dogs were incorporated.
Some machines are not exact duplicates of the Singer 15 but share enough characteristics to be considered clones.
What makes one clone better than the other is up to conjecture. I have a bunch of them and they are all good.
They Japanese made them by the millions for anybody and everybody.
If you look at my avatar pic, that is a JUKI made, HOTHER badged 15 clone. It is one of the best. It's been in my family for as long as I can remember and I'm 61. It was my mom's machine for many many years.
Machines like some of the Free Westinghouse and others that have the top tension on the left face plate and the stitch length lever on the front of the pillar are sometimes mistakenly called clones. They are not as they were of different designs and were contemporaries of the Singer model 15s. At the time they were made Singer still owned the patents on the 15 and would have sued their pants off had they made them like the Japanese did after WW II.
I hope this helps a bit.
Joe
Last edited by J Miller; 04-30-2014 at 07:44 PM.