Originally Posted by
Cari-in-Oly
So Brother made the Pinnock machines? Or just badged some of them?
Pinnock had a purpose built sewing machine factory in Elizabeth, SA and made their own machines from the mid-50s until 1966 when they closed it. A company called CFM industries in Victoria put the name "Pinnock Craftamatic" on imported Taiwanese machines from about 1968 until the early '70s. From about 1975 Brother put the Pinnock badge on their Japanese machines. I had one of these and it was a really nice machine: It had built in stitch patterns and was quiet and smooth.
Original Pinnocks are excellent machines: I bought a mid-60s one a couple of years ago and it came with a set of cams. Only sold it on a few months back. Also had several other models, most of which were free or very cheap. The sewing machine market in the '60s slowed quite a lot, with dept stores selling cheap, mass produced clothing and wages went up at the same time, so manufacturing just stopped.
That was just the beginning: Australia doesn't really have any manufacturing left now, and all the factories are being demolished to make way for cheap, high density housing. Wages and cost of living are sky high here and nearly everyone goes for the cheapest, crappiest products available. One side effect is that if there's ever a war, there are no factories available to re-purpose to make things for the war effort, and we'll rely on China. Of course this will be a huge problem if China's not on our side!
Preaching to the converted now, I guess.