As to older machines - before the advent of Japanese made machines after WW2 - most US manufactures used different needles in their machines. In the earlier 1900's, BOYE sold 15 different styles of needles, and they were not interchangeable between machines of different Mfg. Over time, because of the popularity of Singer, a few other companies adopted the same needle size. By the 50's - it was hard to find a machine that did not take the "Singer" style needle. Same with attachments, Singer was almost the only US manufacturer that used side clamp feet - and now very few domestic machines use any other method.