Originally Posted by
Manalto
Yes, unless you're mistaken and the upper receptacle has three prongs. Sometimes 401s are wired so you can either plug in the separate foot (knee) control unit below - OR - use a three prong power-cord-and-foot-control combination, ignoring the lower receptacle.
James
Hi James,
Your comment caught my eye, and I’d like to discuss something with you. I’ve not ever seen a Singer 401A with a 3-prong upper receptacle. The German Singer 401G and Singer 431G have 3-prong upper receptacles, but no lower 2-prong receptacles. I’m not sure about the 411G and other German 400 models.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of the Singer 301? The early 301-1 (shortbed) had a 3-prong upper and a 2-prong lower, (the lower used for cabinet use), while the Singer 301-2 (longbed) only had an upper 3-prong and no lower receptacle (designed for portable only). All of the later Singer 301A (shortbed only) machines that I’ve seen have both upper 3-prong and lower 2-prong receptacles (for either cabinet or portable use). The Singer 401A was sold mostly as a cabinet machine, but was also fitted with a 2-prong lower receptacle “extension block” to extend the receptacle to the outer edge of the special portable base of the 401A.
If you know of a 401A with a 3-prong upper receptacle, do you know if it came out of the factory that way, or was it retro-fitted later?
CD in Oklahoma