In a followup, Leon wrote:
The 401 will actually run the needle from the hand wheel. I was shocked.
Good to hear from you all and stay safe.
Janey
Janey found a miniature sewing machine for sale online (we always like cute things) and shares this with us:
I haven't been checking CL often, but did one day in October. I happened to see a Smith & Egge Automatic which had been posted a couple weeks earlier. I called and it was still available. Interestingly enough it is still on CL, about a month later. There was only one picture with a busy background and looked to be missing a lot of paint. It had a needle, but it was broken and didn't have an eye. Well, I went to look at it and it did move. It had more paint than I expected, but still some bare spots. There was some rust on the metal parts.
I got it during lunch and took it back to work with me. I took a couple pictures at the shop. As can be seen, the size is about 7" tall and about 6" wide. It also had a bunch of thread around the base of the looper. I did use some "Lily White" oil at the shop, so that it would soak in during the afternoon.
I had some W&G needles (thank you, Courtney) and threaded it up. I got it to sew a few stitches before the thread broke. I thought the tension might be too tight, but trying to loosen it just turned the whole thing. John figured out that part of a binder clip was the right size to put in the hole at the base of the tension to hold it while unscrewing the top. I took it apart and polished the discs. I still haven't been able to sew more than a few stitches. I have tried different fabric, even tried a different needle and different tensions. Thought maybe it was the plastic spool so found a wooden spool. Still no joy. Oh well, I didn't really plan on using it. It sure is cute, though.
I found the patents listed on the needle plate.
USD25585 by Pierpoint for the frame design - June 2, 1896
US575984 by Pierpoint for the feeding device - January 26, 1897
US592092 by Johnson for the tension - October 19, 1897
I, too, wondered how the name Egge was pronounced. I asked someone that lives in Norway and was sent a link to the pronunciation https://www.easytrans.org/no/norsk-engelsk/?qegge#
I also found a musician named Ana Egge. According to a youtube video ( vSIP-oSZHbRA ) it is pronounced with a long "E" at the end.
.... to be continued