I recently inherited my grandmother's old Singer. She is in need of a good clean up and a new belt, but I'll bet she'll run like a deer! Anyway, the bobbin, or bobbin shuttle case is quite unusual (at least to me) The serial number looks like "G6642870" although it is quite faint. When I looked online, it looks like it was made in 1919 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But the bobbin case has me a bit stymied. I have seen older Singers with a regular bobbin and bobbin case - one a 1904 model. (unless the owner was mistaken about the age) I am wondering if this bobbin shuttle is specific to a particular year. It has the Egyptian designs on it that I have seen on a lot of old treadles. Thank you for looking!

Linda

I think that is called A bullet bobbin. I have 2 treadle machines and they both have that kind of a bobbin. Mine are not signers machines.

Beautiful machine!!

I would contact Lostn51 (Billy), he is the expert on the board regarding Vintage Singers. If he can't help you he'll tell you who can.

The machine is fantastic!

I agree on both counts!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
I have a sweet kitty named Mabel!! lol :D

It's a model 127, serial # allocated January 9, 1919, made in St. Jean, Quebec.

You start with this site:http://www.singerco.com/support/serial_numbers.html

Then click on the link for single letter (G), which gets you here:

http://www.singerco.com/support/serial_1letter.html

Then you look for the link for the G series, which gets you here:

http://www.singerco.com/pdf/SINGER_G_nos.pdf

And you find the bracket containing your number:

6640371 6665370 127 25000 January 9 1919 St. Jean, Québec

The 25000 means that 25000 numbers were allocated to that plant on that date for model 127's.

What a treasure!

I’m not familiar with your machine but she’s beautiful!! So glad she is staying in the family.

I have a 1952 machine with a shuttle instead of a bobbin. I was surprised it was made so late with the shuttle, too. Your machine will be very pretty cleaned up.

Very nice machine.

Pretty , now get her all gussed up and dressed for company...

Thank you SO much! I hadn't found the information that it was made in Canada - I thought it was made in New Jersey.

I have a machine with nearly the same date as yours. It also has the long bobin. My mother gave it to me about 25 years ago and because of the odd bobbin, I have procranstinated trying it out. I learned to sew on an older treadle with a regular bobbin and suffer the old dog/new trick syndrom. Last summer I bought an older one at Goodwill with the regular bobbin for 29.99. I will need to get them both up and running so they don't seize up.

You can buy replacement shuttles and shuttle springs on eBay.

When the shuttle springs get worn on these, they can't apply tension to the bobbin thread any more - replace the spring and you're back in business.

Be careful when buying modern repro bobbins for this type of shuttle. I haven't found a modern repro yet that's long enough to fill properly when you put it on the bobbin winder. You will need to guide the thread by hand in order to fill the bobbins. The bobbin winders are made for a specific length of bobbin - when you try to wind the modern repros on them, you end up with a dog-bone effect. :)

They sew just great - filling them is kind of a pain. :)

Thanks Elizabeth. It has a bobbin inside the shuttle. I haven't got it operational yet, so haven't tried to wind a bobbin. Do you run the thread through a guide or just from the thread spool to the bobbin on the winder? I'm so happy that I got it - it spent many years in a barn with a leaky roof, so it is in amazingly good condition. The hinged top had to be replaced. It means a lot to me as it belonged to Grandma Mabel.

It is in very good condition - you'll have fun sewing with it, too - I love my VS machines. :)

There's a manual on the Smithsonian site:
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollect.../NMAHTEX/2678/ Nice large pictures of the scanned pages and you can see how to wind the bobbin, thread the machine and shuttle, troubleshoot the stitches, etc.

How lovely to have a family heirloom to sew with - you're so lucky! :)

Thanks so much Elizabeth. I just knew that someone on this board would have information on her!! This board is THE best!!

Here you go....check out Treadle Lady's You Tube video showing how to wind a long bobbin:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TreadleL.../8/GOu4-CG8RMU

She has some other helpful videos, too, plus she is pretty entertaining to watch.

Thanks for the link. I don't believe I would have figured it out. It is very different to the standard bobbin.