A Study in Green(ishness)
 

I agreed to meet a guy, cash in hand, in the parking lot at the VA in White River Junction, Vermont. He turned out to be a very craggy and somewhat sad-looking guy, a Viet Nam vet maybe, so I knew right away that I wasn't going to try to dicker him down. There are more important things than getting optimal price for some sewing machine.

Besides, I fell in love with it right away, in part because it made such an interesting contrast with my most recent class 15 clone, my (wife's) Husqvarna 12. The two are so similar, yet so very different: one is the product of a culture grounded in people quietly sewing in snowbound cabins (or so at least run our imagnings of Swedish life!), the other the product of a healing industrial culture committed to meeting the urgent and snazzy needs of a victorious America. There's pathos whichever side you take, and illusion, and paradox.

I was gonna crop out the woodstove, but with weather like this, I thought you might want to see that too

P.S. Oh, it's an International Precision Super Deluxe, for heaven's sake: that's a lot of adjectives. And I gave him $80 for it. Heh.


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That's a nice clone. I have a soft spot for the clones, I have several. They only do one thing but they do it very well, it's hard to beat the beautiful stitch they put down. My twins(Brother and Morse) are the same pretty blue as your International.

Cari

I like the moss green and gold of the Viking machine. The japanese clone has the added feed dog knob, but it looks more turquoise than green? The Viking is one of the first machines to be given a color other than black. I have seen a shiny version of the model 12, as well as the non-shiny you have (both green). If I remember correctly, it's not nearly as crinkly as some. This is a model introduced in the early 1930s.

I think the Japanese international delux is at least a decade later than your Husqvarna. These were made from the 50s and well into the 60, pretty much identical except for color and minor alterations to the exterior. At some point Husqvarna added a numbered dial for the top tension mechanism, but I'm not sure when. By the time the Japanese had ventured into all kinds of colors and slight changes to the exterior, the production of Husqvarna 12 had ended. The Japanese straight stitch clones were made well into the 60s.

On the Husqvarna machine is the bobbin case, the occilating hook and race are derived from singers model 15. As far as I know, all other parts are different. On some of the early Japanese clones each and every part is equivalent of a singer part number. The alterations came gradually, and in the beginning not much at all. The Husqvarna 12 had a very different point of origin, not Swedish culture as much as European sewing machine culture. It started way before WWII. I think German brands had models with similar hook and race to class 15 before 1900. Eventually they turn to various rotating hook and race developments. By the 50s most makers aimed their efforts at swing needle zigzag machines. Bernina introduced their first free arm zigzagger in 1945 and every body had to keep up.

Very pretty! I would have bought it for that price too. Have you had time to play with it?

It's a beauty. Looks absolutely mint and unused. Nice find and nice you helped a veteran.

I've looked it over, and aside from a few tiny pecks, it looks perfect (The case in micro-ocelot contact paper, half adrift, not so much!). I put a belt on it, and it went round-and-round and up-and-down a bit stiffly, but it hasn't been oiled in a while, it appears. The machine won't need much, I don't think. (I sort of like it when they need something!) But that case will take a lot to restore it to its former ... well ..tasteless glory, let's call it. I'm gonna make a petty wooden base for the Husqvarna, then my wife will make a little sewing machine cozy for it. It'll draw nostalgic Swedes from miles around!

Yep. The tensioner on the faceplate is different, likewise the swung-around take-up lever: looks like a 15-91, so it's en famille​, as the Japanese say. Underneath it looks like straightforward class 15. It has a neat little adjustment screw on the bobbin winder which seems like a nice touch. And - a key point - the stickers tell me that it is made of the finest materials, precisely machined, and that Precision Super Deluxe Dealers all over the World will back up its Guarantee-for-Eternity against any mishap.

I apologizie for the slighly messed up post, but I was trying to describe the history line of machine. Husqvarna made their first version of their model 12 CB (central bobbin) in 1903, with some improvements to Singers model 12. Among them was a revers stitch lever I think they added early on in its' development. By then several German models long since had been given. The later CB-N had yet some improvments with the take up lever and tensioner in the front. I have seen too few of these to know the details and I can't find anything extensive on the web, neither too accurate. Some have a lever on the bed for lowering the feed dogs. By the end of WWII development of sewing machines had a new focus, though the straight stitchers kept their popularity.

Husqvarnas first freearm zigzagger.
http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/SiteM...rces/img18.png

This is three years after Bernina introduced their 125. We can safely assume there is more than a resemblance between the models. I know Bernina made machines for several other brands in the immediate post war years. I think this model set a standard for several brands, and you can notice similar motor and belt system on several zigzaggers in the next few years. By 1953 the rotary hook zigzagger 19 were introduced, the same as on 20 and 21. I think Husqvarna kept up the straight stitcher Klasse 18 for a few years after Klasse 12 went out of production.
https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/ima...2889/image.jpg

If I have it right, Japanese sewing machine production starts after WWII when Singer established a factory there. Model 15 were free to put in production since all patents had run out by then. Singer kept model 15 in prodcution in some form until around 1960. By then straight stitchers were mostly industrial.

At some point during the winter snowbound villages can still be found in Sweden, and 60 years ago probably more frequent, but I doubt that's the reason for lack of color and alternative finishes on the model 12. ;)

I would have been very comfortable buying that for even 100 bucks, basically because it still looks sooooo goooood. At $80 I would not have ventured to barter down even if someone drove up in a limo with a chauffer to sell it to me. Enjoy!

The Japanese clones hit the US market about '47 or so. Most of the early ones had a badge, sticker or decal that said "Made in Occupied Japan". Those early clones had the fancy scrolled or otherwise decorative face plates, often had fancy decals in colors other than gold, and had no feed dog drop. By about '52 or so they went to the striated face plate like Singer did, added feed dog drop, they started coming in colors other than black and decals started getting less fancy as time went on. By the 60s there were clones in almost every color of the rainbow and very few had any decoration except the name decal or badge on the arm.

Cari

Here's an "Occupied Japan" clone.
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