I found that several of the steel parts of my Mercury (in post #411) are stamped "Toyota", and I wondered whether that is common to many of the clones. The Universal motor and the foot pedal both say "Made in USA". Were those added after import or did the Japanese companies buy them from the US and ship the machines complete? What about the attachments? I don't have any, but wondered if they were shipped with Japanese made attachments and what was typically included. My machine didn't even have it's original straight stitch foot.
I was trying to track down more information on the machine, and found this
http://www.ehow.com/how_7821389_iden...-machines.html My machine is not marked as described, but I now believe that the TA at the start of the serial number refers to Toyota, and that it is definitely a Japanese clone. I was surprised about the Mercury brand starting in Chicago much earlier, and wondered what sort of machines they made there. Were they also Singer copies? And when they started making Mercuries in Japan, was that outsourcing by the Chicago company, still retaining their brand identity, and perhaps still maintaining a Chicago headquarters and doing the marketing there?
I don't have a manual for this machine, and wonder whether anyone could point me toward one. The Singer 15-91 manual I have is almost no help at all, and the Singer 15 tensioner that I bought does not fit. Luckily, the original tensioner seems to be okay, but could be better.