A steal for $42, but what was this used for?
03-27-2011, 03:59 AM
#42
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Western NY
Posts: 152
Originally Posted by sewbizgirl
Y'all are right-- It's an inkwell. I have read a vintage ad for this model cabinet (somewhere online!) and it was sold as a dual-purpose sewing cabinet and writing desk. There is also a paper tray installed on the right side, behind the door and above the two big drawers. This tray does not pull out like the drawers, but has a cutout where you can reach in and pull out a sheet of writing paper!
There are variations of this desk. I've seen it in at least three colors, and the one I own doesn't have the inkwell, but rather a six-pin rack for thread spools in the inkwell location. These cabinets came with only the 201 or the 15 installed in them. They are wired and have their own foot controller built into the cabinet.
This is the "Art Deco" cabinet...
There are variations of this desk. I've seen it in at least three colors, and the one I own doesn't have the inkwell, but rather a six-pin rack for thread spools in the inkwell location. These cabinets came with only the 201 or the 15 installed in them. They are wired and have their own foot controller built into the cabinet.
This is the "Art Deco" cabinet...
03-27-2011, 04:20 AM
#43
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 10
My husband's first job, many,many,many years ago, in London, was repairing and cleaning Singer machines. It's a great help to me now. He says in the olden days the container could have been used for beeswax which they used to put the needle in so it would easily go through heavier fabric.
03-27-2011, 04:26 AM
#44
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Port Lavaca, TX
Posts: 1,276
Used to be long years ago all of the ink used to come in short squat bottles, we bought at the store for 10 or 15 cents. Some of them had a little inside curved extra glass cup just under the lid to hold a small part of the ink for dipping straight pens into or for refilling lever type fountain pens. It was tricky to pour the ink from those bottles into these inkwells!
Everybody had an inkwell something like this in their desks at school.
It was so easy to splatter ink out of those steel pens when we wrote with them, because there was a drop of ink clinging to the underside of the pen.
However, people made beautiful designs with these pens, similar to, but more ornate than the quilting designs we use today.
When they invented ball point pens we were not so sure they were going to work at first, because the teeny balls in the points fell out easily, and the ink was awful messy if that happened.
Everybody had an inkwell something like this in their desks at school.
It was so easy to splatter ink out of those steel pens when we wrote with them, because there was a drop of ink clinging to the underside of the pen.
However, people made beautiful designs with these pens, similar to, but more ornate than the quilting designs we use today.
When they invented ball point pens we were not so sure they were going to work at first, because the teeny balls in the points fell out easily, and the ink was awful messy if that happened.
03-27-2011, 04:26 AM
#45
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Liberty Hill - Central TEXAS Hill Country
Posts: 1,040
Originally Posted by Londonborn
My husband's first job, many,many,many years ago, in London, was repairing and cleaning Singer machines. It's a great help to me now. He says in the olden days the container could have been used for beeswax which they used to put the needle in so it would easily go through heavier fabric.
Have a blessed day :lol:
03-27-2011, 04:29 AM
#46
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Liberty Hill - Central TEXAS Hill Country
Posts: 1,040
Originally Posted by jpthequilter
Used to be long years ago all of the ink used to come in short squat bottles, we bought at the store for 10 or 15 cents. Some of them had a little inside curved extra glass cup just under the lid to hold a small part of the ink for dipping straight pens into or for refilling lever type fountain pens. It was tricky to pour the ink from those bottles into these inkwells!
Everybody had an inkwell something like this in their desks at school.
It was so easy to splatter ink out of those steel pens when we wrote with them, because there was a drop of ink clinging to the underside of the pen.
However, people made beautiful designs with these pens, similar to, but more ornate than the quilting designs we use today.
When they invented ball point pens we were not so sure they were going to work at first, because the teeny balls in the points fell out easily, and the ink was awful messy if that happened.
Everybody had an inkwell something like this in their desks at school.
It was so easy to splatter ink out of those steel pens when we wrote with them, because there was a drop of ink clinging to the underside of the pen.
However, people made beautiful designs with these pens, similar to, but more ornate than the quilting designs we use today.
When they invented ball point pens we were not so sure they were going to work at first, because the teeny balls in the points fell out easily, and the ink was awful messy if that happened.
03-27-2011, 04:38 AM
#47
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Port Lavaca, TX
Posts: 1,276
Originally Posted by kaykwilts
Originally Posted by Rose L
Very interesting piece of furniture. I am old enough to know what an ink well is but young enough to have used a cartridge pen in school. Makes me wonder what odd things my kids will have knowledge of in the years to come but not have been old enough to use them. I bet records/LPs are one of them. Ha!
Do you remenber those big LPs - long playing 33 rpm - vinyl records with the colorfull pictures printed on the records themselves?
03-27-2011, 04:41 AM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Port Lavaca, TX
Posts: 1,276
Originally Posted by kaykwilts
Originally Posted by Rose L
Very interesting piece of furniture. I am old enough to know what an ink well is but young enough to have used a cartridge pen in school. Makes me wonder what odd things my kids will have knowledge of in the years to come but not have been old enough to use them. I bet records/LPs are one of them. Ha!
Do you remenber those big LPs - long playing 33 rpm - vinyl records with the colorfull pictures printed on the records themselves?
03-27-2011, 04:42 AM
#49
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Basehor, Kansas
Posts: 707
Originally Posted by Debd
Went to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and found this beauty for $50. Then there was this 20% off discount because it was furniture. Needless to say I left a nice donation check as well.
My question is about this container I found in the top drawer of the cabinet. There is a place specifically for it, so I believe it is part of the original sewing package. The top is a double layer with a hole in the bottom layer that a ball bearing fits into. The machine is a 1945 Singer 15-90.
Anybody have a clue?
My question is about this container I found in the top drawer of the cabinet. There is a place specifically for it, so I believe it is part of the original sewing package. The top is a double layer with a hole in the bottom layer that a ball bearing fits into. The machine is a 1945 Singer 15-90.
Anybody have a clue?
03-27-2011, 04:44 AM
#50
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Carlisle, PA
Posts: 1,964
I showed this to my mom, a retired seamstress. She said she used to have one on one of her older machines. She used it to put pins in as you take them off the material while sewing along. Makes sense to me!
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