I found it! (Mystery Machine revealed!)
07-15-2016, 07:49 AM
#1
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Posts: 40
I found it! (Mystery Machine revealed!)
Remember the "Mystery Machine" topic I posted several months ago? http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...e-t278114.html
I finally got serious about cleaning it up, and have been working down through layers of dirt and rust. I still haven't been able to get the needle plate off; we speculated that it was a Canadian machine, and the name might be engraved on the underside. As I worked down on the topside, I uncovered a part number, and then above it, I thought I saw very faint letters engraved. With a magnifying lamp, I thought I could read "PERTH". Now, Perth is a town about 25 miles from here, and not far from where I found the machine.
I did a Google search of any sewing machine manufacturers in Perth, and Eureka! *I found it!*
The Perth Sewing Machine Company, originally J.M Miller & Co. (1871-1875). They produced one machine, the Venus. Here is a picture:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]553983[/ATTACH]
Here is mine: [ATTACH=CONFIG]553984[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]553985[/ATTACH]
You can read about it here: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/17030/22944
I shall post some pictures of Venus as the cleaning progresses. Believe it or not, she still had her shuttle and bobbin! This is so exciting. I just hope I don't break anything while trying to detach rusty bits.
I finally got serious about cleaning it up, and have been working down through layers of dirt and rust. I still haven't been able to get the needle plate off; we speculated that it was a Canadian machine, and the name might be engraved on the underside. As I worked down on the topside, I uncovered a part number, and then above it, I thought I saw very faint letters engraved. With a magnifying lamp, I thought I could read "PERTH". Now, Perth is a town about 25 miles from here, and not far from where I found the machine.
I did a Google search of any sewing machine manufacturers in Perth, and Eureka! *I found it!*
The Perth Sewing Machine Company, originally J.M Miller & Co. (1871-1875). They produced one machine, the Venus. Here is a picture:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]553983[/ATTACH]
Here is mine: [ATTACH=CONFIG]553984[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]553985[/ATTACH]
You can read about it here: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/17030/22944
I shall post some pictures of Venus as the cleaning progresses. Believe it or not, she still had her shuttle and bobbin! This is so exciting. I just hope I don't break anything while trying to detach rusty bits.
07-15-2016, 08:12 AM
#4
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Posts: 40
I know. She'll never regain her good looks, time and neglect have done too much damage. But my ambition is to get her gears moving again. If I can get the mechanism working the way it was designed to do, I'll feel we snatched her back from the abyss.
07-16-2016, 04:29 AM
#9
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Posts: 40
Things are going well - I managed to get the balance wheel off! But I rethought what I'd written above about the engraving on the needle plate. I don't think the number is a part number - that probably came later with big factories like Singer. I think it's the *serial number*! Number 418 - that was probably its production number.
And I checked with Google Maps - Perth is actually almost 50 miles from where I live, in Ottawa. But it's only about *5* miles from where I found Venus, in Balderson. So it looks like this little machine was bought locally and never left the area where it was built. I like these little details; it feels like peeking into the actual life of the people who used these machines.
And I checked with Google Maps - Perth is actually almost 50 miles from where I live, in Ottawa. But it's only about *5* miles from where I found Venus, in Balderson. So it looks like this little machine was bought locally and never left the area where it was built. I like these little details; it feels like peeking into the actual life of the people who used these machines.
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