jlhmnj

I learned by picking up an owners manual and trying "to figure it out". Link to manual for Burdick or Minnesota B which is similar. It will be much easier once the machine is in front of you. With the Minnesota A a few different makers made them for Sears so it's best to find appropriate manual. Ask questions, you'll get good advice from QB.

http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollect...f/sil10-37.pdf

Jon

Veinurse

That is just what I needed Jon! That is how I taught myself to quilt. I was lucky enough to buy the perfect book, I then realized I need to get patterns and away I went. 13 yeas later I am into collecting vintage machines and teaching myself how to clean and repair them.

QuiltingVagabond

There are you tube videos too that show "how to treadle" Once you get the rhythm going, it is not too hard. I am still learning so it requires lots of concentration at this point.

Quincunx

That is sort of like how my mother got into quilting except nobody in the house realized quilts needed patterns too. There was a drawing of a quilt in my math textbook and she thought it looked neat and tried to copy it. She appliquéd arrow shapes onto muslin. It looks neat still. But piecing is probably less work.

purplefiend

I have a "Home and Farm" sewing machine, it looks just like the 1910s Minnesota C in the second pictured Minnesota C, its more rounded rather than 1908. Mine has a shuttle with Davis on it, also looks like it takes the Davis long needles, it has 1 bobbin.
I only have the head and no way to power it; it moves very nicely. http://ismacs.net/sears/sears.html

Sharon in Texas

jlhmnj

Hi Sharon,

Interesting I couldn't find Home and Farm on the Davis badged machines list but I couldn't find Iowa either. Supposedly National also made a Home and Farm. Whether this was a Davis brand name or requested by the retailer I could not discover. These are very nice sewing machines, Davis sold a ton of Minnesota C's and Honeymoon which is full sized or model M. You are correct on the needles which are Davis Long. Hope you find a power source.

Jon

purplefiend

Jon,
I have also noticed that the treadle belt groove is on the outside of the hand wheel. This is very different from all of my other treadle machines. My other machines are White,Singer and Pfaff.
Sharon

jlhmnj

Yep, most Davis have the outside belt groove except for the pre 1890's Vertical Feeds. Some of the electrical models of the teens and twenties were friction drive and have no belt groove. I did a quick search and found Franklin and Domestic New Minnesota A also have the external groove, both made by Domestic. The first thing I look for in identifying a Underfeed machine as Davis is the square / rectangular needle plate. Like the outside belt groove it is not unique to Davis but narrows things down considerably.

Jon

OurWorkbench

Which machine are you referring to? Is the Minnesota S a Davis M-E? The one seen at New (to me) Minnesota S sure looks lie the manual at https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...m-e-manual.pdf

I'm guessing that the shuttles and bobbins for the Davis made machines are unique and not able to be replaced by Singer long shuttles and bobbins.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

jlhmnj

Hi Janey,
I've seen Minnesota S that were Davis M_E, Davis H, and a unique head that I call model Minnesota S which was only made for Sears that I know of. All of these use full sized Davis shuttle and bobbins. Zombiedad has the unique Minnesota S model. According to Ismacs needle list it uses Davis long needle, aka Boye 10 usually. The Singer shuttle won't work as the race radius is way different. Pre wound Singer bobbins can be made to work but Davis bobbins are about 1/4" longer.

Here is a link to Davis M_E pic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagesewi...g_machine_for/

Jon