Bakelite ink well for Singer cabinet
 

I am curious about the ink well in a #42 Singer cabinet .... it's the deco one. I have the glass bottom part and it has a number 4 on it. I was looking for the bakelite top but I am confused about all the ones that are out there with many different numbers such as 59, 60, etc. Is the #4 on mine related in any way to the #42 cabinet I have? Will any of the desk type inkwells fit the hole in the drawer of the #42 cabinet? Should there be a number on the bakelite top to match the glass bottom or doesn't it matter? I am hoping someone has one of these and can enlighten me about what I should be looking for. Thanks if you can!

Just check mine the glass bottom says 14 and there is nothing on the black Bakelite top. Sorry

Judy in Phx, AZ

Here is a photo of the inkwell that is in my Deco 42 cabinet; it has "14" embossed in the inside bottom of the glass. The inkwell has a ball bearing in the top to keep the ink sealed.

There are no markings or numbers on the black top. It fits perfectly flush in the hole near the pen tray.

The cabinet came with a lovely Pfaff 130-6 in it, complete with all the original accessories and paperwork.


I keep a set of '40s-'50s USPS mailing labels and a book of ration coupons in the "writing drawer." I'm still looking for a dip-pen to keep in the tray, and a 1940s vintage bottle of ink.

Thanks Judy for the info on your ink well. And Caroline, thanks for the info and photos! Interesting that you both have #14 ink wells and I have a #4. Maybe the numbers have to do with when (or even where) they were made? And maybe I should go check my number again! ..... Right, I did just that and it does have the #4 with a line across the top of the number. So maybe all the bakelite tops fit all the glass bottoms and maybe not. My cabinet came with a Singer 15-91 and drawers full of attachments. In fact, it was the cabinet and attachments that first drew me to the machine. My dh ended up buying it for me as a gift because, as many have said, I did not have room for it so left it behind.

Thanks again to you both for the response.

I ended up with a #42 cabinet over the weekend, I had no intention of keeping it but it's in amazing shape.
I have the glass ink well with the #14 on it, no top. I have plans on making a pin cushion out of it.

Mine came with a 201 Singer, 1938. When I look in the drawer, I smile and say, "you've come a long way baby". I just leave it there, happy that it is still complete. Someday, the next owner will hopefully smile too. A 201 can wear out 4 ladies, at least.

Our book store sells the dip pens and nibs. We have a one room school, and use them there when the children do the penmanship class. They love writing with the dip pens and ink.

Mine glass bottom says 59. The top has BakeLite No 60. Interesting, if nothing else.

I pulled mine out and flipped it over and looked "Oh, it's got a 4"

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psl6afjvcg.jpg

Then I took off the cap - "opps, it's a 14"

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psusoolfrk.jpg

How interesting that any sewing machine would have an ink well. That is NEW to me.

Cathi, I am chuckling to myself and feel a bit stupid. Yes, mine looks to be a #14 when I look inside of the glass bottom. So funny!!!Good thing that I can laugh at myself ... for so many reasons, actually. So do you think the number on the bottom makes any difference? Do you know (as you may have more than one of these?) if the tops are specific to the bottoms and do the tops have some sort of number or letter to indicate this?

ManiacQuilter2, These ink wells are found in certain sewing desks (mine is a Singer #42) because the desks were touted as being able to be use as a regular desk (writing desk) and therefore multipurpose.

KLO, this is the only on that came with an inkwell. The other two similar desks I have don't have a spot for it - but have a bar to hold bobbins in that upper drawer.

I almost posted that I had one with a four on it too - and that I thought it was funny that it had that bar above the 4 . . . I even had part of it typed out - and then I took off the cap and looked inside.

Cathi, I did not realize that the #42 cabinet was the only one that had this distinct feature. Neat! It also of course has the pen/pencil tray next to the ink well and the spool/bobbin holder in one of the right hand drawers along with the oil can holder. Does your bakelite lid have any marks on it such as a number or letter or ??? Are these cabinets really that old that they should have an ink well in them? Well, they do so I guess they are!

My lid has no markings.

I have the round drawer cabinet in both styles, the one where the drawer fronts are rounded, and the one with a rounded front door that covers three square front drawers behind it. The inkwell is in the one with the rounded front drawers. Both of these came with a built in foot pedal, though we removed it from eh one DH uses as he did not like it (can easily put it back though) We kept it on the one I use, though we wired it up to a plug under the cabinet so I could use my newer White (japanese made) in it.

I have a very similar cabinet that has square front drawers, and it does not have the inkwell in the upper drawer - it's upper drawer is the same as the one with the rounded door front.

Yep, I have the one with the three rounded individual drawers. Mine did not come with the built in foot pedal. Are you referring to what I would call a knee paddle that some cabinets came with? It came with the 15-91 with the foot pedal but who knows if that was original to my cabinet. Although, the drawers were stuffed with attachments and a 15-91 book so maybe it did. The drawers have the little hole in the middle of them to facilitate taking them out. Someone on the board had to tell me how to do that .... it was either CD or SteveH, I think. I found old patterns, pins, and such smooshed back there. Love that little cabinet and machine. Just need to get my dh to take his small wine fridge off so I can use it again! Hope it doesn't leak as I will be very perturb. Downsizing is not fun!!!

My lid has Bakelite No 60 on it.

Complete inkwell spotting.
http://www.aoauctions.net/lot/42151/

Oh - I so want to see what else is in those drawers!

BTW - since I realize I never answered this question - mine came with the pedal control mounted underneath the bottom of the drawer stack. There was a lever sticking out from under there that you could step on to control the machine as the wires ran behind the drawers to the machine - it was hardwired in. It can be pushed in or pulled out so it's not totally in the way when not in use.

Could someone put a picture up of their cabinet with the ink well, I have never seen one before and find it interesting.

Singer was multitasking. You can use it as a writing, homework, desk when not sewing.

Yes, and don’t forget that it was the perfect place to write out that installment payment check to send in to Singer Headquarters each month to pay for that desk and sewing machine!

CD in Oklahoma

But CD, wasn't that desk and 15-91 well worth writing the monthly check for especially if you made your own clothing and your kids' clothing or home deco items or quilts or whatever else you needed sewn? I would suppose a lot of people could not afford to lay out all the money needed at once to buy one of these setups so a payment plan might have been the only way to buy such a multi-use item.

Cathi, thanks for the added info. I still swoon eveytime I see one of these cabinets. I almost did not get mine but thankfully my dh saw the "want" in my eye when I examined it and went back and bought it for me. A nice surprise! Mine had both type darners in the drawers along with other dodads.

Oh yes!!! That was my point! Singer was one of the first companies to institute a payment plan so that the average home-maker could afford Singer products on a small budget. And if the lady of the house could get a beautiful sewing machine cabinet that could also replace that old bill desk without needing any additional floor space, so much the better!

My Mother bought her new Singer 301A portable on the payment plan in 1958. I have photo-copies of the contract. Since she didn’t get the fancy Singer Cabinet with it, she had to write the $11.82 check out on the kitchen table each month, to send it to the Singer Acceptance Department, 808 S. Broadway, Fifth Floor, Los Angeles 14, California, due on the 15th of each month. After a trade-in (Singer 66 Treadle $20) and down payment ($50), she paid off $141.80 that way ($12.90 Carrying Charge included). I don’t know if she ever felt bad that she couldn’t dip her pen in a Singer ink well to write her check. She never has mentioned it, and she still has the machine. She saved it for me, and wanted me to take it this past Labor Day Holiday, but I turned it down. She’s living with my sister now, and she only has one sewing machine, so I asked Mom to give it to my sister for a back-up machine. I have two of my Mom’s Mother’s machines, and my sister had no family machines. Besides that, my wife and I already have three Singer 301A machines. My wife uses hers almost nightly.

CD in Oklahoma

Oh CD, my apologies if you took my comment the wrong way as I may be doingto yours now. I did not know that Singer was the first "payment plan" company. Makes me love the old Singers even more. What a wonderful thing they did for the average sewing homemaker.

CD, great story, makes me feel like I was there too. I am one that didn't know they made one of those ink well cabinets too, I have passed up several of those type of cabinets because I no longer have room for cabinets, but they do look neat and they sound even neater with the inkwell. Gosh so much info on here and this is not getting me to slow down on my want list!

KLO, we’re good. I saw nothing wrong in your post, and I meant no harm in mine.

I don’t know if Singer was the first sewing machine company to offer a payment plan, but it was one of the first. In my Mom’s Singer papers, there’s a Bill of Sale, Chattel Mortgage, Promissory Note, Warrantee, and Payment Coupon Book (empty, so she must have made all of her payments). It’s all explained in a formal letter from G.R. Hillier, Manager, Singer Sewing Machine Company, Acceptance Department, Los Angeles. Remember the payment coupon books that you had to tear a little perforated piece out of it and include it in with your payment?

CD in Oklahoma

Thanks CD, no harm done either way. Funny how typed messages can take a turn toward just how you mean them or go 180* and become something else as opposed to hearing a person's speech inflections and knowing exactly what they mean.

Sounds like you have some great paperwork about Singers and how they were bought and sold way back when. Wonder if there is a Singer museum of sorts anywhere that would have similar items on display? Maybe the Smithsonian? Well, maybe other than Macybaby's (Cathi's) shed museum and I don't know if she has documents related to Singer sales. Still, it can be fascinating to see the dates and read the documents from early times.

They probably thought that providing the ink well would help to sell the hubby on getting the machine with cabinet for the little lady, since it could be his desk when she wasn't sewing, or more likely, her sewing machine when he wasn't paying bills. I had a 201-2 in one of those cabinets for a year or so, but gave it to my daughter-in-love when we moved and I needed to downsize a bit. Thought I'd post a picture of the cabinet here so people can see what we're talking about, if they haven't seen them. This is how it looked when I got it. I'm sorry I don't have a picture showing the inkwell in the upper left drawer. My inkwell was also missing the lid. I thought it was just a pin holder.