EARLY Elias Howe sewing machine
 

Ok folks,

I was lucky enough to get an Elias Howe Sewing machine for Christmas.

To quote Heather "Only you would get a 20lb box of rusted metal for Christmas and be ecstatic.."

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I believe that this is a Model A.

I am a member of NeedleBar, and even THEY do not seem to have a picture of this version.

Here is a Model B in glorious condition.
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The key element so far appear to be:

1.) The treadle wheel position - Mine is below the deck, the Model B is "peeking out above"
2.) The bobbin winder - Mine is not equipped with one and no mounting points are evident.
3.) The tensioner - all of the Model A drawings and pictures so far show a "corrugated" tensioner disk, mine is brass and smooth
4.) The tensioner - the later models have a little extra wheel on the side closest to the spool holder mine does not.

I paid them a little extra to make sure it was well packed...
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They really did a good job
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Sigh....
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My first groan... The Take up arms is SHOT. I get to make a new one.... joy.
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ONLY in the flash picture can you see the upper hole and screw, barely.
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Sorry this picture is not well focused, but it shows the machining of the bed. (NO paint left)
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There was one hinge, and it was frozen TIGHT.
About 30 minutes after these pictures were taken every joint and seam was sprayed with PB Blaster. (Knowledge gained from restoring old cars). Twice a day for 3 days...
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The underbelly. I LOVE how simple these are. EVERYTHING runs of the single shaft.
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The front
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It's going to look so great when you get it cleaned up! And Heather is so right, we get go excited when we get something like this. LOL

After a few days of PB Blaster, the hinge has begun to move....
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Free! It is basically a lathe turned post with a cross hole drilled and a pin shoved in.
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The bugger came off but the tip is missing. The coil spring is actually made of square wire... too cool
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and as you will see in the next shot the take up arm lost a lot of material to corrosion
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The color is off because i did not use flash, but here is the hinge wire-wheeled clean. note cross pin "peened in"
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The face... the dark color is due to the oil and rust removers.
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She's had a rough life..
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again... sigh.
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Starting to remove the needle bar
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Note, i still do not have the foot separated, it "looks" solid, but I know they are removable
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Steve,

Post number 6 did not have any pictures, just an attachment number after each sentence.

Cathy

yeah weird, I did the same process as far as I know.
i'll try again. These are the "teardown" shots.

After a few days of PB Blaster, the hinge has begun to move....
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Free! It is basically a lathe turned post with a cross hole drilled and a pin shoved in.
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The bugger came off but the tip is missing. The coil spring is actually made of square wire... too cool
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and as you will see in this shot the take up arm lost a lot of material to corrosion
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The color is off because i did not use flash, but here is the hinge wire-wheeled clean. note cross pin "peened in"
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The face... the dark color is due to the oil and rust removers.
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She's had a rough life..
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again... sigh.
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Starting to remove the needle bar
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Note, i still do not have the foot separated, it "looks" solid, but I know they are removable
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Cool old square head screw
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Removed... but ewwww
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Since EVERYTHING is times off of this shaft, and it was set at the factory, I'm removing it but leaving it intact
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Here you see left to right, drive movement arm and shaft bolt, Driveline (Belt,Needle bar cam, shuttle cam, feed dog cams on the right)
P.S. the little iron hammer to the right was the only tool my great grandfather brought with him from Sweden
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Here is a closeup showing the underside, with the square head bolts,and the drift pin secured shuttle drive arm. (note the blob of solder, that is what secured the brass dist on the front)
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One of my favorite discoveries, the feed dog bar is pivoted on mini cone bushings, like you see in treadles
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The shuttle carrier mechanism
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The removed body from the back (the Before shot...)
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Ok then.. Note the back side of the drive arm is "lightened" (cost reduction) oh yeah, I did a little cleanup...
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Wow! Wow! Wow! What a cool Christmas present - one year we got our son a bag of coal - he LOVED it - he's a blacksmith...

Quadruple WOW. I am so impressed with the drive movement. Keep the pictures coming Steve. BTW, like the pic with your fingers. They look as if they are from a mechanic's hands. :)

I am Sooooooo enjoying your thread...keep em' coming!

That's cool. You don't see square head bolts very often anymore. I think they went out with the Titanic.

Joe

Very cool that you have your great grandfather's tool! I'm enjoying your thread very much.

This is amazing! Please post more! Thank you!

This is so interesting! Remind me, the Howe is dated from when? I'm ready for the next installment of pics.

Totally awesome! Enjoying this thread, Thank you!

Sorry, I'm making a suit of body armor for a person who competes with Team USA in the Battle of Nations (it's on the web) so it slow in the sewing world.

I did do some painting tests and determined that flat black primer, satin lacquer looked best... (grin...)

Do you agree?

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Thanks for your pictures. It is very informative. Looks like quite a job you have started. I am sure you will show pictures when you finish.

Steve how awesome to watch you tear down that little Howe piece by piece! I agree the flat black looks great! How long have you been interested in sewing machines? The task you have taken on would just blow most people's minds! Most people wouldn't do anything with a completely rusted/fused up machine - they'd just leave it as is - give up on it! You are amazing!

Nancy

Black is elegant. And I want to see that machine completed. It's interesting.

Joe

I wouldn't give up on that Howe machine - more modern machines can be used for parts - that one is way too unique - keep up the great work

thanks folks for all of the great words and encouragement...

um, to put "fear of fixing things" in perspective. It's 1970, i'm 9 years old. I live 1/2 the time on my grandparents farm in Western NY (the other half "in town" with Mom) I have a derelict 1957 Chevy in the weeds as my favorite toy. My Grandfather sees me "working" on the car with imaginary tools (pre internet) and hands me a set of wrenches, a socket set, an old card table, and a "Motor" manual (factory tech level service manual) says have fun, but if you make it run you can have it... Now it's 1972, in two weeks I'm moving to California with Mom and Step Dad, My grandfather in the passenger seat, I'm driving the car down the driveway, onto the dirt road, down the block and back. It was my going away gift. (Two years later we sold the chevy to a local racer who included a "lifetime" pitpass for me.

I blame Grandpa for this issue.. hehe

It sure does..
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Rattle can (Spray Can) I use the new "spray at any angle" stuff from my local Orchard Supply Hardware (Shameless plug)

It is looking great!

I've been "interested" in them since getting my backside tanned for playing with my grandmothers treddle. I got my first machine when I was cleaning houses and found an old "dressmaker". That was probably 15 years ago. I learned to sew on it 10-12 years ago (it was in storage till then) and after sewing my first tent on it i started having issues with it. I took it to the local OSMG with the hope of getting a "trade in" on a new machine. (i was ignant)

He told me that the issue was that in this old machine they had experimented with ONE of the new nylon gears and that was what had failed. He said that even the Manufacturer stopped supplying nylon as replacements and that they were ONLY available in metal. He explained that i would have to pay LOTS to get a machine that could do what this could. I got it.

After that it was finding machines that could do specific stuff like a Viking 1030 zig zag with step down for "umph". Then a friend gave me his "old POS" Translate: 1910 Singer 28 portable in beat up bentwood case. That machine started the REAL issue because it needed me to fix it. then i fell in love with the mechanics of the older machines. (and they are cheap to acquire)

here is where I run into a issue.... I am not sure which path to take.
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This a before and after with my wire wheel process.

I have the ability to repair those surfaces to smooth. Some planishing (hammering smooth) and some gentle stock removal and it could be shiny again.

Should I do that or do I acknowledge it's life and history by leaving it "as is" structurally?

Happy Sunday.

Steve, I am really enjoying your thread here and nice work you are doing. As an antique restorer my feeling is to leave it as is showing the history and wear. In the antique business the motto the less you do is better and will not devalue the item. Now in this case it must be personal choice on your part. This said you are going to have a nice machine no matter what you do. I would go with your instincts and what makes you feel good.
Skip

Steve,

You are already repainting it. So I'd polish-up and refinish the metal surfaces, too.

Cathy

I agree. In fact I have decided to clean and buff but not repair.

I can always go back later and change my mind Muhahahaha.

Here is one I forgot earlier, the back of the movement arm notice the hollowed out side now.
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I thought a contrast picture would be cool, Painted body on old bed.
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Started on the bed, slow going doing it "softly" to preserve the texture of what portions of the original machining marks are still there. FOUND A SET OF NUMBERS!!!! I had hoped that they had put a serial number on the frame as well as the slides, that does make WAY more sense.
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Check out the "action area" neat machining.
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Close up of the numbers.. ANY help here would be appreciated.
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Kinda of cool representative shot. The bed as I stopped for the night.
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And 90% of the under bits. Done. Check out the feed dog.. it is Sharp.
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That's it for tonight. If I do not stop now, I'll be up all night trying to finish...

Final note: I was blown away to find out that the spring is brass!!! I did not know until i began to remove the tarnish! (AND I HAD HELD IT)... That was a secondary "sweet" moment. after the numbers.

Enjoy, I sure am.

Wow, Don't you wish your machine could talk...oh the tales she could tell, and I bet she is delighted to be "resurrected". Congrats on you lovely Christmas gift.

I think it would be a lot of "Hello?..... Hello?.... It's damp here!... Hello?"

or this rust itches get it off me

I am in awe! What did you use to remove the initial surface rust? A brush of some sort, or chemical?

Awww, thanks.

I used Krud Kutter as a "wash" and PB blaster as the real workhorse, then hand brushed with a brass wire brush. I was not sure how tough the material was still. Then after a couple days of "worrying it" as my Grandmother would say, and the parts started to soften. From then on it has been a 6" fine wire wheel on a 1/2 hp buffer. I have a 3/4hp but the weaker motor keeps me from pushing too hard. As the RPM's drop, the sound changes, I actually maintain my pressure more by sound than touch. (hard to feel when the world is going bzzzzzzz)

The PB Blaster stuff is amazing. It works like a cross between WD40 (penetrating) and Navel Jelly (rust breakdown). It is the ONLY think that will loosen the old bolts on my Jeep Cherokee's (yes, plural) If I could have afforded some Evaporust I would have tried that... It looks cool.

It's bad... I wanted to take the day off to finish the cleanup...

No work done last night. My DIL's car got busted into last night. The idiots tried to hot-wire the car. They found out it is not as easy as in the movies. all they succeeded in doing was destroying the plastic around the steering column, shred the ignition module, and render the car nonoperative...

They are hitting the wrecking yard today to get parts, and then I'll fix it tonight.. joy of joys...

I did take a couple close up shots of the needle plate.
I love the skill represented here. Remember:1860's...
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That is a very cool machine. I have never seen one.

for those who like to read as well as look at pictures...

from the Smithsonian:
Users Manual for Elias Howe Step feed
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18576541/Us...%20Feed%20.pdf
Instructors manual for the Elias Howe New Family
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18576541/In...w%20Family.pdf