Help! What have I got?
 

DH found this lovely little girl at a garage sale today. She is small, only 11 inches across, and definitely not as heavy as my 128. She is in decent shape and her decals are just slightly scratched here and there. She came with a pile of feet--not going to even attempt to identify them right now--and 6 extra bobbins!!! Her case seems to have suffered a little water damage but she does not seem to be rusted at all. And there is no key, rather a knob you turn to unlock the case. The wiring to her foot pedal is suspect so will not even think about plugging her in until I get that checked.

But I have not been able to find any info about her. The only markings on her body say "Acme Special" and below that "Made in the USA". And also " "T"No.3 " on the inside of her throat. There is also the number T 102253 on her bobbin plate. Sure hope you folks can help me.

I researched the T number you gave and then went to images. There are bunches of different machines depicted. Even a Singer. I will keep looking.

later - Haven't found much. I wonder if a repair place might know some history, or maybe the library.

I know absolutely nothing about her, but what a pretty little machine! Congrats!

I found one that looked very similar on google. It was on a geocities site. My browser was highjacked, so I'm not going back. If you usually use Firefox, try another browser. If it gets highjacked, just make your computer restart.

I'm a novice sewing machine person. Even though I don't know for sure, the machine seems incongruous. The tension arrangement is usually seen on treadle machines. I think it used to be a treadle. It might be an early Sears model, from what little I found.

bkay

Here's the link to Google https://www.google.com/search?q=acme+vintage+sewing+machine&tbm=isch&tbo= u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjuwLzPm6DUAhVn6YMKHV 4MD5sQsAQIJQ&biw=1600&bih=765#imgrc=XkUynSx7Nzx2nM :

Yes bkay, that is what I was thinking too for a couple of reasons. She has decals behind the motor. That seems sort of strange. Plus the only info I could find was that Acme was a name used by Sears in the early 1900's??

As far as the tension arrangement is concerned, any idea how to thread her properly? Sure wish she had a manual.

Red down the page to 1887

http://ismacs.net/sears/sears.html

No, I have no idea. I'm not a treadle person yet. Cari-in-oly, Macybaby, Glenn and maybe Mickey2 and leonf are treadle folks. If no one chimes in soon, go to victoriansweatshop.com. Lots of treadle folks hang out there. They will help. They always help me on sewing machine projects.

bkay

According to needlebar.org the Acme name was used by Davis, National, Free and Standard. But the decals and size look like it might be a New Home. http://needlebar.org/cm/thumbnails.php?album=153&page=4 has some "T' machines. According to http://janome.com/siteassets/support...anufacture.pdf it looks like it was made in 1930

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

I agree with Janey and John it looks like a badged New Home. I have several New Homes and this could be a brother or sister.

For threading, it is probably similar to http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/...dventures.html Part of how I threaded my New National can be seen at http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...e-t283436.html Maybe http://needlebar.org/main/manuals/newhome/1index.html will help, too.

If I remember correctly I had some issues with the top tension, but by looking at the machine and the links I was able to get it to sew.


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