Looking for a Pick and Ship in the Seattle Area...
 

Hey folks,

I just bought an old treadle machine in the Seattle area (35 minutes east of Seattle in Falls City).

I am looking for a person in the area willingto pick it up, take the treadle apart and ship the head and treadle. (I will provide full instructions, cover the materials and shipping of course)

PM me for details if interested.

Steve

You might check with Quality Sewing and Vacuum in Issaquah and see if they know anyone who would do this. There's also a quilt shop in Gilman Village (Gossipium) and they might have some ideas, too. I know Kinko's/FedEx does pack and ship, but I don't know if they do sewing machines.

No way I would let Kinkos pack and ship this, but thanks for the thought.

Looks like we have it covered!!!

I have a QB Member that is picking the machine up today or tomorrow and taking it to Portland.

Then a super nice couple from Treadle On who live in Portland are taking it to the next TOGA event here in the Sacramento area (At Cathy/Mizkaki's place) on the 3rd of October.

Real pics once it is in hand, but here are the CL pics

1867-1870 Franklin (they only made them for 3 years, not sure of the date yet)
Made in New Hampshire.
Similar to the Grover & Baker, it is a two spool double chainstitch machine
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Wow! I've never seen (or even heard of until now) a "two spool double chainstitch machine". I'm so sorry I double booked the day of the TOGA and can't attend this year. Have fun!

Scheduled for pickup today at 2pm... Woo Hoo!!!

Congrats on getting that and finding a safe ride for it. I can't wait to see more and better pictures of it.
Rodney

Neat machine!!

Thank you for sharing it.... :thumbup:

That is a seriously cool machine Steve.

Good to hear you found a safe way to get it. Enjoy!

Yes, I did. monopas was my hero today!!!

These pics are the ones I received tonight after the pickup.

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Is there supposed to be a belt there or is this a very early friction drive?

And to know there will be so many sewing machines around on the day of the Giant Pumpkin Festival...

This is a friction drive!

If anyone was wondering, the water bottle was for scale. Because I was surprised at how small it was when I picked it up.

I'm surprised too. I didn't realize it was that small either without seeing the bottle for scale.
Rodney

I can see why you want it. Super cool machine.

Neat! and great that monopas was able to pick it up for you too!

that is one of the things I love about this group - we are willing to help each other out to get our dream machines home!

Ok - so that is a nice way to say we're a bunch of enablers LOL!! But I think most of us think that is great!

Hmmmm.. Wish I had logged back in sooner, I would have been able to help.... (You could have pm'ed me, Steve) But either way, I'm glad you got it worked out. That IS a wonderful little machine and going where it deserves to be.

Sabine - Thanks, but I would not PM folks before they expressed an interest. (my foible)

I just got the update that the machine is now safe and sound in Portland, awaiting the drive down this way in a couple weeks.

Thanks again to monopas (and her Mom) for all the help and care taken with this old gem

[QUOTE=SteveH;7323471Thanks again to monopas (and her Mom) for all the help and care taken with this old gem[/QUOTE]

I'm new around here but just wanted to comment on how wonderful it is that people are helping each other this way!

I'm in Northern Colorado and although I've found some machines there aren't nearly as many as in other, more populous states. That said, I'm happy to help out if someone needs it in my general vicinity. :-)

Tori

Tori - Welcome. Yeah, the folks on here are really quite something.

I love TOGA's pony express...
and What a great machine to look forward too, well done!

Well folks, The Franklin is HOME!

I really appreciate all of the efforts folks made to help get this machine safe and sound to me.

I got home at about 9:30 last night, so I did not get to do the photo series, but this thing is SO VERY different from any other mechanism that I have seen.

For those familiar with the older "raymond looper" chainstitch mechanism, this is similar but it also moves front to back as well as side to side!

I will be working n it tonight and I will post pics tomorrow

Congrats on getting it home Steve!
Monopas and any others who were involved get Kudos too.
Rodney

Yay! Still very interested to find out what you think (despite the cessation of crazy emails). It is just so tiny!

One of the things a lot of folks are surprised about is the size of the early machines. This machine is small, but not necessarily "really" small in context. The bed size is not too different from my Howe Model A

My initial review shows that nothing seem to be missing or broken. If I added a drive wheel and a needle with set screw, I could probably get it sewing pretty quick.

Mike and Mary (mostly Mike) could not wait for me to get to the TOGA, so they unwrapped the head just to get a look at it.. hehe you really secured the heck out of that, thank you again!!!!

The real issue with a machine as rare as this is, do I clean it or not. Even the gentle "sympathetic" cleaning I try to do, may not necessarily be the best plan for it's preservation. I will look closer tonight, but the small amount of rust/corrosion can be easily removed so it does not get worse, but areas that were painted over, may be better to just leave as is..

Carter Bays lists this as (R/7) (Rare, 7 out of 10 for value) the belief is that there are about 2 or 3 dozen of these left in existence....

Ha! When you first spoke of the pony express, somehow I had a feeling and was going to ask you if Mike and Mary were the ones bringing it to you. Aren't they a great couple?

Cari

This is a beautiful machine. Can you show what the stitch is that it makes? Or find a link to put on here?

I do not have a needle and clamp screw for it yet. I am sure it will sew, once I do.

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here are some detail shots

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Here it is from underneath and behind. You can see where if there was a belt or rubber wheel around the machine drive wheel it would make contact with the flywheel and be operated that way.

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Ahhh early machines... so "uncluttered" underneath
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details of the main mechanism

from behind
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from in front
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I uploaded some LARGE videos to my webserver

We used an old treadle belt with the machine tilted back 90 deg to vertical. Heather pulled the belt slowly while I filmed.

Topside video
http://www.crimsonforge.com/victoria...ide%20view.mp4

Underside from behind mechanism
http://www.crimsonforge.com/victoria...ear%20view.mp4

Underside from in front of mechanism
http://www.crimsonforge.com/victoria...ont%20view.mp4

Steve, what an elegant machine! What is the handle-like part sticking out to the right side?

Dianne in Colorado

that is the upper tension

Here is the upper thread path
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and the lower path
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Thank you, Steve. That thread path is very strange - going away from the needle to start with and then the long run to the left - unique! The W&G threading doubles back on itself, but even then doesn't go to the right of the spool. Fascinating.

My computer wouldn't play your videos, which probably showed this clearly. This 12-year-old Mac also has decided not to access PayPal and other accounts.....so it is finally time for a new one. I'm looking forward to seeing this machine in motion.

Dianne in Colorado

final update:

Though folks would like to see this machine all cleaned up.
NOTE: I did not do the clean and restore on this one. This was done by a professional.

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Stunning......absolutely gorgeous!

What???!!! you didn't. I consider you to be "THE professional" when it comes to cleaning and restoring these fantastic old machines. I'm guessing that you decided to have the "painted over" areas stripped and re-plated? What was done to the original finish to make it look so good? Did you get needle & clamp? It looks like it. Have you sewn with it?

Ditto what Dianne said (Stunning......absolutely gorgeous!) many more adjectives as well. Amazing, Fantastic, Beautiful, Super etc. etc. So glad that you were able to be the one to get it and preserve it in all its glory (and appreciate it for its original purpose). Thank you for sharing with us not only these wonderful machines but knowing and answering questions about how they work.

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

LOL, Thanks. No I am a "dedicated hobbyist", this guy is a full time professional.

So a little history about these machines (as I recall the conversation).
The Franklin company started making these in 1867 and got sued immediately by multiple makers for patent infringement. Franklin lost. So production and shipping of this machine was stopped. In late 1868 they introduced a new "diamond" model that had all of the necessary patent declarations to be legal. it was not a hit anyway and they closed in 1869ish

This is one of the early ones that has NO patent info anywhere on it.

This machine is going to the same museum that my MOP Grover and Baker went to. They have a brick and mortar museum and the proper environment to preserve this exceptionally rare machine. Less than two dozen known to exist)

But if it makes folks feel better, it funded the acquisition of these two....

My #1 most wanted machine (actually a clone of the machine I was hunting for (Singer 46k1)) This specific machine was made in the late 1800's by/for James Moffat of Yeovil England. (a center of Glovemaking "for centuries") This machine was designed to sew ladies gloves

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and one of the ultimate prizes for a collector, a Singer Letter A treadle. The Letter A was the 3rd model of sewing machine made by Singer and his first truly successful sewing machine made.

I just love this photo at ISMACS of a woman in 1911 with her Letter A that she bought in 1860- http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_mach..._letter_a.html

This ones serial number is 137632 The ISMACS database and the Singer online database do not go this far back.... It was made in 1865

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On the one hand, proud to have been a part of the Franklin's journey. On the other hand, ohcrapohcraohcrap, it was in the back of my car and in my garage and I fiddled with it! So glad I didn't break anything.

The restoration guy did a fantastic job. It is almost unrecognizable. And Shiny.

Have a good time with the new machines!