My early Christmas present Minnesota B treadle
 

Saw this one on CL a couple of weeks ago, my DH says would you like this for Christmas, heck yes!

Meet Florence, named after my grandmother who was from Minnesota. She is fairly clean, runs well, has a load of accessories, bobbins and needles, but no manual.

Does anyone know the age? Serial number is D1484139 on the slide plate I think it may be a Davis sold by Sears?

Any info would be welcome...

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Sorry, don't know why my pictures are so big, that usually is not the case.

what a nice looking machine. beautiful cabinet. you will enjoy working with that.

Beautiful machine and cabinet. The "B" was made from roughly 1904-1909, yours is closer to the 1909. The "B" is a Davis model G and was precedented by "Burdick" and replaced by "Minnesota S". I always enjoy pics of old needle packs and the "Davis Long" (2" long) is the proper needle. Very nice Christmas present.

Jon

Yep, that's a Davis made Minnesota Model B as sold by Sears Boruck and Co. The notes in my record sheet for mine says they were made between 1902 and 1909.
Ah, I see Jon beat me to the posting. :)

Your DH did a good job finding that one.

I see you have some needles, that's good cos they take an oldie. The needles are: Davis Long or a Boye #10. The industrial MTx190 can be substituted but you'll have to orient the needle yourself as it's a round shank.

My Minnesota B was converted from treadle to electric eons ago and put in a home made base. Should I ever come across a treadle cabinet that fits, I'll put her back to treadle.

Here's a couple of oiling tips.
Under the front slide plate there is a large hole just to the left of the arched wall the shuttle rides against, about an inch in from the front of the machine. That should have a felt wad in it and it is an oil hole. There is a tiny cross drilled hole to the wall to lubricate the shuttle as it passes back and forth. You'll probably have to clean the big hold and the tiny cross hole out and put in some new felt. The one in my machine was a solidified mass and the cross hole was plugged.
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There's another hole just about an inch away from the needle plate, that is also an oil hole.
And there is a hole near the silver stud just to the left of the pillar base to oil the pivot for the shuttle arm.

Lots of places to oil these old ladies.

Joe

Thanks for the quick replies Jon and Joe! It looks like someone knew how to take care of this old lady at some point because the felt wick you show looks new but needs oil. The oil holes need to be cleaned out before I add oil but everything seems to move smoothly.

It looks like the bobbin winder runs off the belt? It lines up with the belt not the handwheel and has no rubber tire.

Someone replaced the cabinet hinges, but left 2 of the originals, maybe the 3rd one was broken or there were only 2 originally? The top of the cabinet is somewhat damaged, but looks like solid wood not veneer so I think it can be restored with sanding and new finish.

Here's a Davis manual for a similar model

Thank you!!

Jon,



Thanks, it does help having a manual to read.



Joe

Well hello from MN!!!

Kathy, that's a beautiful machine and the cabinet is spectacular! I'm glad Jon sent you a manual -- the only place I knew of to get one is at Relics and they're not free! Ask me how I know -- I downloaded one for my cousin's machine I'm working on!

Congrats on your machine!

Jeanette

Joe, thank you for your oiling instructions. I had forgotten about the felt "wick" -- it was missing from the Minnesota A I'm working on for my cousin -- I didn't have any proper felt, but I used a couple of thicknesses of cotton batting which worked very well! Thanks.

Jeanette

I love reading about these old machines, but some of the posts have term with which I am not familiar. Someday I might learn what all these things mean. I'm learning a lot here. Thanks everybody.

The best chance of that happening it to ask what they mean. Really really, we like questions. The only "dumb" question is the one that you do not ask, so by asking the question it is automatically no longer dumb... hehe

Jeanette, I have tons of felt. My wife and I use it for lots of things. I just took a scrap and rolled it into a small roll then cut it to length and pushed it down into the hole. Poured it full of oil and started sewing. Most any material that will hold the oil but allow it to seep out through the hole should work fine though. Joe

I found what looked like a piece of cigarette filter in one machine. It appeared to have worked just fine.

CD in Oklahoma

Kathy,
Merry Xmas! What a lovely gift and I am sure you will have lots of fun with her. The cabinet is spectacular and I am amazed at your luck in getting so many "extras". Kudos to your husband!

That is pretty, pretty, pretty...Merry Christmas ...what does DH get??

Joe, the cotton batting I had seems to have worked. The machine is quieter than it was, although it was far from noisy! I had completely forgotten about this wick -- Especially since there was nothing in the orifice where the wick is supposed to be! Anyway, thanks for the tips, all of you -- they're appreciated greatly!

Jeanette

Well, I re-read the part about the drilled hole and the cross drilled hole and figured it out and why it would be there. My 128 had what looked like lint in that hole. I don't have the machine here right now, but I will fill it with felt or batt.
The treadle machine that I just got has the needle with just a round shaft, so I have to figure out which way to orient it. I don't like that, but if it gets fixed, it may work better than it did the last time I used it.

And thanks everybody for all the good information.

CD,

A cigarette filter .... that's a good one. We don't smoke and the thought of using the filter medium as a oil reservoir wick would have never occurred to me. But you're right, it should work great.

Joe

Several of my VS machines have that oil place. The Minnesota B, Free, 127, Franklin 1911, and maybe one more. It took me a while to figure out what that was for. It came to me as I was thoroughly cleaning one of the machines and I dug out all the old oil medium and gunk and found that tiny cross hole. I forget which machine that was in. Then later I read about oiling that place in one of the manuals I have. Light bulb time. Now every time I use those machines I oil that spot and they do run quieter. It will also prevent wear to the shuttle.
For the machines without that feature, I put a drop of oil on the arched wall the shuttle runs against every so often.

Joe

I finally had time to oil Miss Florence and try treadling for the first time! She runs very quietly, but I still need to practice my treadling technique awhile before threading her up to sew. Every time I thought, ok I am getting the hang of this, I would falter and she would turn backwards :o