My Vintage Machines
 

Hey there!

I'm Seb from France and I have recently developped a passion for vintage and antique sewing machines. I've decided to bite the Bullet and share my machines here

First, a German 1930s Baer & Rempel electified afterwards. It is labelled "Excelsior" because after World War I, German products were not so popular in Europe ;)
I bought it off a charity shop, it is prettyish but I can't seem to be able to make it sew... something to do with the bobbin hook alignement or something...


[ATTACH=CONFIG]607963[/ATTACH]

Secondly (and most importantly for me) I have a 1956 Singer 15b (class 15 built in the French factory). It was my grandmother's sewing machine; she got it as a present on her first Mother's Day in 1957. She has maintained it beautifully over the years and now at age 86 she passed it on to me last Christmas.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]607964[/ATTACH]

I love its vintage 50s look and it works beautifully like new! I only had to change the lightbulb and I think I will soon have to change the belt. Other than this it works perfectly and wonderfully!

Thank you for reading :)

Thanks for sharing your machines with us. Your 15 has a lamp that is not like anything I have seen in the USA. Love the color and the history , too.

Your

I love the art nouveau decals on the Exelsior. You have to let us now more about it. I've noticed some of the old machines are surprisingly nice to work on and very capable. I'm in Norway, and most of the Singers that turn up here are made in Scotland, but a few German and French have turned up.

The closest I have to your 15B, is a beige 201K23. It's a different model but it has something common in the shape of teh body. My 99K had the same cylinder shaped capacitors near the plug as your 15B. They went out with a bang when I was sewing, it's years a go now but I still remember it. Luckily they managed to rewire the machine at a local repair shop, and it has behaved very well since. Be aware, they almost always need replacement on 50 year old machines.

Seb! First of all, welcome! We always like new people, and new people who immediately post pictures are the very most popular of all. Your Excelsior fascinates me, because I have never seen a machine like it, even in pictures. Where does the thread go? I hope you post another picture after you thread it, hint, hint. ;)

Your comment on German goods after the war was also interesting. Here in America, many of us had fathers who were "in the war." They told us various things, but it was still distant from us. Comments like yours remind me again how young America is. We have stories about it, you walk down the street and see bullet marks on the buildings and when you get home, your building might be older than our whole country. It makes my head spin sometimes when I think about it.

Does it have any patent numbers marked on it?

And did you see this site? I use chrome for my browser, and it will automatically translate sites in other languages.
https://www.naehmaschinenverzeichnis...hinen/phoenix/

You may find this of interest. http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/wheeler%20&...n%20No%209.htm

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome :)
The Madpatter The Excelsior fascinates me a bit too! It works so differently from the Singer Class 15... I don't know how to thread it... On a French forum, they gave me a scan of a user manual for an Excelsior machine but it is not the exact same model... Here is my attempt
[ATTACH=CONFIG]608023[/ATTACH]
I do think there is a mechanical problem because the needle thread goes down nicely and the bobbin hool takes it right but it fails to "knot" the bobbin thread... So I end up with either a non existant stitch or a big bunch of thread all around the hook...
Down below: some more pictures of the machine and a picture of the bobbin case and hook...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]608018[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]608019[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]608021[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]608022[/ATTACH]
(The pattent number is under the engine it reads : 1167740)
Thank You for the link! It is the same machine "brand" under a different name :)

Mickey 2 the funny thing about my machine is its double origin: the pattent number says it was built in Scotland but the decal claim "Made in France" and its specific threading makes it definitely a French one too (you thread the needle from right to left). Apparently this specific thing comes from the fact that in 1956 the French Singer factory was not yet equipped to cast aluminum (and my machine is aluminum) so they had the body cast in Scotland while the rest was made in France ;)

leonf thanks for the link :) About the lamp: this sort of lamp is very common on vintage Singer machines in France, much more than the sleek Singerlight!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]608026[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]608027[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]608028[/ATTACH]

Sorry for the superlong post... I hope the admins don't mind

Is this picture detailed enough to help with the top thread?

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CakAA...F0/s-l1600.jpg

It is! Thank you so very much :)