A question about West German /Free/New Home/ New Royal/Climax zig-zag.
 

So this one got away from me while I wasn't paying close enough attention, at local Eugene ShopGoodWill
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Not a very good cut and paste but it's from a scan of the Milwaukee Journal of Jan 21, 1953 for a New Royal zig-zag. [ATTACH=CONFIG]482445[/ATTACH]
From what little I can make out, they look the same. I just read somewhere that there was a joint venture between Free and ?? in Germany to produce a zig zag machine. So other than holding a hankie for me over the one that slipped away, who can tell me some more about this. Ironically, I wound up with over 120 needles that may be for this machine,The needles have no flats, are type 16X87 are 1.5" long, .064" dia shank, and 1.36 from the top to the center of the eye. A regular 15X1 needle is pretty close to the same except with a flat and a shank about .080" except where the flat is, it's also .064" thick. Somewhere someone is trying to put a 15X1 where it might not go as well....Was this family of machines built by Pfaff?

Jim,

This might be the Anker RZ. It probably takes the DBx1 needle. The 16x87 is basically the same, but if I remember correctly the 16x87 does not have a scarf. Needles are usually measured in mm and from the top of the shank to the top of the eye. The middle of the eye measurement will cause confusion when used with any established charts.

And you are correct that the 15x1 one is about the same. The 15x1 and the DBx1 type are all the same length (to the eye). The 15x1 has a flat and the DBx1 doesn't. The diameter of the shank can also be different. The 15x1 is usually 2.02mm and the industrial DBx1 style can have shanks the are the same or smaller.

How this helps some.

I was watching that one on GW too. Didn't have the $$$$$$ to bid though. It would have been an interesting machine.

Joe

Thanks for the info. I noticed they don't have a scarf. Would that be to make them stronger? I see that the needles 16X87 are pretty inexpensively available on ebay. I'm still curious to see a picture of either the Free New Royal or Climax zig-zag machine. I searched and couldn't find any. Anyone have one stored in their pic files?

Oh look at that little sweetie pie Greyhound! I don't know much about this one but just wanted to oohh & aahh.

I know, huh. I was the 1st bid and got to $30, but went for my afterwork hike, and then forgot to check back in time.. :-(

Jim,

Originally sewing machine needles did not have a scarf. The scarf was added when it was found that the hook needed to be closer to the needle to prevent skipped stitches such as in the zig zag machines. The hook was already close to the needle, but with ZZ stitches the thread loop is sometimes not large enough to always be caught by the hook. Remember that in zig zag stitching the hook catches the loop either on the far right or far left when the needle has risen a bit more and has now has a reduced the loop size. With staight stitching the loop is caught in the middle when the loop is at it's largest. So a scarf which is actually a 'cut out' area of the needle allows the hook to be more likely to not miss the loop.

Confused? Iknow I was when I was first learning all this.

That makes sense! Thanks, I wonder if the zig zags that used that needle, skipped stitches much. So did the earlier versions of the 15X1 needle, not have a scarf? Have you ever run across a Free New Royal or Climax zig-zag? or even a picture.

If set up properly they won't skip stitches at all. Yes, the 15x1 needles originally did not have a scraf. I save all my non-scarfed needles for straight stitch machines. I haven't ever seen a Free New Royal or Climax zig-zag machine, but I have a Adler version of this. It was just given to me this week. HEAVY machine, but beautiful. My new one has a disintegrated face/cover over the stitch width area. Not sure how to even approach that problem. OH well I'll deal with that another day.

I was given this by a older lady at work. No manual but it makes a great satin stitch for applique. Badge says made in west Germany but base of machine says NHSM CO. Belvedere IL USA. Type JZ. Middle plate shows 16x87 for neele