Singer numbering system question
 

Can someone please explain the number system ie: 201/301/404 etc????? I have a 1913 Red Eye 66, and I know about the website that shows you based on your serial # what date etc....

I think everyone would like to know the system but I doubt there was one, unless "what number sounds good on this machine?" can be considered a system.

Probably would have to check out the history of the machines. I would go to wait for one of the members or pm one of them and ask about the history.

This is a good place to read

http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_mach...ist/index.html

Click on the link at the top and scroll down and you can read snippets about some of the models - and also see that for the most part, there is not a lot of rhythm or reason behind the number system. Some times there is similarly- the 28 is the 3/4 version of the 27, and the 127/128 are updated versions of the 27/28. But the 99 is the 3/4 size of the 66. The also used 15 for both industrial and domestic machines - And the updates to both kept the same model number and changed the suffix.

I don't think there as any overall plan to Singer's numbers.

Good question. I've wondered that too. From here it doesn't seem to have much rhyme or reason. Especially later when you have things like the 237 being made after the 400 series for instance.
Rodney

I think they may have just thrown darts at a line of numbers. "We'll call this one a ..." Plonk, plonk, plonk "...201! And this one will be...." plonk, *miss*, plonk "....a 99!"

They really don't make sense. I came across reference to a Singer 502 and thought it was either a typo and they meant 503, or maybe a Rocketeer I'd never seen. So I Googled it and the 502 is a Singer machine, but it looks nothing like the Rocketeers.

So:
500A = Rocketeer (and why the "A"?)
501 = ?? Google doesn't seem to be sure if these exist, I get hits but they're 301's, 401's, or 503's that come up
502 = Exists but definitely not a Rocketeer
503 = Rocketeer again!

Yep. I'm thinking darts.

Sewnoma - the A stands for Anderson - the plant it was made. Just as the K has always stood for Kilbowe (hope I got spelling correct).

Those made at Elizabethport did not have a letter, and Singer started with the A around the time the 301's came out - though there are early ones with no "A"

Singer most certainly jumped around in the number sequence, and who knows why they did the 101,201,301,401, and then used 500. With all of those, the x01 is the high end, and the 403, 404 and 503 are the same model with less features. And most of the time they kept the model number and gave updates a new suffix, until they got into the T&S group made after the Rocketeer.

And to confuse it more, the industrial model numbers are intermixed with the domestic -

So it's fun to learn about - but there appears no logical reason for most of the numbers. I find the 66/99 the funniest one.

Someone high up at the Singer plant must have been bad at math.

Fictional Singer Executive: There are too many 15s and customers are getting confused. Next time we will skip ahead a few numbers and leave empty ones in the middle instead of this 15-28 15-29 15-30 nonsense. Jump ahead one hundred and set aside 115 for a domestic model.
Fictional Singer Dictation Taker: Yes, sir. *writes*
Fictional Singer Executive: And jump ahead fifty and set aside 66 also.
Fictional Singer Dictation Taker: Sixty-six, sir?
...
Fictional Singer Executive: We want the customers to understand that this model is just like their 66 but two thirds the size. So we will call it the 99. Two thirds, see?
Fictional Singer Dictation Taker: Model forty-four, yes sir. . .
Fictional Singer Executive: No, no, two-thirds of sixty-six.
Fictional Singer Dictation Taker: *sigh* Model ninety-nine, sir.
...
Fictional Singer Executive: No, we are done with this sub model number nonsense. New feature, new model. Ninety-nine with reverse will be twice as useful as the original, so it will have double the number.
Fictional Singer Dictation Taker: *waits...*
Fictional Singer Executive: It will come to me. . .carry the one. . .no, carry the eight. . .Model 185.

They celebrated early when coming out with new models and the drunkest executive got to pick the number!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Quincunx, your story is good, too.

Well remember all the brouhaha about that Singer FW replica or what ever it was supposed to be??? Well if you missed it there is one on shopgoodwill in Nashville. Throw a couple more darts.