Agenoria Serial No. Made by The Franklin Sewing Machine Company, Franklin Works, Park Road, Birmingham. Following the dissolution of the partnership of Cole, Maxfield & Co., Park Road, Birmingham which had been formed by Richard Wood, Arthur Maxfield and Isaac Cole the Franklin Sewing Machine. Collectors, such as Berzack, collect antique treadles through the 1940s but focus on those produced before 1900. Some manufacturers, such as Singer, have extensive records about their serial numbers after 1870. The White Sewing Machine Company, a major rival to.
Although Elias Howe had patented the lock stitch sewing machine in 1846 initially there was little interest in this new invention. Gradually though a small number of firms started to produce primative sewing machines and later the American courts decided many of the machines produced infringed Elias Howe's Patent.
Following various legal disputes the owners of the most important patents formed the Sewing Machine Combination in 1856 to jointly licence the use of their patents, from then on America developed a thriving sewing machine manufacturing industry.
Many companies remained small and only made sewing machines for relatively short periods before disappearing sometimes leaving only a name or machine to history.
Our aim is to establish a comprehensive list of American Sewing Machine Manufacturers, the machines made and dates of production. This is not straight forward, some early sewing machines were named after the Patent used rather than the Company which produced the machine, names of defunct companies were reused years later, and there were an enormous number of machines labelled for retailers! Concequently it is not our intention to list labelled machines.
The list provided below is in its infancy and will be updated as and when new information becomes available to us.
PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this web page is the COPYRIGHT of David G. Best it MAY NOT be reproduced nor used for commercial gain without my express written consent.
If you come across a period advertisement, instruction manual, price list etc (dated or not) this may provide further information which would help enhance the accuracy of this list and we would be grateful if you could let us have a copy.
Alex has spent a lifetime in the sewing industry and is considered one of the foremost experts of pioneering machines and their inventors. He has written extensively for trade magazines, radio, television, books and publications world wide. You may have seen him on The Great British Sewing Bee or How The Victorians Built Britain.
The simple guide to dating your early Singer sewing machines.
(Where your Singer has two serial numbers always choose the larger of the two to date your machine)
Singer machine serial number dating Guide
(Brace yourself it's tricky!)
Please note this is only a guide, not gospel! Some people mail me to say they have a receipt from 1950 so how could my guide have their machine as made in 1948 or 1949? Let me explain. The production runs at factories like Kilbowie were complex and long. The castings were marked with the serial number during manufacture. The machines were miles from completion, packing and delivery. Then there is delivery to the depot, storage, sales to the shop, and eventually sales to the customer.White Sewing Machine Serial Number
These factors all effect the purchase/receipt date, but not the date of manufacture.
For example during WW2 it is a well know fact the Singers were making guns and bullets as well as sewing machines. Only when they could spare the time would they continue with sewing machine production. I have come across a woman who bought her machine brand new in 1946 yet the casting was clearly made in 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII. During World War Two Singer had back orders for over three millions machines!
Now to the dating
All Singers up until 1900 have no letter prefix and came from several factories around the world. The company cleverly managed their production from all factories to coincide with the serial number flow. If you fancy a read on the collapse of Singer in Britain have a go at End of Empire.
Franklin Sewing Machine Serial Numbers
Why two serial numbers?
Very early Singers from the 1850's up until the start of prefix letters in 1900 had two serial numbers. There is a lot of controversy over why there were two lots of numbers. The most likely answer is that the larger number was the total number of machines produced by Singers when they only had a few factories and could keep up with, and control, the production output from Britain and America. They would order machines in batches say, 1,000 or 10,000 from Kilbowie, Elizabethport and elsewhere. The lower number may be the total production/batch run of that particular model range, the larger the overall total number of Singer machines made.
Singers have never manage to shed light on these two numbers!
Note: when two serial numbers are on the machine use the larger of the serial numbers.
Anyway here goes nothing. I do hope you find it useful.
Note:
Standard Sewing Machine Serial Numbers
On pre-1900 Singer machines if there are two serial numbers, always use the higher, longer, larger, serial number of the two to date your machine.