THE NEEDLEBAR

Manufacture Dates of Machines made by the Standard Sewing Machine Company

1891 - 1917

by Mariann Johnston


The Standard Sewing Machine Company began in 1884 and was sited in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States. Standard was taken over by the Osann company in 1929, which in turn was acquired by Singer in the early 1930's.

Serial Numbers-
Year of Manufacture
Notes

88750 - 130750

130751 - 177750

177751 - 224750

224751 - 271750

271751 - 318750

318751 - 365750

365751 - 412750

412751 - 459750

459751 - 506750

506751 - 553750

553751 - 588750

588751 - 623750

623751 - 658750

658751 - 693750

693751 - 728750

728751 - 763750

763751 - 807750

807751 - 851750

851751 - 895750

895751 - 939750

939751 - 983750

983751 - 1027750

1027751 - 1071750

1071751 - 1115750

1115751 - 1192750

1192751 - 1269750

1269751 - 1346750

1891

1892

1893

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

1908

1909

1910

1911

1912

1913

1914

1915

1916

1917

 

NOTES

Serial Numbers appear to be continuous, regardless of machine mechanism (rotary or vs), class and badge.

In addition to the serial number there may be an alphabetic character (P, V, N, A, C) at the end of the number. This seems to be restricted to the VS mechanism machines, and is a way of signifying what CLASS of machine it is -- P=Paragon, V=Standard Vibrating Shuttle, N=Norwood, A=Arrow, C=Cleveland, etc..

Therefore a Badged Machine such as a 'May Co. Special' or 'Minnesota L', both Norwood class machines, will have serial numbers like 1100000N. Or a 'Dundee', which was a Cleveland class machine, will have a serial number like 1230000C.

There are some slim model machines with 1904-1905 patent dates sold in the 1910 - 1919 period. However, their serial numbers and the few documented dates I have also suggest that these machines were in fact manufactured in the mid 19-teens . . . I surmise that perhaps an unused stock of these machines/parts 'resurfaced' for whatever reason, and were manufactured and sold at that time.

In order to refine this dating schematic I need to know about machines that have either (1) documentation showing a purchase date EARLIER than the estimated date shown above, or (2) a patent date LATER than the estimated date shown above.

Please note that I have no documentation for pre-1891 or post-1917, so I did not feel comfortable creating estimates for before or after those dates.

If you have any information to add about Standard sewing machines, please let me know at: nbforum@btinternet.com

Mariann


© Mariann Johnston 2005. All Rights Reserved

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