The NeedleBar

SURVEY RESULTS


THE CLASS 9W

Singer’s First Rotary Machine for Family Use

by Lin Harris


BACKGROUND / CLASS 9W MODELS / MANUAL DOCUMENTATION
SERIAL NUMBERS / DATING / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BACKGROUND

The Singer Manufacturing Company acquired the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company in late 1905, primarily for their industrial designs. However, they did continue to offer one machine for family use – the Singer class 9W, modeled on the Wheeler and Wilson D9, and Singer’s first rotary household machine.

For some time, until at least 1910, Singer advertised that they offered both Singer and Wheeler and Wilson machines. The following advertising material held by the Smithsonian Institution shows advertising containing both companies’ logos.

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution


This item and scanned item #2718 at the Smithsonian appear to be postcard folios of historical places in Edinburgh and London and both repeat the W&W logo several times. As the London text refers to King Edward VII, seemingly contemporaneously, I would put it at no later than 1910, though they have it as between 1900 and 1919. The information about the Royal Exchange in the same folio refers to “recently installed entrance frescoes.”

Claire Sherwell found these links (1 / 2 / 3) to date these frescoes’ completion to 1906, as the work of an interesting British artist, Frank Brangwyn, providing further evidence that this ad was likely produced by 1910.

I find no evidence of Singer advertisements featuring the sale of Wheeler and Wilson machines after 1910. It is believed that Singer began production of the 9W model with the Celtic decals in 1909, at which point they no longer offered machines badged with the Wheeler and Wilson name.

Picture #20 from scanned item #2720 at the Smithsonian website (below) shows a line drawing advertising a rotary model with the distinctive squared

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

off 9W pillar. This ad is also tentatively dated by SI as between 1900 and 1919 and comes from a postcard folio of New York City’s historical landmarks. However, the Wheeler and Wilson logo does not appear anywhere in this folio, unlike the previous folios.

A review of the available advertising did not turn up any definitive examples of 9W advertising after 1913, at which point I believe Singer quit manufacturing the household 9W models. Further evidence for this theory is provided in the dating section.


CLASS 9W MODELS

The class 9W machine was produced in at least four models – the 9W1, 9W2, 9W7, and 9W8. It is not known what distinguished the 9W8. The 9W2 differs from the 9W1 in that it has a friction drive instead of a belt drive and thus uses a different bobbin winder assembly. (information courtesy of Chrys Gunther).

A scan of a Singer/W&W catalog from eBay showed the 9W2 as a handcrank version, but it was too poor to reproduce here

The 9W1 and 9W7 differ from each other in their bobbin cases, bobbins, and slide plates. The 9W7 takes a solid, bagel shaped bobbin, similar to the W&W 9. In fact, it is reported that the later W&W 9 bobbin will work in the 9W7, but not the 9W1.

The 9W1 bobbin has a number of holes in it, similar to a class 221 or featherweight bobbin but slightly wider. “They appear to be machine turned in a lathe not like the 221 which is pressed together. The outside diameter and center hole is the same as the 221 but it is about .006 thicker side to side.” (information courtesy of Bob Ptacek)

It is reported that the 9w1 will accept a featherweight bobbin, but the 9w7 will not.

The differences in serial numbers for the slide plates and bobbin cases are as follows:

Slide plates:
W&W9 - 202143 (other respondents reported also 202206)
9W1 - 208737 or 204177
9W7 – 208799

Bobbin Cases:
208811 - Singer 9W7 (has latch)
202145 - Singer 9W1, W&W D9 (has latch)
202192 - W&W 9, old style (no latch) (other respondents reported also 202054 and 202063)

(information courtesy of Chrys Gunther)


MANUAL DOCUMENTATION

The earliest manual found in this survey for the Singer 9W7, was form 835w, “issued” on 11/20/09. An attachments manual, form 885w supersedes 848w of 7/1/09.

The earliest manual identified for the class 9W (9W1) is form 1034w, with dates of 2/10/15, and revised May, 1921. A 9W1 manual with an issue date has not been located.

It is tempting to theorize that the 9W7 was the first model, based on its use of the W&W 9 type bobbin, the serial numbers reported, and the manual dating; however, that is not consistent with Singer numbering for model variants or with the number sequence of the bobbin cases. Perhaps earlier class 9W (9W1) manuals will come to light.


SERIAL NUMBERS

In terms of the serial numbers reported, they fell into two categories – Wheeler and Wilson-based seven digit numbers with no letters, and Singer based five digit numbers preceded by the letter W.

The W-prefixed machines were clearly in the minority, with only four reports.

Typically, Singer used the W-prefixed numbers for their industrial line, but these are definitely household use 9Ws. Of the W-prefixed machines all but one have the bobbins with the holes in the side, as in the 9W1 machines.

I have no theories as of yet to account for this minority class of serial numbers. It was further reported that some Singer 306s and 319s also had W-prefixed serial numbers. Apparently these machines were made at the Bridgeport, Conn. plant taken over from W&W.

One example of a W-prefixed 9W may be viewed here (courtesy Jay K. Bell)

The majority of machines reported, both 9W1 and 9W7, used the Wheeler and Wilson-based serial numbers. The earliest reliable reported number is unkown. I have not been able to figure out how to identify at what serial number range Singer began production of the W&W9 as a D9 with the W&W logo.

It was suggested that the slightly longer bed of the Singer 9Ws might also appear on D9s made by them, but I was not able to find any machines with the W&W logo and longer Singer bed, 7 x 14 ¾” as opposed to 6 ½ x 14”.


Of machines reported under the 3 million range, all reported as D9s with the Wheeler and Wilson logo, except for the survey photo, (now thought to be a later repaint), and one unverifiable report of a Celtic-decaled machine in the late 2 million range

All other machines reported fell into the 3 million to 3,250,000 range.

The latest reliable reported serial number is 3210059. The most commonly reported serial numbers lay in the 3,190,000 – 3,200,000 range.

The latest reported 9W7 is 3155936. All machines with this or lower serial numbers reported as 9W7s.

The earliest reported 9W1 is 3168315. All subsequent serial numbers are reported as 9W1s.

The first reliably reported instance of the use of the Celtic decals is with the first number reported in the three million range, 3100497, and thereafter all machines but one report that decal (see dating section for details of that machine).

The survey questions about reverse feed and the material used for the case top did not yield any useful information. The reverse question was there because of a website mention of a 9W7 manual which had that in its summary. However, no machines reported having reverse and further research into this manual proves that it was an error in summary. The question about the material used for the case top came from a report of the early takeover machine having a leather covered case top, but no other reports of that surfaced in a 9W model.

The survey question about the drive used for these machines did yield some interesting results. All manual copies I have been able to locate show only treadle models and all survey results were for treadle machines except for one, a handcrank with a 3155936 serial number which was reported from the U.K. No electric machines were reported.

Courtesy of Martin Hayton

An interesting detail about the above handcrank is that it says “Singer Manufacturing Company, USA” on the top of the arm instead of the more usual “Singer Manufacturing Company.” I only had one other report of a model with the “USA” addition and it was for serial number 3199292 which, while not a handcrank, did report “2 little screw holes on the side under the hand wheel and also an indentation - it seem like a set up for adding a hand crank to the machine. This machine came to me in a treadle.”

Courtesy of Marilyn Mattfeld

Two other survey follow-ups revealed similar findings, in a W-prefixed and a high end 7 digit serial number respectively. It would be nice if these handcrank mountings were conveniently located only on machines with the “USA” addition to the arm decal; however, that is not the case.

Given that machines with this “USA” addition are scattered from the 3,150,000 to the 3,190,000 ranges, with intervening models not including it, it seems likely that it indicates not a time of manufacture but rather a place. However, I have no further information that might aid in speculating as to which factory it may refer.


DATING

The question most frequently asked is when a 9W machine might have been made, so following are my theories on the serial numbers reported related to their possible manufacture dates.

Note: The rotary model 115 came out in 1912. It was advertised in a 1913 instruction book as being Singer’s “first full rotary of note” according to the Sincere history.

Charles Law’s Encyclopedia of Antique Sewing Machines states that Singer began decaling the W&W D9 machines as Celtic 9Ws in 1909 and may have continued until about 1924, though “some sources claim it was [only] manufactured into the 1910s.” The ISMACS site has all the 9W7 serial numbers as assigned from 1909 1913. Prior to 1909, as already noted, Singer continued production of the D9 under the W&W name.

As 9Ws, they bear the Singer logo and Celtic Knot decals. Also, the position of the serial numbers changes from being on a plate to the right of the feeddogs on the W&W-logo D9s to being on the rear of the pillar on the Singer-logo 9Ws

Courtesy of Katherine Haviland

Courtesy of Katherine Haviland

The latest serial number reported for a D9 is 3110008, the machine illustrated here which came with Singer layaway coupons dated to 1910. The earliest D9 that can be attributed to Singer production is not yet possible to determine.

Courtesy of Katherine Haviland

The survey photo included a Singer logo 9W, with an unknown decal set and inner bedplate patent date of 1905, it was thought. However, its very early serial number, (2395357) unusual decals, and the font of the “R” in Singer caught the editorial eye of participants in a first review. We discovered, with the owner’s help, that it was indeed a later repaint, with evidence of paint on at least one screw, and the dating obscured enough to be instead the 1885 date other respondents reported for machines in that serial number range. It was thought that this was an early Singer D9, and could give a serial number range or reference for their beginning production of D9s, but it turned out not to be so. If true, it would have left some 600,000 D9s unaccounted for in just the 1905-09 time period, which is clearly far more than the number produced overall for 9Ws.

It was suggested that Singer (who already allocated their 2 million range serial numbers in the late 1870s) may have also used the 2 million range W&W serial numbers to identify industrial machines, like this one illustrated from Mark Rofini’s site.


However, despite inquiries, I was not able to document any late 2 million series W&W numbers on industrial machines. So, the serial numbers at the start of Singer production of W&W D9 machines remains a mystery for now.

The first reported Singer 9W number is 31004997, nearly 10,000 serial numbers earlier than the last W&W decaled D9 we have, sold in 1910. Somewhere in this range of 10,000 numbers the decals and badge name changed, and it is presumed that it was in 1909.

The survey identified a range of 9W serial numbers from 3,100,000 to 3,220,000, or only 120,000 machines. If the 9W was indeed manufactured into 1924, that is just under 7,000 machines per year on average, or less than ¼ of 1% of the reported 2 ½ million machines sold by Singer in 1913 (Sincere).

Again, we are looking at only 120,000 9Ws. I think it’s reasonable to assume that Singer would not keep this machine in production for another ten years beyond its 0.025% market share performance in 1913 (after five years of production as the 9W and more as the D9.) Why they would continue to publish and revise the manual for eight years beyond that, I can’t entirely account for, other than to support that line. After all, Viking hasn’t made my current machine in several years, but I can still buy the manual and parts.

If my theory is correct, that 9W production ceased in 1913, then production is estimated at 25,000 machines on average per year from 1909-1913 and your 9W would thus date roughly as:

Year
Serial Numbers
1909
3,100000 - 3,125,000
1910
3,125,001 - 3,150,000
1911
3,150,001 - 3,175,000
1912
3,175,001 - 3,200,000
1913
3,200,001 - 3,225,000

Machines with a serial number of 3,160,000 and above are presumed to be 9W1s, with the featherweight type bobbin. Machines with lower serial numbers are presumed to be 9W7s with the solid or later W&W 9 type bobbin.

As to when the W-prefixed machines may have been manufactured, Chrys Gunther kindly provided evidence of a W2,000 numbered industrial machine which appears in a 1913 industrial manual. The few W-prefixed 5 digit serial numbers reported on 9Ws were in the 70,000 range, along with one unverifiable report in the 50,000 range. I think it at least likely that the line drawing was produced a year or more earlier than the manual date and I don’t think it too unlikely that Singer manufactured 70,000 industrial machines overall in a space of just a year or two. All I can conclude is that the W prefixed 9Ws are clearly at the latter end of the production range wherever that is ultimately decided to be!

Lastly, I am curious about these early bobbins with the holes in them. I would think the purpose of extra holes was for easy identification by the salespeople and customers. Perhaps what started as a way to make rotary bobbins easily identifiable from class 66 bobbins was transferred into an easy way to tell class 15 from class 66 bobbins, as we have them today. Still, all 115 models and the early 15 models used solid bobbins, so the date and reason for this small change is unclear but fun to speculate about.

For those interested in further research on this topic, I have found that there are records available at the Hagley Library and Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. Here's part of their abstract.

"The largest file is devoted to trademark registrations for all the countries in which Singer sold its products, plus U.S. and Canadian registrations for the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company. A patent file covers sewing machine improvements from 1860 to 1932. An album of decals displays the elaborate lettering and figurative designs applied to the machines."

In addition, records of Singer’s purchase of W&W can be found in the Singer archives that are stored at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin 816 State St. Madison, WI 53706 phone 608-264-6400 (information courtesy of Chrys Gunther)


Those with further or conflicting evidence should please send it to threadangel@yahoo.com


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lastly, I would like to thank all of those who participated in this survey and especially those who helped with extended follow up questions and/or provided pictures, measurements, and manual copies. Special thanks to Jay K. Bell, Martin Hayton, Katherine Haviland, Dawn Hribar, Cindy Johnson, Marilyn Mattfeld, Jomarie Monsorno, Rondya Stevenson, and Linda Winkens.

Chrys Gunther not only provided many facts and figures but also patiently reviewed early theories and answered endless questions. Claire Sherwell saved me from more than one error due to her excellent editorial eye, and also provided historical research.

Finally, this was only possible due to Alan Quinn’s tireless encouragement of research and his computer magic in formatting the survey forms and results.

Any errors of fact or theory are mine.


© Lin Harris 2003. All Rights Reserved
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