Singer Model 12K Industrial Sewing Machine
Singer 12K industrial strength - sews leather!
ISMACS News 102
March 2011
John Langdon
No, not the outrageous claim of an unscrupulous Ebayer, but a real, live, cylinder bed variant of Singer's New Family domestic; with a top feed (feeding presser foot), on display at the London Sewing Machine Museum. The date suggested was an optimistic 1862, however, the ornamentation is based on the 'acanthus leaves' which suggests closer to the mid-1880s.
It clearly has purpose-made castings and seems to have parts peculiar to both the 12K (belt guard with narrow legs) and 13K (external presser foot lift) and a mighty, flat presser bar spring more usually associated with heavy industrials. Underneath, with no drop feed mechanism to take up space, the shuttle parts fit conveniently within the narrow bed.
While wondering whether this oddity was made by Singer, or by an enterprising workshop, Martin informed me of an almost identical industrial 12k he had seen in the Clydebank Museum collection.
Does anyone know more?
John Langdon
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