Can anyone give me any information on this piece?

I recently discovered this item while I was looking for something else that I continue to look for. HaHa! All was not lost in my search since I did find this piece. I asked my mother what, where and whom it might have come from but she didn’t know very much about it. She’s not exactly sure where it came from other than it might have been my grandfather’s. After our family’s days of sharecropping we’re done he went on to work as an electrician and later machinist in the textile industry at Avondale Mills. This is where I thought this item may have been acquired but it looks older than what he would’ve worked with at that time. It looks to be a sewing machine of some kind. I’m just hoping to restore the story of this piece & it’s attachment to my family so it’s never lost again. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

No expert but it looks like a belt driven factory sewing machine for inline stitching. Think they have made that general shape model for a hundred years or so but it could be a Victorian era model.

 

Looks like a pretty old sewing machine, I think....you don't see any markings whatsoever??? Even underside??

@Bamazon Chantz, I enlarged and played with the curved side with the "needle" area on the left...lightened, contrasted, etc....if the machine has old paint on it, which it looks like it does, it could be hiding old lettering.....I've circled in RED where I think I'm seeing some/a few letters.....especially the two areas to the right, but you have it in hand....maybe you can look closer or see if there's old paint hiding letters.

 

I would have a look at http://www.dincum.com/imagelibraryindex.html

 

maybe for leather shoes...........

 

I think it is mid to late 1800s - possibly industrial.




There are some similar to yours scattered through here.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...ne&form=QBIR&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover

 

Perhaps some of the tool people might be able to help?
@tmc, @springfld.arsenal

 

I keep looking at the plate wondering why the odd shape.

 

I believe it is (the remains of) a chain stitch sewing machine made by Grant Brothers, about 1870.

https://www.pinterest.ru/pin/153122456055796125/


https://www.naehmaschine-antik.de/us-grant-brothers.html

 

taken from - The Sewing Machine: Its Invention and Development, by Grace Rogers Cooper. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976. pg.90.

 

yes, we're just that good !!!

good call 2MB !!

 

Something stirring in my suppressed genetic memory says it was for a saddle and harness-maker's shop. Thus the under-feed, to accommodate bulky leather pieces.

 

i was thinking leather also..

 

Although it looks industrial in its current state, based on the tape measure I think it is too small to have been intended for use on leather.