Featured German-Made 'Wertheim'-brand, 'PLANET' model VS manual Sewing Machine!

Yes, I apologise, it is a mouthful!

Behold my latest toy:



Manual sewing machine. Made in Germany by the HUGO WERTHEIM company. Beautiful condition and after cleaning, lubrication and adjustment of a few nuts and screws, it's now in sewing condition!

I remain confident that I can also fix the malfunctioning bobbin-winder. It is the machine's only fault.

Apart from that, it comes with a selection of feet, its original lid, four bobbins, one shuttle, the original, green and gold-tinted tin attachments-box, some beautifully intact decals and decorations, and is in excellent working and presentation condition!

Date? About 1890-1930, although my guess is that this is later, between about 1920-1939.



I won this at my local auction house. I was the lowest, and only, bidder! I never expected to win it. In fact, I so not-expected to win it, that when I arrived, I made no provisions for how I'd get the damn thing HOME if I DID win it! In the end, I lugged it four blocks and damn near gave myself a hernia! It might be old, but it ain't light!!

 

I'm happy you didn't!

 

I almost did! I collapsed through the front door when I got home!

 

it looks to have been worth the trouble !

 

Yes! The Wertheim company is pretty famous where I live, so I'm very excited to own this

 

But I'm sure you poured yourself a well-deserved drink in that gorgeous Prussian silver chalice of yours.

 

Hahaha!! Sure AJ, suuuuuure!!

 

For an old sewing machine THAT is beautiful and in PRISTINE condition!!!!!!!!! NICE win!!!!!

 

Thanks, Aquitaine!

Here are some extra/better photographs:



The machine is covered in a thick, black paint-like lacquer which they called Japanning (after Japanese-style lacquer). Japanning was extremely common antique machines - it was the one reliable way to stop the cast iron bodies from rusting. It also allowed artisans to have a smooth, clean, polished surface to decorate.



The steel parts (the various plates, levers and wheels) are plated in nickel, to prevent rusting. One of the plates reads:

"MANUFACTURED IN GERMANY SPECIALLY FOR HUGO WERTHEIM"





Unlike American machines, German machines tended to have offset cranks. I'm not sure why.



One of the many features which make German sewing machines technically superior to American machines of the same era is the little touches and considerations that the manufacturers included in their machines - like the built-in shuttle-launcher, to flip the shuttle out of the race when it came time to change the bobbin!

 

It's beautiful!

I don't think I 've ever seen a SM with a crank.

Nor did I know that one used both a shuttle and a bobbin.

Oh.......it's just coming to me, the bobbin you refer is long and fits inside the shuttle case.

I'm only familiar with round bobbins.

And thinking further, round bobbins fit into round bobbin cases!

A duh moment!

 

I remember a shuttle like that on my mother's old Singer sewing machine. As a child I was fascinated by that little 'spacecraft'.

 

Early sewing machines (from about 1850-1900-ish) all operated using shuttle technology. The term comes from the bobbins and shuttles used in CLOTH MANUFACTURE. Like these:



On old looms, the thread is wound on the bobbin, the bobbin is loaded into the shuttle, the shuttle slides back and forth between the layers of thread which make up the fabric. The warp and the weft.

Forward.

Up-down.

Back.

Up-down.

Forward.

Up-down.

Back.

Up-down.

Back and forth, back and forth, up and down, up and down, and slowly, the fabric is woven into existence.

When folks like Singer were inventing the sewing machine, they took inspiration from the only other machine then in existence, which had anything to do with thread and cloth - looms. They saw that the shuttle moving back and forth between layers of thread could be used to go back and forth between a top thread and a bottom thread, and that this could be used to make a sewing machine.

The first machines using this technology were called TRANSVERSE SHUTTLE machines. These machines directly imitated the back-forth movement of loom shuttles.

Then about the time of the American Civil War, 1855-1860, the more efficient VIBRATING SHUTTLE was developed.

And it stayed like that for the better part of fifty or sixty years.

It didn't change again until about 1880, when round bobbin technology came in, with the Singer 15, and then again, in around 1900/1910, when the drop-in round bobbin came along. But these new technologies had to fight against the shuttle and bobbin, which by then had been used for generations.

Although round bobbin machines were probably easier to use and more effective, shuttle machines continued to be made. Singer didn't stop making vibrating shuttle machines until about 1960! And German manufacturers routinely made vibrating, and even transverse-shuttle machines, right up to WWII...which is saying a lot, because by the 1930s, transverse-shuttle machines were considered antiques, even by the technology of the day!

That's why you have machines like this...



...being made in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. It's essentially a Victorian-era design, but they kept making them purely because they were so reliable. So long as you can find all the necessary parts (bobbins, shuttle etc) - they'll still sew perfectly today.

I use this one...



...for sewing on a regular basis. It works absolutely exactly as it did when it was new...which was in 1936!

Electric machines started coming out in the 1920s, but for various reasons, they didn't catch on. They were expensive (and this was saying a lot - a sewing machine on its own was ALREADY very expensive), most people did not have electricity, and electrical power was not yet standardised.

As a result, most companies continued making hand-crank machines well into the post-WWII era. You can find brand-new 1950s Singers with original hand-crank attachments - and that's exactly how they came out of the factory.

 

The faint colour of the gold-leaf 'Wertheim' decal on the lid was driving me nuts...



I have started to repaint it...



Watch this space!

 

Two hours' CAREFUL painting, and here are the results...

BEFORE:



AFTER:


BEFORE:


AFTER:

 

Hi,
Nice!!!! Do you do counterfeiting of monetary bills also?
greg

 

Absolutely! Send me at least two high-resolution images of the banknote which you require and I'll get back to you in a couple of weeks!

 

You're too funny Greg!

And Shangas, such a wonderful job......you made it look like the day it was made. Beautiful!

 

Thanks Judy, I do try my best!!

 

This is so beautiful, I have one also but not in as good condition and unfortunately missing it’s cover. I would dearly love to restore it but no idea where/how to start. It did work some 20 years ago but not tried since.

 

They're not that difficult to fix. Post some photos and I might be able to help.

That's assuming that you have everything that's required to make it work. If not, then it's an exercise in futility.