Hello everyone! Recently I acquired another 1919 Singer 66 Red Eye in a No. 30 Library Table. I was originally shown the advertisement on Facebook Marketplace by my friend Jim. The machine/table was located in West Chicago and was originally listed for more than I wanted to pay. As I often do, I patiently waited and watched the ad. Waiting sometimes can pay off and sometimes can leave you disappointed. This time it ended up good for me but it was quite an adventure for both the sewing machine, me, and others. Let me explain.
After a few weeks of watching, the price dropped (still more than I wanted to pay). So I continued to watch. After another few weeks the priced dropped again to a price that was more within my range. I contacted the owner and after some negotiation we agreed on a final price. Here are the pictures from the ad.
Now the question was how to get the machine and cabinet from West Chicago to Western PA. I am active on several sewing machine forums and I was able to find a friend (John) from the Victorian Sweatshop who was willing to go pick up the machine for me. John harbored it until I could travel to Illinois to pick it up. The seller and I worked out a day/time and John successfully completed the transaction. John is also a sewing machine collector so I knew the machine/cabinet would be in good hands. It's funny because the during time that John housed the machine, his wife (Peggy) fell in love with it and was threatening not to let it go! I think it's great that they really appreciated the machine's significance and beauty.
I was ready and willing to make the drive to Illinois to pick up the machine. My mother and sister live in Indiana so I was planning to stop there to break the trip up since it's about 9 hours to drive from my house to John's house. But at this time covid was running rampant so I was trying to figure out alternative ways to get the machine to Western PA. I'm a member of the Sewing Machine Underground Railroad Facebook group so I put a post out asking if anyone was traveling from Chicago to Western PA. Luckily, I got a reply from a very nice young lady (Monica) who was planning to drive from Milwaukee to Columbus OH and offered to transport it that distance. After some planning, John agreed to meet Monica at a location right off the highway as she passed by on her way to Columbus. I then drove to Columbus (which is only 3 hours away) to meet Monica to receive the machine. I have to thank John, Peggy, and Monica for helping me acquire this sewing machine. It's amazing to me how wonderful the sewing community really is and how willing people are to help!
This cabinet is basically the same as the other No. 30 Library Tables that I own but this one is complete with the treadle wheel, pitman arm, and swing away motor. It also has the original oak finish but does not have the mission style slats between the front and back legs. The cabinet is in really good condition but it did have a few places where the veneer was chipped. Luckily, I was able to successfully get it glued back down to try to avoid future chipping. The wiring was also in good shape except for the power cord, motor lead, and rheostat. The power cord and the motor lead wiring was replaced with reproduction cloth covered wire. Since I had to take apart the motor to replace the lead I decided to rebuild/clean the entire motor. The rheostat was generally in good shape except that the insulation had crumbled off exposing the winding. The rheostat still worked so I decided to attempt to salvage it. As a solution, I painted liquid electrical tape over the windings. This provided a protective, insulative coating over the windings. The rheostat arm was removed, cleaned, then reassembled. Below are pictures of the results of the rheostat after it was completed.
All metal parts of the cabinet were disassembled, derusted, and reassembled. As an example, below are before and after pics of the rheostat control fork/rod. As you can see in the first picture, the fork return spring was broken so I had to fabricate a new spring.
Over the last several months I have been doing research on the early Library Tables. This research includes looking for original Singer documentation that references these tables. I've found that documentation from the late teens to mid 20's is scarce. Luckily, I did just find a pamphet from 1920 that advertises what appears to be the B.T.7 motor. In this pamplet it pictures the No. 17 cabinet and the No. 30 cabinet. This is a rare find as this is the only document that I've found that pictures either of these tables. It also means that my other 1919 66 - No. 30 cabinet which has a B.T.7 motor is probably original. Below is the page of the advertisement showing the No. 17 and No.30 Library Tables.
Finally, below are the pictures of the entire package. At this point in time, this is one of twelve No. 30 Library Tables that I personally know of. Although six of those were equiped with a treadle wheel, this machine is the only one that I've seen that is set up to use both electric and treadle options.
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