- #What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine serial number#
- #What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine manual#
- #What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine portable#
When I started adjusting it though there were obvious issues. It sounded awful – loud and clonky from all over the machine. Once I got the machine freed up I thought it would run nicely, but it didn’t. The only sign of wear were marks on the spindle of the shuttle. The machine was virtually like new mechanically, with no signs of damage or having been dropped. More stripping down revealed the core of the machine to be of a similar quality to my Jones 563 – a re-badged Janome built zig zag “clone”. I didn’t really want to spend time and money on a “dog”. Chromed screws look cheap and some screws have coarse, standard metric threads, although all the threads that attachments fit to are all as original spec. Old tension disks have beautifully machined flats on them. For example there was no slot in the main shaft to ensure the feed timing stayed correct, no adjustment for wear at the bottom of the feed crank and the tension discs were crude, pressed ones. I took the machine apart and the areas of cost cutting immediately became clear. I suspect, from looking at the style of the plastic base that it is early eighties in date.
#What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine manual#
The copyright date in the manual says 1973, but I think the machine itself is later. The machine came with instructions, which confirmed it is a 15NL, made in Taiwan. There was no comeback on the seller as it was indeed as described – a Singer sewing machine. However, I went and picked the machine up. So what I’d bought was a Singer branded, Far East subcontract made machine. They are decorated in either the Egyptian “Memphis” scheme or 1930s decoration scheme featuring lightning bolts and an eagle in the centre of the bedplate. Unfortunately, the machines feature garish, crude decals (compared to original examples) and are painted with a comparatively thin layer of black enamel. The treadle and handcrank powered models are quite good and are capable of sewing a fine quality straight stitch. The electric versions are difficult to use because the machines are incapable of running slowly (which is due partly to the cheap motors that are used as well as the fact that the balance wheel should have a larger diameter to allow the machine to run slower). Some of the machines tend to rattle and vibrate excessively due to the ill-fitting rotary hook mechanism. …… compared to original Singer machines, the quality and workmanship is not up to par.
#What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine portable#
The machines are available as treadles, electric cabinet models, portable handcranks, and portable electric models. Both are based upon the Japanese HA2-2 class machines, which were copies of the Singer Model 15 manufactured from the late 1940s through 1960s. An identical machine, the Model 15CH, is currently being manufactured in China. The Model 15NL has been made in Taiwan since the early 1980s. These machines are of generally inferior quality to earlier examples. They are currently being sold in North America as “vintage reproduction” machines. These include the Models 15, 20, and 221. The following information was sourced here:Ī number of replica sewing machines have been or are currently being manufactured in Asia, badged as SINGER machines. A bit of background research to what I’d actually bought was required: Suspicions confirmed – this machine was not a Kilbowie Singer 15, but a newer machine.
#What year is my singer 1591 sewing machine serial number#
Then I noticed there was no serial number plaque on the bed, the handwheel looked “fatter” than other pictures of model 15’s I’d seen and the handcrank knob had a visible nut on the back of the crank. Was that a drop feed knob? If so, the machine wasn’t what I thought it was. It looked like a genuine old Singer, having an embossed Singer Logo on the arm as well as Singer “RAF” style decals.Īfter I’d paid for it, but before I picked it up, something caught my eye in the picture – where there should have been a spool pin on the bed for bobbin winding, there was a black knob. There was only one cruddy picture of the machine I bought and a crude description as a “Singer sewing machine”. The 15k-89 is the hand crank version of the 15k-88, with under-bed drop feed, a number dial top tension and reverse. I ended up buying what looked like a dirty but complete Singer 15k-89 on the disliked auction site, close enough to collect for £25. They’ve been pretty rare in the local ads near me – especially later models with reverse – and the ones that came up on “that” auction site seemed overpriced (I’m not a fan and try to avoid if at all possible). I’d been on the lookout for a Singer 15 for a while – I’d not used one and since it’s the biggest selling machine in sewing machine history, I thought I ought to try one out.