Before
After
It was looking pretty to begin with so you probably won't notice much difference in Before and After.
It was just a bit dusty inside. After cleaning and oiling, it's making some beautiful stitch. Another gift from Jeri who also gifted me the beautiful green Janome/New Home machine.
It's a Montgomery Ward badged Japanese clone of Singer class 15 machine. Made probably in the 1950's.
Looks just like the Singer 15-91 I have.
Even over here. Almost exactly the same as Singer 15-91
One difference is that the bobbin cover plate is hinged and pops open rather than slide to open. I like this.
Also, presser foot pressure adjustment is literally a snap.
Feed dogs drop. Handy for free motion or darning.
There's no mention as to which Japanese sewing machine manufacturer made this machine. But there's a sticker underneath that days "RSMCO Model R100". I wonder if that is Riccar Sewing Machine Co.
I never thought I'd be interested in a 15 clone since I already had a 'real' Singer 15, and the real thing us better than a copy, right?
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. It's mighty strong with the 1.5 amp motor.
Test run revealed a strong steady sew going from a flat two-layer denim over the jean seam on both sides (so that's like eight ~ ten layers total) and back down on the two-layer. No problem. (Note: the yellow thread is the original jean hem. Red and white from this machine, upper and lower threads) I didn't even have to adjust the tensions.
I love these beautiful stitch these vintage straight stitch only sewing machines make. This one is as beautiful as the stitch my Singer 15-91 makes.
Here is more about post WWII Japanese clones. It's from Ed Lamoureux's Vintage Sewing Machines blog. I agree, this is an amazing machine. By the way, when I first started collecting vintage sewing machines, I read and learned a lot from Ed's blog. I still do.
Do you have one of these Japanese clone machines? How do you like it?
I bought mine from a thrift shop for 65 us dollars. it is missing some parts from the upper tensioner missing the spring and has the wrong belt on it and wrong bobbin spooling tire and one of the hinges is broken. planning to take it to the sewing machine shop in 2 weeks from now to have it all repaired and tuned up and oiled. mine is the black and gold one identical to the one shown above but with the gold art deco patterning very clean looking and beautiful machine. I cant wait to use it. other than the few missing and mismatched bits it seems to be in good mechanical order motor works everything moves freely.
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