This machine is very pretty - I love the painted details. It was sold as a "Shaw & Clark Paw Foot Sewing Machine", however it doesn't have a serial number or any imprint naming the manufacturer anywhere on it. The style of machine was also sometimes referred to as a "Shaw & Clark Monitor sewing machine".
According to the ISMACS article on Shaw & Clark, Shaw & Clark and others did not mark their machines with the manufacturer's name because the manufacturers were trying to avoid getting in trouble for patent violations (many of the mechanisms used in the machine were patented by various other sewing machine manufacturers of the time). Later on, around 1864, Shaw & Clark started marking their machines because they were then paying royalties to use the patented features and wanted to be sure that everyone knew that they were paying that money.
You can see photos of machines of this type on AntiqBuyer.com's listing of past sales. The page also shares a bit more of the mysterious history of these machines.
So if this machine truly was made by Shaw & Clark, that would have its manufacture date somewhere between 1860 and 1864. If it's not a Shaw & Clark, it could have been made as late as the early 1870s. It's really hard to tell because there aren't any markings to nail down the truth. This machine was restored by an artist who attempted to reproduce the original designs that it would have had when it was first created (that's why it doesn't look all rusty - everything was restored by someone who loves these old machines).
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| Front view |
An unusual feature of this machine is that it does not have any feed dogs. The needle plate on the bed of the machine has grooves in it for traction, but the ridges are stationary. Instead, the foot lifts up and moves forward, then drags the material back before lifting up again. It's a chain-stitch machine, as you can see from the underneath view where there's a hook. It has a white knobbed hand crank which drives a pair of gears providing more movement of the needle and walking foot per turn.
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| Back view |
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| Left side view |
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| Bottom showing hook on left and vertical shaft on right |
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| The hook that forms the chain stitch |
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| Top view |
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| Close up of mechanism that moves the foot |
It is also interesting to note that this was made before standards for screws were established. If you take apart the machine, each screw fits into only one specific hole because they were made individually by the machinist who wasn't consistent about how the thread pitch was set. If any part on this breaks, a replacement would have to be custom made to fit. Of course, another reason for needing the custom replacement part is that the company that made this machine no longer exists.
All in all, it's an neat relic of the 19th century.
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