Old sewing machines may have been switched between treadle and electric power more than once.
Between 1840 and the early 1900s, the US Patent Office resembled a battlefield, crowded with innovations to address the mountainous task of hand-sewing. Of these sewing-machine enhancements, the foot-powered treadle and the electric motor produced lasting increases in sewing-machine speed. In the 1940s, electrifying your machine was patriotic; in the 2010s, reconversion to treadle is "green." Learn the electrical conversion side of sewing-machine efficiency. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Using pliers and snips if needed, remove the drive belt leading from the sewing-machine wheel stem to the foot treadle controls.
2. Locate the existing motor bracket, holes for the bracket, and the hole for the double-outlet box on the sewing machine -- usually all found on the right, major stem of the machine, below the wheel. Some experts will caution against working on a machine that does not show these motor-accommodation features, while others suggest that those willing to tinker can use wood scraps to create suitable mountings on the treadle table. You will need secure mountings for the motor, the outlet box and the lamp.
3. Attach the motor to the machine using brackets and screws, either existing or replaced. Position the motor so that the belt will be taut but not stretched out when looped over the machine and motor drive-rods. This will apply whether you are attaching the motor to the machine or improvising with wood.
4. Use pliers and your hands to stretch the drive belt over the machine wheel and position it on the stem where you removed the treadle drive belt. Stretch the belt across the drive-rod on the motor. Your machine is now attached to the motor.
5. Insert or attach the double-outlet box to the machine or securely to the wood surface. Attach cord terminals on the cord already attached to the outlet box to the rheostat foot control. Attach wire terminals to the motor, if necessary, and plug the motor cord into one of the double outlets. You have now connected the motor to the foot control.
6. Mount or attach the lamp and plug it into the other outlet of the double-outlet box.
7. Plug the double-outlet wall cord into an electrical outlet. Your conversion is complete, and your machine will now run on electric power.
Tags: drive belt, cord into, electric power, foot control, motor machine, over machine, treadle electric