Did You Know Singer Manufacturing Company Made Other Stuff?

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Did you know Singer Manufacturing Company made items outside of sewing machines? First, we have to start by talking about the name. Initially the brand was called I. M. Singer & Co and only sold sewing machines.

But by 1863, they became Singer manufacturing company and made a variety of different products. The name was simplified to The Singer Company (or Singer Company)in 1963 as they expanded into other industries like electronics and aerospace. The expansion into other products became more necessary as home sewing became less popular.

Let’s Start with World War II

During World War II, Singer Manufacturing Company received a large military contract from the U.S. War Department to build 500 1911A1s. While Singer built these 1911 weapons to top quality, they failed to make 100 guns per day. Since Singer only ended up making around 500 1911 guns, they are extremely rare and fetch 100K or more at auction. For example, one of the rare Singer handguns sold for a whopping $414,000.

According to Singer, they stopped making domestic sewing machines to help with war efforts 1939-1945. However, there are records of sewing machines being made up until summer of 1941. After that point, it appears Singer didn’t make anymore sewing machines. Instead, they made components for the Sperry T-1 bomb sight, B-29 bomber gunfire control computers, directional gyro and artificial horizon instruments, and automatic pilot parts.

https://youtu.be/bxsTcvt-6Dw

Vacuum cleaners are needed

In the early days, vacuums had the same customer demographic as sewing machines, women. The vacuums also shared a lot of the same parts as sewing machines. Therefore, it made sense for Singer to carry both sewing machines and vacuum cleaners.

While it made sense for Singer to diversify its inventory, it didn’t make sense for them to make vacuum’s in-house. So, Singer outsourced the production of new lines of vacuums until sales were proven good. Once they had proof of concept, Singer invested in the correct tooling and equipment to make successful vacuums themselves. When vacuums weren’t produced in-house, they were made by:

Sturtevant (1920’s)
General Electric (1933)
Eureka (1950’s & 1960’s)
Ryobi (1980’s & early 1990’s)
Bissel (Late 1990’s)

There is a clear evolution in technology of the vacuums offered by Singer.

Sturtevant machines were straight suction machines, with two speed motors. Then, GE used a Backward Revolving Brush on its R-1 Singer. The R-1 model was popular. So, Singer made subsequent versions on their own.

By the 1950’s and 60’s Eureka was making canister vacuums, like the Golden Glide, for Singer. These machines were labeled as model S and became popular. As you might guess, Singer started producing canister type vacuums on their own and even sold them with private labels to companies like Sears and Sunbeam.

By the 80’s, Singer was having machines manufactured by Ryobi. This may sound like a major side note. But, Ryobi took over Singers manufacturing plant in Anderson, South Carolina when production moved overseas. As of the time of writing this article, Ryobi still occupies the space in Anderson, South Carolina.

Ryobi sold the Singer vacuums under many different private label names. In 1996, however, Ryobi sold the entire Singer vacuum division to Bissell.

Typewriters were a partnership too

As far as is known, Singer never made typewriters in-house. Instead, their brand name was placed on typewriters from other brands. There were many typewriters with Singer label. Therefore, it is very hard to pinpoint every single last model. However, I have created a shortlist below of popular Singer typewriters made by companies like Smith Corona, Remington, and Royal. Models include:

Smith Corona

Smith Corona Name	Singer Name
Cornet	T-82
Galaxie	Professional
Super Sterling	T-65

Remington

Remington Name	Singer Name
Monarch/ Travel Writer	Graduate

Royal

Royal Name	Singer Name
Safari	T-62, T-70
Royalite	T-4, T-2

Televisions Made in Japan

Singer had its televisions made in Japan. One of its most popular models was the Singer Transistor Tv-6u. Instead of using power hungry vacuum tubes, the 6u used transistors to produce a much smaller portable tv. But, this technology wasn’t an innovation of Singer. Instead, the first transistor televisions were made by Sony. Since Singers televisions were made in Japan and had similar styling to Sony, many collectors believe Sony was the true manufacturer of Singer televisions.

Record Players too?

In addition to televisions, Singer offered record players. These record players were often called phonographs and the portable models were most popular. They were all made in Japan and had modern styling for the time.

Diversification

Singer Sewing Machine Company diversified as sewing machine sales declined. This was a wonderful strategy for staying alive. However, company diversification can be a very dangerous move. It gets dangerous because you have less control over a product when it isn’t made in-house. Plus, money gets tied up in inventory when there are too many different products available. Nobody is claiming Singer messed up by diversifying its offerings. However, it is very interesting to view the different things they made as customers shifted from sewing at home to buying ready made products from overseas.

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