The Patent 469199 Machine aka National Seamstress model
Every once in a while a machine shows up that convinces everyone it is a New Home. I don’t know how many times I have heard “only New Home had a machine that looked like that.”
As long as I live I will call the “impostor” out.
My relationship with The Patent 469199 Machine began January 9, 2009 when the late Katie Farmer sent Marion Kish (then Mikula) and me this email:
I am forwarding this e-mail from Robyn on to you.
The machine & cabinet are gorgeous (!), but White
never made a leaf tension machine to my knowledge.
Can you please let Robyn know if it is a badged New Home?
Thank you!
Katie Farmer
Robyn had sent Katie an email about a badged machine that looked like a New Home called the Texas Advocate that didn’t seem to fit any of the known series of New Home. (New Home
referred to their machines as “series” not “model”.) Someone suggested to her it looked more like a Minnesota B, so she contacted Katie. Katie contacted us, and a long run of emails began. My first
thought was it was a New Home, but when Robyn shared the serial number in the 500,000s, something seemed wrong. Then Marion popped in and said she also thought it was a New Home, but could we get more pictures. After more
pictures, Marion said, “Wait a minute, it looks like a machine I have that I thought was a New Home but I’m not so sure.” Hers was called Arlington.
Marion emailed me pictures and we spent several hours on the phone discussion ad nauseum discussing this machine. Then I pulled Damascus Annie in who researched National. She was (and
probably still is) an absolute whiz with National. She had been convinced that these machines were New Home, but after I was done with my method of sewing machine identification, she was convinced it could more likely be
a National.
This machine would show up in many incarnations: Texas Advocate, Arlington, Pokrok Zapadu (Czech newspaper in USA), New England Queen in a Morley Bros treadle stand (Standish, MI),
Germania (name of multiple German newspapers in USA), Burlington Hawkeye, Seebote, and Seamstress, just to name a few that I have run across.
Many more emails, a few years later on November 22, 2013 I was told “a lot of collectors decided that this machine cannot be a National.” This after I found the patent for
the machine, patent 469,199 awarded to Willis S Brown, with witnesses David Patton and B. Eldredge. If you do not know who these men were, let me explain. Willis S. Brown was Superintendent of National SMCo; David Patton
was secretary of National SMCo; and Barnabas Eldredge was none other than the president and interesting personage of National SMCo.
(More about these men here: https://books.google.com/books?id=YBcVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA31&dq=national+sewing+machine&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLtIX159iLAxXXRzABHWs2O_YQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=national%20sewing%20machine&f=false
At that point, in a moment of frustration, and yes, anger, I began referring to these machines as “The Patent 469199 Machine.”
I was given one of these machines on October 28, 2012. Mine is a Germania. It sews like a champ and is a machine I quite enjoy. They seem to be good little machines, even if they
do try to look way too much like a New Home.
Following is my guide to differentiation between a real New Home and the “impostor” National machine. For this I used a 1923 New Home A and my Germania. I used the New Home A because that seems to be the machine The Patent 469199 Machine is most commonly confused with. (I used to have an 1895 New Home that I gave to a really nice ISMACS member, but the 1923 does a really good job showing how similar these machines are.)
Exhibit A -- Two identical machines that... aren't.
The Impostor Germania is on the left, the New Home is on the right. (Hey, I've seen people miss the name on the arm before!) First differences, look at the top tension bar. New Home has a different lever on theirs. The bobbin winder is in a similar but different place, but I'll talk about those differences later.
Note the tension bars top view. I marked the differences and think they are pretty self explanatory.
The Patent 469199 Machine has a bend upward in it which doesn't show up in this picture; New Home is flat, flat, flat (like the world! just kidding.)
Handwheel comparison:
Look at the center of the wheel with the clutch knob and the design in the wheel. The Germania has the clutch in the middle like a Singer; New Home As have the little knob offset from the center.
Rear view -- yup identical... oh wait -- look at that lever for the presser foot, the screw above it, and the knob for the pressure foot tension. I think this picture proves that National was up to no good with this machine.
Now for the real fun, in case you thought I was wrong.... The New Home has a machine latch to hold it in the bed; The Patent 469199 Machine does not. That alone is hardly proof, so by number:
1 -- The New Home has a rounded spring, a rounded plate with 1 screw to support the flat bar; The Patent 469199 Machine has a square plate with 2 screws, no spring, and the corresponding bar is round.
2- -- The stitch length bar. Besides the fact the end of the New Home stitch length bar end is rounded and The Patent 469199 Machine is squared, New Home used a squared support piece with a screw compared to the rounded connector of The Patent 469199 Machine.
3 -- If I have to explain this.... I have no words. This is the definitive point of difference between the New Home and The Patent 469199 Machine
4 --- Sorry, it was late at night on another busy night so I mislabeled #4 as 5. But I will point out that there are so many other little differences -- have fun finding them.
5 -- Note the difference in the pivot for the arms. Oh, and on The Patent 469199 Machine note the diamond shape by the shuttle carrier.
And if for some reason you aren't convinced at this point.... The New Home has cast into it New Home SMCO Orange Mass.
Next up, the faceplates. Pretty self explanatory, I think. The arrows point to the difference in needlebars -- New Home is flat, The Patent 469199 Machine is round. The thread take up levers are in two different places. The needle clamps are totally different. And if you aren't sure, the New Home (right) is slightly smaller than The Patent 469199 Machine. This picture does a good job of showing the size difference.
Now for the bobbin winders. I was going to mark this one up, but it's so hard to. Note the arm difference behind the thread guide; New Home is flat, The Patent 469199 Machine is curved. The thread guide arm is different, though I will concede that The Patent 469199 Machine winder highly resembles the old style New Home arm winder. However, note the case around the cam wheel on The Patent 469199 Machine, and the lack of one on the New Home.
Once final glaring difference: the serial numbers. New Home did not put their serial numbers under the slide plate until Free became involved. Let me repeat that: New Home *did not* put their serial numbers under the slide plate until Free got involved. (New Home serial numbers are a topic for another day, and a topic that gets my goat as well.) National was well-known for putting their serial numbers under the plate. Another later point of difference is the release button for the shuttle, but not all New Home As have that. This one happens to.
I hope this helps explain the differences between the New Home and The Patent 469199 Machine.
And yes, I still love my New Homes... but I am fond of my Germania as well, even if it does try to look like something it isn't!
Edit: Forgot to mention... The Patent 469199 Machine has a National shuttle. New Home shuttles don't fit.