Moldacot Update
Fig. 2: Moldacot box, with fastening catch (inset).
Fig. 1: Moldacot sewing machine #114180 with improved bobbin winder (arrowed)
Wonders never cease! Since producing our special issue on the Moldacot pocket sewing machine (ISMACS News #110), two examples have surfaced of a variant made by the German manufacturer of the ‘moon’ set of machines for the French market.
The two machines, #114180 and #114800, both have a bracket on the frame for a better form of winder for the tiny bobbins (Fig. 1). This is mounted on the right hand side by the cotton reel and tension discs. The bracket should carry a spindle with a small rubbertyred wheel at the back, rubbing on the wheel of the hand-gear.
The front end of the spindle would be tapered to carry the bobbin as a push fit. Rita Koym’s machine came in a fancy box covered in red leather embossed with ‘MOLDACOT’ and a fastening catch with a French stamp.
Although the ‘moon’ insignia implies they were made in Germany, they are not so stamped. Perhaps, only 10 years after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, they thought it better not to stamp the machine ‘made in Germany’. (MG)
Photos from Rita Koym
Although not marketed in the US, it was patented there, Sally Adolph Rosenthal’s 1886 patent model. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution