International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society

Fostering the collecting of, and research into, sewing machines.

Standard Sewing Machine Company Manufacture Dates

by Mariann Johnston

This article was originally published on the Needlebar Archive

The Standard Sewing Machine Company began in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Standard was taken over by Osann in 1929, and Osann was acquired by Singer in the early 1930s.

Serial Numbers and Year of Manufacture
1891–1917

Serial Number From Serial Number To Year of Manufacture
88,750 130,750 1891
130,751 177,750 1892
177,751 224,750 1893
224,751 271,750 1894
271,751 318,750 1895
318,751 365,750 1896
365,751 412,750 1897
412,751 459,750 1898
459,751 506,750 1899
506,751 553,750 1900
553,751 588,750 1901
588,751 623,750 1902
623,751 658,750 1903
658,751 693,750 1904
693,751 728,750 1905
728,751 763,750 1906
763,751 807,750 1907
807,751 851,750 1908
851,751 895,750 1909
895,751 939,750 1910
939,751 983,750 1911
983,751 1,027,750 1912
1,027,751 1,071,750 1913
1,071,751 1,115,750 1914
1,115,751 1,192,750 1915
1,192,751 1,269,750 1916
1,269,751 1,346,750 1917

Notes

Serial numbers appear to be continuous, regardless of machine mechanism (rotary or VS), class, or badge.

In addition to the serial number there may be an alphabetic character (P, V, N, A, C) at the end of the number. This appears to be restricted to VS machines and seems to signify the machine class:

  • P — Paragon
  • V — Standard Vibrating Shuttle
  • N — Norwood
  • A — Arrow
  • C — Cleveland

Badged machines such as the May Co. Special or Minnesota L are Norwood-class machines and can have serial numbers such as 1100000N. A Dundee, which is a Cleveland-class machine, can have a serial number such as 1230000C.

There are some slim-model machines with 1904–1905 patent dates that were sold during the 1910–1919 period. However, their serial numbers and the few documented dates I have suggest that these machines were in fact manufactured in the mid-1910s. I surmise that perhaps an unused stock of these machines or parts resurfaced for some reason and was manufactured and sold at that time.

In order to refine this dating scheme, I need to know about machines that have either:

  1. documentation showing a purchase date earlier than the estimated date shown above; or
  2. a patent date later than the estimated date shown above.

Please note that I have no documentation for pre-1891 or post-1917 machines, so I did not feel comfortable creating estimates for dates before or after those years.

If you have any information to add about Standard sewing machines, please let me know at [email protected].

Mariann


ISMACS is an organization totally independent of all sewing-machine manufacturers, past or present and is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in these pages.  Please Note: Do not contact any ISMACS official in an attempt to solicit a valuation - it is not possible other than by hands-on assessment and your request will be ignored.

All rights reserved by ISMACS, under International and Pan American copyright conventions. Reproduction or copy of this page, in any form, in part or in whole, is strictly prohibited, without prior, written permission.