Take a look at my latest find:
Isn’t it cute? It is
a Bell Sewing Machine, from the early 1950s.
Only 9” long, it fits into a case that looks like a small
briefcase. They are rather unusual, and
apparently did not sell well. There is
not much information available on Bell machines on the web. I found one site that has am image of a Consumer
Reports review of the Bell, but does not give a date for the article (cite
your sources, even on the web! I'm also not keen on linking to sites that don't indicate where they got their information).
Whatever issue it appeared in, it was on page 31. I know, not very helpful…
Anyway, the article, “The Bell – Tiny, Light, But Very Slow,”
might have been the death blow for the little machine. The lack of a traditional hand wheel was a
problem, instead, it had a small knob on the top right to manually move the needlebar. It takes a lot of turns on the knob to cycle
through one stitch if you are trying to draw up the bobbin thread. The article goes on to lament that, “tension
retention was inferior at the so-called fast speeds, and at top speed, the
upper thread occasionally jumped the guides and tension discs, and the lower
thread jumped the bobbin case.
Considerable drift was noted.”
The top speed of the Bell was reported to be 70 seconds per yard.
The Bell, a straight stitch machine sold for $69.95. The best price comparison I have is from an
early 1960s Singer ad (from Life magazine) for their budget model Spartan, much larger than the Bell
while still compact, faster, stronger, also straight stitch at $59.95. I’m going to venture a guess that the Bell
was intended more for travel mending than complete garment construction. I will be on the lookout for vintage ads to
confirm my conjecture.
There is a sticker on the bottom of the machine that reads: “Bell
Manufacturing Corporation/Freeland, PA/Made in the United States of America.” Freeland is in Luzerne County, eastern
Pennsylvania, south of Wilkes-Barre. Some
rainy day, I plan to see if there is a historical society there that just might
have some information on the Bell company.
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