There used to be a lady who frequented the quilting forum and went by the name of Damascus Annie. Whoa boy, did she know her treadle machines. She would have been able to tell you anything you wanted to know about it. I have an old Ohio Farmer Machine, and it is very like yours in the tension design and it wouldn't surprise me if it were made by the Reliance Company either........who did make machines under different brand names. Mine also comes with a host of accessories and I use it and in fact learnt to sew on a treadle machine. It's what we had in school....sort of like learning to drive on a stick shift. Does this one have a round or shuttle type bobbin? The cabinet looks more modern than mine and I'd guess my machine is a late 1800s model by the ornate gilt designs and wrought iron gingerbread. Your's looks like it may be as late as early 1900s and it is in quite good shape. Can't tell you more than that, but a serial or model number would help. It should be somewhere on the sewing head, and engraved in.

Never seen rust on an old treadle either. Sometimes a little on the iron of the treadle works. Did you mean 1887? Depending on the date of manufacture, appropriate needles can be hard to get, but there are online sources who carry original ones if you can get a size on them. The bobbin should be with the machine, or several in fact. If it's a round bobbin you may have better luck replacing them. My machines are all long bobbins but they're available as well online and are old salvadge originals. The bobbin chase is another story, so hopefully all parts are intact. It's also hard to get good leather replacement belts. I buy belts from Lehman's hardware in Amish country, but they carry rubber ones and they are not nearly as good as leather. I have no clue on how to remove silver spray paint. I successfully removed gilt paint somebody used on a pair of 1930s lamps with acetone nail polish remover, but I guess it's going to depend on the solvent carrier in the paint on your machine. What a pity. By all means, try to get that serial number. It'll nail your manufacture date on an old Singer.

Calliope--I'm surprised that you've found doing the conversions so difficult. I have over 60 machines and done literally dozens of conversions from electric to treadle, with none of the problems you had. I'm a sewing machine collector and use only treadles or handcranks in my custom quilting business. Couple of things to know: 1)Select the right model: The first thing to look for is the belt groove in the handwheel--if you don't have a belt groove, you can't treadle the machine. Any handcrank machine, and many pre-1960 electrics can be treadled. I've never seen a handcrank Singer machine that didn't have a belt groove because the company saved money by making one type of wheel and using it on all its models whether handcrank, treadle, or early electric. Later, Singer switched to solid wheels for all its electrics, so that you have swap out the wheels if you want to use a handcrank on them, but with just a few exceptions (see #3) they still work fine for treadling. 2) Many companies sold portable handcrank machines that have a belt slot in the case. You would buy the portable, then later buy a cabinet that you could set the case into and you belted it up from through the slot. I have two Nationals and one Jones handcrank and all three of them have the belt slot in the case. I'm on a mission to find the treadle base for the National handcranks--I've never seen one "in the wild" although I have over a dozen regular National treadle machines. 3) Back to the electric Singers: there were a couple of models made that had direct-gear drives: the 101, 201 and 15-91 are the most commonly found gear-driven models. Singer did not put grooved wheels on these, so they can't be treadled. Many other companies (White, New Home, and National to name a few) went to friction-drive electric motors and these often have groove-less wheels as well, so they can't be converted to treadle. 4) The actual conversion is quite easy, IF you have a cabinet that your sewing machine with fit into without modification. I have done it literally dozens of times and I don't have any mechanical aptitude to speak of. The easiest conversions for my money are the 1940s and 50s Japanese machines, which are "clones" of the Singer 15, and will go right into a Singer base. They are fairly common, inexpensive and come in cool colors. However, if you have a cabinet other than a Singer, or a head that's not compatible, it's gets harder. My preferred method is to rescue orphan treadle irons (virtually any brand will work) and have my husband make a top for them to fit the machine I plan to use and just put them together. I call these set-ups "mongrels". I have one mongrel treadle that I use only for taking to demonstrations. I can knock it down and set it back up in less than five minutes. You can see picture of the traveling treadle in my "Other Machines" album, pictures of my studio table, with five heads mounted in it (three of which came to me as electrics: 1960s zig-zagger, 1950s Japanese 15 which I use for FM quilting and a mid-century National chainstitcher) in the "Quilting Studio" album. The are some shots of another Japanese 15 in a "mongrel" table in the "Quilting Retreat" album--it's one we put together at the last minute for me to use for my demo machine that weekend and is one of my favorites; the irons we used have an over-sized flywheel and it treadles like a dream. BTW--if you notice the students in the "Retreat" album, every one one of them is sewing on an electric machine that was popped into a treadle table when they got to the class because I wanted them to learn on the machine they planned to sew on at home. I'd be happy to talk to you off-list if you like. My e-mail addy is: toomanydogs@chibardun.net Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's webshots albums

Another place to see modern treadle sewing machines is on the Lehman's web site. They sell to the Amish and "off-grid" communities. Lehman's treadle is a mechanical (as opposed to electronic) Necchi converted for treadle use. I think the Janome on the Allbrands web site is similar - an all-mechanical machine converted for treadle use. They both look like sturdy, serious machines that would give you good service. The "Singer" is actually a copy of the classic Singer Featherweight. Vintage Featherweights are very popular and sell for about $500, although the price varies depending on the quality and collectablity of the specific model. Quilters LOVE these. Another site that you might find interesting is the Treadle On web site. This site caters to people who collect and restore old treadle machines - and actually use, them, too. Lots of good info; a restored old machine might be the way to go. http://www.treadleon.net/ CMC Here is a link that might be useful: Lehman's treadle machine