Got to nosing around some reference material on turn of the century machines, and it was suspected that National Sewing Machine Company may have bought out the American Sewing Machine Company sometime between 1890 and 1900. I found a picture of a National machine produced from the 1890s to early 1900s, marketed under the badge of "Home Queen" and sold through the two largest catalogues of the time. It is the spitting image of your machine to the detail and was actually the National Model Vindex B Top Tension. To me that implies, if the machine you have is still labeled the "American", it probably predates the acquisition of the Company who bought American Sewing Machine Company out. And the American Machine Model you have likely became the National Model Vindex B Top Tension produced after 1890. Ergo.......suspect your machine predates 1890 and the tooling making your machine made later versions sold until the early 1900s. Just looking at your cabinet.........I'd have guessed about 1910. But they didn't change styles all that much from the 1890s to about 1915. Here's the link on which I found the duplicate machine to your's and suspected links to the American Sewing Machine Company. Look for models Home Queen of the early 1900s and also the Iowa. As to value? It's all over the board on working machines of that vintage. I bought mine for 80$ thirty years ago, and could have bought one last fall for 25$, but have seen them go as high as 250$ and up. Here is a link that might be useful: Sears Sewing Machines

Please post pictures. I am considered an expert on the National Sewing Machine Company (mostly because I have so many of the darn things!) Once I see a picture, I will be able to tell you where to find the serial number and then I MIGHT be able to narrow down a rough idea of age for you. Also, where are you from? The name is a new one as far as known names go--sounds French--are you in or near Quebec? Annie

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

It's my goal for the upcoming winter to learn how to use the treadle I bought last year. I've never used one. Although my grandmother had one, I never saw her using it. I'm sure she sewed a lot in earlier years, having 12 kids. By the time I came along (maybe the 12th grandchild), I think she was just kind of worn out. Once I get so I can sew a straight line of stitches, I'd like to try free-motion quilting with it. A couple of years ago, I went to a quilt show in Wisconsin where Damascusannie (she used to be a frequent poster here--collected antique machines including a Damascus) was demonstrating FMQ on her treadle. That was when I decided I needed a treadle and wanted to learn to quilt with it. My treadle (named her BellaRuby as she's a beautiful Red Eye Singer) only has the regular foot and it's a back-clamp one. So after learning to make it go and before challenging myself with FMQ, I need to get an appropriate foot. Likely I'll have to convert the machine to a side-attaching bar as finding the back-clamping foot might be tough. Treadle on has some excellent instructions (and knowledgeable members) to help me with this conversion.