I'm assuming you are speaking of a treadle sewing machine when you say foot pedal? Franklin was a Sears and Roebuck brand and they were first manufactured around 1910. They were supposed to be a copy of Singer. The value of intact treadle machines varies wildly from one part of the country to the next. I have purchased them as cheaply as twenty five dollars (including the cabinet) to seventy five dollars. A really nice one in good shape with an attractive cabinet would bring about $200 here. The local city school systems were still using treadle machines in their sewing classes into the 1960s and they were still being made until the 1950s. I have five or six old machines like that and sort of collect them. You'll find the actual machine heads are often out of the machine when they're sold, and the cabinets with the treadle mechanisms are often more expensive than the old machines. Ebay usually has a bunch of them and they're sometimes found at estate auctions.

I cook the sausage in a very old, very seasoned cast iron skillet, using a slotted potato masher to squish it down, then scrape it with a wooden flat beveled spoon - spatula. I continue doing this while it cooks over med high heat. It breaks up nicely and you can easily get it to the size crumbles you want quickly with very little clean up. This is a recipe I have cooked for years and adapted it to our ever changing tastes. It came from a magazine that adapted it from "The New Chili Cuisine" by Nancy S. Hughes. I am cooking this for dinner tonite as the rain, chill and gloom just won't seem to leave. ~* My changes (almost the entire recipe, but I do not want to take credit for the original ~ which I have included) SAUSAGE, WHITE BEAN AND PASTA CHILI 1 lb mild Italian sausages, casings removed ~* Hot Italian 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained ~* Del Monte Petite diced tomatoes w/ jalapenos ~* Onion - coarsely chopped 14 oz chicken broth ~*32 oz homemade chicken or turkey broth 4 oz chopped green chilis, rinsed & grained ~* 1/2 c(?) chopped sliced jalenpoes from jar I always have - amt - to taste so not to spicy 2 tsp paprika ~*omit 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ~* Chipotle red pepper (McCormicks) 2 T ground cumin ~* Chipotle Tabasco sauce to taste 15 oz can Cannellie beans, rinsed & drained 2/3 cup tiny pasta, cooked - makes 1 1/3 cups ~* omit often Cook sausage breaking it into small chunks until lightly brown. * Remove sausage and blot excess grease Saute the chopped onion and chopped jalapenos in the same skillet until tender. In a small dutch oven or heavy saucepan, add the tomatoes and their liquid, chicken broth, green chilis, and spices. Add the sausage & onion. Stir well to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat & simmer, uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in beans & pasta ~ * I add the pasta to the individual bowls. Reheat & serve. ~ Top with fresh Parmesan. Serve with cornbread and or tortilla chips. This is very quick and easy. I hope all my changes don't intimate you. You can make this as spicy as you want - or not! It also freezes very well!

I have the same machine, which I got on sale for $25 because a part was missing - the part that allows you to knead/mix the dough, and so I make the dough in a food processor and then add it in chunks. I have more control over the dough this way also. The instructions for this machine say that you are supposed to add the ingredients to the bowl in the machine and the mix it until it forms clumps, but I have found this to be a bit too inexact. You really cannot tell whether you have the correct proportion of liquid to flour that way, and so I do think it is better to make the dough the way I do, but you do have to break it into small balls or clumps to add it to the machine. I haven't used it to make spaghetti - I used it for different types of hollow pasta similar to macaroni. I definitely do hang pasta to dry, once it is extruded, but it generally does not take very long, possibly because I am in a fairly dry climate. I use a broom or mop handle instead of anything made of wire, as the wire can cut through the pasta. I only dry it for 15 to 30 minutes and then if it is still a bit wet, I dust it with flour to keep it from sticking. I always have a shaker with flour in it for this purpose. After it is floured, you can store it in a covered bowl until you are ready to boil it. I don't like for it to dry out too much, but letting it dry for an hour is perfectly fine and does help prevent it from sticking. You can store it for a few days in an air tight bowl in the fridge after it has dried. You really don't have to dry it at all before boiling it, but I generally do. I generally boil it for no more than one minute, but you can be sure that it is done if it starts to float, and that often happens in 30 seconds. I've never had underdone fresh pasta - if it is hot, it is done. Because homemade pasta tends to be very soft, I use one part semolina flour for every two parts of regular flour - this gives it a bit more tooth or texture. Generally I start with 1/2 cup of semolina, 1 cup of regular flour, 2 eggs, and 1/4 tsp salt. This makes a wet dough, but I then only add what extra flour it needs, and this depends on how much moisture is already in the flour or air. You would probably need to add 1-2 tbsp of flour to get it to work for your machine. Lars

Always owned top-loaders with a standard agitator. I use the 'perma-press' setting (regular wash speed/gentle spin) on all but towels, using fast spin for them. My machine also has gentle wash/gentle spin as an option. Clothes are clean/fresh/not tattered. I lightly dry, then hang most clothes to finish. We are just two adults, but did the same with three kids. I did use a front loader for six months in temporary living until a new home was built... HATED IT! Yes, I am yelling. Wrinkles galore, NOISE, huge vibrations even on a tiled/concrete floor, maintenance (leaving door open, smell, gunk on the gasket, undissolved detergent in dispenser) and length of time to complete a load. But, I say to each his own. If you have one and love it, good deal! We are all different in our needs and choices. However, I do have a question regarding the 'high-efficiency' aspect. Unless someone lives on well water that is slow to recover, or lives in a water challenged area, what is the justification for most users to save water, yet use the extra electricity that 1-1/2 hours to complete a load of wash requires??? I do not condone waste of resources, but this seems like an either/or situation. Comments?