Singer Corporation facts for kids
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| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1851 in New York City |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | La Vergne, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Products | Sewing machine Upholstery |
| Owner | SVP Worldwide |
Singer Corporation is an American company famous for making sewing machines. It was started in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer and lawyer Edward C. Clark in New York City. At first, it was called I. M. Singer & Co. Later, its name changed to Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, and then to the Singer Company in 1963. Today, the company is based in La Vergne, Tennessee, near Nashville. Singer built its first big factory for mass production (making many items quickly) in 1863 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Contents
The Story of Singer Sewing Machines
Isaac Singer's first sewing machine design was very useful for homes. It used a special needle with an eye at the point and a "lock stitch." These ideas were first developed by Elias Howe. Howe actually won a lawsuit against Singer in 1854 because Singer used his ideas without permission.
In August 1851, Singer got a special paper called a patent (number 8294) for his improved sewing machine. This machine had new features like a round wheel to feed the fabric, a way to control the thread, and gears to power it.
Singer gathered enough patents (rights to his inventions) to start making many machines at once. By 1860, his company was the biggest sewing machine maker in the world! In 1885, Singer made its first "vibrating shuttle" sewing machine, which was an improvement over older designs.
Singer started selling its machines around the world in 1855. They even won first prize at the Paris World's Fair that same year. In 1910, the company showed off the first working electric sewing machine. Singer was also smart about selling. They were one of the first companies to let people pay for machines over time, in small amounts.
How Many Machines Were Sold?
| Year | 1853 | 1859 | 1867 | 1871 | 1873 | 1876 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Units | 810 | 10,953 | 43,053 | 181,260 | 232,444 | 262,316 |
| Source: | ||||||
By 1876, Singer had sold two million sewing machines! They even put the two millionth machine on display in Philadelphia.
Singer in Scotland
In 1867, Singer realized that many people in the United Kingdom wanted their sewing machines. So, they decided to open a factory in Glasgow, Scotland. George Ross McKenzie, a Singer Vice President, chose Glasgow because it had iron factories, workers who would work for lower wages, and good shipping routes.
The demand for sewing machines grew so much that the Glasgow factory couldn't make enough. By 1873, a new, bigger factory was finished in Bridgeton, Glasgow. At that time, Singer employed over 2,000 people in Scotland, but they still needed to make more machines.
In 1882, McKenzie, who was about to become the President of Singer, started building an even bigger factory. It was on 46 acres of land in Kilbowie, Clydebank. At first, two main buildings were built. Each was 800 feet long, 50 feet wide, and three stories tall. These buildings were connected by three smaller sections. Above the middle section, a 200-foot tall clock tower stood, with the "Singer" name easily seen for miles.
The factory had 2.75 miles of railway lines inside to connect different areas like the boiler room, where metal parts were made, and the shipping area. The factory was designed to be fireproof with water sprinklers, making it one of the most modern factories in Europe back then.
This huge factory had almost a million square feet of space and nearly 7,000 employees. It could make about 13,000 machines every week, making it the largest sewing machine factory in the world! In 1905, the U.S. Singer Company created a special company in the United Kingdom called Singer Manufacturing Company Ltd.
Demand kept growing, so each building was made taller, up to 6 stories high. In 1907, a train station named after the company was built. It connected to nearby towns and central Glasgow, making it easier for workers to get to the factory.
New ways of working, called 'scientific management,' made workers do more tasks without getting paid more. This led to a big strike in 1911, called the 'Singer Strike.' 10,000 workers walked out to support twelve women who were polishers. Three of their co-workers had been fired, but the remaining women still had the same amount of work to do without extra pay. This strike was important because it showed that women workers had rights and could work together to make changes. The BBC even made a film about these brave women workers.
During the First World War, the Singer Clydebank factory stopped making sewing machines. Instead, it made weapons and parts for the government. The factory took on over 5000 government jobs. It made 303 million artillery shells, shell parts, fuses, and airplane parts. It also made grenades, rifle parts, and 361,000 horseshoes. By the end of the war, about 70% of its 14,000 workers were women.
From when it opened in 1884 until 1943, the Kilbowie factory made about 36 million sewing machines. Singer was the world leader and sold more machines than all other makers combined. In 1913, the factory shipped 1.3 million machines.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, big changes happened at the Clydebank factory. In 1958, Singer moved 40% of its American production to Clydebank to save money. From 1961 to 1964, the Clydebank factory got a £4 million upgrade. It stopped making heavy cast iron machines and started making lighter aluminum machines for Western countries. As part of this upgrade, the famous Singer Clock tower was taken down in 1963.
At its busiest in the mid-1960s, Singer employed over 16,000 workers. But by the end of that decade, people were being laid off. Ten years later, only 5,000 workers remained. Financial problems and fewer orders forced the world's largest sewing machine factory to close in June 1980. This ended over 100 years of sewing machine making in Scotland. The factory buildings were torn down in 1998.
There is an archive (a collection of historical records) about the factory, the strike, and its history in Scotland. It is considered a very important national collection.
How Singer Sold Its Machines
The Singer sewing machine was one of the first complicated, standardized products to be sold to many people. It wasn't the very first sewing machine. In fact, Singer had a patent battle with Elias Howe, who invented the lockstitch machine. Eventually, the big sewing machine companies agreed to share their patents.
Singer's selling plans focused on factories, how women used the machines at home, and payment plans. They offered "hire purchases," which meant people could rent a machine, and the rent payments would count towards buying it later. Singer also sold machines all over the world by having salespeople go door-to-door to show and sell the machines.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Singer even sponsored rock and roll concerts to advertise its products, including Singer record players. In 1968, Singer sponsored a TV special called "Singer Presents ... Elvis," which is now famous as the '68 Comeback Special.
World War II Efforts
During World War II, Singer stopped making sewing machines. Instead, they made weapons for the government. Factories in the United States made Norden bomb sights (devices used to aim bombs from planes) and parts for M1 Carbine rifles for the American forces. Singer factories in Germany made weapons for their armed forces.
In 1939, the U.S. government asked Singer to study how to make M1911A1 pistols. In April 1940, Singer was given an order to make 500 pistols to learn how to produce them. This was part of a program to teach companies without gun-making experience how to make weapons.
Singer delivered 500 pistols to the U.S. government. Even though Singer couldn't make 100 guns a day (which the government wanted), the War Department was very impressed with the quality of their pistols. They asked Singer to make parts for navigation and targeting equipment instead. The machines and tools for making pistols were then moved to other companies. About 1.75 million 1911A1 pistols were made during World War II. Because Singer made so few, original Singer pistols are very rare and valuable today. In 2017, one sold for $414,000!
In December 1940, Singer also got a contract to make the M5 Antiaircraft Director. This was a device that helped aim anti-aircraft guns.
After the War
Singer started making sewing machines again in 1946. After some less popular models, they released one of their most famous and high-quality machines in 1957, the 401 Slant-o-Matic. In 2011, Singer celebrated its 160th anniversary. Today, they make many types of sewing machines, including computerized, heavy-duty, embroidery, quilting, and mechanical machines.
In 2017, they launched a new app called the Singer Sewing Assistant App to help people with their sewing.
Singer's Other Businesses
In the 1960s, Singer started to get into other types of businesses. They bought the Friden calculator company in 1965 and General Precision Equipment Corporation in 1968. Friden became "Singer Business Machines" and made products like the Singer System 10. The General Precision company included businesses that made flight simulators (machines that train pilots).
By 1971, Singer was also making portable music players and film viewers. To help sell these, Singer sponsored concerts, like the ones mentioned earlier.
Over the years, Singer sold off many of these other businesses. The sewing machine part of the company was sold in 1989 to a company called Semi-Tech Microelectronics.
Singer in the 20th Century
Singer's sales and profits grew until the 1940s. After World War II, the market changed. Other companies from Europe and Japan started making zig-zag sewing machines, which became popular. Under a leader named Donald P. Kircher, Singer started to focus on other markets like office equipment and defense. Before this change, 90% of Singer's money came from sewing machines. After, it was only 35%.
In 1978, Singer moved its main office from New York City to Stamford, Connecticut.
During the 1980s, Japanese and European brands like Bernina and Janome were selling many sewing machines. In 1986, Singer decided to separate its sewing machine business into a new company called SSMC Ltd. In 1989, Semi-Tech Global bought SSMC and the rights to the Singer name. So, SSMC changed its name back to Singer. The original Singer Corporation then changed its name to Bicoastal Corporation.
Singer N.V. (the company that owned Singer) went bankrupt in 1999. It was then bought by a company called Kohlberg & Company. In 1997, Singer's U.S. operations moved their consumer products to LaVergne, Tennessee. In 2006, Singer's parent company, Kohlberg & Company, bought the Husqvarna and Pfaff brands. These three brands joined together to form the current company, the SVP Group. Singer's main competitors today include Baby Lock, Bernina, Brother, Janome, and Juki.
Singer was also involved in building properties in Manhattan in the 1800s, thanks to its co-founder, Edward Cabot Clark. Clark had built famous buildings like The Dakota apartments. In 1900, the Singer company hired an architect named Ernest Flagg to build a 12-story building in Lower Manhattan. This building is now considered very important for its architecture.
The 47-story Singer Building, finished in 1908, was also designed by Flagg. When it was built, it was the tallest building in the world! It was the tallest building ever taken down on purpose until the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
At their Clydebank factory in Scotland, Singer built a 200-foot clock tower. It was said to have the largest four-faced clock in the world. Each clock face weighed five tons! It took four men fifteen minutes twice a week to wind it. The tower was taken down in 1963, and the factory itself closed in 1980. The Singer railway station, built for the factory, is still used today. It's one of only two train stations in the UK named after a factory.
The famous Singer House, designed by architect Pavel Suzor, was built in 1902–1904 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was the headquarters for Singer's Russian branch. This modern-style building is now officially recognized as an important part of Russian history and culture.
In 2018, a large factory fire destroyed a Singer office and warehouse in Seven Hills, Sydney, Australia. Singer used to make sewing machines in Australia at a special factory in Penrith from 1959 to 1967.
Leaders of the Company
- Isaac M. Singer (1851–1863)
- Inslee Hopper (1863–1875)
- Edward C. Clark (1875–1882)
- George Ross McKenzie (1882–1889)
- Frederick Gilbert Bourne (1889–1905)
- Sir Douglas Alexander (1905–1949)
- Milton C. Lightner (1949–1958)
- Donald P. Kircher (1958–1975)
- Joseph Bernard Flavin (1975–1987)
- Paul Bilzerian (1987–1989)
- Iftikhar Ahmed (1989–1997)
- Stephen H. Goodman (1998–2004)
Popular Singer Sewing Machines for Home Use
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A Singer model 12K fiddle-bed from 1878
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A Singer model 66 with Lotus decals from 1922
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A Singer model 99 from 1939
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A Singer Featherweight model 222k from 1954
See also
- History of the sewing machine
- List of sewing machine brands
