This 1906 Singer Sewing Machine with Pedal Table is part of our Design and Technology Collection.
Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of sewing machines, which was first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. The company marketed the world's first practical sewing machine. This machine had a straight eye-pointed needle and transverse shuttle, an overhanging arm, a table to support the cloth, a presser foot to hold the material against the upward stroke of the needle, and a roughened feed wheel extending through a slot in the table.
Singer came up with the the idea of using a treadle similar to that of a spinning wheel; all other machines at the time used a hand crank to generate power.