White Sewing Machine

Trade card, ca 1900

The White Sewing Machine was the first sewing machine from the White Sewing Machine Company.^[1] It used a vibrating shuttle bobbin driver design; for that reason, and to differentiate it from the later White models that used a rotary hook design instead, it came to be known as the "White Vibrating Shuttle" or "White VS". In 1879 it cost USD50 to USD125 (USD1097 to USD2744 adjusted) depending on which table or cabinet it was to be mounted in.^[2]

There was also a 3/4-sized version called the "White Peerless".

Vibrating shuttle

The White VS was the first production sewing machine to make use of the vibrating shuttle as a bobbin driver and was introduced in the late 1870s and manufactured with additional improvements up until the early 1900s. The White vibrating shuttle works by loading the bobbin into the shuttle by sliding onto the post.

Production

Versions

The White VS evolved over time through these versions:

Year	Model	Shuttle	Picture	Notes
1876–1882	VS I	boat		round tension control on upper arm
1882–1886	VS IIa	boat	?	round tension nut on lower head without dial
1886–1889	VS IIa	bullet	?	round tension nut on lower head without dial
1889–1892	VS IIb	bullet	?	round tension nut on lower head without dial
1893–1928	VS III	bullet		round tension control on upper head with dial

Portable versions

White developed a 3/4-sized version for the sake of portability, exactly as Singer was developing the 3/4-sized model VS-3/28/128. It was called the 'Peerless' and its evolution tracked that of its full-sized parent:

Version	Based on	Picture	Notes
Peerless	VS I	?	tensioner mounted on upper arm like the VS I
White Peerless	VS IIa or IIb	?	tensioner mounted on lower head like the VS IIa and IIb
New White Peerless	VS III		three variants produced—A, B, and C – differing in case and hand-crank. [3]
Gem	Unique design.	White Gem Sewing Machine from about 1886	very small, and very different from the VS and Peerless

Shuttle changes

The first versions of the White Sewing Machine ^[4] used a "boat" shuttle that was comparable to those used in contemporary transverse shuttle machines. In 1886 the shuttle was changed to a bullet shape, with a thin rod in the interior upon which the bobbin rotates. The change was probably prompted by the bullet shuttle used in the new Singer Vibrating Shuttle machine, invented the year before, itself a derivative of the White machine. Still later, the shuttle was refined again for the Peerless machines.

Version	Shuttle	Part number
VS I, VS IIa		85 (body), 94 (bobbin)[5]
VS IIa		?
VS IIb		282 (body), 321 (bobbin)[6]
VS III	original shuttle used 1893-1900	349 (assembly), 321 (bobbin)[7]
	"New Shuttle" used 1900 onward	?
	New White Peerless shuttle	1554 (assembly), 321 (bobbin)[8]

Badged variants

White produced VS machines under several different badges, in addition to the Peerless. These included 'Franklin' (same name as a Singer model 27 clone produced later), 'Mason D', 'Minnesota E', and 'Queen'.

History

Page from White company literature

D'Arcy Porter and George W. Baker designed the machine and are named as inventors on most of the six^[9] original US patents, dated 1876–1877, that cover it.^[10] The company literature would later look back adoringly on them, calling them "two of [White's] best mechanics" who had "perfected a new type of sewing machine, far superior to anything then on the market".^[11] The use of the word 'perfected' is a hat-tip to Allen B. Wilson, who invented the vibrating shuttle 26 years earlier.

At the time of its development, the machine was the White Sewing Machine Company's flagship product—so much so that it was simply named the "White Sewing Machine". Only later it was called the "White Vibrating Shuttle", when a rotary hook model named the White Family Rotary was added to the product line.

References