Correction on the Hengstenberg/Anker shuttle

In today's post I originally wrote that the shuttle of my Hengstenberg/Anker machine worked in the opposite way to all other shuttles that I know - that loosening the tension screw increases thread tension instead of decreasing it. The screw in my shuttle is permanently jammed all the way in, and this conclusion was based…

Hengstenberg/Anker finally working!

It took a long time but my little Hengstenberg/Anker is finally working! The motor This was in February 2018 - over two years ago. I had cleaned her up and got her sewing with the original 12x1 needle, and attempted to fit a motor. The difficulty here was that not only does the Saxonia balance…

My secret weapon

I have four long bobbin machines, five if you count the little one too. Three are vibrating shuttle machines, one is a cylindrical transverse shuttle - all four "medium" tailors' machines. The fifth one is a Wittler hybrid - a transverse vibrating shuttle. These five machines between them not only can sew any fabric under…

The Hengstenberg/Anker Wittler – a transverse vibrating shuttle

It happened again - I rescued another poor soul. Start here First impressions 189? The ships The head The feed The mechanism compared to Singer 12 The first transformation 2 February 2018 Despite the looks, it is a rather special old dear: a Hengstenberg/Anker transverse vibrating shuttle known as the Wittler mechanism (no, I've never…

Vibrating shuttle machines

Vibrating shuttle mechanism is the one with the bullet-shaped shuttle moving in an arc. There are three major types: one introduced by Singer, another by New Home and the third one by White. They are all called "VS" which is very confusing. In England, Jones used the White patent and called their White-based machines "CS",…