The Singer Company, once the world's leading producer of sewing machines, was the successor to I.M. Singer & Company, established in 1851. Isaac M. Singer had patented improvements resulting in the first commercially viable sewing machine. Edward Clark, who joined the firm in 1854, provided the planning skills and business acumen that ensured the firm's success. Clark ended the so-called “Sewing Machine War” between Singer, Elias Howe, and other patent holders by organizing the first U.S. patent pool, which remained in effect until 1877. The company introduced its first treadle-operated machine in 1856, and Clark introduced installment selling the same year.

The firm was incorporated in New York as the Singer Manufacturing Company in June 1863, Clark being determined to prevent the partnership from becoming entangled in disputes among Singer and his heirs. Singer took his shares and moved to Europe, where he pursued the good life on a grand scale. The company constructed a factory in Elizabethport, N.J., in 1871-72 that was then the largest in the world devoted to the manufacture of a single product. Singer was reincorporated in New Jersey on February 20, 1873.

Singer quickly developed a worldwide sales organization. It built its first foreign factory at Glasgow in 1867. This was replaced by a much larger plant at nearby Clydebank in 1882-84. A second factory at Podolsk, Russia, followed in 1905. In the same year, Singer absorbed its leading American rival, the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company. The Russian factory was nationalized after the 1917 Revolution. When high tariff barriers were erected during the early years of the Depression, Singer was obliged to create two additional European subsidiaries, La Compagnia Singer per Macchine da Cucire, which built a plant at Monza, Italy, in 1934, and La Compagnie Singer Société Anonyme, which built another at Bonnieres, France, in 1935.

Singer prospered during its first hundred years, but in the seven years following its 1951 centennial, the U.S. domestic sewing machine market collapsed. The amount of home sewing dome by American women declined sharply, and increasing Japanese imports caused Singer's market share to drop from 66% to 33%. The company made attempts to diversifiy into electronics and aerospace. It was renamed The Singer Company on May 16, 1963, and over the next decade became an important defense contractor. The sewing machine business continued to shrink, as more women sought careers outside the home, and in mid-1986 it was spun off to a separate subsidiary, SSMC Inc. After the 1987 stock market crash, the company was captured by Paul A. Bilzerian, a corporate raider, who quickly sold off eight of the twelve Singer divisions, including all rights to the Singer name. SSMC Inc. was sold to Semi-Tech Microelectronics (Far East) Limited on April 6, 1990. The much-shrunken Singer Company was renamed Bicoastal Corporation on October 16, 1989.

The records of The Singer Company comprise a group of materials from its Trademark Department that were collected by a former employee.

The largest file is devoted to trademark registrations for all the countries in which Singer sold its products, plus U.S. and Canadian registrations for the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company. There are many samples of logos such as the “Red S” and “Singer Girl”. File copies of a wide variety of manuals, sewing guides, trade catalogs, trade cards and advertisements depict Singer products in English and other languages, reflecting the world-wide scope of Singer sales. A patent file covers sewing machine improvements from 1860 to 1932. An album of decals displays the elaborate lettering and figurative designs applied to the machines.

The other major category of materials relates to company history, particularly records assembled for or created in connection with the company's centennial. These include an unpublished manuscript, “The Story of Singer” (1951); a 1945 history of the Singer Manufacturing Company, Ltd., which operated the Clydebank factory; an account of the early development of the Singer machine by James Bolton, a machinist; a 1930 booklet on the Singer Building in London; memorials of President George Ross Mackenzie; illustrated brochures on the Elizabethport factory; a program of a Singer Employees Association athletic meet (1923); and samples of company magazines.

Newsclippings, 10-K annual reports, an letters to stockholders describe the company's decline in the 1970s and 1980s, as do several case studies from the Harvard Business School.

There are two small color guidebooks to major European art galleries (in German) that were distributed by Singer Nähmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft.

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Purchase from Mark Tomasko

May 2000

Processed by Christopher T. Baer