1916 Willcox & Gibbs
“Nellie”
The Willcox & Gibbs is an automatic tension chain stitcher. There is no bobbin. I purchased this machine from a friend. It was mounted on an electric base, but was missing its foot pedal. I plugged it in, and it was “Whoa Nellie…” as she took off. My husband’s grandmother’s name was Nellie, so somewhere in there is how she got her name. I later found a cabinet for her (which I paid WAY too much for). A rubber ball is encased in the flywheel allowing the wheel to only move in one direction. Try to reverse ….it acts like a brake.
Nellie’s Cabinet
1914 Davis NVF
“Mavis”
The NVF stands for New Vertical Feed. The Vertical Feed is great for ditch quilting and attaching bindings. There are no feed dogs, but a slot that the needle goes down into. The machine has a two-part presser foot that will pull the fabric sandwich back when the needle is in the down position. It has a reverse button mounted above the tension disks for back-tacking.
Mavis’s Cabinet
was purchased separately
1928 National Two Spool
“Bunny”
I LOVE this machine! In a two spool machine, the bobbin case holds a spool of thread. I recently pieced a baby quilt on her and never had to rewind a spool. I purchased this machine via Craigs List in Boulder, CO. My cousin picked it up for me on Easter Weekend and held it until I was able to pick it up in July.
Bunny’s cabinet
1900’s Elgin
“Ellie”
The Elgin was manufactured by The Free Company. It is a VS (vibrating shuttle) machine, but has a rotoscillo movement involving ball bearings and a rotating motion making it one of the smoothest operating machines. I was drawn to the unique cabinet.
Ellie’s Cabinet
1906 Davis Underfeed
“Harvey”
This 1906 Davis is a 3/4 size machine. Unlike the Davis NVF, this machine DOES have feed dogs. It, too, is a vibrating shuttle (VS) machine that uses a bullet type shuttle and long bobbin. In one of the drawers I found a postcard which had been mailed to a Mr. Harvey Money on January 26, 1950. Of course I HAD to name him Harvey!
Harvey’s Cabinet
Treadle Queen 
I love Ellie and her cabinet. They are very much like my “the Free” and her/his cabinet (this machine hasn’t revealed its name to me yet!) Beautiful machines!
I have a Free Machine in the same cabinet minus the shaped wooden back on the top, the handwheel turns away from the machinist to sew, badged Rollos Rotoscillo manufactured for Australia and New Zealand sales. Sews nicely.
Donnita, Thank you for posting the photo of Harvey. He is gorgeous. It makes my day to see him. I have not ran into a lot of 3/4 top tensioned Davis machines on the web (I have one too) and stumbled upon this one by sheer accident.
I have that same cabinet as your Ellie! The machine was my husband’s great grandmother’s originally. I haven’t seen many like it in my research. Do you have an approximate age for your Ellie?
Early 1900s, but I don’t know more than that on this particular machine. Sorry!
My National Two Spool Treadles are exactly like yours! Both just happen to use the san #3 Can too.
Would anyone have any info on a Elgin Treadle? Ser #: C319306