Some New Wheeler & Wilson Machines
The Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company have now on show at their head London office, 21, Queen Victoria Street, several new special machines which deserves our attention and we have had the opportunity of examining these in the company's new testing department which has been fitted with power.
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The Wheeler & Wilson Company have had for some years zig-zag machines for making either one or three stitches in the traverse. They have now perfected a new machine which works four stitches each way. The principle difference between this and an ordinary D 12, is that it has a moveable needle-bar, which causes it to make alternately four stitches to the right and four to the left, the ordinary feed being used, but the hook working in a line with the arm of the machine. The length of the stitch or the angles of the zigzag are very easily altered and this may be done while the machine is in motion. The machine feeds backwards and forwards and will either make four stitches diagonally or sew straight forward in the ordinary manner. We saw many yards of sewing produced by it at a high speed and with numerous variations, the work in every case being first-class.
A twin-needle zigzag machine was also shown to us, it having two needles fixed in the same bar one of which can be removed if required.
The Variety Stitch Machine which we next examined is a novelty which the Company claim will do as much work in one minute as an ordinary flowering machine will perform in two hours and a half. This machine is controlled by very simple mechanism, which produces variations by simply increasing or decreasing the traverse of the needle and the length of the stitch. It makes two stitches forward and one back and produces exceedingly handsome fancy sewing.
A Vamping Machine which we next tested had two needles and a four motion feed and is specially intended for strong boots, the Company having another wheel feed vamping machine for women's boots.
One of this Company's latest inventions is a trimming machine which is constructed with a wheel or a step feed and the trimmer, which is fitted to an ordinary 12 or D 12 machine, cuts like a pair of scissors and is to a limited extent adjustable. The knife can be thrown out of gear at any time without stopping the machine and it cuts leather or cloth in a perfect manner.
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The Wheeler & Wilson D 10 Automatic-Cutter Button-Hole Machine, which has the enormous speed of five holes a minute, has been altered so that it will make automatically a double row of stitches at the end of the hole In practice it is found that one girl can attend to two machines, which, together with the fact that it produces splendid work, is sufficient to account for its enormous success the past few months.
The Wheeler & Wilson new vibrator, we found, differs from other vibrating machines principally in that it is constructed to adjust itself automatically so as to work equally as well with any thickness of material.
The last machine we examined was the Wheeler & Wilson eyeleting machine, which is a modification of the zig-zag type. The alteration is merely in the feed, which resembles a wheel-feed posed on its side, the material being held firmly and turned round until the needle has completed the circle. First-class eyelets can be produced by this machine in leather, cloth, &c.
The Sewing Machine Gazette (July 1891)