treadle on!

Other than the bicycle I don't think there is an invention more perfect than a treadle sewing machine. Clean, simple, efficient and best of all, human powered. The other day while perusing Craigslist I came across a Singer 31-15 industrial treadle near my neighborhood. At sixty dollars this was a deal I couldn't pass up. I frantically wrote the poster assuming the machine would already be gone. To my relief the seller promptly responded. My wife Jaime and I picked it up today and I couldn't be more thrilled with it. The tarnished serial number, H813673, dates this particular example to 1906. I have no doubt that with a little oil, a new drive belt and a good cleaning this centenarian will last another hundred years.