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Gold Medal / Johnson Clark "Home Shuttle"

1868-1878

The Gold Medal Sewing Machine Co was in operation from 1860-1867.

(The Civil war ended, and Lincoln was shot in 1865 - just for a time reference.)

Mr. Clark bought out his partner in 1865, then organized a new firm "Johnson, Clark & Co",

& moved to Orange, Mass in 1867.

This machine is the Johnson, Clark & Co Home Shuttle, but it was stamped

"Manufactured by the Gold Medal SM Co, for Johnson, Clark & Co",

so there must have been some overlap.

There's a fair bit of confusion to me, as to if GMSMCo was operating simultaneously with JC&Co, so the machine is hard to date, other than the Home Shuttle was patented in 1868, & ceased production in 1878.

This machine was completely refurbished, and salvaged from her formerly pretty rough condition.

SOLD on Ebay in 2022.

Back end of the crank wheel. Such a pretty casting - I love the cast iron swirls!

Notice this machine came to me with a thread spool screwed on where a crank handle should be.

I happened to have a lesser value Johnson & Clark machine from around the same time period, with it's original handle, so I scavenged that, to replace the thread spool. It's original to the time, & style of this machine as well.

It's ceramic - Not plastic, as it appears in pics. Very nice crank knob.

Hard to see just how cruddy those gears are, but they're all greasy & full of 100+ yrs of crud,.

It's a bear to clean them, because the crank wheel is inseparable. I've learned now, to put them into the special sauce for a few days first, & that makes it a lot easier to clean them with a wire brush.

Still messy, & not much fun - but it's easier than Q-tips. Also really hard to mask for painting.