Singer Corporation

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Singer Corporation is a United States of America manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merrit Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. Originally all of its manufacturing was done at facilities in New York City.

As president over the turn of the twentieth century, Frederick Gilbert Bourne (1851-1919) built one of the first truly global enterprises, extending marking throughout the world, establishing retail and service centers, introducing installment purchasing, and building factories in several nations. Company headquarters were in the Singer Building, designed by architect Ernest Flagg, who also designed two landmark residences for Bourne. Constructed in 1906 at New York City during Bourne's tenure, the Singer Building (demolished in 1968) was then the tallest building in the world. In addition to works in North America, the Singer Corporation also had the honour of creating the largest clock face, Singers clock in the world in its Clydebank factory which opened in 1885 closing in 1984.

In the 1960s the company diversified, acquiring the Friden calculator company in 1965, Packard Bell Electronics in 1966 and General Precision Equipment Corporation in 1968. GPE included The Kearfott Company, Inc. In 1987 Kearfott was split, the Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation was sold to the Astronautics Corporation of America in 1988. The Electronic Systems Division was purchased by GEC-Marconi in 1990 renamed GEC-Marconi Electronic Systems while the Sewing Machine Division was sold in 1989 to Semi-Tech Microelectronics, a publicly traded Toronto-based company.^[1]

Today, the Singer Corporation produces a range of consumer products, including electronic sewing machines. It is now part of SVP Worldwide, which also owns the Pfaff and Husqvarna Viking brands, which is in turn owned by Kohlberg & Company.