| Operating income | 222 |
|---|---|
| Parent | SVP Worldwide |
| Website | singer.com |
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt 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. It is currently based in La Vergne, Tennessee near Nashville. Its first large factory for mass production was built in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1863.[1]
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In 1885 Singer produced its first "vibrating shuttle" sewing machine, an improvement over contemporary oscillating shuttle designs.
The 11,000 workers at the largest factory of Singer, in Clydebank, went on strike in March–April 1911, ceasing to work in solidarity of 12 female colleagues protesting against work process reorganization. Following the end of the strike, Singer fired 400 workers, including all strike leaders and purported members of the IWGB, among whom was Arthur McManus, who later went on to become the first chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain between 1920 and 1922.[4]
| 1853 | 1859 | 1867 | 1871 | 1873 | 1876 |
| 810 | 10,953 | 43,053 | 181,260 | 232,444 | 262,316 |
During World War II, the company suspended sewing machine production to take on government contracts for weapons manufacturing. Factories in the US supplied Americans with Norden bomb sights, M1 Garand rifle receivers while factories in Germany provided their armed forces with weapons.[6]
In 1939, the company was given a production study by the government to draw plans and develop standard raw material sizes for building M1911A1 pistols. The next year, April 17, 1940, Singer was given an educational order of 500 units with serial numbers No. S800001 - S800500. The educational order was a program set up by the US Ordnance Board to learn how easily a company with no gun-making experience could tool up from scratch and build weapons for the government. After the 500 units were delivered to the government; the management decided their expertise would be better used in producing artillery and bomb sights. The pistol tooling and manufacturing machines were transferred to Remington Rand and some went to the Ithaca Gun Company. Original and correct Singer pistols are highly desired by collectors. In excellent condition, Singer pistols sell anywhere from $25,000 to $60,000. Current collector value is as high as $80,000 at auction.[7]
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 Librascope and 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 (and later incorporated into BAE Systems) while the Sewing Machine Division was sold in 1989 to Semi-Tech Microelectronics, a publicly traded Toronto-based company.[8] For several years in the 1970s, Singer set up a national sales force for phototypesetting machines made by another Massachusetts company, Graphic Systems Inc.[9]
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, which bought Singer in 2004. Its main competitors are Brother Industries, Janome and Aisin Seiki - a Toyota Group company that manufactures Toyota, Necchi and E&R Classic Sewing Machines.
Singer was heavily involved in Manhattan real estate in the 1800s through Edward Clark, a founder of the company. Clark had built The Dakota apartments and other Manhattan buildings in the 1880s. In 1900, the Singer company retained Ernest Flagg to build a 12-story loft building at Broadway and Prince Street in Lower Manhattan. The building is now considered architecturally notable, and has been restored.[10]
The 47-story Singer Building, completed in 1908, was also designed by Flagg, who designed two landmark residences for Bourne. Constructed 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 in the world, the Singer's clock at its Clydebank, Scotland factory which opened in 1885 and closed in 1980. Singer railway station, built to serve the factory, is still in existence to this day.
Another famous Singer Building, designed by architect Pavel Suzor, was built in 1902-1904 at Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg for headquarters of the Russian branch of the company. This modern style building (situated just opposite to the Kazan Cathedral) is officially recognized as an object of Russian historical-cultural heritage.
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