Circa 1910-20

It is rare that as late as 1910 a complete sewing machine patent application is filed. By then over 60 years had passed and thousands upon thousands of patents had been issued all over the world. This made patenting a brand new, complete, sewing machine almost unheard of.

However on December 30th 1910 that is exactly what Leslie Salter did. He filed for his improved Portable Chain Stitch Sewing Machine. Patent application Number 30,264.

Leslie Slater of 50 Copthall Avenue London was an engineer by trade. Perhaps he had hoped to make his millions from this superb art deco model. It was so different to anything on the market that the patent was granted.  

Ideal Sewing Machine, known as Salter’s Improved Portable Chain Stitch Sewing Machine was born.

The Ideal Sewing Machine patent application of Dec 1910

Little else is known about the British made Ideal patented by Leslie Slater. What we do know is a bit of an enigma. The well-engineered small tin plate machine was first patented before The Great War, the patents being issued in December 1910 and accepted on the 8th of June 1911.  

Patents were issued and each surviving machine is stamped across the bed with the 30264 United Kingdom patent numbers. Such a bold display across the machine was intended to scare away competitors.

We do know that Salter also had German and French patents showing that he had intended to market his machine to a larger European market. Little did he  know that just around the corner was a devastating World War!

Although patented in 1911there is some confusion about the start of manufacturing. Some records state that it was not actually made until after the Great War as late as 1921. There was a launch of shares that year of 2,000,000 shares of one shilling per share.

However that does not mean that they were not made before that date. I am inclined to believe that they could not have made the numbers that survive in such a short period from 1921-1922.

There is also another curious point. In January of 1914 Herbert Westcott of Adelaide Road, London, patented an almost identical machine to the Ideal except that it made a lock-stitch not a chain-stitch. Patent No 1459. If you were to look at the two patent applications together they would look like twins, not identical ones but instantly recognisable as from the same stock.

The patent of the Herbert Westcott lock-stitch copy of 1914 notice the undeniable similarities to the top of the Ideal.

Was Salter's machine held up due to a copy trying to come onto the market or was there another reason? The similarities are way too close for chance!

Much more likely that they started manufacturing, stopped during the war and then sorted out their act in the early 1920's. Unfortunately they did not last long.

The machines were made at their London factory at 66 Broad Street Avenue. EC2.

So we are not sure about the actual start of manufacturing and there is no evidence of the time it was stopped. Not too good eh! But great fun to collect. The machines were small, light, cheap and easy to use. Why they did not manage to get a better foothold in the market is curious. Poor marketing I guess.

The machines came in a tin, black, with a dome metal case and there were slight changes to the machine so we have Models A &B.

The machine manufacturer may also have a connection to Salter's family, the famous British scale makers but I have found no evidence to support this…Yet!

Salter scales and pressure gauges

The patented walking foot mechanism is very similar to the very early 1850’s Pillar or Fire Hydrant machines made by American manufacturers such as Shaw & Clark. It was easy to copy these long out of date mechanisms without fear of patent infringment.