The Jones Sewing Machine Company was a British manufacturer of
sewing machines founded in 1860 by William Jones and Thomas Chadwick under the name Chadwick and Jones that later become known as the Jones Sewing Machine Company.
History
William Jones started making sewing machines in 1859 and in 1860 formed a partnership with Thomas Chadwick. As Chadwick & Jones they manufactured sewing machines at Ashton-under-Lyne until 1863. Their machines used designs from Howe and Wilson produced under licence. Thomas Chadwick later joined Bradbury & Co. William Jones opened a factory in
Guide Bridge
Guide Bridge is an area west of Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, Guide Bridge was built as a village around an eponymous bridge over the Ashton Canal.
History
Industries included Sco ...
, Manchester in 1869. In 1893 a Jones advertising sheet claimed that this factory was the "Largest Factory in England Exclusively Making First Class Sewing Machines". The firm was renamed as the Jones Sewing Machine Co. Ltd and was later acquired by
Brother Industries
is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment company headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. Its products include printers, multifunction printers, desktop computers, consumer and industrial sewing machines, large machine to ...
of Japan, in 1968. The Jones name still appeared on the machines till the late 1980s.
The Jones patent for his popular Serpent Neck model appeared in 1879. These were manufactured until 1909.
[Old Sewing Machine Guides by Carol Head, pp.16]
The "Serpentine" machines formed a
lock stitch using a reciprocating (i.e., linear fore/aft motion) boat shuttle, while later models used a
vibrating shuttle A vibrating shuttle is a bobbin driver design used in home lockstitch sewing machines during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It supplanted earlier ''transverse'' shuttle designs, but was itself supplanted ...
. The CS Family model was produced for many years. One version of it has "As Supplied to Her Majesty Queen Alexandra" written along the shoulder and like many Jones machines displayed very ornamental decoration ensuring that many are still kept in good condition as decorative items. You can find Jones machines and advertising with reference to her as "Princess Alexandra" and "Queen Alexandra" and there is a reliable account that while at technical school she did use a Jones machine.
Jones was happy to make machines under different names when ordering over 100 machines unlike Singer which would only produce machines with their name on. The different Jones machines can be found appearing under various name such as CWS (Co-operative wholesale society), Whiteley's universal, Federation (which is another machine for the co-operative wholesale society) which are all basically Jones Family CS machines. The Cat-Back design was also sold under the name Eclipse, and The Favourite.
Gallery
File:Jonesflower.jpg, Early Jones cat-back. Often called serpentine or swan neck. Serpent neck with a flower pattern from around 1890.
File:Jonescs.jpg, Jones Family CS Machine from around 1935.
File:JonesD53.jpg, Jones D53 model in metallic green.
See also
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List of sewing machine brands
This is a list of notable sewing machine brands and companies. A sewing machine is a machine used to stitch fabric and other materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amo ...
References
Sewing machine brands
Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Tameside
Japan–United Kingdom relations
British companies established in 1860
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