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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. It is currently based in LaVergne, TN near Nashville.

Contents

Presidents

Singer Building

Diversification

Present situation

See also

References

External links

Presidents

★ Isaac Merritt Singer (1851-1863)

★ Inslee Hopper (1863-1875)

★ Edward S. Clark (1875-1882)

★ George Ross McKenzie (1882-1889)

★ Frederick Gilbert Bourne (1889-1905)

★ Sir Douglas Alexander (1905-1949)

★ Milton C. Lightner (1949-1958)

★ Donald P. Kircher (1958-1975)

★ Joseph Bernard Flavin (1975-1987)

★ Paul Bilzerian (1987-1989)^[1]

★ James H. Ting (1989-1997)^[2]

★ Steve Goodman (1998-2004)

Singer Building

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 in the world the Singers clock at its Clydebank factory which opened in 1885 and closed in 1984.

Diversification

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 while the Sewing Machine Division was sold in 1989 to Semi-Tech Microelectronics, a publicly traded Toronto-based company.^[3]

Present situation

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.

See also

★ History of the sewing machine

References

1. A Raider's Days Of Reckoning
2. Semi-Tech's Ting jailed six years
3. Dishonored Dealmaker

External links

★ Singer Corporation Official website

★ Singer Corporation Worldwide Official website

★ Singer Memories: company history

★ Singer sewing machine serial numbers and dates

★ Singer sewing machine blog: pictures and history

★ Clydebank Restoration Trust Access to information

★ ''Sewing Machines, Historical Trade Literature'' Smithsonian Institution Libraries

★ Singer Sewing company South Africa Singer Sewing Company South Africa