"When the Singer Sewing Machine Company Built the Best .45 Pistol Ever Made."

[Tom]

Didn't know that they made the 45 cal pistol for the U.S. Military.  Rarest of the 45's made.   "a Singer 1911 sold at auction for an eye-popping $414,000, one of the highest prices ever paid at auction for a handgun."  If posted before, let me know and I'll pull the thread.  Short article on the pistol.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23340620/singer-sewing-machine-company-45-pistol-gun/?src=nl&mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&date=092118

[Kiwi_Roy]

 

[ohiorider]

Singer was an interesting company.  I worked for them from 1969 to early in 1975.  They had purchased a company, Friden, that manufactured rotary calculators (electro-mechanical calculators,)  I sold for the division that manufactured punch paper tape oriented Flexowriters and billing/accounting machines called Computypers.  When I first started, I believe it was called "Friden Division,The Singer Company."  Then "Singer/Friden."  Finally "Singer Business Machines."

Friden built the 747 simulator for pilot training.

They also built and marketed the first electronic calculator in the USA, the Friden EC 130.  These things weren't cheap.  Somewhere in the range of $2000, and those were 1963/1964 dollars!

Loved selling for them.  Interesting products for the time.

Bob

[Jim Rich]

My cousin had a Singer 30 cal. carbine in the 70s.

[JJ]

My cousin Paul in upstate New York is an expert on WW II firearms.  This is his commentary:

I would not go as far to say they were the best made. Not enough of them made to really evaluate.

Colt quality was superior, in finish and parts, they made most of it themselves.

Ithaca was the poorest although I wanted one just because it was a NY mfg. Had a Remington Rand also NY.( I have a 99%  original finish  Ithaca US /Army double marked on slide and rec. for sale $2200 , and a 4 digit 1912 dated Colt)

Have a Union Switch & Signal Slide

Singers are marked with just an “S” and Elizabeth, NJ Don’t know why they did not put their  full name on it.

I have a couple of Singer made M1 Carbine Receivers. Underwood sub them out to Singer . They are marked Underwood with a circled or plain  “B” in the bevel. After Underwood contract was terminated in early 1944  their Receivers were transferred to Winchester, also in CT. and Win, continued to make Carbines thru 1945. So you can find Winchester marked, or Underwood lined out, with the singer “b” on a late Winchester carbine.

Anyway the prices of a Singer 1911a1 reflect the rarity of just 500 made. I have come across only one so far, well used by a Pacific war B24 pilot, and it was not for sale.

I think the rarest .45 is the North American 1911. They made replacement slides during WWI, But there are at least 3 complete pistols. Made in Quebec Canada.

I bought last spring a Norwegian  Kongsberg 1911, Model 1914 dated 1942. Made under Nazi Occupation. I have the original German Holster. It was captured in Northern Italy by a vet from the 88th inf. Div.

I shot it last month but the original bbl is so worn the bullets were key-holing in the 25 yd target. Norway and Argentina were the only ones licensed by Colt to produce outside the US.

Keep an eye out for a Savage 1911 from Utica NY

[KiwiKev]

Singer was an interesting company.  I worked for them from 1969 to early in 1975.  They had purchased a company, Friden, that manufactured rotary calculators (electro-mechanical calculators,)  I sold for the division that manufactured punch paper tape oriented Flexowriters and billing/accounting machines called Computypers.  When I first started, I believe it was called "Friden Division,The Singer Company."  Then "Singer/Friden."  Finally "Singer Business Machines."

Friden built the 747 simulator for pilot training.

They also built and marketed the first electronic calculator in the USA, the Friden EC 130.  These things weren't cheap.  Somewhere in the range of $2000, and those were 1963/1964 dollars!

Loved selling for them.  Interesting products for the time.

Bob

Hey Bob, I worked for HP back then and always thought their HP35 was the first to market, correct me if I’m wrong.

Ahh maybe the HP35 was the first “scientific “ calculator.

We used to fix them down to component level & there was an upgrade to correct an error in Pi in the early ones. Had to replace 3 x 8 leg ROM cans to fix it.

Kev

[ohiorider]

Hey Bob, I worked for HP back then and always thought their HP35 was the first to market, correct me if I�m wrong.

Ahh maybe the HP35 was the first �scientific � calculator.

We used to fix them down to component level & there was an upgrade to correct an error in Pi in the early ones. Had to replace 3 x 8 leg ROM cans to fix it.

Kev

I sold Friden source data recording and billing systems.  I think the EC 130 was perhaps the first four function electronic calculator on the market.  Our 5610 billing and accounting machine used a similar memory.  I don't find the term on any of the YouTube videos on the EC 130, but to us, it was 'delay line' storage.  Incredibly, it (the delay line) consisted of approximately 50' of thin guitar-like string, wrapped into a package much like what you'd see if you were purchasing bulk string.  As I recall, there was a transducer at the 'beginning' of the wire that would put torsional twists into the wire.  Ones may have been represented by a clockwise twist.  Zeros would have been represented by counterclockwise twists.  Programs were also stored on the delay line.  These torsional twists made their way around the 50' of wire, and when they reached the end of the wire, an amplifying/repeating transducer would put them back on the beginning of the wire.  Of course it took electronic logic to interpret the signals on the wire.  We also stored up to 120 registers of 15 bits plus decimal point plus sign on the delay line.  To say this memory was volatile is an understatement.  Sola constant voltage transmitters were recommended.

Computing before IBM or Radio Shack computers!  Fun stuff, and like old Guzzis, it just worked.

[KiwiKev]

I sold Friden source data recording and billing systems.  I think the EC 130 was perhaps the first four function electronic calculator on the market.  Our 5610 billing and accounting machine used a similar memory.  I don't find the term on any of the YouTube videos on the EC 130, but to us, it was 'delay line' storage.  Incredibly, it (the delay line) consisted of approximately 50' of thin guitar-like string, wrapped into a package much like what you'd see if you were purchasing bulk string.  As I recall, there was a transducer at the 'beginning' of the wire that would put torsional twists into the wire.  Ones may have been represented by a clockwise twist.  Zeros would have been represented by counterclockwise twists.  Programs were also stored on the delay line.  These torsional twists made their way around the 50' of wire, and when they reached the end of the wire, an amplifying/repeating transducer would put them back on the beginning of the wire.  Of course it took electronic logic to interpret the signals on the wire.  We also stored up to 120 registers of 15 bits plus decimal point plus sign on the delay line.  To say this memory was volatile is an understatement.  Sola constant voltage transmitters were recommended.

Computing before IBM or Radio Shack computers!  Fun stuff, and like old Guzzis, it just worked.

Wow that sounds pretty mechanical almost, amazing how people can dream stuff like that up - even more amazing that it worked.

The HP 9100 used diode transistor logic and core memory I think they were the bees knees for a time.


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