Meister Class 101 No. 2

Treasure in a tiny town: Washtucna, population 208.

I have a huge weakness for German mid-century machines and my friends know this.  Janet found a Meister in Montana and it's one of my favorite machines.  She found another and alerted another friend, Maria, about that one.  Some months later (and a couple of weeks ago), she found the present machine on FB and linked it.  The next day Maria did the same.  Are they plotting against my better judgment or in favor of my better self?  Regardless, my heart is pretty full right now because this is such a nice machine and cabinet, plus extras.

Located in the middle of nowhere, I happily drove the 3.5 hours to the seller's house, a modest affair right on Main Street, Washtucna.  Children were selling drinks and snacks out front.  A tumbleweed (no, I'm not kidding) had found a temporary resting place against the building next door.  I struck up a convo with a biker at the lone gas station near Highway 26, his Harley near Empty.  He was on his way to meet friends in the Tri-Cities.

The seller is an older woman who showed me a garage stuffed with old items (I tried to look around but I had arrived early and I think she was cooking and so I assumed she didn't have the time).  She was very friendly and glad to be selling me her grandmother's Meister 101, a German zig-zag with 4 two-sided pattern cams and lots of attachments in an integrated seated cabinet.  It's all very German and all very cool.

Take a look:

The cam-following arm is on back, similar to, say, a Wonder Wheel rod.  These cams have teeth and troughs, so the cam is inserted onto a post under a pop-up door (where the bobbin winder is accessed) and is driven by a horizontal gear that itself is friction driven by a tire on the hand wheel.  The arm then reads the trough and the width position is then changed via the rod, whose hook is inserted into an arm off the back of the width selector.  Got it?  (I haven't finished cleaning under there, as you can see.)

So this Meister 101 is somewhat different from the other I own, based upon the cam mechanism and the buttonhole selection on top.  I have yet to find a database with serials and dates so I have no idea of their chronology.  I'm guessing this one is slightly later, a more full-featured model based upon the older design.  It's one of my favorite colors, too: light green.  Its color matches the color of my car almost exactly and so I will get some touch-up auto paint and see what I can do about the few small dings along the lip and elsewhere.  Overall it's in good shape and everything turns and moves very smoothly.

It needs rewiring and the motor re-installed.  The motor and bracket were included as was the original box of attachments, the manual, and some other goodies.

It's hard to find machines this complete so again, I'm pretty grateful for this one.  Janet (and Maria too), thank you for the enabling.  I love this one and spending the necessary hours cleaning the and getting the machine running as well as refinishing its fine cabinet will be a pleasure.

But wait, there's more!  My day trip and my acquisitions weren't over in Washtucna.  I proceeded to East Wenatchee and met a delightful couple, 4 dogs, and bought another great machine.  More on that later, so stay tuned!