records. Neither is it listed in the obsolescence list published in
1881. The company probably could not pay its royalty fees and was forced
out of business almost immediately. If this machine had not been used as
a patent model, no record of the company's existence might remain. It
should be noted that as in most shuttle machines the head was meant to
be set into a treadle-powered table. Since most tables are very similar,
they are not required for identification. (Smithsonian photo 48328-C.)]

[Illustration: Figure 82.--M. FINKLE SEWING MACHINE, 1857. The M. Finkle
machines were manufactured in 1856 and 1857. Sometime before or about
1859, the inventor, Milton Finkle, formed a partnership and the machines
were subsequently called M. Finkle & Lyon and later simply Finkle &
Lyon. In 1859 the machine was awarded a silver medal by the American
Institute for producing superior manufacturing and family lockstitch
sewing machines. It also won a silver medal in Boston in 1860 at the
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association Exhibition. Although the
name of the machine was changed to Victor in 1867, the company name
remained Finkle & Lyon until about 1872 when it was changed to Victor
also. Victor machines were manufactured until about 1890.

Machines can be dated by their serial number approximately as follows:

_Serial Number_ _Year_

1-200 1856
201-450 1857
451-700 1858
701-950 1859
951-1500 1860
1501-3000 1861
3001-5000 1862
5001-7000 1863
7001-9000 1864
9001-11000 1865
11001-13000 1866
13001-15490 1867
15491-17490 1868
17491-18830 1869
18831-21250 1870
21251-28890 1871
28891-40790 1872
40791-48240 1873
48241-53530 1874
53531-59635 1875
59636-65385 1876

No estimates are available for the years 1877 to 1890. (Smithsonian
photo 48216-A.)]

[Illustration]

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[Illustration: Figure 83.--FLORENCE SEWING MACHINE. The Florence machine
was based on the patents of Leander W. Langdon, whose first patent was
obtained in 1855. Langdon sewing machines were manufactured by the
inventor for a few years. It was his patent of March 20, 1860, that was
the immediate forerunner of the Florence machine, whose name was derived
from the city of manufacture, Florence, Massachusetts. The Howe royalty
records of 1860 listed the Florence Se