Though old fashioned (I still remember my Mother using one - many years ago!) they worked and did not require electricity, nor an embedded computer, or access to the internet, nor pages and pages of instructions written in several languages - the treadle sewing machine of my childhood simply worked.
This is the kind of non-electric sewing machine that isoperated by a treadle, or rocking type of platform to make the needle move.
You would pump the treadle up and down as you sewed.
Your feet on the pedal and your hand on the wheel. Everything on a treadle is manual. Some people put one foot on the back and one foot on the front of the treadle pedal when they are making the machine work. Treadle sewing takes a lot of practice! The pedal is attached to the sewing machine with a leather belt wrapped around a large wheel that is then wrapped around the wheel on the sewing machine.
This is the kind of non-electric sewing machine that isoperated by a treadle, or rocking type of platform to make the needle move.
The company that originally made the belt for the treadle sewing machine can provide a new belt. Look for the name of the manufacturer on your treadle machine, and if that company is no longer in business, inquire of the Singer company that may be able to provide a similar belt.
Are you asking about a treadle machine? These were the ones used before electric sewing machines.
By hand with a hand wheel and later by a treadle.
A foot treadle was used, a belt was used to transfer the energy from the treadle to the shaft on the machine.
Issac Singer is credited with adding the treadle to the sewing machine. Starting with his model 1 in 1851 you could use the crate it came in as a base and it included a simple treadle mechanism.
The sewing machine with the foot pedal, also called a foot treadle, was invented by Elias Howe, Jr. Howe was born in Spencer, Massachusetts in July of 1819. He started out working at a textile factory.
The "Unique" brand sewing machine was built by the Davis sewing machine company. If you have the bobbin, you should see Davis stamped on it in small letters.
Thomas Saint is the first person to create a sewing machine.