The predecessor of the New Home company was the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company. It was owned by Johnson, Clarke, & Company of Orange, Massachusetts, and was established in 1860. About 1882, the company was re-organized and renamed The New Home Sewing Machine Company. It was one of a number of companies that started after the disorganization of the Singer, Wheeler & Wilson, Grover & Baker sewing machine combination in 1877, which had controlled patents covering several of the essential features of the sewing machine.
�New Home� sewing machines were quite popular. In 1878, the company was successful in selling 48,000 machines. In 1879, it sold 55,352 machines. In an 1880 report, the company predicted it would sell 400 per day that year and offered twelve different styles. Prices ranged from thirty dollars and up depending on the cabinet style.
The New Home Sewing Machine company manufactured both vibrating shuttle and rotary sewing machines. As was the case with many of the other minor manufacturers, many of the machines that the company manufactured were �stenciled� or �badged� machines made for retailers and mail-order houses. These were basically standard New Home models labeled with the retailers� brand name of choice.
The trademark of the New Home Company was a greyhound with the inscription �Light Running New Home.� This inscription was often placed in the center of the bedplate.
The company merged with The Free Sewing Machine Company in 1927, but the product lines of both companies continued to be manufactured for awhile. In the 1930s, the New Home product line was discontinued and �New Home� basically became a brand name of the Free Sewing Machine Company.
After the Second World War, the introduction of cheap Japanese machines to the US market severely crippled American sewing machine manufacturers. Many of the smaller companies merged with each other in a futile attempt to remain competitive. As such, in 1953 Free/New Home merged with The National Sewing Machine Company.
However, like all of the other smaller American sewing machine manufacturers, the New Home Company was unable to stay in business with the new competition, and was eventually absorbed by Janome, a Japanese corporation, in 1957.
--From The Encyclopedia of Antique Sewing Machines, 3rd Edition
