The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company [Hardcover]

D. C. Bissell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

A business history of the Singer Sewing Machine Company as seen from the company president's office. Overview of sewing machine history and development. Brief biography of Isaac M. Singer followed by biographical sketches of succeeding company presidents over 145 years to the present day. Biographies of company presidents: Edward S. Clark, George Ross McKenzie, F. G. Bourne, Sir Douglas Alexander, Milton C. Lightner, Donald P. Kircher, Joseph B. Flavin, Paul Bilzerian and James H. Ting.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The sewing machine, America's Great Civilizer, represents the most important invention of the nineteenth century. No other discovery in past or modern times has so affected the world's working class. No other invention has so changed the global workplace or done more to enhance the quality of life all over the planet. No invention, no modern electronic computer or other home appliance has achieved as many sales or as much global recognition as the Singer Sewing Machine.

The Singer Sewing Machine Company's 5,000 branch offices and sewing centers reached into 190 of the world's political entities. At one time, its weekly paychecks went out to 87,000 employees. To accommodate its global customer base, the company translated its sewing machine instruction and repair manuals into at least 54 languages. In many of today's third world languages, the word singer supplants both the verb for sewing and the noun in the defining compound expression, sewing machine, which survives as a singer machine. The global ubiquity of Singer sewing machines, its company factories, and its repair and instruction centers began evolving before the US Civil War. Singer families, like generational military families, also date from these years. For example, Singer's German-managed facilities employed three and four generations of workers from the same family. The company became so ingrained in German culture that World War II German aviators avoided bombing Singer's European manufacturing facilities believing them German-owned. When hostilities ended, relatively intact Singer facilities resumed full operations within days.

About the Author

Don Bissell has published historical narratives, computer product reviews, book reviews, company profiles and provided computer show reportage as a freelance journalist. His published works have appeared in regional and national magazines including: "Byte," "IEEE Computer," "Computer-Aided Engineering," MicroCAD News," "Design NET," "Interface Monthly," "Wang in the News," "PC Report," "IEEE Annals of the History of Computing," and Ingersoll-Rand's "Compressed Air Magazine." He was formerly a contributing technical editor for both "Design Technologies" and "Design Management" magazines. Don Bissell lives in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Audenreed Press (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 187941872X
• ISBN-13: 978-1879418721
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Bissell has published historical narratives, encyclopedia historical entries, computer product reviews, book reviews, company profiles, and provided computer show reportage as a freelance journalist. His articles have appeared in national magazines including: BYTE, IEEE Computer, Computer-Aided Engineering, MicroCAD News, Design NET, Interface Monthly and the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. He was formerly a contributing technical editor for both Design Technologies and Design Management magazines.
Don enjoys responding to feedback on his work: Contact Don at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the history and influence of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., June 19, 1999

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company (Hardcover)

On the grounds of extensive research, Bissell makes the case that the Singer Sewing Machine Company was a leader in the industrialization leading to rising standards of living for the masses of average persons, beginning in the U. S. in the decades before the Civil War and continuing well into the 20th century. The Company was a leader not only in developing the sewing machine providing well-made, mass-produced clothing, but also in creating a large labor force, implementing progressive employee and business practices, and standing as a model for other companies formed in the course of industrialization. Indeed, the Singer Sewing Machine Company was so successful and so respected over a wide area of the globe that in the language of many Third World countries, the word singer is used for the noun sewing-machine and the verb to sew.

Bissell follows the history of the Company mostly by profiles of its succession of presidents focusing in their perspectives and practices as they faced different economic and social circumstances in the long history of the Company. Singer1s reputation and success suffered a severe setback in 1987 after a hostile takeover by Paul Bilzerian, who was later indicted on tax and securities violations. Only in the past five years or so has Singer been able to recover from this and regain something of its former prominent position. For following the Singer Sewing Machine Company from its founding until today, Bissell1s history of this major American Company is the definitive book on this subject.

Henry Berry, Book Reviewer

Editor/Publisher, The Small Press Book Review

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A memorable testament to the workings of corporate America., June 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company (Hardcover)

The Singer Sewing Machine Company was founded by womanizing polygamist Isaac Merritt Singer who invented the first practical sewing machine, but was also an eccentric, dissolute, profane, abusive and emotionally-weak philander. He maintained polygamous arrangements with at least three young women (other reports contend he managed five young wives at one time), supported and additional six mistresses, and frequented prostitutes as well. All this time his sewing machine and the company he created to build and market it prospered into one of the largest, most cash-rich international companies on earth. For the next 140 years, a succession of enlightened corporate leaders kept this great multinational company one step ahead of its many competitors. By the 1970s, the company emerged as a major space age defense contractor and preeminent business equipment maker. But within a few years time, the company fell into the hands of avaricious profiteers. The new owner (an undercapitalized corporate raider) quickly squandered the company's assets on his own vanishing financial empire. A sell-off ran this once powerful and model corporation to waste. Fascinating and informative, The First Conglomerate: 145 Years Of The Singer Sewing Machine Company reads with all the drama of a great American novel, and stands as a memorable testament to the workings of corporate America down to the present day.