NEW HOME / JANOME

Some time before the Civil War, in the United States, in 1860, Thomas H. White and William L. Grout (1888-1908) opened a manufacture of sewing machine in East Templeton, Massachusssetts. A year later William Grout broke his partnership with Thomas White, and opened a second manufacture in Winchendon, Massachussetts.

As the Civil War was raging in 1863, Thomas White and Stephen French, who has been his mecanics since 1861, left their Templeton manufacture to settle in Orange, Massachussetts. There, they took larger offices to be able to supply more machines. The first machine manufactured in this new workshop was named "New England Family Sewing Machine".

Barker, who was White's main seller, decided to leave him and founded his own company, the Gold Medal Sewing Machine to produce a machine named "The Pride of the West" and later "the New England Machine". In 1867, Barker went back when he had started and settled his company in Orange just as his former employer Thomas White had done.

Thomas White, was attracted by the Middle West which was quicly developping in that period of western migration. Thus, he decided, just after the Civil War, in 1866, to settle in Cleveland, Ohio with his son and three employees. It was there that the first prototype of a White machine was built. today White still exist as a brand in the United States.

After Andrew J. Clark had joined the company in 1867, on January 25, 1882 the Gold Medal Sewing Machine was reorganised and became  New Home Sewing Machine Company with John Wilson Wheeler as a chairman. Incidently he would remain the chairman until his death in 1920. The first models form New York fourth avenue, were invented by W. Grout, were the "Octagon", the "New Home", the "National" and the "Favorite".

Stephen Franch invented the "Home Shuttle" and the "Home" in 1870. These two models were retailed worldwide. As soon as 1884 the machine production rose to about 500 dayly. In 1889, New Home bought the Orange Iron Foundry Company. In 1893, New Home started to produce the "Climax" as the "Favorite"'s successor. then came the "Ruby", the "Rotary" and the "Little Worker". Unfortunately, in 1898 a part of the manufacture was burnt down.

New Home also started to manufacture needles for its own machines and for its competitors'. So many needles were manufactured that it was necessary to enlarge the building several times.

In 1906-7 New Home manufactured 150 000 machines yearly with 743 employees. In 1918, while the first World War was getting to a close, New Home acquired the National Furniture Company in Williamsport, Pensylvania.

In Spring 1927, New Home moved from New York's fourth avenue to Orange.

It is at the beginning of the XXth century, in 1921, Janome was founded in Japan by Yosaku Ose et Shigeru Kamematsu. Janome used a bobbin which was said to look like a snake's eye, in Japanese "Ja No Me". Hence the name of the new company. In 1960, Janome acquired the almost a hundred year old company New Home. Four years later, Janome opened a Research and Developments Center entirely devoted to the development of new models.

In 1979, launching the Memory 7, Janome put a red stone in the calendar of the history of the sewing machine. it was the first computerized customizable machine. In 1992, Janome produced the first multi-colloured embroidery machine with a an embroidery circle.