U.S. sewing-machine manufacturer.
The company began in 1851, when Isaac Merritt Singer (181175) patented the first practical sewing machine for domestic use. By 1860 I.M. Singer & Co. was the largest maker of sewing machines in the world. In 1863 its business was taken over by the newly incorporated Singer Manufacturing Co. The company began mass-producing domestic electric machines in 1910 and pioneered marketing innovations such as the installment plan. It later expanded into power tools, floor-care products, furniture, and electronics; it adopted the name Singer Co. in 1963. Its sewing-machine and furniture operations were spun off into a separate company, SSMC Inc., in 1986. Two years later it was the subject of a hostile takeover by investor Paul Bilzerian, who in 1989 sold Singer's assets to Semi-Tech, a Hong Kong company controlled by investor James Henry Ting. Still one of the world's largest sewing-machine manufacturers, the company declared bankruptcy in 1999 and was reorganized as Singer NV in 2000.