TRADE CARD (5¼" x 3"): Singer Manufacturing - ADVERTISING - Florence ITALY  1892:  Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then the Singer Company in 1963. It is based in La Vergne, Tennessee, near Nashville. Its first large factory for mass production was built in 1863 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  Singer's original design was the first practical sewing machine for general domestic use. It incorporated the basic eye-pointed needle and lock stitch, developed by Elias Howe, who won a patent-infringement suit against Singer in 1854.  Singer obtained patent no. 8294 in August 1851 for an improved sewing machine that included a circular feed wheel, thread controller, and power transmitted by gear wheels and shafting.  Singer consolidated enough patents in the field to enable him to engage in mass production, and by 1860 his company was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines in the world.  Singer's marketing emphasized the role of women and their relationship to the home, evoking ideals of virtue, modesty, and diligence.  Though the sewing machine represented liberation from arduous hand sewing, it chiefly benefited those sewing for their families and themselves. Tradespeople relying on sewing as a livelihood still suffered from poor wages, which dropped further in response to the time savings gained by machine sewing.  Singer offered credit purchases and rent-to-own arrangements, allowing people to rent a machine with the rental payments applied to the eventual purchase of the machine, and sold globally through the use of direct-sales door-to-door canvassers to demonstrate and sell the machines.  This Artist Signed (J. Ottmanfort) Trade Card shows a Florentine woman in period attire of long dress and bonnet at a Singer machine of the time.  The card's reverse contains a description of the Italian city.  This Trade Card, copyrighted 1892, is in good condition.  Singer Manufacturing Co.