Singer 404 Sewing Machines

In 1958 Singer launched the model 404 as a replacement for the popular 301/301A. As the Anderson S.C. plant had just been closed, the 404 was manufactured entirely at the Elizabethport N.J. plant. Like the 301, it was built around a diecast aluminium body with an internally mounted motor.

Essentially the 404 was just a Singer 301 slant-needle machine which has been changed to a horizontal drop-in class 66 bobbin with a quick release throat plate and no carrying handle. The feed dogs can be lowered by a lever on the bed at the base of the pillar. The 404 was not popular with users, and quilters in particular didn't like the horizontal drop-in bobbin and the lack of a carrying handle. In addition the straight-stitch quality was not as precise as the Singer 301A had been.

In response to the unpopularity of the 404 and poor sales after its initail introduction, Singer stopped manufacturing it in the USA just 2 years after it was introduced and just 400,000 were made at the Elizabethport factory.

In Europe the model 404G was made at the Karlsruhe factory in Germany.

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