Tracking down information about my mother's old American Beauty - or ANY American Beauty has been a challenge. At the beginning of my quest, "American Beauty" was NOT listed on any of the Sewing Machine collector's lists I'd seen online. There was an obscure reference I found with Google that states in part: "A sewing machine named 'American Beauty' that was made in Japan would not be allowed as it would be a misleading trademark" (paraphrased, more on this below). As I know that my mother's machine WAS an "American Beauty" and it WAS made in Japan - this lead me to believe that they were not imported under the American Beauty name for very long. My mother purchased her American Beauty mail order in about 1957. The American Beauty
I inquired of the American Beauty Tool Company, longtime makers of soldering irons and similar equipment to find out if they had any relationship with American Beauty sewing machines. Turns out they did not, their business has always been with appliances that generate heat; their soldering irons (I have one from the 40's!) and the famous American Beauty laundry irons - but not sewing machines.
This machine turned up on eBay:
The seller's ad read in part: "From the research I was able to do, during the late 30s and early 40s, there was a company in Ohio that manufactured a series of machine heads and used motors from China. The series were marketed under different names, one of them being American Beauty. This is an entirely gear-driven machine."
American Beauty from the 40's (?). NOT like my mother's at all.
A probable Singer 15 clone - a manual for these clones built by
Happy and many other makers over many years, is availablehere.
The foot pedal for same - it just happens to be the same color as my mother's machine!
Whether or not the above is true or not, and whether or not it has anything to do with my mother's American Beauty is unknown. My mother's machine was a belt drive. I find it interesting that the foot pedal that goes with this machine was the exact same color as my mother's - both her machine and the foot pedal that went with her machine were that shade of metallic blue!
But then, by sheer accident, I ran across this old White on eBay:
It was a remarkable coincidence that I stumbled upon these pictures - because I can tell you that this is the SPITTING IMAGE of my mother's American Beauty, except for the color and branding. Her's also had a red rose painted in the middle of the bed. Its been somewhere between 30 and 35 years since I last saw it, but I'd recognize this machine anywhere. I spent many hours watching my mother sew on her's, this is it no question.
Front view. Note non-matching foot pedal.
Top
Top end.
Back - chrome/transparent door was for various stitch pattern cams.
Picture resolution disallows identifying the motor's country of origin.
Right end with wheel.
Left end, the business end.
Its branded model TZ-17 on its ID plate. It is NOT a White 305 - the 305 is a far more modern machine. All these machines bore a "305 Deluxe" badge regardless of whose name was on the machine.
Thanx to Linda at Relics (www.sewing-machine-manuals.com), I now know quite a bit more! It would appear that this particular machine was indeed made by a yet undetermined maker in Japan (Happy?) and sold by many sewing machine vendors, including White and the ever elusive "American Beauty" among others. Linda even sells a manual for these, if you have one, you can buy the manual 
The White 305. Not even close!
But wait, there's more!
So now the quest has bifurcated itself. First, I'm still wanting to know when and who made my mother's machine; second, what's up with the "American Beauty" brand name? According to the experts at the
White was unable to tell me anything about the machine pictured above.
I'm told by several sewing machine experts that this is a badged machine made by National - thanx to my contribution, the online database at the
Another old style American Beauty. Living proof
that the brand did exist, but why so hard to find?
And I thought piano stenciling was confusing! Finding out more will depend mainly on luck - someone who recognizes one of these pictures or who has one. I probably should have purchased that White that was on eBay (pictured above), it sold for only $10, but shipping one is murder. As I'm starting to get hits on this page from others searching for "American Beauty" sewing machines, perhaps someone will deign to tell me something!
I'm guessing this one was made by the same people who made my mother's machine (Due to the age and vaguely similar styling). I'm told it bears an apparent maker's mark cast into the bottom "Y2", whatever that means. Beyond "Y2" being a location in the classic Crowther and Woods "Colossal Cave" (text) Adventure, its a mystery to me!
Yet another "modern" American Beauty, this one
also made in Japan, with an American made motor.
I've seen pictures of a couple of Brothers and a Toyota or two that bear a "family resemblance" to the more recent Japanese "American Beauty" machines, but this factoid is by no means definitive.
UPDATE:
The web is a wonderful thing. Thanx to Google, a very nice lady found this page and sent me some cell phone pictures of her American Beauty - and yes folks, this is "the one"...
This is the exact same machine! Color is as I remembered.
Note "American Beauty" is painted on, not a badge like the above White machine.
Cell phone cameras aren't good at close-ups, but this
is the well-remembered rose painted on the bed. See text.
Unlike the machine, the motor was made in USA. I wonder if the White version is...
The Model number TZ-17
And news at last - this machine was made by TOYOTA!So now the mystery is solved at last - these machines were made by Toyota. As I had noted above, I've seen some pictures of Toyotas that seemed to have a family resemblance - but the casting on the bottom-side is definitive! Yay! A check of the Toyota website even allowed me to figure out what the model number means. Their first zig-zag machine was called a model TZ-3. Obviously the "TZ" means "Toyota Zig-Zag". How they progressed from TZ-3 to this TZ-17 I have no idea; and where the "305 De Luxe" comes in is anyone's guess. It makes me wonder if other Japanese (non-305) "De Luxe" Zig-Zag machines were all made by Toyota - or not!
Likewise, did Toyota make the "other" semi-modern Japanese American Beauty pictured above? Who knows? We do know that National and others used this brand as well, so the waters are still murky about this brand - but at least I know who made my mother's machine!
The pedal is identical in color and configuration to the above White machine; my Mother's pedal was blue as pictured near the top of this page. Note that the White branded version has a motor that was (apparently) supplied by White, whereas the American Beauty branded version has an American Beauty branded motor made in USA.
In a seemingly unrelated topic, I'm planning on a tattoo for my 50th birthday, 2+ years away (I like to plan things WAY in advance). When I saw the close-up of the rose, I yelled "THAT'S IT!". Although I'm planning a black rose tattoo, what I had in my mind's eye was exactly this design, although perhaps slightly fuller. I'll use this picture as a starting point, the tattoo artist can make it fuller and change the coloring. Now I know where this idea came from, little did I know. Must be one of those subconscious things...
More 'Beauties!
This pink one showed up on eBay - maybe not built by Toyota (who knows?), but looks like the same importer - has the same font for the name and the ever-important rose on the bed. 
Yet another eBay find - same importer again. This one's kinda cute, I wouldn't mind owning it. Seller mentions the accessories are in a box marked "Fridor" - which is probably spurious; but in case it isn't, I mention it here. An expert from the Needlbar site thinks it *MAY* have been made by "Zundapp" from the size/shape of the machine. 
Yet another update:
In the ever shifting world of online searches, I found
Although I have no proof; if I were a betting man, I'd bet that the various "American Beauty" machines with the rose on the bed and the distinctive font painted on the machine were the ones in question in the above referenced legal action, due to the timeframe involved. In the absence of contrary information, this almost MUST be the case and will be my working assumption.
Earlier ones as depicted at the top of this page were probably imported/made by a different company not associated with Birginal-Bigsby. This leaves the curious "modern" Japanese green/white 'Beauty halfway down the page that isn't in (apparent) Birginal-Bigsby livery - who made it and who imported it? We may never know - although the possibility exists that THAT machine was a Birginal-Bigsby and the rose bearing ones were someone else's! Speculative sewing machine archaeology is an interesting thought exercise; but since there seems to be far more rose bearing ones around than not, I'm sticking to my assumption that these were the Birginal-Bigsby ones as why would Singer go after a smaller company and leave the field to a larger?
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