Possibly your mother's rather than your grandmother's sewing machine... but still, vintage. And one of my all-time favorites, particularly for freemotion quilting. The feed dogs drop on this straight-stitch-only machine, and it has the same bobbin mechanism as the Featherweight. A well adjusted 301 makes a beautiful, perfectly balanced stitch.
The 301 comes in five variations, three of which are colors (black, tan, and light-beige-oyster-white, "LBOW" for short) and two of which are extension-bed lengths (short and long). This is a black short-bed:
Compare the extension-bed length to a tan long-bed:
For some reason, Singer didn't make the LBOW machine in a long-bed version, just a short-bed... but I could make you one <g>:
The 301 was the first of Singer's "slant needle" machines. The needle bar is set at an angle, which allows a better view of what's being sewn.
The 301 is a gear-driven sewing machine--no belts, just strong intermeshing internal gears--so it's quite powerful, and will handle fairly heavy work. Yet is still lightweight and portable. (See sidebar about the cradle, to pop the machine in and out of a cabinet.) It's a great machine for taking on vacations or to class.
As mentioned above, the bobbin case and bobbins are the same as for the Featherweight, so those pieces are interchangeable. The full rotary bobbin is faster, smoother, and quieter than an oscillating-hook machine. That black rod to the left of the bobbin assembly is the feed-dog drop mechanism; just turn the knob and the dogs drop. Really nice for free-motion work.
The 301s came in portable grasscloth cases, which were fitted on the inside for the machine, foot controller, power cord, and accessories:
Accessories for the 301 include a buttonholer (either the burgundy "treasure chest" or the pink "Jetson's" case), the normal variety of slant-shank feet (e.g., ruffler, hemmers, binder), there is even a zigzag attachment (not pictured), although most people don't think it works very well.
I have quite a number of 301s, in all the varieties. I also have grasscloth cases, cradles, buttonholers, zigzaggers, etc. If you're interested in purchasing anything, please contact McKenna.