[7][8][9][10] The firm began as Ateliers Mécaniques de Précision Tavaro SA, founded as an export division of the Tavannes Watch Company (today part of Sandoz).

[15] Living in a Geneva hotel room, lacking capital or equipment, Casas sold his patents to Tavaro through a holding company, and the first Elnas left the factory in 1940.

[15][16][17][1] Elna was a radical departure from its competitors, and its success permanently changed the home sewing machine market, introducing features now considered standard.

A free arm houses the machine's feeder and bobbin driver in a tubular arm-shaped bed, enabling material to be wrapped around the mechanism during sewing rather than simply resting on top of it.

Elna's drop-in rotary hook runs with little movement or noise, unlike oscillating shuttle machines popular at the time, which require a bobbin case and vibrate at high speeds due to air resistance.