A NOVEL MACHINE.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 171, 29 November 1876, Page 3

A NOVEL MACHINE.

The Scientific American thus describes the latest Yankee notion;—“ Imagine ye mothers of large families, who ruefully contemplate dilapidated socks by the dozen, after the weeks washing, with visions of strained eyes and tired hacks floating across your mind: imagine a little apparatus infinitely more simple than the sewing machine, which repairs the hugest darn in much less time than we can describe the operation, and far more neatly than you could do it with all your years of practice. This is what it is. Two small plates, one stationary and the other moveable, arc placed one above thd other. The faces are corrugated, and between them the ‘ holy’ portion of the stocking is laid. Twelve long eye pointed needles are arranged side by side in a frame, which last is carried forward so that the needles penetrate opposite edges of the hole, passing in the corrugations between the plates. Hinged just in front of the plate is an upright bar, and on this is a cross-piece carrying twelve knobs. The yarn is secured to an end knob, and then, with a bit of flat wire pushed through the needle eyes. Then the loop between each needle, is caught by the hand and hooked over the opposite knob, so that each needle carries really two threads. Now the needles are carried back to their first position, and. in so doing, they draw the threads which slip off the knobs through the edges of the fabric. A little push forward again brings the sharp rear edges of the needle eye against the threads, cutting all at once. This is repeated until the darn is finished, and beautifully finished it is. The inventor is Mr O. S. Hosmer of Boston, and we predict for him the blessings of the entire feminine community. The cost of the machine is but ten dollars.”