Stocking frame or knitting machine

Date1750-1825

MediumWood, iron, steel, and leather.

DimensionsOH: 64 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1993-80,1

DescriptionStocking frame or knitting machine; fine gauge (26 needles to the inch) originally intended for the production of men's and women's silk stockings.
Label TextStocking makers used frames or knitting machines like this one to produce flat panels of knitted fabric that were seamed to form stockings. These complex machines have a multitude of precision parts--over one thousand in this example. Stocking frames were in use in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the "stocking manufactory" by the 1770s.
ProvenancePeta Flint, Nottingham, England