The Gearhart Knitting Machine Co. of Clearfield has been out of business for more than 50 years and not many Clearfielders even remember its existence. In its day, however, the Gearhart Knitting Machine Co. employed upwards of 200 persons and sold its knitters in all parts of the United States and many foreign countries.
       Even today, some Gearhart knitting machines are still in use in this country. Others turn up in museums, antique or second hand shops or as family heirlooms, handed down through generations. Indeed, mail from knitter owners still is received at Clearfield and is turned over to members of the Gearhart family to answer.
       In January this year, Mrs. Karen White of Greenwich N.Y., Placed this advertisement in Yankee Magazine published in Dublin, New Hampshire: "I have lately, come into possession of a sock knitter manufactured by the Gearhart Knitting Machine Co. of Clearfield, Pennsylvania in the 1920s. Nearly all pieces are included as pictured on a parts sheet; also various communications between the original owner and the company. The only important thing missing seems to be instructions for assembly. A pair of socks to anyone who can supply the missing information.
        Mrs. White received replies from a dozen or more persons, including this writer. Mrs. Frances W. Granlun of Philipsburg, who owns a Gearhart knitter herself, passed along the magazine advertisement to us and we found an instruction book in the Clearfield County Historical Museum that provided the assembly instructions and a copy was forwarded to her.
       Last month, Mrs. White wrote to thank us for our information and reported "My knitter is now assembled and was functioning properly (as far as I can tell) so I am taking it to a lady in Maine this October who wrote that she made and sold over l00 pair of socks last winter. If anyone can get this operation going, she should be able to do so. I spin and dye my own yarn and want very much to use the knitter for what it was intended, making socks, but for my family and friends, not for public consumption. This whole thing has turned into a very intriguing subject."
       Mrs. White wrote that her knitter "was given to me by a friend who inherited it with a house when a young couple living there moved and did not have room to take everything with them. The sock knitter was left because they had never been able to figure out how to use it after purchasing it at an auction. The knitter is in its original box with the name and address of the original owner and correspondence between him and the Gearhart Co."
       An indication of the widespread "homes" that the Gearhart knitter has even today were the replies that Mrs. White received. They came from Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Ohio, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Virginia.

(To Be Continued)