Charlee

The piece that is missing is the curved piece that "swings" toward the bottom....this photo is courtesy of Needlebar and Rijnko.

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jlhmnj

I can see why it would break. It's just hanging there when the arm is raised.

Caroline S

Me too. Now that I am looking at it closely, I see where the piece is broken off and the hole on the fat end where the "thingy" would snap in. Mystery solved and another piece of memoribilia to add to the shadow box.

vintagemotif

This has been an interesting discussion to follow. I learn something new every day here at QB!!

Caroline S

Another Davis Mystery object. There is a stamping in the metal rounded piece by the two oblong holes, Davis and Advanc (probably an "e" but is missing). Above the oblong holes are three patent dates, the last one is Jany (January) 1882. I know it is an attachment but it looks bent to me, as if it had been caught in the drawer at one time. I may have to take some more pictures if you need them.

Monroe

Something from Clockwork Orange? It looks like it would somehow feed binding or ribbon for attachment.

Caroline S

I thought that I could bend it back to what the original shape could be. Right now it looks like a skinny octopus.

miriam

Did you ever figure out what it is and how it should look?

Macybaby

That is an Automatic Scallop Plaiter, and yes, it's bent up, and missing the drive cam.

It works with the ruffler to take narrow trim, feed it in a back and forth motion while it's being ruffled and attached to another piece of fabric.

This is from the manual, showing how it works.





And a complete unit. This one only has one hole, with two you could get two different widths of scallops.



And on the machine - I didn't put the ruffler on though. As the needle goes up, the gear gets advanced a notch, which moves the guide in a stepped pattern, side to side.

Macybaby

and a few pictures of the missing parts.





I didn't notice before that it has three threaded holes, so it could be adjusted for three widths. And after taking these I realized the screws were very loose, so I tightened them up before they fall out and the parts get lost.

BTW - attachments missing pieces is very common. So many of them were held together with screws and I suppose "grandma's helpers" like taking things apart, and they never got put back together.

I get a kick out of listings "wow - 18 pieces!" when 6 of them are for a disassembled tucker. At least if they are all there, you can put it back together.