Garvin were an American firm, based in Spring and Varick Streets in the heart of the shipping district of NewYork city. The company offered a wide range of products amongst which were milling machines in plain, horizontal, vertical, manufacturing, duplex and hand-operated types; smaller types of planers and profilers; "screw machines" (capstan lathes); a variety of spiral-gear and worm-milling attachments; spring-coiling machines; rotary tables and indexing devices of many kinds; dividing heads; countershafts and associated support bracketing; single and gang-drill presses; lathe and milling machine headstocks  - and a small range of plain-turning lathes. The manufacture of Universal Milling Machines was a Garvin speciality and for many years the firm produced a wide range of standard and built-to-order designs.
The No. 2 and larger sizes were fitted with a patented "Direct, Constant and Positive" feed where the slower rates of feed to the table were driven from the end of the milling spindle whilst the faster feeds were taken from the belt-drive countershaft; instantaneous changes to the feed rate could be made by simply moving one of three levers. The gears in the table-drive box were hardened and ran in an oil bath - the makers claimed that tests had shown as much 30 per cent of the motor power was consumed in driving the table feed on heavy work whereas, with the Garvin system, this loss was largely overcome leaving more power for the cutter to remove metal - more details of the system are given at the bottom of this page.
On the Nos.1 and 2 machines, the table-power feed flat-belt drive cones were made interchangeable; when this was done the feed rate was increased (or decreased) by a factor of 3 and the number of feeds available doubled to a total of 24. The table feed screws of the more complex machines were increased in size during 1905 - adding greatly to their torsional  strength  and durability - and the following year these improvements were carried over to the Company's range of cheaper, plain millers.
The knees of all models were made as stiff as possible, being closed on their top and sides - and so did not need the usual sliding cover plates to protect the telescoping vertical-feed screws and the multi-thread, worm-and-gear knee elevating mechanism; the extra-stiff knee also improved its ability to carry arbor support braces.

No. 1 Universal miller with spiral-milling attachment.

No. 2A Universal miller - with spiral-milling attachment on the table.

An important feature of many Garvin millers was the provision of a wide range of table feeds. The feeds could be driven from either the miller's main spindle, or from the belt-drive countershaft unit; each could be clutched into and out of engagement, and the selected speed changed, by a selection of lever controls.
The drive from the main spindle was by chain to a sprocket on the side of the machine; the drive from the countershaft ended up at the same point, but to a pulley mounted outboard of the sprocket.  Lever (B) was used to select which of the two systems powered the table drive; both belt and chain drives used a common shaft which entered a 5-speed gearbox bolted to the side of the miller's main column.
When the selected method of drive had been engaged a second lever (A) could be used to select - via two gears on the outside of the gearbox - a fast or slow feeds rate. Inside the gearbox were two cones, each of five hardened gears, running in an oil bath. One cone of gears was loose on the shaft and by means of a lever (C) a tool-steel spring key could be made to engage with a keyway - without waiting for keyways  to come into line - and drive a pair of gears.
With the five changes of speed in the gearbox, doubled by the two external gears to ten - and with a choice of belt or chain drive - a remarkable choice of 20 different feed rates was available.
An index plate on the top of the gear box showed the rates of feed obtained in turns of the spindle per inch, or in inches per minute, by the different settings of the levers. A safety shear pin was provided to protect the mechanism against careless handling.