Crawford County History Fair - Franz and Pope questions

 Today I drove 25 miles, more or less, to the Lowe-Volk Park where the members of the Crawford County History Alliance were holding a History Fair. 

I spoke with the Bucyrus Historical Society representative and also the Crestline Historical Society representative.  The person from Bucyrus was aware of the Franz and Pope machine,  because of Sandra Bonura's book "Light in the Queen's Garden".  The Crestline representative, who wasn't personally aware of Franz and Pope, promised me that their researcher would dig into the question.  I gave them a link to this blog to let them know what I did know.  

What I want to know, and don't -

• What influenced William Franz to turn from being a jeweler to inventing a knitting machine?  
• With the railroad crossroads in Crestline, why did they choose to move to Bucyrus for manufacturing? 
• Did Franz's family in Leesville know my family? 
• Where was Franz's wife Myra from? 
• Where are they buried? 
• What was Crestline like at the time of the invention? How many people lived there? 
• Did women in Crestline wear knitted clothing other than socks?  Are there photos? 
• How many knitting machines of each model did they produce? I know of 3 - the first one, the #2, and I've seen pictures of #4.  Let's assume there was a model 3.  Were there any more? 
• Why did they stop making machines, and when?  
• Who was the artist for the user guide? 
• Who was the author of the user guide, and where was it printed? 
• Who was the artist for the patent drawings? 
• How many people did they employ over the years? 

I have found the entry for William Franz on the Find-a-Grave site.  

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107989514/william-m-franz .  There are links to obituaries for his siblings and parents which give some detail about his life.  His father was the Crawford County treasurer and a Civil War veteran. 

and one for William Pope here  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129998409/william-w-pope   

Dr. William Pope's obituary there stated that Franz and Pope was in operation for "a score of years" and was under continuous improvement.  It stated that he had turned from practice of medicine to oil well speculation,  to jewelry.