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- Herausgeber: Science & Technology Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
The Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Assistant and Guide is a comprehensive manual that delves into the intricate world of boot and shoe making, offering readers a detailed exploration of the trade’s history, techniques, and innovations. The book begins with a concise yet thorough history of the boot and shoe industry, tracing its evolution from early handcrafted methods to the more advanced manufacturing processes of the 19th century. It highlights the significant milestones and influential figures who shaped the trade, providing valuable context for both enthusiasts and professionals. A significant portion of the guide is dedicated to the introduction and application of India-rubber and gutta-percha—two revolutionary materials that transformed footwear production. The book explains the origins and properties of these substances, their discovery, and the technological advancements that enabled their use in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Detailed descriptions illustrate how India-rubber and gutta-percha improved durability, comfort, and waterproofing, marking a turning point in the industry. In addition to historical and material insights, the guide offers practical advice and step-by-step instructions for manufacturers, covering topics such as pattern making, cutting, stitching, and finishing. It includes tips on selecting the best materials, maintaining equipment, and optimizing production processes. The book also addresses common challenges faced by manufacturers and provides solutions based on years of industry experience. Richly illustrated and meticulously organized, The Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Assistant and Guide serves as both a historical record and a practical handbook. It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the craftsmanship, history, and technological advancements of boot and shoe manufacturing, from seasoned professionals to curious readers eager to learn more about this essential trade.
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Seitenzahl: 450
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURERS’ ASSISTANT AND GUIDE.CONTAININGA BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TRADE. History of India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha,AND THEIR APPLICATION TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES.FULL INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ART,WITH DIAGRAMS AND SCALES, ETC., ETC.VULCANIZATION AND SULPHURIZATION,ENGLISH AND AMERICAN PATENTS.WITHAN ELABORATE TREATISE ON TANNING.
PREFACE.
In preparing the following pages, the author has aimed to supply a want hitherto unsupplied. No work devoted to the wants of the Boot and Shoe-maker, manufacturer, or merchant, has ever been compiled. Able articles upon the “Trade,” statistical statements, and general comments upon matters of interest local in their character, and having particular reference to the state of the times in which they were written, have been published, perused and forgotten. But no work, containing a history of this important mechanical interest, together with instructions in the science of the Boot and Shoe manufacture, has ever been written. The Author does not flatter himself that he has, by any means, exhausted so fruitful a subject, but that he has prepared and compiled important facts and rules, and submitted valuable suggestions which are correct in theory, and practical in their application, he has not a doubt.
Within a few years, this important industrial interest has assumed almost wonderful proportions, and it now towers in magnitude and importance, above all its compeers. New elements have been introduced into the manufacture of boots and shoes, and fortunes have been expended in endeavoring to introduce new methods by which to cheapen the process of manufacture, as well as the raw material. The introduction of India-rubber and Gutta-percha as articles of mechanical use, has quickened the pulses of invention, and has already produced wonderful, and important changes in all departments of the mechanic arts, and more especially in that of boots and shoes. Already have these important vegetable gums, and the thousand uses of which they are susceptible, attracted the attention of the world, and last but not least, we are indebted to the discovery and use of Gutta-percha for the successful insulation of the Atlantic Cable, without which substance, the cable could not have been safely submerged. Establishments for the manufacture of India-rubber, and Gutta-percha, into almost every conceivable shape, have sprung up, as it were in a day. Patents for its use and application, are constantly presenting themselves. Heretofore, it has been the policy of all interested in the manufacture of India-rubber and Gutta-percha, to surround their inventions with an air of mystery. “No admittance” has been blazoned upon their laboratories, and no “open sesame” pronounced by the uninitiated, has succeeded in opening the doors to their carefully guarded treasures.
In this work, we have endeavored to make clear, simple, but important facts, scientific discoveries and observations, which, from practical experience, we know to be of great utility. A collection of the most approved recipes for the preparation of compounds of India-rubber, and Gutta-percha, would alone, make a volume worthy of preservation. But we have endeavored to present all the important rules, practical hints, and observations, necessary to the manufacture of boots and shoes, also an important and economical method of repairing the same.
Herein may be found a history of the discovery of India-rubber and Gutta-percha, its uses and applications, the inventions which they have called into existence, the patents that have been taken out, the “claims” set forth by different individuals, the causes of the failures of many of them, and a brief history of their pretensions. We herein introduce a process of manufacturing boots and shoes, of the most durable character, at about one-half the expense of the old method, by a process so simple that the humblest cordwainer in the land, no less than the wealthy and extensive manufacturer, can at once enter upon the field of competition; but time and experiment will determine the real value and utility of Gutta-percha as a substitute for “pegs” and “stitches,” in the manufacture of boots and shoes.
Particular attention has been given to the application of Gutta-percha, and India-rubber, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, inasmuch as it is a new field, and much interest is manifested by the “craft” to understand its value and use.
Not least in the application of this process of shoe manufacture, is the invaluable benefit to be derived by all who wear thin soled shoes or boots, inasmuch as shoes thus made are impervious to water from the sole, thus allowing the most delicate lady to walk with impunity upon ground, wet by the morning shower, or evening dew. Perspiration of the foot is in no wise confined by this process, as it escapes from the upper portion of the shoe.
The system of cutting Patterns, herein set forth, is alone worth the price of the work, as its simplicity, scientific correctness, and application to every description of boot or shoe, enables any mechanic possessing ordinary ingenuity, to prepare sets of patterns for all classes of work desired. Diagrams, to assist the beginner are explained so clearly, that every important rule is at once understood.
A “Treatise upon Tanning” is also introduced, in which the subject is treated in a comprehensive manner, and compilations from the most approved authorities are made.
The history of Vulcanization, Adulterations of India-rubber, (caoutchouc) and gutta-percha, will be found to contain many important facts and suggestions.
The author is indebted to various sources for many of the scientific and historical facts herein contained. First, to a Boston gentleman of high standing, long identified with the Boot and Shoe interest, for facts in the early history of the trade in New England.
A great number of English works have been carefully examined, and such of their contents as bear directly upon the elucidation of facts, and theories set forth, copied. The Scientific American, has also furnished us with many important facts and suggestions.
All the practical and useful compounds herein described, with a few exceptions, are the results of long, patient, and laborious investigation; also the process of making boots and shoes by the new method, are from actual tests, and personal experiments. This portion of the work, or rather the facts therein set forth, were furnished by a gentleman who has devoted many years to the prosecution of experiments in gutta-percha, and India-rubber compounds. He is acknowledged to possess great practical knowledge, and scientific research in this department of mechanical art.
A general, rather than a scientific compilation has been adopted, so that the work shall be found universal in its application, although addressed especially to the mechanic. All technicalities have been avoided as far as possible, and simple descriptions, and popular terms substituted.
The “Assistant and Guide,” is dedicated to all interested in the great industrial interest which it represents. It is a humble pioneer in a new field, and is submitted with the hope that it may be found a valuable “assistant” to those just starting in the first years of their apprenticeship—a “guide” to such as are desirous of perfecting themselves in the calling to which their efforts are directed, and a “companion” to the merchant, and all who seek for information, in the thousand varied channels through which it flows.
CONTENTS.
Introduction
—An account of the various styles of “covering for feet,” before the Christian Era; with illustrations,
xv
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
Importance of the Boot and Shoe Trade
,
9
CHAPTER II.
Rise and Progress of the Boot and Shoe Trade
,
14
CHAPTER III.
Gutta Percha—its Properties, Manufactures, &c., &c.
,
19
CHAPTER IV.
Gutta Percha—its First Application as a Cement in the United States
,
39
CHAPTER V.
Gutta Percha for Belts, Harnesses, &c.; its Application to Wood Work, &c.
,
43
Testimonials,
45
CHAPTER VI.
India Rubber—its Discovery, Uses, &c.
,
51
Cleaning Processes, Mackintosh Cloth,
56
Cutting Processes, India Rubber Liquid, Braids and Webs,
58
–60
Vulcanized; Comparison of India Rubber and Gutta Percha,
61
–65
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
Preparation of Stock
,
66
Middle Soles; Spur or Spring Lifts; To Prepare Leather Soles; To Prepare Counters; Preparation of Stock for Cloth Shoes; Preparation of the Upper Stock; To Prepare Uppers made of any description of Leather, or part Leather and Cloth; Instructions for Lasting; Cementing Processes after Lasting; Directions for applying Thick or Thin Soles to Shoes and Boots; Remarks on Finishing; Taps or Soles for Repairing; Preparing the Boot or Shoe to be Repaired; Important Facts for Manufacturers; Compounds for Heels of Shoes or Boots; Various Fibrous Compounds for Leather Soles, &c.; Practical Hints.
CHAPTER II.
Hints and Instructions on Pattern Cutting
,
79
Diagrams
on pages
82
,
83
,
84
,
85
,
87
,
96
,
97
,
99
; Fitting up Lasts for the Measurement of the Foot,
88
; Cutting Boot Patterns,
89
; Scales for Lasts,
91
; Scales for Medium Proportions of Feet,
93
; Directions for Pattern Cutting,
93
–101.
CHAPTER III.
Instructions for Making French Custom Boots, Shoes and Gaiters
,
103
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
Discovery of the Vulcanization and Sulphurization of India Rubber in America
,
106
Nathaniel Hayward,
109
; Importance of the Discovery,
113
; Causes of Failure,
114
; Charles Goodyear, and Interesting Account of his Trials,
114
–124; Results.
CHAPTER II.
Vulcanization—Interesting Reflections
,
128
CHAPTER III.
Vulcanization—Tests of Quality of Native Gums, Power to be used in Manufacture,
136
; Methods of Manufacture, &c.
CHAPTER IV.
Vulcanization—Importance of Gum Elastic for Educational Purposes
,
142
CHAPTER V.
Adulteration of India Rubber (Caoutchouc;) English System of Adulteration fully presented
,
145
–164
CHAPTER IV.
Valuable Recipes
—Purifying Gutta Percha,
165
Marine Glue; India Rubber Armor; New Gutta Percha Composition; India Rubber Varnish; Water-Proofing Oil; India Rubber Teeth; Emery Paper, &c.; Cheap Method of Making Leather Water Proof.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
Gutta Percha Patents
,
174
First Patent by D. A. Brooman, fully described; Properties of Gutta Percha; Artificial Fuels; Elastic Applications; Applications in State of Solution; Patent for Improvements in Boots, Shoes and Gaiters,
181
; Description of Patent,
182
–186; Patent by Charles Hancock, Improvements in the Manufacture of Gutta Percha and its Application,
186
: Description of Process of Making and Applying Varnishes to India Rubber Shoes, &c.,
187
; Method of Making Gutta Percha light, porous and spongy,
190
; Varnishes,
192
; Parke’s Improvements in Dyeing,
195
; Hancock’s Patent for Improvements in Preparation of Gutta Percha, and Application to Manufacturing Purposes,
196
–200; Re-Vulcanization,
200
; Lorimier’s Patent for Combining Gutta Percha and Caoutchouc with other materials,
203
; Compounds for Boots, Shoes, &c.; Hancock’s Specification for Making Water Proof Shoes, &c.,
205
; Claim for Making Shoes of Gutta Percha with other materials,
208
; Cartley’s Patent for Varnishes,
210
; Burke for Manufacture of Air-Proof and Water-Proof Fabrics,
211
; Hancock’s Patent for Gutta Percha Heel Tips,
213
; Varnishes,
214
; Gerard’s Patent for Dissolving India Rubber and Gutta Percha,
217
; Newton’s Patent Applicable to
Boots
,
Shoes
, and
other coverings for the feet
,
219
; N. S. Dodge’s Improvements in Treating Vulcanized India Rubber and Gutta Percha.
CHAPTER II.
American Patents and Claims—Introductory
,
230
Synopsis of American Patents, commencing 1813, ending 1858,
232
–284; Chaffee’s Patent, Application of India Rubber to Cloth,
233
; Goodyear’s Patent, Divesting India Rubber of its Adhesive Qualities,
234
; Hayward’s Patent, Sulphur Preparation,
237
; Chilcott & Snell’s Patent for
Improvement in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes
,
255
; Reynold’s Patent for Composition in Tanning,
257
; Edward Brown, for Improvement in Porous Elastic Cloth for Gaiters,
258
; Hyatt & Meyer, Improvement in Manufacture of Boot and Shoe Soles of Gutta Percha and India Rubber,
258
; J. A. Pease’s Improvement in Over-Shoes,
262
; Tyer & Helm’s Improvement in Manufacture of
Boots and Shoes
,
264
; Parmlee’s Attaching Metallic Heels to India Rubber Soles,
265
; Arthur’s Machine for Cutting Boot and Shoe Uppers and Soles from India Rubber,
266
; Rice & Whorf Improvement in Lasting and Applying Soles to Shoes,
269
–272; Tyer & Helm, Making India Rubber Cloth,
271
–272; Crockett, Making Sheets of Leather from Currier’s Shavings or Buffings,
274
; N. Hayward, Preparing Elastic India Rubber Cloth,
275
; Thomas C. Wales’ Water Proof
Gaiter Shoes and Boots
,
279
; Samuel Whitmarsh, Composition for Artificial Leather,
282
; Boyden & Frederick’s Composition for Varnishing Leather,
283
; F. Baschnagel, for Restoring Waste Vulcanized Rubber,
284
; Descriptive Index of Chemical Patents Issued in 1855–66,
284
–285.
Remarks.
—Many of the Patents, described in this chapter, are not here referred to, as they are not particularly applicable to the Shoe and Leather interest
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
Tanning
,
286
Description of the Art; Natural and Artificial Tanning,
289
; Extent of the Business in the United States,
290
.
CHAPTER II.
Tanning and the Tanning Woods of America
,
293
CHAPTER III.
Practical Hints on Tanning
,
301
CHAPTER IV.
Hibbard’s Process of Tanning
,
308
CHAPTER V.
Tanning Processes
,
317
The Preller Process,
318
; Tanning Buckskin,
321
; New Method of Tanning,
322
; Dexter’s Process,
323
; Fair Leather,
325
.
CHAPTER VI.
Patents for Tanning
,
326
Hibbard’s Patent,
326
; Towle’s Patent,
327
; Enos & Hunt’s,
328
.
Appendix
,
329
Jenkins’ Improved Heater and Press; Valuable Recipes for Gutta Percha and India Rubber Cement for Boots and Shoes; Varnishes, Gums and Glues,
331
; Black Varnish for Boot and Shoe Edges and Heels,
333
; Water-Proof Cement,
334
; Shellac Varnish,
335
; Glues,
336
–339; Water-Proof Cloth,
340
; Japanning Leather,
343
; Gums,
344
.
Directory.
INTRODUCTION.
The readers of the “Guide” will be interested in an examination of the various styles of shoes, or rather “coverings for the feet,” that have prevailed, dating some fifteen hundred years prior to the advent of Christ. Some of the most unique, we have had engraved from Cantrell’s designs, which we here furnish, to give correct views.
The first attempt, of which we have any account, to give style to the coverings of the feet, produced the Sandal. These differed in style, though slightly varied in form. Those used by the poorer classes were constructed of flat slices of the palm leaf, which, lapped over in the centre, formed the sole, and a double band of twisted leaves secured and strengthened the edge; a thong of the strong fibres of the same plant was affixed to each side of the instep, and was secured round the foot, while those indulged in by the more wealthy classes were made of leather, and were frequently lined with cloth, the point or end turning up like a pair of modern skates. The sandal reached its greatest perfection among the Romans. The emperor Aurelian gave the royal permission to the ladies of his time to wear sandals of various colors, the men not being permitted to indulge in so great a luxury. The Roman senators wore buskins of a black color, with a crescent of gold or silver on the top of the foot, while the soldiers wore simple sandals fastened by thongs. In the reign of Edward the Third, of England, those who worked at the shoe trade, were denominated the “gentle craft,” as they produced shoes of the most gorgeous description, the richest contrasts of color were elaborated and the greatest variety of pattern devised.
Fig. 1 in this plate displays a beautiful design. It is supposed to be worn by one of the royal family.
The English shoe of the middle ages is “beyond all Greek, beyond all Roman fame.” The second specimen in the engraving is simpler in design, but not less striking in effect, being colored jet black, and worn with red hose. Another curious fashion of those times was—see Fig. 3. The left shoe was black and the stocking blue, the other leg of the wearer being clothed in a black stocking and a white shoe. This shoe was cut very low over the instep, the heel being entirely covered, and a band fastened by a small buckle or button passing round the ankle secured it to the foot.
Coming down to the reign of Richard II., boots and shoes were made of great length, so that they were chained to the knee of the wearer, that he might walk with some degree of freedom. Of course, only the nobility could afford so expensive a method of locomotion. Extremes were introduced from time to time, as in our own day. During the reign of Edward III., it was enacted that any shoemaker working for the “unprivileged classes,” should not make any shoes, the toes which should exceed two inches in length, under a penalty of twenty shillings. This edict had the effect to widen the toes to a most absurd extent; this fashion was followed by a proclamation from Queen Mary, that the width of the toes should not exceed six inches.
The mania for wearing expensive shoes, in 1588, was only exceeded in folly by the Tulip excitement at a later date in Holland. Large sums were expended in shoe decorations. The poet Taylor alluding to this extravagance thus writes of those who,
In the reign of Charles I., boots, which were made of elegant Spanish leather, of a buff color, were cut so large and wide at the top, that the wearer was obliged to stride so ridiculously, that it afforded much sport for the satirists of that age. In the time of Cromwell, large boot tops were worn by the Puritans, but were not adorned with lace. Upon the restoration of Charles II. came the enormous French boot, in which the courtiers of “Louis le grand” delighted to show their legs.
The accompanying cut will furnish an idea of the amplitude of the tops. The boot is adorned with lace around the upper part, and that portion of the boot into which the leg is inserted was fitted with pliant leather; over the instep is a broad band of leather, beneath which the spur was fastened.
The shoes in the following cut were such as were worn by the ladies during the reign of William III.
The clog beneath the shoe on the left side, was simply a piece of stout leather, evidently intended to protect the feet from excessive moisture. The distinguishing mark of gentility in the reign of George I. and II., was red heels. The ladies preferred silk or velvet to leather, and the favorite shoe worn by the ladies of the court were made of figured blue silk with bright red heels and silver buckles.
The above cut was the style worn in 1780. Ten years later a change occurred by which ladies’ shoes were made flat and low, like the slipper of the present day.
A picture by Fores was published in 1791, of a shoe worn by the duchess of York. The shoe was made of green silk, ornamented with gold stars, and bound with scarlet silk; the heel was scarlet and shaped exactly in the modern style.
Shoe buckles disappeared about the commencement of the present century, and were succeeded by the plain shoe string. In England the Prince of Wales endeavored to preserve the custom, by persisting in their use, in order to sustain the buckle-makers, but imperious fashion was too powerful for even the influence of the great.
The accompanying cut represents a variety of shoes worn by females.
No. 1 is the sandal of a Russian lady of 1768. The second that of a female of Finland, a low, slipper-like shoe, secured by a band across the instep, having an ornamental clasp, like a brooch, to secure it on each side of the foot; it was probably a coarsely made piece of jewelry, with glass or cheap stones set around it, as the people of this country at that time were fond of such showy decorations, particularly upon their shoes. No. 3 is a production of the same country, and is similar to those worn by the matrons of the upper classes. No. 4 is the shoe of a Tartarian lady of 1577. Nos. 5 and 6 are examples of the shoes of oriental ladies, which are sometimes highly ornamented; the covering part being wrought with gold, silver, and silk, and perhaps set with jewels, real or imitated. The shoes of noblemen are of similar construction. They were no doubt easy to wear.
Not so are the ladies shoes, for they only were allowed the privilege of discomfort, fashion having in this country declared in favor of small feet, and the prejudice of the people having gone with it, the feet of all ladies of decent rank in society, are cramped in early life, by being placed in so strait a confinement, that their growth is retarded, and they are not more than three or four inches in length, from the toe to the heel. By the smallness of the foot the rank or high-breeding of the lady is decided on, and the utmost torment is endured by the girls in early life, to insure themselves this distinction in rank; the lower classes of females not being allowed to torture themselves in the same manner. The Chinese poets frequently indulge in panegyrics on the beauty of these crippled members of the body, and none of their heroines are considered perfect without excessively small feet, when they are affectionately termed by them “the little golden lilies.” It is needless to say that the tortures of early youth are succeeded by a crippled maturity, a Chinese lady of high birth being scarcely able to walk without assistance. These shoes are generally made of silk and embroidered in the most beautiful manner, with flowers and ornaments in colored silk and threads of gold and silver. A piece of stout silk is generally attached to the heel for the convenience of pulling up the shoe.
The Turkish ladies of the sixteenth century, and very probably much earlier, wore a very high shoe known in Europe by the name of a “chopine.” This fashion spread in Europe in the early part of the seventeenth century, and it is alluded to by Hamlet, in act ii., scene 2, when he exclaims, “Your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine,” by which it appears that something of the kind was known in England, where it may have been introduced from Venice, as the ladies there wore them of the most extravagant size.
Coryat, in his “Crudities,” 1611, says: “There is one thing used by the Venetian women, and some others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to signiory of Venice, that is not to be observed (I think) among any other women in Christendom.” The reader must remember that it was new to Coryat, but a common fashion in the East. The engraving is intended to represent a singular fashion once adopted by the Venetians. It is called a chapiney. They were of various heights, some half a yard, the tallest being worn by the shortest women, although the height and ornament usually designated the nobility. They were curiously painted and gilded. It required the utmost skill to balance upon the chapines: the ladies always in public, were supported by two servants or old women, upon whose heads the ladies placed their hands, and in this ridiculous manner proceeded to their gondolas.
The sabot, a shoe peculiar to France, is here represented. They are quite clumsy, but warm and comfortable. Those usually worn are entirely plain, and the color of the wood.
The modern styles of boots and shoes do not require any particular description. The Gaiter Boot inaugurated a new era in the history of “coverings for the feet,” and its introduction is attributed to the Countess of Blessington. This boot was found to be troublesome, owing to the necessity of lacing and unlacing, the tags breaking off, holes wearing out, and such like annoyances. All these difficulties were obviated in a great measure by the introduction of the Elastic Gaiter. American skill and ingenuity has completely rivalled the most elegant specimens of Parisian handicraft, and the importation of French gaiters, which was once quite extensive, has almost or quite ceased. Most of the so-called French manufacture is the product of American artizans. This “amiable deception” is practiced in order to gratify the whims of those who lack confidence in the skill and taste of American manufacturers. An anecdote illustrative of this prejudice is general in its application. The incident related, occurred in a Broadway establishment, New York.
A lady, after examining the slippers of the tradesman, said, “Mr. ——, why do you not import your slippers from Paris?” “Madam,” was the reply, “I have already sent out an order, and I expect every day the arrival of an extensive assortment; if you will call in in about a week, I think I can furnish you with just the article you desire.” The lady left, promising to return, and Mr. —— visited his printer and had a number of “tickets,” bearing the name of an imaginary French shoemaker, struck off, and by her next visit he was prepared with a “very extensive assortment.” She was fitted with a pair, and after extolling the style, elegance, and comfort of her slippers, insulted the tradesman by enquiring “why he did not make such shoes.”
The Americans are rapidly securing to themselves a superiority over all other nations in this important manufacturing interest, and in a few years boots and shoes of American manufacture will be regarded as the ne plus ultra of the art.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOT AND SHOE TRADE.
The great importance of the Boot and Shoe Trade in the New England and Middle States, and the vast amount of capital devoted to its development, the energy, brains, and perseverance of its leading men, place this branch of the mechanic arts high on the list of the great industrial interests of the age. It is, therefore, a matter of surprise, that some work has not appeared which should contain important scientific, statistical, and practical information concerning the rise and progress of the Shoe and Leather interests. Works upon Tanning have been published, covering many of the collateral branches of that science, and fugitive articles occasionally appear, giving accounts of new discoveries, or new applications of old methods, concerning the preparation of leather, &c.; but in the manufacture of boots and shoes, no work has ever appeared which would enable the shoemaker to make any advancement in his calling, other than that which his own observation or genius might suggest. The Boston Board of Trade publish annual Reports in which appear able articles upon the Shoe and Leather interests, but these, of course, are mainly statistical and financial in their character. There is published, also, in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, simultaneously, the Shoe and Leather Reporter, by J. D. Field & Co., a valuable journal, devoted exclusively to the trade in boots and shoes, leather, hides and its collateral branches, also market reports and correspondence from various portions of the world. This paper is the only organ, we believe, devoted exclusively to the shoe and leather interests. Systems of measurement, the cutting of patterns, preparation of stock, all of which can be gained by study and application, have been, as it were, sealed from the direct investigation of the inquiring mind. In other branches of the mechanic arts, volumes have been published, and the ambitious student pursues his investigations from primary principles to ultimate results in regular gradations.
In the science of shoe manufacture, we must refer for information principally to English works; and even these are collateral, rather than direct, in their application. Dodd’s British Manufactories, Brande’s Encyclopedia, Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Penny Cyclopedia, Results of the Late Exhibition, (London,)—all these are the repositories of much that has been written upon the leather interests; sources of information which none but the man of leisure, or the enterprising compiler, would be likely to trace out.
It may be said that the simplicity of this branch of the mechanic arts does not require that degree of study and investigation which the more abstruse and complicated sciences demand, and hence there is no necessity for works upon the subject. This objection is only true in part. It requires the nicest adaptation of skill to make a perfectly fitting shoe or boot, and no man, unless he who is fully conversant with the rules and principles which enter into the preparation of the stock, the correct measurement of the foot, the “cutting out” of the several parts of the stock, the lasting and fitting of the shoe or boot, can be successful in his profession. The making of an easy, elegantly fitting boot, requires a knowledge of the anatomy of the foot, a familiar acquaintance with the angles, lines and curves, which are involved in the perfect adjustment of part to part, and their relative positions. Most shoe manufacturers, and ordinary village shoemakers, learn their trades from their fathers, and the knowledge has been handed down from generation to generation, without change or improvement, and shoes are made to fit lasts, rather than the feet which are to wear them. Hence intelligent instinct has taken the place of intelligent knowledge, and progressive investigation. The workman knows nothing of the anatomy of the foot, the science of pattern cutting, and therefore works on as though all feet were cast in one mould, with the simple difference which the “sizes” indicate. These “sizes,” as is clearly shown in another portion of this work, are regularly incorrect. Hence, in the absence of a correct standard, the system of boot and shoe making is simply the following of established mechanical rules, upon a false foundation.
We refer in these remarks to the manufacture of what is known as “sale work.” There are many, very many, “custom workers,” who proceed by correct rules, and upon scientific principles; men who understand how to adapt the shoe or boot to the foot, so that when the customer first draws the boot or shoe on, it fits naturally and easily, adapting itself to any, and every deformity or slight irregularity which the foot may present. We make general statements, which every intelligent shoemaker, or large manufacturer, will at once acknowledge. The whole trouble arises from the want of some correct standard by which to be guided in the preparation of the stock for the workman. All this cannot be gained but by study, patient investigation, and the practical application of scientific rules.
The French are generally acknowledged to understand the art of boot and shoe making better than those of any other nation, and they have carried the science to a degree of perfection not yet attained by ourselves, except in a few comparatively isolated cases. The whole secret of their success is their patient perseverance, and artistic skill in understanding the rules which are vitally essential to success.
In another chapter we have devoted considerable space to the elucidation of the principles of measurement, pattern cutting, and such instructions as will enable the manufacturer—and in this term we comprise all who are engaged in this important branch of our industrial interests—to become a scientific proficient in his vocation.
This work, however, as its title indicates, is devoted more specifically to the application of Gutta-Percha, and the various Rubber compounds, in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Yet we regard the principles of their manufacture, as equally important, and as vitally essential, to the perfect fitting of the boot or shoe, whether sewed, pegged, or cemented.
CHAPTER II.RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE BOOT AND SHOE TRADE.
The Boot and Shoe Trade of New England is of comparatively modern date. The first vessel, the sloop Delight, ever freighted at Boston with a full cargo of boots and shoes, sailed for the port of New York, in the month of May, 1818, consigned to Spofford & Tileston, then the largest boot and shoe jobbers in New York. This firm then commenced supplying the shipping demand from that port, instead of Boston. The manufacture, then, was confined to the New England States, but it soon commenced to take a wider scope. The trade increased rapidly, but eleven years later, 1829, there were only four jobbing houses in New York. In Boston, the centre of the trade, the whole jobbing trade for 1828 did not exceed but little over one million of dollars. The trade has increased to an almost wonderful extent. It now forms one-third of the whole manufacturing power of the country; New England and Pennsylvania retaining two-thirds. In the city of Boston there are about two hundred and eighteen wholesale and jobbing boot and shoe houses, doing business to the amount of fifty-two millions of dollars annually. In New York there are about fifty-five jobbing houses, whose aggregate sales reach from fifteen to sixteen millions yearly. The domestic and foreign boot and shoe trade of the State of Massachusetts alone, amounts to between fifty-five and sixty millions annually. The shipments from Boston to San Francisco for 1856, were $2,100,000.
The manufacture of boots and shoes is the largest domestic trade in the States, and there is no country or nation that can successfully compete with us, either as regards prices or quality. Common styles of goods, such as men’s pegged boots and brogans, women’s pegged and common sewed shoes and gaiters, are manufactured in the following villages of New England, viz: Lynn, Haverhill, Worcester, Milford, Natick, Randolph, Abington, the Readings, Danvers, Georgetown, Stoughton, Woburn, and several other towns in Massachusetts. The amount of capital employed in the city of Worcester, in the boot and shoe business, is one hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars; the annual value of boots and shoes manufactured, about one million of dollars. The total value of boots manufactured in Milford, Mass., in 1857, was upwards of two millions of dollars. The amount would have greatly exceeded that estimate had not the financial troubles of the country prostrated this, in common with every other manufacturing interest. According to present indications, the manufactories of Milford, this year, 1858, will nearly, or quite, reach the value of four millions of dollars. The city of Lynn, Mass., has employed in this business, about five thousand workmen, and its sales for the year 1857, exceeded four millions of dollars.
Each New England village, town or city, where this industry is carried on, is devoted to one kind of boot or shoe, and whole communities are built up by this special industry. Some idea of the importance and extent of the boot, shoe and leather interest may be inferred from the fact, that there are forty-one thousand men in Massachusetts who work upon leather, either in manufacturing the article or moulding it into various forms. Every eighth man in the State is a shoemaker.
The Shoe and Leather Trade of Boston takes its date, as a prominent branch of commerce, about the year 1830, caused principally by the change made in conducting the business. It was formerly the custom for Manufacturers and Dealers in Boots and Shoes to seek a market for their goods, by consignment on their own account, to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Havana, and other West India Islands. It was found to be remunerative for a while, but on the increase and competition of trade, it became a losing business. The leading houses failed. Since 1828 and 1829, an entire change in the method of conducting the shoe business has taken place. Manufacturers and Dealers now sell their goods on their own account instead of consigning them to other States. The consequence is that Boston is made not only the head-quarters for nearly all the manufactories of New England; and although the city of Lynn and the towns of Haverhill, Danvers, &c., sell a large portion of their goods at home, a large number of the manufactories have offices in Boston for the sale of their goods. If the domestic trade of Boston had been conducted on the home principle, the expansion of the city would have greatly exceeded its present limits.
The great industrial and trading interest is a correct type of New England thrift and industry. No branch of our mechanical pursuits is conducted with so much safety, energy and intelligent perseverance, as is the great Boot and Shoe interest. When convulsions come which rend in pieces other commercial or internal trading interests, the boot, shoe and leather trade, is the last to succumb, and the first to reinstate itself. The great financial crisis of 1857, thoroughly tried the strength of this branch of trade, and nobly did it sustain itself, even extending the helping hand to such as required assistance. Especially applicable is the latter remark to the merchants of Boston. All this demonstrates the soundness of their basis—the back-bone which enables the Shoe and Leather interest to hold itself up under a pressure which easily crushes all departments of trade and commerce built up on a paper foundation.
The peculiar characteristics of the boot and shoe trade, its democratic elements, its freedom from all monopoly, gives it a strength and power which corporations can never wield. Every man is his own director, and as all interested are subject to, and dependent upon, their individual shrewdness and enterprise, it is very seldom that success fails to crown their efforts. The day is not far distant when all our industrial interests will be conducted upon a like basis, and corporations cease to exist.
CHAPTER III.GUTTA-PERCHA—ITS PROPERTIES, MANUFACTURE, &c.
The almost numberless uses to which this remarkable gum has been, and is applied, has awakened an interest in the public mind concerning its discovery, and its uses, and especially the different applications, and their methods.
The discovery of Gutta-Percha is comparatively recent. The first that was known of this wonderful production by Europeans, was in the year 1845. Dr. Montgomerie, an English gentleman, residing at Singapore, observed in the hands of a Malay woodchopper, a strange material used for a handle to his axe. Curious to learn its nature, he questioned the native, and ascertained that he procured it from a tree in the form of sap; that upon exposure to the air it became solid; also, that in immersing it in hot water it became soft and plastic, and could be moulded into any desired form. Dr. Montgomerie at once obtained samples of the material, which he forwarded to the London Society of Arts and Sciences, with a description regarding it. After subjecting it to various tests, the Society were unanimous in their opinion concerning its great value. They awarded to Dr. M. a gold medal for the valuable knowledge thus communicated to the manufactories of the world.
It is observable, however, that this substance may be said to have had two European discoverers, independent of each other; for the tree, and the gum which exudes from it, were discovered or observed by Mr. Thomas Lobb. This gentleman visited the islands of the Indian seas in 1842–3, on a botanical mission, as agent to Messrs. Veitch, the scientific and energetic florists of Exeter; and it was during his rambles that he became acquainted with the gutta-percha tree.
In proportion as the value of this substance has become known, so has a desire extended to ascertain the range of its growth in the East. It is now known that the gutta-percha tree abounds in that extreme south-eastern point of Asia, which obtains the name of the Malay Peninsula; in the neighboring island of Singapore; in the important Bornean island, which Rajah Brooke has been the means of making so familiarly known to us; and in various islands which constitute the Eastern Archipelago. There seems very little cause to apprehend any failure in quantity; for even if the present supply from the neighborhood of Singapore should be exhausted, the capabilities of more distant islands are quite beyond present calculation.
It appears that percha (of which the pronunciation is pertsha, not perka or persha) is the Malayan name for the tree which produces the gum; while gutta is a general name for any gum which exudes from a tree. The tree belongs, of course, to the group in which botanists place sapotaceous or gum-exuding genera. The wood of the tree, being soft and spongy, is applied to many useful purposes. The fruit yields a thick oil, which is used by the natives with their food; and either from this or some other parts of the tree an ardent spirit is capable of being distilled. But it is the sap which forms the most valuable product of the tree. It circulates in small vessels which run up between the bark and the wood.
Thrifty methods are teachable to rude islanders, as to more civilised men, when the advantages have been once made apparent. The natives around Singapore, when they first found a market for the solidified gum, proceeded ruthlessly to work; they killed the bird which laid the golden eggs, by cutting down the trees in order to obtain the gum. But they have now been taught better; it is shown to them how, by tapping or cutting notches in the branches at certain intervals of time, the sap may be made to flow, without endangering the life of the tree. Experiments are now being made to determine whether the gutta-percha tree can be planted so as to maintain a continuous and inexhaustible store of gum or sap; should these attempts succeed, the supply would equal any imaginable demand.
The gutta-percha is sold at Singapore by weight, according to the apparent quality of each lump; but, when the consignment reaches England, it is not unfrequently found that a large stone or a piece of heavy wood is imbedded in the heart of it, to increase the weight. It would entail a serious loss of time to cut open each lump at the time of purchase; so that at present Oriental honesty is rather an important element in the commercial value of this article. There is, too, a great amount of difference in the quantity of bark, leaves, and dirt, which become accidentally mixed up with the gum.
The crude gum is imported to the extent of about two millions of pounds annually.
GUTTA-PERCHA IN THE FACTORY.
The extensive and highly interesting establishment of the Gutta-Percha Company, situated near the City Road Basin of the Regent’s Canal, is worthy of attention even beyond the general average of such centres of industry, for the peculiar character of the substance operated upon necessitates the employment of new processes, new machines, and new tools. An incessant course of invention has marked the manufacturing history of this material during the brief period of its existence. If the gutta-percha is to be applied to some new useful purpose, tools and processes of novel character have to be employed; if an ornamental application is determined on, methods are adopted for developing any natural beauty which the grain of the substance may present; if an attempt be made to supersede leather, or wood, or papier-mache, or metal, by this singular gum, great pains are bestowed on a study of the special qualities to be imitated, and the process of imitation often requires operations and tools differing considerably from those before employed.
The first process consists in cutting the block into slices. There is a vertical wheel, on the face of which are fixed three knives or blades; and while this wheel is rotating with a speed of two hundred turns a minute, a block of gutta-percha is supplied to it, and speedily cut into thin slices—much on the same principle as a turnip-cutter performs its work. Woe to the steel edges if a stone be imbedded in the block.
These slices show that the gutta-percha is by no means uniform in different parts, either in color or texture. To bring about a uniformity is the object of the shredding or tearing process. The slices are thrown into a tank of water, which is heated by steam to such a temperature as to soften the mass; dirt and heavy impurities fall to the bottom, leaving a pasty mass of gum; and the mass being thrown into another rotating machine, is there so torn and rent, and dragged asunder by jagged teeth, as to be reduced to fragments. The fragments fall into water, upon the surface of which (owing to the small specific gravity of the material) they float, while any remaining dirt or impurity falls to the bottom. These fragments are next converted into a dough-like substance by another softening with hot water, and the dough undergoes a thorough kneading; it is placed in hollow heated iron cylinders, in which revolving drums so completely turn and squeeze and mix the now purified mass, that all parts become alike, and every particle presents a family likeness to its neighbor.
The kneaded state may be considered the dividing line between the preparatory processes and those which relate to the fashioning of the material. The soft ductile mass may be formed either into sheets or tubes. In forming sheets the mass is passed between steel rollers, placed at a distance apart corresponding with the thickness of the sheet to be made—whether for the heels of a rough-booted pedestrian, or for the delicate “gutta-percha tissue,” now so much employed by surgeons. By the time that the substance has passed through the rollers it has cooled sufficiently to assume a solid, firm consistency. By the adjustment of a few knife edges, the sheet may be cut into bands, or strips of any width, before leaving the machine. In making tubes and pipes, the soft mass of kneaded gutta-percha is passed through heated iron cylinders, where a singular modification of the wire-drawing process reduces it to the desired form and dimensions.
From the sheets and tubes thus made, numberless articles are produced by cutting and pressing. Machines, somewhat like those used in cutting paper, are employed to cut the gutta-percha into pieces. If for shoe-soles, a cutting press produces a dozen or so at one movement; if for string, or thread, narrow parallel slips are cut, which are then rounded or finished by hand; if for producing stamped decorative articles, the sheets are cut into pieces, and each piece is warmed and softened to enable it to take the impress of a mould, or die. But the mode of casing copper wire for electro-telegraphic purposes is, perhaps, one of the most singular applications of the material in the form of a sheet. Several wires are laid parallel, a strip of gutta-percha is placed between them, another strip is placed above them, and the whole are passed between two polished grooved rollers; the pressure binds the two surfaces of the gutta-percha firmly together and to the wires, while the edges between the grooves indent the gutta-percha so deeply, that it may easily be separated longitudinally, each slip containing its own core of copper.
GUTTA-PERCHA BOATS.
When Lady Franklin fitted out an expedition in search of her gallant husband, a year or two ago, Captain Forsyth, the commander of the vessel, took out with him a gutta-percha boat, presented for that purpose by Messrs. Searle. His account of the behavior of this boat, under the rough usage to which it was subjected in the ice-bound regions of the north, is most laudatory. He states that “whilst the other boats constructed of wood suffered much by the cutting of the young ice, the gutta-percha boat was not in the least damaged, and returned to England in almost as good condition as when she left, although she underwent all the rough work of the voyage.” Mr. Snow, who had especial charge of the gutta-percha boat belonging to the ‘Prince Albert,’ has detailed in a clear manner the remarkable way in which this material resists the rude buffetings of those regions. It must be remembered that the boat had a skeleton of wood and a covering of India rubber. Mr. Snow says, “The severest trial it endured, and endured successfully, was on both my visits to Whaler Point, Port Leopold. To those unaccustomed to the nature of such ice as was there met with, it will be impossible fully to conceive the position a boat was placed in. The mere transit to and fro, among loose masses of ice, with the sea in a state of quiescence, would have been quite enough to have proved or not the value of gutta-percha boats; but when, as in the present case, those masses were all in restless agitation, with a sea rolling in upon an opposing current, it might have been well excused—and without deteriorating from the previously attested goodness of the article—if it had not been able to have resisted the severe shocks it received.... Sliding through and over the ice; sometimes lifted completely out of the water by the sudden contact of a resistless floe; and at others thrown side-ways upon an adjoining craggy piece; I think it would have been next to impossible for any other kind of boat to have been otherwise than crushed or stove on the instant.” It was in a right spirit that the explorers gave the name of “Gutta-Percha Inlet” to the spot where the boat had rendered them such important service.
GUTTA-PERCHA—MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS.
A rare catalogue we should present, if all the useful applications of gutta-percha were duly set forth. We should have to speak of breast-coating for waterwheels, of galvanic batteries, of shuttle-beds for looms, of packing for steam-engines and pumps, of cricket and bouncing balls, of felt-edging for paper making, of curtain rings whose merit is noiselessness, of window-blind cord and sash lines, of clothes’ lines (recommended to the laundress as defying all attacks of weather,) of bosses for flax-spinning frames, of whips and sticks, of policemen’s and ‘special constables’’ staves, of flax-holders for heckling machines, of skates, of fencing sticks, of washers for the axles of wheels, of plugs or solid masses used in buildings, of buffers for railway carriages, of gunpowder canisters (which ‘keep the powder dry,’) of sheet-covering for damp walls, of linings for ladies’ bonnets, of jar covers, of sponge bags, of foot baths, of funnels, of goldsmith’s bowls, of bobbins for spinning machines, of covers for rollers, of book covers, of moulds for electrotypes, of coffin linings, of sounding boards, of portmanteaus, of beds for paper-cutting machines, of fine and coarse thread, of envelope boxes, of powder flasks, of portfolios, of a stopping for hollow teeth—a tolerable list, this, which shows how multiplied are the applications for which this singular vegetable product is available.
GUTTA-PERCHA—ORNAMENTAL WORK.
When softened by heat, this substance will take the impress of a mould or stamp with delicate precision; and in the course of a few minutes it reassumes its tough state, retaining permanently the pattern given to it. The power of application is thus unlimited, or limited only by the inclination of the purchaser. Whether the mould be of copper or of brass, of pear tree or of box, an impress can equally well be obtained from it. In practice, all these four materials are employed, and sometimes others. The mould being carved and in a state of readiness,
