;o2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



began to expand rapidly, and goods were shipped not only to Bos- 

 ton, New York, and Philadelphia, but even to Liverpool. Lynn, 

 in 1788, exported 100,000 pairs of shoes; while, seven years later, 

 the volume of transactions had increased to 300,000 pairs, and 

 there were at that time 200 master workmen and 600 journeymen 

 and apprentices engaged in the making of them. 



But, with all this development of trade, boots and shoes con- 

 tinued to be made by hand. Spasmodic attempts were made to 

 abbreviate the processes, but nothing satisfactory resulted from 

 them for many years. Mr. David Knox, writing in a shoe journal 

 of his experiences as a manufacturer, says : " In 1855, the year in 

 which I commenced business, about the only machinery used in 

 shoe manufacturing were the sewing machines to stitch uppers 

 and the machines to strip leather and cut it into soles. Even 

 these were not in general use. Some manufacturers had intro- 

 duced revolving cutters in Lynn the Richards and Foster ma- 

 chines, and in Marblehead the Thompson. With the Foster and 

 Thompson machines soles could be cut reasonably quick, but such 

 was the risk of the operator's fingers being chopped off by the 



erratic movements of the knives that 

 the old Thompson or Ingalls beam was 

 preferred. By very hard work on these 

 machines about fifteen pairs of soles 

 could be cut per minute, while on the 

 modern machines, operated by steam- 

 power, as many as ninety pairs are cut 

 in the same time, and with vastly more 

 accuracy." 



The chief tools of the shoemaker 

 then consisted of his hammer, his awl, 

 his lapstone, his knives, and his har- 

 ness for " setting-up " his boots or 

 shoes. The essentials of a shoe are the 

 upper, the sole, the counter or heel stiff- 

 ening, and the heel. These parts are 

 again subdivided into the " vamp " for 

 covering the front of the foot, the large 

 and the small quarters for encircling 

 the ankles, the button-piece, etc. The 

 work of the shoemaker is to prepare and close these various parts 

 of the upper and the linings together, to bring them into the de- 

 sired shape, to fasten them to the sole which has been previously 

 cut, to attach the heel, and then to give the various parts the de- 

 sired finish and style. These processes indicate the lines along 

 which machinery had to be applied. All the operations have 

 been subdivided to the minutest detail, and in the performance 



Fig. 6. 



-McKay Stitching 

 Machine. 



