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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



channeling or making the groove in which the stitching uniting 

 the sole and upper runs, and for sewing turned shoes or work in 

 which there is only one flexible sole attached to the upper, and 

 done with the outside turned in. 



Lasting has been the most difficult of all the operations from 

 which machinery has attempted to rout hand-work. The work of 

 the laster is to pull the upper tightly over a last, adjust to it the 

 inner sole, insert the counter-shank, and fasten the upper in place. 

 He also applies the outer sole to the upper, but does nothing fur- 

 ther. Now, the irregular shape of the upper, requiring looseness 

 at one point, stretching here and pinching there, in order to shape 

 it to the last, makes it exceedingly hard to secure a machine which 

 will do it with any kind of success. Patents, however, were taken 

 out in England in 1842 for a machine intended to perform this 

 work, and these were issued in this country in 1862. Messrs. McKay 

 and Copeland purchased those rights in 1872, and ten years later 

 was introduced what is known as the Copeland laster, a machine 

 for men's work. The shoe in this machine lies in a kind of matrix, 

 under which are leather girth straps attached to iron fingers. The 

 shoe is held stationary while these fingers move up, inward, and 

 down. The toe and heel are lasted by plates which are mounted 



on a table that oscil- 

 lates and adapts its 

 motion to the last. 

 But it is not entire- 

 ly machine-work, as 

 hand-pincers are used 

 to bring the uppers to 

 the 1 ast. For women's 

 and misses' shoes the 

 Boston Lasting Ma- 

 chine Company has 

 a different invention. 

 The shoe in that case 

 is lasted on a jack, the 

 upper being drawn 

 over by pincers, and 

 the shoe itself is after- 

 ward brought up to the nozzle of the machine, contact with which 

 starts some automatic tack-driving machinery, and the shoes are 

 fastened as shaped with great rapidity. But manufacturers say 

 that there is much to be accomplished yet before the perfection of 

 hand-work is secured and the fingers and pincers can be entirely 

 dispensed with. 



The making of these lasts is a considerable industry in itself. 

 Each manufacturer carries a stock of from two thousand to four 



Fig. 13. First Lathe for Turning Lasts. 



