Mav 1. 19^1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



567 



Repairing Rubber Footwear — III' 



A New and Growing Industry 



Dissecting Old Boots and Shoes— Boot Making— Parts of a Light Rubber Shoe— The Dry-Heat Cure — The Pressure Cure— The Footwear 



Repair Unit — Cold Cure Patching 



DISSECTING OLD BOOTS AND SHOES 



A MAN who expects to be an expert pneumatic tire repairer 

 must know how tires are built. Those who have not had 

 an opportunity to visit the great tire factories, as a rule, 

 have dissected old tires, tearing olY the tread, separating the plies, 

 cutting open the bead, and, in fact, learning exactly, through this 

 destruction, how the tire was put together. 



To be a successful footwear repair man, if one cannot spend 

 time in a rubber footwear factory, the same procedure is of great 

 advantage. For example : If one will take an old rubber boot 

 and cut a wedge-shaped piece out of the sole and upper, the dif- 

 ferent portions that go to make up those parts will be exposed in 

 cross-section, and the view will be very informing. Further in- 

 vestigation includes tearing off the outer sole, the inner sole, stay 

 pieces, and the various fillers, and examining them in detail as to 

 what they are made of, their stretch, resilience, and hardness — of 

 course, in a "rule of thumb' way. The necessity for this is, that 

 in repairing a boot, the original structural conditions should be 

 as nearly as possible reproduced in order to make the repair suc- 

 cessful. The same method of dissection should be resorted to 

 with h.eavy overshoes, arctics, light shoes, and any other styles 



Dissected Rubber Boot 



one essays repairing. In fact, no knowledge of the making of 



rubber footwear that any repair man can get will be out of place. 



BOOT MAKING 



The repair man, before he has been in business long, will be 

 introduced to quite a variety of boots. In accordance with trade 

 nomenclature, the types are known as short, knee, Storm-King, 

 thigh, and hip boots. Incidentally, he will run across firemen's 

 boots, lumbermen's overs, oystermen's boots, acid boots, and other 

 specialties in the boot line. Most of these boots have black soles, 

 but some have red soles, and others white. In repairing a red 

 sole, red repair stock will be necessary, but that is very easily 

 secured, as is also white stock for white boots or white soles. 



So many inquiries have come for information as to how boots 

 are made that a brief description of the old-time process is in 

 order. To begin with, all rubber boots are made upon "trees," 

 either maple or aluminum. The boot maker receives the cloth 

 and rubber parts with which he is to build the boots, in cloth 

 books. These parts he cements and dries in the order in which 

 they are used. The first step in making is lasting. The boot 



'Copyrighted hy Henry C. Pearson, continued from The India Rubber 

 World, April 1. 1921. pages 477— !80. 



LOOP STRAPS, 



LEO LIN INC 



tree is set on a block with the foot upwards, and the leg and 

 vamp linings cut to fit are wrapped snugly around the tree and 

 joined along the back of the leg by a strip of thin rubberized 

 fabric known as "piping." Piping is frictioned sheeting; that is, 

 the structure of the fabric is filled and coated with sticky rubber 

 and is used for binding the various parts of the boot. The leg 

 lining is seamed up the 

 back of the tree by run- 

 ning a strip of piping 

 from heel to top. The 

 edges of the lining 

 around the foot are then 

 lapped over the edge o£ 

 a rubber and fiber inner 

 sole and stuck fast upon 

 it. This makes a little 

 ridge around the sole and 

 the space inside of the 

 ridge is leveled up to the 

 ridges or filled with what 

 is known as the "rag 

 filler," really a tough 

 fiber and rubber combi- 

 nation. Outside of this 

 is placed a very tough 

 sole made of rubber and 



-LEC COVER 



. SIDE STAY 



RAO. 

 COUNTER 



HEEL 



SOLE 



TAP 



Standard Short Boot 



fiber, which is called the "rag sole." 

 This is skived around the edge so that it will be smooth and 

 then the rag sole and lining are brushed over with a fine quality 

 of cement and allowed to dry. When fully dry, holes are cut 

 for straps in the upper part of the legs, and they are placed in 

 position. Then heel stays are added, which are triangular pieces 

 of rubber and fabric; next comes a heavy counter of rubber and 

 fiber. This is followed by a back strip running all the way from 

 the heel to the top of the boot. Then follows the toe strip, the 

 piping around the edge of the sole, and the ankle side stays, when 

 the boot is finished except for the outside rubber covering. 



The leg cover, of rubber without any attached fabric, is then 

 placed carefully over the whole, with the exception of the sole 

 and part of the toe. This must be put on smoothly with a bind- 

 ing around the top, 

 and is followed by 

 the vamp lining, 

 the sides of which 

 extend over the 

 counter. The out- 

 er filler is next 

 added to the bot- 

 tom of the foot. 

 The operation 

 known as covering 

 is next in order. A 

 counter of heavy 

 rubber is put 

 around the heel, then a vamp of heavy rubber, the tongue exactly 

 covering the heavy lining. The sides of the vamp extend to the 

 counter and half around the side seams. When placed, the vamp 

 is cut around the toe filler to the bottom of the boot, coated with 

 cement, ready for the sole. 



The soles are built separately and consist of a fiber and rubber 

 form, and then the rubber piece, top and heel. These come 

 to the boot maker ready for application and are applied as the 



Standard Arctic Overshoe 



