398 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



March 1, 1921 



piece and constructed with the exact contour of the sole. M is 

 the last over which the shoe is made. Between the last and the 

 pressure screws are the steel springs N by means of which a 

 flexible pressure is obtained to compensate for the settling of the 

 last as the plastic rubber sole is forced into shape. The molds 

 are made deep enough to bring the edges of the soles up around 

 the foxing and to force the edges of the sole into the fabric of 

 the upper. For repair work the raised edges on the sole molds 

 are not necessary. 



"REPAIRO" MENDER 



An alert American supply house has recently put upon the mar- 

 ket a patching outfit for rubber shoes and boots called "Repairo." 

 This consists of a prepared rubber patching material and a bottle 

 of self-vulcanizing cement. In using, the surface is roughened, the 

 cement brushed on, the patch applied, and the repair is accom- 

 plished. 



Most of the foregoing are, of course, designed for individual 

 use and will have a limited market. It is because the great 



■Repairij" Mending 

 Patch 



Miller Tennis Sole Vulcanizer 



waste in rubber footwear has caught the attention of the tire re- 

 pairmen that a new industry has begun to develop rapidly. In 

 numerous well-equipped vulcanizing plants special apparatus has 

 been installed for rubber footwear repairing, keeping the plant 

 profitably busy during the usually dull wintiT season, 



RUBBER SHOES RECALLED FROM THE JUNK PILE 



Until quite lately worn rubber boots, arctics and tennis shoes 

 were sold to junkmen for a trifle. Now their owners are sending 

 them by the hundreds to the salvaging shops, from which they 

 come back practically as good as new, and yet at but a fraction of 

 the cost of new. Tire stock, old and new, is largely used in such 

 shops and many customers declare that soles made of such mate- 

 rial last even twice as long as the regulation boot soles. Heels, 

 counters, and toes, if worn or cracked, can be mended, and worn 

 places or tears on uppers or legs neatly patched. Repairmen 

 claim that over 25 per cent of the footwear found in the junk 

 piles is well worth repairing. Hence, there has been found in the 

 mountains of old boots and shoes in the yards and storehouses of 

 the reclaimers of old rubber a hitherto undreamed-of source of 

 profit. 



FAULTS IN FOOTWEAR 



In by far the greater number of cases, rubber boots and shoes 



are damaged through hard usage, and the blame, of course, at- 



tiches to the wearers. In a small degree defective manufacture is 



the cause of shoe troubles starting. Many people want cheap 



slioes, and manufacturers try to meet such demand by turning out 

 a low-cost product which they frankly tell buyers cannot be 

 guaranteed. Hence it is that dealers rarely have trouble with 

 first-grade goods but some find it necessary, in order to hold 

 trade, to make a slight proportion of re- 

 placemcnls (figured at about ^ of 1 per 

 cent) on third-grade goods. 



The trouble tliat develops often occurs 

 on the uppers, and generally where two 

 or more layers overlap, but the com- 

 moner fault is found in the separation 

 of the soles from the uppers about the 

 place in which sits the base of the great 

 tc:e. 



Tciuiis shoes give way much sooner in 

 the soles than boots. Rough wear on 

 coarse soil explains this largely. A sim- 

 ilar type used only at the seashore is more short-lived than those 

 worn on the soft soil and sandless sidewalks of inland 

 places. The soles are literally ground down by fre- 

 quent contact with the sharp sand en the beaches, and 

 by abrasion on the sandy board and cement walks. 



OVERSEAS BOOT REPAIR 



The beginning of rubber boot repair in army circles, 

 according to rumor, was this : A short, snappy captain 

 brought his rubber boots to a grouchy shoe repairer 

 and ordered new soles and heels. The repair man 

 objected that he had no boot stock, and was curtly told 

 to build a good thick sole of "tire tread." For a joke 

 on "Shorty" the repair man attached a sole and heel 

 live inches thick cut from a discarded solid tire. The 

 captain, a thoroughbred, never turned a hair when he 

 viewed the boots. Indeed, he was most complimentary, 

 convincing the repairer that if a five-inch sole could be 

 made to stick, a quarter-inch scle would certainly stick 

 better. Furthermore, the repairer was at once put in 

 charge of boot work and scored a great success. 



UP-TO-DATE BOOT SOLE REPAIR METHODS 



When it is recalled that all the tools and vulcanizers 

 in the repair department were for tire repair, it will 

 be seen that considerable ingenuity was required to 

 effect repairs on boots and arctics. It was not long, how-ever, 

 before metal blocks were cast to fit into tread cavities, the tops 

 of the blocks being sole or heel molds. Although the cure was a 

 hit slow, the effect was good. The leather repairers were also 



English Adjustable Metal Sole Clamp 



helpful in sewing on cemented patches and soles until proper vul- 

 canizing equipment was finally secured. Heels were cemented and 

 then nailed on. 



Along with the design of special machinery came processes for 

 repairing the defects in footwear caused by accident or wear. 



