Figure 56. — Harris' patent thread cutter, 1872. 

 (Smithsonian photo P-6397.) 



Figure 57. — • West's patent thread cutter, 1874. 

 (Smithsonian photo P-63100.) 



Figure 58. — Karr"s patent needle threader, 1871 

 (Smithsonian photo P-63101.) 



the Army purchased 473,000 pairs, but in 1871 the 

 Quartermaster General wrote : 



No complaints regarding the quality of these shoes were 

 received up to February 1867 when a Board of Survey, 

 which convened at Hart's Island, New York Harbor 

 reported upon the inferior quality of certain machine 

 sewed bootees of the McKay patent, issued to the en- 

 listed men at that post. The acting Quartermaster 

 General, Col. D. H. Rucker, April 10, 1867, addressed 

 a letter to all the officers in charge of depots, with 

 instructions not to issue any more of the shoes in question, 

 but to report to this office the quantity remaining in 

 store. From these reports it appears that there were in 

 store at that time 362,012 pairs M. S. Bootees, all of 

 which were ordered to be, and have since been sold at 

 public auction. 81 



The exact complaint against the shoes was not re- 

 corded. Possibly the entire shoe was stitched by 

 machine. It was found that although machine-stitched 

 shoes were more durable in some respects and the 

 upper parts of most shoes continued to be machine 

 stitched, pegged soles for the more durable varieties 

 remained the fashion for a decade or more, as did 

 custom hand-stitched shoes for those who could 

 afford them. 



the shoe in the early and mid- 1850s, it was not until 

 1858 that a machine was invented that could stitch 

 the sole to the inner sole and to the upper part of the 

 shoe. This was the invention of Lyman R. Blake 

 and was patented by him on July 8, 1858; the patent 

 model is shown in figure 55. Blake formed a chain- 

 stitch by using a hooked needle, which descended 

 from above, to draw a thread through the supporting 

 arm. Serving as the machine's bedplate, the arm was 

 shaped to accommodate the stitching of all the parts 

 of the shoe. 



The increased number of shoes required by the 

 Army during the Civil War spurred the use of the 

 sewing machine in their manufacture. The first 

 "machine sewed bootees" were purchased by the 

 Army in 1861. Inventors continued their efforts; 

 the most prominent of these was Gordon McKay, who 

 worked on an improvement of the Blake machine with 

 Robert Mathies in 1862 and then with Blake in 1864. 

 Reportedly, the Government at first preferred the 

 machine-stitched shoes as they lasted eight times 

 longer than those stitched by hand; during the war 



OTHER USES 



The use of sewing machines in all types of manu- 

 facturing that required stitching of any type continued 

 to grow each year. While the principal purpose for 

 which they were utilized continued to be the manu- 

 facture of clothing items, by the year 1900 they were 

 also used for awnings, tents, and sails; cloth bags; 

 bookbinding and related book manufacture; flags and 

 banners; pocketbooks, trunks, and valises; saddlery 

 and harnesses; mattresses; umbrellas; linen and 

 rubber belting and hose; to the aggregate sum of 

 nearly a billion dollars— $979,988,4 13. 82 



SEWING-MACHINE ATTACHMENTS 



The growing popularity of the sewing machine 

 offered still another boost to the economy — the de- 

 velopment of many minor, related manufacturing 



8i Letter of Nov. 4, 1871, to Col. Theo. A. Dodge, USA 

 (Ret.), Boston, from Quartermaster General M. C. Meigs, 

 in the National Archives, Record Group 92, Quartermaster 

 General's Office, Letters Sent, Clothing Supplies, 1871. 



8= Twelfth Census of (he United States, 1900, vol. 10, Manu- 

 factures, Part 4, Special Reports on Selected Industries (United 

 States Census Office, Washington, D.C., 1902). 



60 



