THE AMERICAN SHOE 321 



the shoe, and the stitch separating machine, were soon pro- 

 duced. These formed the Goodyear welt system which has 

 been the subject of constant improvement up to the present 

 time and is now in use wherever shoes of a higher class are 

 made. 



At the time the first standard screw machine was attract- 

 ing attention, the heel trimming and forepart trimming ma- 

 chines were brought out. This part of the work had pre- 

 viously been done by the hand workman, using a shave or 

 knife for trimming, and as he was entirely dependent upon 

 the eye for the proper proportions of the finished sole, the 

 work was not often of a very uniform nature. The heel and 

 forepart trimming machines greatly reduced this part of the 

 labor, and their adoption was very rapid. 



In the early seventies came a change in a department of 

 shoemaking which, prior to that time, had been regarded as 

 a confirmed hand process. This was the important part of 

 the work known as lasting; and a machine was introduced at 

 that time for doing this work. This machine, as well as those 

 which followed afterwards for a period of twenty years, was 

 known as the bed type of machine, in which the shoe upper 

 was drawn over the last by either friction or pincers, and then 

 tacked b}^ the use of a hand tool. At a comparatively recent 

 period another machine which revolutionized all previous 

 ideas in lasting was introduced. This machine is generally 

 in use at the present time and is known as the consolidated 

 hand method lasting machine. It was fitted with pincers 

 which automatically drew the leather round the last, at the 

 same time driving a tack which held it in place. This ma- 

 chine has been so developed that it is now used for the lasting 

 of shoes of every type, from the lowest and cheapest to the 

 highest grade, and it is a machine that shows wonderful 

 mechanical ingenuity. 



The perfecting of the lasting machine has been followed 

 recently by the introduction of a machine which performs 

 in a most satisfactory way the difficult process known as 

 pulling over, which consists of accurately centering the shoe 

 upper on the last and securing it temporarily in position for 

 the work of lasting. The new machine, which is known as 



Vol. 7—21 



