322 GEORGE HOUGHTON 



the hand method puUing over machine, is provided with 

 pincers, which close automatically, gripping the shoe upper 

 at sides and toe. It is fitted with adjustments by which the 

 operator is enabled to quickly center the shoe upper on the 

 last, and, on the pressing of a foot lever, the machine auto- 

 matically draws the upper closely to the last and secures it 

 in position by tacks, which are also driven by the machine. 

 The introduction of this machine marked a radical change in 

 the one important shoemaking process that had up to this 

 time successfully withstood all attempts at mechanical im- 

 provement. At about the time that lasting was first intro- 

 duced there came the finishing machines, which were used 

 for finishing heel and forepart. These machines were fitted 

 with a tool, which was heated by gas and which practically 

 duplicated the labor of the hand workman in rubbing the 

 edges with a hot tool for the purpose of finishing them. From 

 these early machines have been evolved the edge setting ma- 

 chines which are in use at the present time. 



The lasting machine to attract the attention of the trade 

 is one which, in the opinion of those well qualified to judge, 

 is destined to revolutionize the making of that class of shoes 

 which has heretofore been made on the McKay sewing ma- 

 chine. It is known as the universal double clinch machine, 

 and forms a fastening of wire which is taken from a coil cor- 

 rugated in the machine, and driven, one end being clinched 

 back into the leather of the insole while the driven end is 

 clinched into the leather of the outsole. It is further pro- 

 vided with an attachment which makes the channel in which 

 the fastening is driven and afterwards closes it automatically. 

 It makes a very comfortable, flexible, and durable shoe, and 

 is being rapidly adopted by manufacturers. 



At the present time the genius of the American inventor 

 has provided for every detail of shoemaking, even the smallest 

 processes being performed by mechanical devices of some 

 kind. This has naturally made the shoemaker of to-day a 

 specialist, who very seldom knows anything of shoemaking 

 apart from the particular process in the performance of which 

 he is an adept, and from which he earns a livelihood. The 

 American shoe of to-day is the standard production of the 



