THE AMERICAN SHOE 323 



world. It is in demand wherever shoes are worn, and al- 

 though the tools which have made its production possible 

 have been perfected in the face of most discouraging condi- 

 tions and opposition, they are to-day classed among the most 

 ingenious productions of a wonderfully productive epoch. 



In 1855, William F. Trowbridge, of Feltonville, Mass. 

 (then a part of Marlboro, now the town of Hudson), a partner 

 in the firm of F. Brigham & Co., conceived the idea of driving 

 by horsepower the machines then in use. In a building 

 attached to the factory he established a sweep, around which 

 a horse known for a score of years in that section as the '^Old 

 General" provided the first power other than manual which 

 ever drove shoe machiner^^ For some years prior to that 

 time two or three stout Irishmen had supplied the motive 

 power in this factory. Soon afterwards steam power was 

 used in the factory of John Hill & Co., of Stoneham; and one 

 after another of the larger manufacturers throughout the 

 eastern states found it necessary to adopt modern methods, 

 so that after the year 1860 there were very few of any pre- 

 tensions who did not use either steam or water power to drive 

 their machinery. This opened up the way for numerous 

 improvements. None was of more importance than the 

 Howe sewing machine, which was now brought into general 

 use. Waxed thread sewing machines were also introduced 

 in 1857, by which the uppers of nearly all heavy shoes are 

 stitched together. Buffing machines had been run by foot 

 as far back as 1855, but were now all driven at high speed by 

 power. Power machines for dieing out soles and heels were 

 introduced in 1858. 



An important feature of the boot and shoe industry is 

 the use of lasts and the system of last measurements adopted 

 by manufacturers. In the early fifties the methods in last 

 and pattern making were very crude, although some of the 

 boots and shoes made in those days were very fine in work- 

 manship, and the amount paid to a workman for simply 

 putting on the bottoms which was done by hand would, at 

 the present time, purchase a good pair of shoes. Lasts were 

 then made only in whole sizes, such a thing as half sizes 

 being unheard of, and were of curious shapes; first, they 



