SHOE TRADE. 



SHRAPNEL SHELLS. 



times as much new wool as rag-wool. It is all a matter of price. One 

 cause for the (apparent) cheapness of woollen goods within the last few 

 years is the large admixture of mungo and shoddy. None but a skilled 

 person can detect this admixture ; and in some cloths, indeed, mungo 

 is combined so judiciously with new wool as to produce a really strong 

 material. Mungo made from the best woollen cuttings is, in fact, 

 better than new wool of low quality ; and cheapness is here something 

 more than a name. The kinds of cloth chiefly produced, having 

 mungo or shoddy as part of their substance, are numerous, and 

 receive designations conveying very little information except to those 

 engaged in the trade ; such as tweeds, flushings, paddings, duffels, 

 friezes, witneys, mohairs, pilots, petershams, strouds, savelists, rever- 

 eibles, linings, sealskins, doeskins, cheviots, &c. The most extensive 

 branch of the manufacture ia that of pilots, a cloth employed in 

 making the heavy substantial " pilot coats " used by sea-faring men. 

 These, like the rest, may have much or little shoddy in them, according 

 to the price to be charged. 



The processes need not be described here. They partake of the 

 name general character as those treated under WOOLLEN AND WORSTED 

 MANUFACTURE. (Jubb, ' History of the Shoddy Trade,' 1860.) 



SHOE TRADE. Under'BooT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE, some of 

 the mechanical features of this branch of industry were noticed. In 

 the present article we shall treat briefly of the relation between the 

 different kinds of workpeople, and of the changes recently effected 

 through the introduction of sewing-machines. 



A shoemaker, in the old statutes, is called a cordwainer, apparently 

 a corruption of the French cordonnier, which means a worker of 

 Cordova leather. The companies of shoemakers in our ancient towns 

 were incorporated under this name ; and where some of these com- 

 panies still exist, they go by the same name. As a legal term cord- 

 wainer is still common. The law of England formerly took cognisance 

 not only of the quality of the leather which the shoemaker wrought 

 into his goods, but of the number of stitches that he furnished. 



The trade, as now followed in London and other principal places, is 

 subdivided into about twenty branches. The following may be set 

 down as the chief : the shwman, or maker of the sole part of the shoe ; 

 the boatman, or maker of the sole part of the boot ; and the boot-closer, 

 or joiner together of the leg, vamp, &c. The labour of these is 

 especially directed to what is called the men's line ; whilst others make 

 the ladies' shoe or boot. There are many women, too, who get a 

 livelihood by closing the shoe ; while others again practise the various 

 sort* of binding. In the manufacture of a boot, the clicker or cutter 

 having designed and cut the leather of the vamps, legs, &c., to the 

 measure of the customer or the size wanted, the materials go to the 

 closer. Much of the boot-closer's art, as now perfected, is of a very 

 delicate nature, especially in the putting together or closing of all the 

 parts of the top-boot, and the fancy-wrought and coloured Wellington ; 

 the common Wellington being the easier portion of his occupation. 

 The bootman does for the boot what the shoeman does for the shoe ; 

 he makes or attaches the sole. The labour of this person, however, is 

 much Iwtter paid than that of the shoeman ; because it has a higher 

 character, and considerably more time is required to complete the 

 article. The beat shoemen usually at the first opportunity take to be 

 bootmen. The making of the woman's common or welted shoe re- 

 sembles that of the man's ; and where it differs it is unnecessary here 

 to explain. The man's and woman's single-sole shoes or pumps arc 

 also proceeded with in the same manner. 



Formerly it was the general practice for the journeyman to work in 

 the shop with his employer; two, three, six, or more, all working 

 together. The journeymen then had sometimes, as now, so much per 

 pair ; but he was aUo paid by the day or week, or was even engaged as 

 a i|ii.irterly or half-yearly servant. In every case he had his coals and 

 caudles in winter, and in all seasons his finding or grindery free, that 

 is, his hemp, wax, paste, bristles, Ac. Wages then were very low ; but 

 the work was of an inferior description, and the habits of the time very 

 plain and simple. Towards the end of the last century, the shoemaker's 

 position improved. He gave up working in the shop of his master, or 

 in garrets with several other men. If married, he followed his 

 employment in his own home. If unmarried, he joined himself in a 

 sort of partnership with another workman in a like condition, and 

 taking a furnished lodging, felt more at ease than under the former 

 system of constraint. This still is the practice among the better-paid 

 classes of the trade. 



In BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE, the recent importations of boots, 

 shoes, goloshes, and boot-fronts from foreign countries are noticed. 

 The export! from the United Kingdom are not so easily determined, 

 seeing that boots and shoes are in this instance included under the 

 general designation of leather " wrought and unwrought," exclusive 

 however of "saddlery." The return under this head for 1860 was 

 6,473,826 Ibe., having a declared value of l,407,657t It is computed 

 that about two-thirds of the above quantities consist of boots and 

 nhoes, which are exported chiefly to Australia and the other colonies. 

 Mr. M'Culloch, in the latest edition of his ' Commercial Dictionary/ 

 expresses an opinion that the boots and shoes now made annually in 

 the United Kingdom have an aggregate value of 10,000,0002.; of which 

 he sets down about one-half for wages, and the other half for materials 

 and profit. 



In the article just cited, it was stated that, in 1859, a struggle had 



ARTS AHD SCI. DIV. VOL. VII. 



arisen between the masters and men concerning the employment of 

 sewing-machines. The masters have now (1861) gained their point, as 

 they are always likely to do where labour-saving contrivances are in 

 question. According to information given in au article by Mr. Charles 

 Knight, in the ' Companion to the Almanac ' for 1861, the workmen 

 are gradually yielding, seeing that opposition is of no avail. It \v;is 

 supposed in 1851 that no less than 30,000 persons were in various ways 

 employed by the Northampton boot and shoe-makers alone; and sinco 

 that year the trade has extended greatly, both at Northampton and 

 Stafford, and in various villages surrounding those two towns. In the 

 large factories, the upper leathers are now to a considerable extent put 

 together by the aid of the sewing-machine ; the machines belong to the 

 employers, and there are often fifty or sixty of them in one room. The 

 women employed at the machines earn much more than by hand- 

 sewing ; but of course not so many of them are needed. Some of the 

 manufacturers are of opinion that the machines are not suited for 

 men's strong shoes, on account of a difficulty in using waxed thread ; 

 but others believe that the machines will gradually impart a wholly 

 new aspect to the trade. The " Northamptonshire Boot and Shoemaker^' 

 Mutual Protection Society " was unable to stem the current ; and the 

 machines are now employed, not only in the large factories, but by the 

 workpeople themselves. " A dealer in the machines informed me," 

 says Mr. Knight, " that a few provident shoemakers were purchasing 

 the machine for the domestic employment of their families, by which 

 one female of their household would be able to earn more than was 

 formerly earned by the wife and two or three daughters. The ad- 

 vantage would not rest here. The wife would be at liberty, by working 

 a few hours a day at the machine, to have leisure for her domestic 

 duties ; and would thus obviate the reproach attached to too many 

 shoemakers' wives, that the dirty home, the slatternly habits, and the 

 neglected children, drive the husband to the public-house. The 

 machines cost from 121. to 251. I saw one which the dealer in machines 

 was about to sell to a steady workman, upon his paying the cost by 

 instalments." The apparatus will be found briefly described under 

 EMBROIDERY AND SEWING MACHINES. 



The Americans carry on the shoe-manufacture on a scale not equalled 

 by anything known in this country. A large steam-factory for the 

 purpose has been established at Haverhill, in Massachusetts. In the 

 basement story are machines for cutting, rolling, and shaping the 

 leather for shoe-soles. In the next story the upper leathers are lasted, 

 and the outer soles tacked on. In another range of rooms are the 

 pegging machines ; long strips of wood, of the required width, are 

 coiled up, and put into each machine ; the machine uncoils the strip, 

 cuts it up bit by bit, makes holes in the shoe, and drives a bit as a peg 

 into each hole ; this is effected at the rate of fourteen pegs per second. 

 In other rooms are stitching machines worked by steam. 



SHOOTING STARS. [METEORS.] 



SHORT-HAND. [STENOGRAPHY.] 



SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS. [SIGHT, DEFECTS OF ; SPECTACLES.] 



SHOT are the balls (generally solid) of iron which are discharged 

 from guns, howitzers, or carronades. Those which are used for the 

 first of these kinds of artillery vary in diameter from 1'955 inches, 

 which is that of a one-pound ball, to 7'95 inches, which is the diameter 

 of a 68-pound ball. Shot for howitzers vary in diameter with the 

 nature of that arm, from 4-476 inches, which is the diameter of a 12- 

 pounder howitzer, to 9'88 inches. Carronades, which are now never 

 used, discharged balls weighing from 6 Ibs. to 68 Ibs., which were of 

 course equal in diameter to those which belong to guns of equal 

 calibre. Hollow shot have latterly been introduced into the service, 

 principally for the navy. The guns for throwing hollow shot are 8- 

 aud 10-inch, and are sometimes called Paixhans, from the inventor ; 

 though not so light as the howitzers of those calibres, they are lighter 

 than solid-shot guns. They can be used for throwing both shells and 

 hollow shot with small charges. Hollow shot, or unloaded shell, as 

 they are in fact, have this advantage, that though their diameters are 

 large, their weights being small, a small charge gives a high initial 

 velocity, rendering them very effective for short or ordinary ranges, 

 while from their large size they are capable of producing most 

 destructive effects, more especially on shipping. The shot for RIFLED 

 ORDNANCE are described under that head. 



SHOT MANUFACTURE. [LEAD.] 



SHRAPNEL SHELLS, so called from the inventor, Major 

 Shrapnel, R. A., are a most destructive description of projectile ; they 

 are principally used against skirmishers and scattered bodies of troops 

 beyond the range of common case, 300 yards, or of grape shot, about 

 600 yards. 



A Shrapnel shell or spherical case shot, consists of a thin shell 

 of cast iron, containing a number of musket balls and a small charge 

 of powder just sufficient to burst it, and free the balls; a FUZE, by 

 which the charge is ignited and the shell burst at the proper instant, 

 is fixed in it, as in an ordinary shell. 



The effect of the musket bullets in the Shrapnel is due to the 

 velocity imparted to them by the gun, and not by the bursting charge 

 which only frees them. A spherical case shot when loaded is about 

 the same specific gravity as a solid shot of the same diameter. A 

 musket ball is effective when impelled with tlie same velocity as that 

 retained by a solid shot from a 6-pounder or 9-pounder at a range of 

 about 1200 yards. If therefore the spherical case shot be projected 



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