281 



BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE. 



BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE. 



232 



14. 



DR. 



PROFIT AND LOSS. 



Cn. 



This is the account in which all the merchant's gains and losses are 

 collected together, the losses on the Dr. side, and the gaina on the Cr. 



side. The Gains less the Losses give the merchant's net gains, which 

 must be earned to his Stock or Capital account. 



15. 



DK. 



BALANCE. 



Cn. 



The Balance-Sheet is drawn out when the merchant wishes to ascer- 

 tain the state of his affairs, and is a collected statement of his assets 

 and liabilities. His assets are found in the balances appearing on the 

 Cr. Bide of the Ledger accounts, and these are all brought to the 

 Dr. of the Balance-Sheet. His liabilities are found in the balances 

 appearing on the Dr. side of his Ledger accounts, and these are all 

 brought to the Cr. side of the Balance-Sheet. The difference 

 between his assets and his liabilities is his present worth, which must 

 be entered on the Cr. side of the Balauce-Sheet, and from there 

 carried to the Dr. side of the Stock account. The Profit and Loss 

 account and the Balance account are closed by the Stock account. 



The reader will now observe, on reference to the latter account, that 

 we have arrived at the merchant's present worth by two distinct pro- 

 cesses : 1st. By adding his net gains to his original net capital ; and, 

 2nd. By deducting his liabilities from his assets : and that the result 

 by each process is the same. He will further observe that the two 

 sides of the Stock account are now equal, in which fact we find satis- 

 factory evidence that the accounts are correct. 



Partnership accounts are kept in precisely the same manner as the 

 accounts of a single trader. But in partnerships the Stock account 

 represents THE CONCERN, and Personal accounts have to be opened with 

 each of the partners. These personal accounts are credited with what 

 the partners respectively bring into the concern, and debited with what- 

 ever they draw out. At the balancing of the books the profits are 

 divided, and the share of each partner is brought to the credit of his 

 account. 



Jlook-Keepinrj by Sinyle Entry. In book-keeping by single entry, the 

 transactions recorded in the subsidiary books are entered once to some 

 account in the Ledger, instead of twice, as in double entry. Single 

 rntry is employed by many retail traders, but it is an unscientific and 

 unsatisfactory system, and wholly inadequate to the statement of 

 complex transactions. 



BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE. Scarcely any handicraft 

 employment engages the attention of so many persons in this country 

 as boot and shoe making. From the artist of aristocratic circles, to the 

 cobbler who rolls himself up in a stall under a pot-house, is a wide 

 interval; and this interval is filled up by numerous grades. At North- 

 ampton and Stafford, boots and shoes are made on a very Large scale 

 for the London market ; they include chiefly the cheap varieties ; but 

 at some of the recent exhibitions of manufactures the Northampton 

 boot-makers have exhibited specimens of workmanship which are con- 

 sidered to fall in no way behind those of London or Paris. In various 

 country towns the strong coarse ' hob-nailed ' shoes are made, which 

 are so much worn by waggoners and others. The London makers 

 import from Paris very-large quantities of boot fronts, which when 

 combined with other pirte of English manufacture, constitute many of 

 the ' French boots ' which now glitter in the windows. 



The mechanical details of the manufacture have been well described 

 by Mr. Devlin ; who, in hin ' Shoemaker,' forming one of the ' Guides 

 to Trade,' has contrived to throw a general interest into that which 

 would otherwise be merely technical. The processes of cutting and 

 sewing the leather are, however, not of such a nature as to call for 

 detailed description here. 



Many improvements or suggested improvements in boot and shoe 

 making have been patented within the last few years. M. Lefe'bre, of 



Paris, has introduced boots and shoes, the soles and heels of which 

 require no stitching. Machinery is employed, whereby the sole and 

 the heel are fastened to the welt by brass screws ; the closeness of 

 contact being equal (as is said) to a pressure of two or three cwt. Some 

 of our readers may remember that one of these boot-screwing machines 

 was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Mr. Waite, a London 

 manufacturer, patented a few years ago a series of machines to super- 

 sede the necessity for clickers, in cutting out women's and children's 

 boots and shoes. The advantages of the apparatus are said by the 

 inventor to be, that six hundred dozens of boot-linings can be properly 

 prepared for the binders in twelve hours ; and that the skins used in the 

 manufacture can be prepared for the binders in one-tenth part of the 

 time usually required, and at a less expense. The same manufacturer 

 has also invented a machine for modelling instep-pieces for women's 

 and children's boots and shoes. Another recent machine is Mansell's 

 blocking apparatus, to effect the blocking of a boot in much less than 

 the usual time, and with less injury to the leather. A piece of leather, 

 cut to the proper shape for the front of a boot, is well soaked in 

 water ; a small quantity of ' dubbing ' (a kind of oily paste-blacking) 

 is spread on that part of the front which corresponds to the instep ; 

 and the leather so prepared is laid on the upper surface of two iron 

 cheeks. A winch is then turned ; and, with the assistance of cog- 

 wheels, the leather is brought down between the cheeks by a plate of 

 zinc, and descends below the cheeks. This operation is repeated 

 according to the strength of the leather. Another invention, by Mr. 

 Marsden, relates to ventilating openings at the sides, kept open by 

 small metallic plates. Among the other novelties are Durenville's 

 system of machinery for cutting and making boots and shoes; 

 Hetley's plan for producing shoe-leather by a curious combination 

 of leather raspings with india-rubber and gutta percha, pressed into 

 blocks, and sliced ; a plan for sewing together the different parts 

 of a boot or shoe with 'wire thread instead of hempen thread'; and a 

 curious adaptation of revolving circular heels, which may be turned 

 round in order that every part may receive equal wear. 



The principal recent novelties in boot and shoe making, however, result 

 from the use of india-rubber or gutta percha. Gutta percha, applied for 

 uuder-leathers, is found serviceable in withstanding moisture ; though 

 it is not adapted for hot and dry climates. The American over-shoes, 

 made entirely of vulcanised india-rubber, will withstand both moisture 

 and heat, and are much worn as clogs or temporary coverings for other 

 boots or shoes in inclement weather. In other instances, india- 

 rubber is applied to give elasticity to certain parts of a boot ; and the 

 so-called ' resilient," and ' siccopedean," and ' tei-ideio-elasticon ' boots 

 and shoes, are simply applications of this elastic substance where it 

 may be most useful. As a proof of what may be effected by the use 

 of this material, a pair of boots for a jockey has been made weighing 

 only three ounces. One inventor has devised a mode of introducing a 

 layer of gutta percha between the outer and inner soles ; and another 

 has proposed the use of heels made of an iron rim, with the vacuity 

 filled up with gutta percha. 



Boots and shoes for the army deserve more attention than they have 

 received. The late Sir M. I. Brunei invented a most ingenious system 

 of machinery for manufacturing soldiers' shoes with great rapidity ; but 

 the plan, through some deficiency in its results, was never very exten- 

 sively adopted. Mr. Dowie at the present time makes soldiers' shoes, 

 with a peculiar elastic piece between the sole and heel, to -enable the 

 shoe to accommodate itself to the bending of the foot in walking. 



