AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 535 



aYid set Into the top of the hole ; it then passes beneath a hammer or 

 plunger which drives in two pegs at once. The awl and plunger are sta- 

 tionary, and have only a vertical motion, and the shoe is moved in the 

 proper direction by means of an iron form of the same size and shape, upon 

 the principle first developed in Blanchard's well-known machine for turning 

 wooden lasts. Soling shoes thus seems the work of magic, for a pair is 

 completed every two minuses. 



A sewing-machine is also invented, which makes precisely the same 

 stitch as that made by hand. In this an awl punches a hole in the leather ; 

 into this hole needles instead of bristles are passed, having attached to 

 them the common waxed thread; after the needles have passed each other 

 they are seized by nippers which perform the part of fingers and draw the 

 thread to its full length. The prominent peculiarity of this machine is, 

 that the arms bearing the nippers swing through a constantly decreasing 

 arc, corresponding with the decreasing length of the threads. The machine 

 is necessarily expensiive, and as yet has not come into general use. Another 

 machine is in op-eration for cutting out shoe-soles with great rapidity, and 

 still another for giving graceful curves to the heel, horizontally and ver- 

 tically. This last machine is the invention of H. D. Stover. 



Time will not permit me to describe the complete modern arrangement 

 for protecting the foot, which consists of the stocking, the shoe, and the 

 over-shoe. The first is designed more for cleanliness than warmth, and by 

 frequent changes cf it we are enabled to keep the same shoes or boots in 

 constant use until they are worn out. The over-shoe may be regarded as 

 the cuticle of the artificial covering. The material most commonly used in 

 its manufacture is India-rubber. The method of preparing it is wholly 

 American, for which we are indebted to Charles Goodyear, Nathaniel 

 Haywood, and Edwin M. Chafi"ee. These men belong to the class of pri- 

 mary inventors, the secondary class being those who make minor improve- 

 ments upon the first and original method ; and in point of numbers they 

 stand in relation to those of the fi.rst as a thousand, to one. 



I regret I am not able to give the names of some of the inventors already 

 alluded to, but they shall be put upon a permanent record, because I regard 

 it as our duty to seek out and rescue from oblivion the names of all great 

 inventors, who have directed us into these new paths of improvement, which 

 may be regarded as short cuts for reaching the ends desired by the manu- 

 facturer. These are the men who break in upon the routine of custom, and 

 wake the common mind to a new and better way. 



The true inventor drops upon the dull world as the pebble upon the 

 stagnant pool. He is the center of a new force, and though like the pebble, 

 he disappears, that force still moves outward in ever- widening circles 

 bearing upon its waves many a one to wealth and position who has never 

 thought of, nor cared to know the originator of that force, or the prime 

 mover who carried him to the desired haven. Yet the power of the new 

 conception is never lost. Once started, it rolls onward, eternal and sub- 

 lime, bearing with it many a boon and blessing to mankind. Who can 



