UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1168 
on, D. C. 
Issued September 5, 1923 
Revised March, 1924 
WEARING QUALITIES OF SHOE LEATHERS. 
By F. P. Veitch, R. W. Frey, and I. D. Clarke, Leather and Paper Laboratory, 
Bureau of Chemistry. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Purpose of investigation — . 1 
Plan of investigation: 
Selection of material 2 
Preparation of material 2 
Wearing conditions 3 
Page. 
Results of investigation 4 
Condition of worn leather 4 
Effect of certain factors on wear of sole 
leather 7 
Composition of original and worn sole leath- 
ers 12 
Summary 22 
PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION. 
There is great need of definite information on the wearing qualities 
of leather and on the effect of tannage, grease, loading materials, and 
the kind of hide used upon its serviceability and adaptability to the 
many operations to which leather is subjected in making various 
articles. Wearers of shoes need such knowledge to enable them to 
buy economically; tanners need it to enable them to make high-grade 
leather and to use their raw materials to the best advantage and at 
the lowest cost. 
During the World War innumerable questions arose as to which 
leathers were best suited to certain purposes and as to what factors 
determined their suitability. In practically no case, on either side of 
the Atlantic Ocean, could a clear-cut, definite answer be given. The 
entrance of the United States into the war offered an excellent oppor- 
tunity to conduct on a large scale systematic experiments with shoe 
leathers, the Army training camps providing large numbers of men who 
lived under fairly uniform conditions. 
Accordingly, in July, 1919, 2 a very comprehensive study of the 
wearing qualities of leather was undertaken by the Bureau of Chem- 
1 The wearing experiments herein reported were conducted jointly by the United States Department of 
Agriculture and the United States War Department. The leather industry gave valuable cooperation in 
preparing leathers and in supplying information on tanningprocesses. Acknowledgment is made especially 
to Brig. Gen. A. L. Smith, W. D. McKissick,Capt. G.C. Bosson, andCapt.R. L. McAndrews, of the War 
Department, and to C. P. Keighley and B. A. Corbin & Son Co. for their interest and assistance. 
2 The plan's for this work were outlined in 1917 and later revised and approved by representatives of the 
War Department and of the industry. 
85513°— 21- Bull. 116S 1 
