WEARING QUALITIES OF SHOE LEATHERS. 3 
lot 2, bend 4, position 1. Soles 1 and 3 constituted a pair from the 
shoulder end, and soles 4 and 6 a pair from the butt end. The toes 
were always pointed toward the head end of the hide and the left sole 
was always cut next to the backbone. 
Piece 2 was cut out between soles 1 and 3, and piece 5 between soles 
4 and 6, for use in further developments of machine tests on the wear- 
ing quality and other physical properties of leather. These machine 
pieces were numbered and marked for direction with a diagonal line 
connecting the edge nearer the backbone with that toward the butt. 
The trimmings around the soles and test pieces were used to make 
up composite samples of the original leather for chemical analysis. 
The soles were cut out with a die and permanently stamped with 
the complete identification number in the shank on the grain side, 
and in the heel and back of the ball on the flesh side. After the soles 
had been leveled, the average thickness of the ball of each sole was 
recorded in thousandths of an inch. When they had been inspected 
j 
Fig. 1.— Identification of soles. 
by Army inspectors, the soles were made up into Army shoes by a 
New England shoe factory, running on an Army shoe contract. 
The shoes were made according to War Department Specifications 
412-2-9, that is, with full double soles on the Munson last, without 
hobnails, heelplates, or toeplates. Other types of shoes, from regular 
contract delivery, were included, such as specifications 1352 (march- 
ing tan, practically identical with 412-2-9, but on a rocker last) and 
specifications 1258 (russet dress shoe, single sole and Munson last). 
Each shoe was stamped near the top of the quarter with an identifi- 
cation number. Altogether there were abou,t 2,000 pairs of shoes. 
Of these 967 pairs were soled with the test leathers as follows: 677 
pairs with vegetable-tanned sole leathers; 60 pairs with vegetable- 
tanned belting leathers; 134 pairs with chrome-tanned sole leathers; 
and 96 pairs with fiber. 
WEARING CONDITIONS. 
It was planned originally to distribute the shoes between a camp 
in Ohio, where the climate is comparatively wet, and camps in Texas, 
which has a very dry climate. Rapid demobilization at the Ohio 
camp, however, necessitated a change, so that most of the shoes upon 
which reports were received were worn in Texas and New Mexico. 
