One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

PLAN No. 1055. LASTING THE SHOE REQUIRES SKILL

The machine puller-over receives the assembled upper part of the shoe on the last. The insole, counter, and toe box are in place, but the edges of the upper have not been drawn over the insole and fastened. This is the operation that he must perform. He must watch that the upper is properly centered on the last, and that the machine pincers pull the leather in evenly over the last, and if not even, he must make adjustments by means of levers until it is even. Then he presses a foot lever that causes the machine to tack the upper to the insole at various points.

The bed-machine operator is also known as the toe and heel laster. He usually works on welt shoes. He lasts the upper in around the toe so that the leather is smooth on the outside. His machine draws a series of wipers or friction pullers over the edge of the upper until the toe conforms smoothly to the last. He then tacks and wires the edges at the toe so that they will be held temporarily until they can be sewed by the welter. He performs a similar process with the heel, but he tacks the edges of the upper to the heel permanently. Both the heel and toe are tacked down permanently in a McKay shoe. The bed-machine operator handles on the average nearly a shoe every minute during the day’s work.

The hand-method lasting-machine operator usually works on a McKay-made shoe. The upper has already been tacked on the insole by the puller-over, but is now drawn around the last and insole, a part at a time, by means of pincers on the machine. As each part is drawn evenly and closely to the last and insole, a tack is driven into the insole and clinched by means of a metal plate on the bottom of the last. This process is carried on around the entire insole of the shoe. This work is similar to a combination of the processes performed by the side laster and bed-machine operator on welt shoes.

The work of the hand puller-over is to put the counter and toe box in place and pull the lower edge of the upper over the last and insole so that the upper is in the proper position on the last. He does a combination of the work of the assembler for the pulling-over machine and of the machine puller-over.

The turn laster lasts the turn shoe either by hand or machine, and in a manner similar to the methods by which a welt shoe is lasted, except that the parts are placed so that when the shoe is turned, they will be in their proper position. For instance, the counter is placed on the outside of the upper, but inside the lining. The lining at the heel is not lasted, but is cut off and turned back. The shoe is then sewed by the turn sewer. The turn laster now pulls the lasts and turns the shoe right side out. He fills the depressions in the central fore part of the shoe and the shank by inserting fillers coated on the under side with glue. He then returns the lasts to the shoes, reversing the right for the left—since the shoes have been turned—and pounds the shoe until it has the proper shape and is entirely smooth.

The side laster, by means of hand pincers, draws the upper leather to the last at the outside and instep and over the insole, so that it is tight and no wrinkles are left. He then fastens the edge with tacks. He does this at the rate of about a pair of shoes to the minute.[31]

[31] Rates of operation are calculated from the tables given on pp. 166-169 of Bulletin No. 232 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The heeler takes the shoe and a heel already built up but lacking the top lift, and places the shoes on a metal last or jack. He sets the heel in place and presses a foot lever that causes his machine to drive the nails into the heel and clinch them in the insole. The nails on the outside of the heel are left protruding to a height of about half the thickness of the top lift. On these nails, he sets the top lift, which has received a coating of cement, and the machine presses this down over the projecting nails. He must be skillful enough to perform this operation accurately at the rate of over 100 pairs of shoes per hour.[32]

[32] Rates of operation are calculated from the tables given on pp. 166-169 of Bulletin No. 232 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The edge setter holds the sole to a machine which polishes the edge by means of a series of hot vibrating irons which fit the edge of the sole. He must handle shoes at the rate of about a pair every minute during the working day.[33]

[33] Rates of operation are calculated from the tables given on pp. 166-169 of Bulletin No. 232 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.