Modern Method of Repairing Shoes
As the shoemaking industry has become more and more perfect, there has been an increasing interest taken in shoe repairing. A medium-priced shoe as it is made to-day may often be in good enough condition to be heeled and soled a couple of times. Hence, although in the past many shoe stores and departments have had their shoe repairing done by outside shops, the tendency to-day is for every shoe store to have its own repair department. This method has resulted largely from the development of machinery for shoe repairing, which is revolutionizing the business to such an extent that in a few years repairing by hand will be among the lost arts. With the new inventions for restoring upper leather, and the improvement of machinery for shoe repairing, repair departments will very soon be but little short of miniature factories.
The machinery ordinarily used consists of the Goodyear stitcher, used for attaching soles to Goodyear welts by the lock-stitch method, just as in shoe factories making Goodyear welt shoes. Then there is a heel trimmer, a bottom finisher, consisting of a rapidly revolving roll covered with coarse and fine sandpaper, and an opera heel builder for forming concave heels. There are two wheels used for tan and white heel work, one heel being covered with a white cloth, and the other with a coarse brush. Adjoining these are usually the shank and heel finisher,—capable of smoothing and highly polishing a shank or heel in about a dozen seconds,—the bottom finisher, that grinds and smooths down the new sole, and a machine used for rubbing off dirt before the shoe is finished, consisting of a heavy horsehair brush. Another useful part of the equipment is an edge setter, which is also identical with the one used in factories. The shoe stitching machines and the parts used in finishing are all operated on one long shaft, rapidly revolved by the aid of a motor. It is a fact that a shoe may be actually soled and heeled in less than six minutes.
Five or six men are usually employed in the repair department of a large establishment. When the customer’s shoes are brought in, one of these men cuts off the old sole and traces an outline of the new sole on a block of the very best oak leather. After these are cut out by hand in rough form, they are soaked in water and channeled; that is to say, a part of the sole is turned up in which the stitches are to be run. A second man, by the use of the Goodyear stitcher, joins the sole and welt together with a very strong and tightly drawn lock stitch. This is a large machine with a curved, barbed needle and awl, and a shuttle which sews through an inch of leather with the greatest ease and speed. There are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred stitches in each shoe; moreover, every one of them is locked with heavy wax thread, so that there is no chance of their ever giving away. If one stitch should break, the other stitches would remain intact, as they are all independent of each other. Both soles are stitched on in a little over half a minute without breaking a thread or stopping the machine.
A coating of rubber cement is now placed in the edges of the outsole, and the lip of the channel is smoothed down so that the stitches are entirely hidden when looking at the bottom of the shoe. The edge trimming is done next with the aid of a rapidly revolving wheel, which trims the edges square and true in about forty seconds. After this, the shank is finished on a rapidly revolving wheel covered with emery cloth.
Bottom finishing is the next step. This is done on a machine having two long cylinders, one covered with fine and the other with coarse sandpaper. These cylinders revolve rapidly, and the operator uses the coarse sandpaper for scouring the dirt and old finish off the leather, and the fine sandpaper for finishing the sole as smooth as that of any new shoe.
The brushing in or smoothing is next done by the horsehair brush we have mentioned before. A preparation called Lewis’s rival bottom polish—a sort of white wax—is placed on the brush machine. The brush now smooths the surface of the sole, filling in all small holes with wax and leaving the sole absolutely perfect. Finally, the shoe is placed against a rapidly revolving brush which finishes the uppers with a luster that would make any ordinary boot-black green with envy. Another operation that fully completes the process is the hardening of the edges with hot steel, which ends in producing an edge that is as hard as iron. When it is polished with a black dye, it looks exactly like a new sole.
A few words are necessary with regard to the heel. The old heel having been removed, several lifts of new leather in rough form are tacked on. The shoe is then taken to the heel trimmer and is formed correctly and then smoothed down to a brilliant surface on the finely covered revolving wheel. In a few seconds it is stained, smoothed, and polished. In less than six minutes the shoe is ready for the customer.
CHAPTER NINE
LEATHER AND SHOEMAKING TERMS
Assembling. Includes the following operations: tacking the insole to the last, putting in the box and counter of the shoe, and putting the upper of the shoe on the last.
Backstay. A term used to denote a strip of leather covering and strengthening the back seam of a shoe. English backstay means the strip of leather that meets the quarters on each side and is sewed to them, forming the lower part of the shoe. California backstay is a term applied to piping caught in the back seam.
Back Strap. The strap by which the shoe is pulled on the foot.
Bal. An abbreviation of the word “Balmoral” and means either men’s, women’s, or children’s front lace shoe of medium height, as distinguished from one that is adjusted to the ankle by buttons, buckles, rubber goring, etc.
Ball. Refers to the ball of the foot—the fleshy part of the bottom of the foot, back of the toes.
Beading. Means folding in the edges of the upper leather instead of leaving them raw, or wheeling any impression around the sole to the heel. It is called seat wheeling in many shoe factory rooms.
Beating Out. The same as leveling. It is the term used in turn-shoe work.
Bellows Tongue. A broad tongue sewed to the sides of the top, seen in waterproof and some working shoes.
Belting. The term applied to the usual back tanned cowhide, used in various thicknesses for machinery belts.
Between Substance. That part of the sole that holds the stitch.
Blackball. A mass of grease and lampblack, formerly used by shoemakers on edges of heels and soles; sometimes called “cobbler’s botch.”
Blacking the Edge. Blacking or dyeing edge of sole, welt, or that part of the edge which cannot be blacked so well in the making room.
Blocking. The cutting or chopping of a sole in such a form or shape that it can be rounded.
Bloom. A term often applied to the grayish white deposit that gathers on shoes in stock. It can be wiped off readily.
Blucher. The name of a shoe or half boot, originated by Field Marshal Blücher of the Prussian Army, in the time of Napoleon I. It became very popular and has since received occasional favor, being used with high tops as a sporting or hunting boot. Its distinguishing feature is the extension forward of the quarters to lace across the tongue, which may be an extension upward of the vamp.
Boot. A term used (especially abroad) to designate women’s high-cut shoes. In this country it applies only to high or topped footwear, usually made with the tops stiff and solid. It is sometimes laced, as in hunting boots.
Bootee. Leather legging extending between knee and ankle, usually of Russian calf,—a riding boot originating with the English.
Bottom Filling. The filling that goes in the low space on the bottom in the forepart of the shoe. It is either ground cork, tarred felt, or other filler.
Bottom Scouring. Sandpapering the parts of the sole, except the heel.
Boxing. A term used to designate the stiffening material placed in the toe of a shoe to support it and retain the shape; such as leather, composition of leather and paper, wire net, drilling (a cotton fabric) stiffened with shellac, etc.
Box Calf. A well-known proprietary leather having a grain of rectangularly crossed lines.
Box Toe. Used to hold up the toe of the shoe so as to retain the shape. It is generally of sole leather, but often made of canvas or other material and stiffened with shellac or gum.
Breaking the Sole. Molding the sole so as to fit the spring better.
Brogan. A heavy pegged or nailed work shoe, medium cut in height.
Brushing. The final finish of the top edge, heel, and bottom, by means of a brush.
Buckskin. A soft leather, generally yellow or grayish in color. One way of preparing it is by treating deerskins in oil.
Buff. A split side leather, coarser than glove grain, but otherwise similar. It is used for cheaper grades of shoes, principally for men.
Buffing. The same as bottom scouring.
Cabaretta. A tanned sheepskin of superior finish used for shoe stock. There are sheep with wool not far removed from hair in texture, which produce a skin of greater tenacity and finish than the ordinary sheep.
Cack. A sole leather bottom without a heel. An infant’s shoe is called a cack.
Calfskins. Skins of meat cattle of all kinds, weighing up to fifteen pounds, are usually included in this term. They make a strong and pliable leather. Calfskins were formerly finished with wax and oil on the flesh side, but can now be made so as to be finished on the “grain,” which is the hair side of the skin.
Cap. A term meaning the same as tip.
Carton. A cardboard box intended for one pair of shoes.
Cementing. This is the operation of placing cement on the outsole and the bottom of the welt shoe so that the outsole is held to the shoe by the cement.
Chamois. A leather made from the skins of chamois, calves, deer, goats, sheep, and split hides of other animals.
Channeling. Cutting into the sole in such a way that the thread or stitching is away from the surface. In the outsole department it means preparing a place for the stitch. In insoles and turn soles, channeling is done so that soles are prepared to hold the stitching.
Channel Screwed. A process by which the sole is fastened to the uppers. After a channel is cut and laid over on the outside of the outsole, the outsole and insole are fastened together, holding the upper and lining between them by means of wire screws, which are fastened in this channel. The skived part is then smoothed down over the heads of the screws, entirely covering them from sight, and preventing the screws from easily working up into the foot.
Channel Stitched. A method of fastening soles to the uppers, either by McKay or welt process, in which a portion of the sole’s outer side is channeled into, and the stitches afterwards covered on the lower side by the lip of this channel.
Channel Turning. Turning a lip or flap of sole leather (called channel), so that the stitching can be done in the proper place; or it may mean turning up the flap or lip of the channel, that is, the part that is to cover the stitch.
Checking. A term applied to the edges of heels or soles that have cracked, or have been injured in process of construction.
Cleaning Inside. Cleaning the lining.
Cleaning Nails. Scraping the blacking off the tops of the heel slugs.
Cleaning Shoes. Removing dirt, wax, cement, etc., from them.
Clicking. Cutting the uppers of shoes.
Closing. Putting two or more pieces together.
Closing On. Stitching the lining and outside together.
Colonial. A name given to a woman’s low shoe, with vamp extended into a flaring tongue, with a large, ornamental buckle across the instep. The buckle and tongue are the distinctive features of the shoe, whether the shoe fastens with a lace or strap.
Coltskin. Coltskin has been brought into general use in shoemaking within the past few years. The skin of a colt is thin enough to use like calfskin in its entirety, with such shaving as is given all hides in tanning. Coltskin makes a firm basis needed for patent leather, and has been much used in recent years for this purpose. Russia is the chief source of supply.
Combination Last. One with a different width instep from the ball. It may be one or two widths’ difference, such as the D ball with a B instep. Combination lasts are generally used in fitting low insteps.
Composition. A term used to denote the small scraps that accumulate about tanneries and factories, which are ground up and mixed with a paste or a kind of cement, and flattened into sheets which are used as insoles, and in other parts, in various grades of shoes, where wear is not excessive.
Congress Gaiter. A shoe designed especially for comfort, with rubber goring in the sides which adjusts it to the ankle, instead of laces, and sometimes made with lace front to imitate a regular shoe.
Cordovan. Originally a Spanish leather made from horsehide. The Spaniards were, for a great many centuries, the best leather makers. The term is applied to a grain leather from the best and strongest part of a horsehide.
Counter. The stiffening in the back part of a shoe, often called stiffening, to support the outer leather and prevent the shoe from “running over” at the heel. It is made either of sole leather, shaved thin on the edge and shaped by machinery, as in the best shoes, or composition or paper, in cheap shoes. Metal is occasionally used on the outside of the shoes in heavy goods for miners and furnacemen.
Coupon Tag. A tag from which a coupon is cut for every operation. Operatives hold part of the coupon and the holders of the coupons are paid for the part named.
Cowhide. Refers to hides of cattle, heavier than kips, which run up to twenty-five pounds each.
Creasing Vamp. Making hollow grooves across the front of the vamp to add to its looks.
Creedmore. A man’s heavy lace shoe, with gusset, blucher cut.
Creole. A heavy congress work shoe. This shoe, the creedmore, and brogans are usually made of oil grains, kip, or split leather, sometimes pegged, sometimes “stitched down.”
Crimping. Shaping any part of the upper so that it will conform to the last better.
Cushion Sole. An elastic inner sole.
Cut-off Vamp. One cut off at tip for economy when tip is to be covered by a cap.
Dieing. Cutting soles to fit the last, outsoles, insoles, heel lifts, counters, or half soles, with a machine and a die.
Dom Pedro. A heavy, one-buckle shoe, with gusset or bellows tongue. Originally it was a patent name for certain shoes made of fine material, but is now applied to cheap grades.
Dongola. A heavy, plump goatskin, tanned with a semibright finish.
Dressing. A process for giving the upper its original finish by means of liquid put on with sponge.
Edge Setting. The finishing edge of the sole,—polishing it.
Edge Trimming. Trimming the edge of a sole smoothly to conform to last.
Enamel. Leather that is given a shiny finish on the grain side. The process is similar to that of patent leather, only that patent leather is finished on the flesh side, or the surface of the split.
Eyelet. A small ring of metal, etc., placed in the holes for lacing; the eyelet holes are sometimes worked with thread like a buttonhole.
Eyeletting. Putting on eyelets.
Facing. The bleached calf or sheepskin used around the top of the shoe, and down the eyelet row and inside of the upper.
Fair Stitch. Term applied to the stitching that shows around the outer edge of the sole, to give the McKay shoe the appearance of a welt shoe.
Faking. Putting a gloss on any part of the bottom of the shoe.
Findings. The small parts of a shoe, such as blacking, cement, nails, wax, tacks, thread, etc.
Flap, Lip, and Shoulder. Terms used in connection with the channel or with the operation of sewing.
Follower. Any last or form put in a shoe from which the original last has been pulled.
Forepart Finishing. The staining and polishing of the forepart of the shoe.
Form. A term applied to a filler last. It may be of wood, papier-mâché, leather board, or any similar material, and is used to enhance the appearance of sample shoes, in salesmen’s lines or in window displays.
Foxed. Having the lower part of the quarter a separate piece of leather or covered by an extra piece; “slipper foxed” is a term sometimes applied to women’s full vamp shoes.
Foxing. The name applied to that part of the upper that extends from the sole to the laces in front, and to about the height of the counter in the back; being the length of the upper. It may be in one or more pieces and is often cut down to the shank in circular form.
Frizzing. A process to which chamois and wash leather are subjected, after the skins are unhaired, scraped, “fleshed,” and raised. It consists in rubbing the skins with pumice stone or a blunt knife till the appearance of the grain is entirely removed.
Front. A term used for part of a congress toe.
Gaiter. A term usually applied to a separate ankle covering or to a congress shoe.
Gemming. The operation of making gem insoles.
Gem Insoles. An insole for welt shoes of leather.
Glazed Kid. See Kid.
Glove Grain. A light, soft-finished, split leather, for women’s or children’s shoes or topping.
Goatskin. See Kid.
Goodyear Welt. A term used to denote the process of attaching the sole to the upper of a shoe by means of a narrow strip of leather called a welt.
Gore. A rubber elastic used in a congress shoe. It is also applied to the long, wedge-shaped piece of leather set in an upper to widen it.
Grading. The sorting of outsoles and half soles to get uniform weight in edges of finished shoes.
Half Sole. Half of a complete sole used in forepart of bottom under outsole.
Harness Leather. Similar to belting, and is made from hides heavier than kips.
Heel. Made of layers of leather or wood called liftings, and attached to rear part of shoe (heel seat). There are different varieties of heels. The French heel is an extremely high heel with a curved outline in back and front (breast). It is sometimes made of wood covered with leather, with thicknesses of sole leather, or all sole leather. The Cuban heel is a high, straight heel, without the curve of the French or “Louis XV” heel. Military heel is a straight heel not as high as the Cuban. A spring heel is a low heel formed by extending back the outside of the shoe to the heel, with a slip inserted between the outsole and heel slat. Wedge heel is somewhat similar to a spring heel, except that a wedge-shaped lift is tacked on the outside instead of a slit. Slugging heels is the process of affixing the made-up heel by one operation of the machine.
Heel Finishing. Blacking and polishing the heel edge.
Heel Lining. The lining to cover heel nails inside the shoe; it is often known by other names.
Heel Pad. In the manufacture of shoes, is a small piece of felt, leather, or other substance fastened to and covering the full width of the insole at the point upon which the heel rests. A heel cushion is sometimes called a heel pad.
Heel Scouring. Sandpapering the edge of the heel, except the front or breast portion.
Heel Seat. That part of sole on which heel is fastened.
Heel Seat Nailing. Nailing the heel part of sole.
Heel Seat Trimming. Trimming the rear or heel part of sole.
Heel Shaving. Shaving the heel, shaping it.
Hemlock Tanned. A process of tanning leather by hemlock bark.
Hides. Distinguished from skins, in the trade. Hides refer to skins of animals which are over twenty-five pounds in weight. Skins refer to smaller animals; as skins of goats, calves, sheep.
Inlay. A trimming of the upper by an insertion of the same or different kind of material than that of the body in which it is inlaid. It is used for decorative purpose on a shoe.
Inseaming. Sewing sole on turn shoe. Welting and inseaming are practically the same operation.
Inseam Trimming. Cutting off the surplus leather; term is also applied to pulling sole tacks.
Insole. The first sole laid on the last, and is the foundation of all shoes with insoles. It is an important though invisible portion of a shoe. This inner sole is the part to which the upper and outsole are sewed or nailed in the McKay and welt shoes.
Inspecting. The examination of shoes to see that the work is perfect; it is sometimes called crowning.
Inspecting Insole. The operation of looking inside of the shoe for tacks.
Instep. The top of the arch of the foot.
Iron. A term indicating the thickness of sole leather; each unit is approximately one thirty-second of an inch in thickness.
Ironing Uppers. Taking wrinkles out of the uppers and smoothing the same with a hot iron.
Juliette. A woman’s house slipper which is cut a little above the ankle in front and back, and cut down on the sides is called a Juliette.
Kangaroo. The skin of the animal of that name, which makes a splendid leather, of firm texture. It is quite expensive, hence substitutes are on the market under the same name.
Kid. A term applied to the shoe leather made from the skins of mature goats.
Kip. A term applied to leather made from hides weighing between fifteen and twenty-five pounds.
Lace Stay. A strip of leather reënforcing the eyelet holes.
Lace Hook. An eyelet extended into a recurved hook, around which the lace is looped. It is most commonly used in men’s and boys’ shoes, although recently some have been invented for use in women’s shoes with curved ends, to avoid catching the dress.
Lacing. The operation of putting laces in shoes.
Last. A wooden form over which the shoe is constructed, giving the shoe its distinctive shape.
Lasting. The process of making the uppers conform to the last in all respects. The operations of assembling and pulling over are parts of lasting.
Laying Channel. Turning down the lip or flap to cover the stitching.
Leveling. Shaping the sole to the bottom of the last.
Lift. The name given to one thickness of sole leather used in the heel. Top lift is the bottom lift, when the shoe is right side up, and is the last piece put on in manufacture.
Lining. The inside part of shoe, generally of cloth (dull) or sheepskin.
Lining Cutting. The operation of cutting the cloth linings.
Lining-in. The operation of putting lining inside of the shoe to cover insole or part of insole.
Loading Leather. Filling the pores of the leather with glucose to increase its weight.
Making Linings. Consists of closing up heel of lining; putting on top and side or eyelet stay.
Match Marking. An operation performed on colored uppers, except black, to get different parts of the upper the same shade and color, and both shoes in the pair alike.
Mat. A term applied to a dull finish kid as distinguished from glazed.
McKay Sewed or McKay. A shoe in which the outsole is attached to the insole and upper by a method named for the inventor.
McKay Sewing. Sewing through and through so that thread is seen inside of shoe.
Middle Sole. Any sole between outsole and insole.
Mock Welt. McKay-sewed shoe with a double sole and having a leather sock lining. It is fair stitched to imitate a welt.
Monkey Skin. A peculiar grained skin, and is considered in the trade as a fancy leather. It is often imitated.
Morocco. A name applied to leather originally made in Morocco. It is a sumac-tanned goatskin, red in color, and is used in book binding. The name is also applied to a leather made in imitation of this, and to heavy, plump goatskins used for shoes.
Molding. Shaping the sole to fit the bottom of last.
Mules. The name applied to slippers with no counters or quarters.
Nap. The woolly side of hide, cloth, or felt.
Naumkeaging. Smoothing up the bottom with fine sandpaper. Sometimes the buffing grain.
Nullifier. A shoe with high vamp and quarter, dropping low at the sides, made with a short rubber goring for summer or house wear.
Oak Tanned. A process of tanning by means of a substance obtained from oak bark.
Oil Leather. Leather prepared by currying hides in oil. The hides are moist, that the oily matter may be gradually and thoroughly absorbed.
Ooze. A chrome tan calfskin treated on the flesh side in such a manner that the long fibers are loosened and form a nap surface; made in many colors.
Outside Cutting. Cutting the leather parts of the shoe, as vamp, tip, top, etc.
Outside Tap. The tap used outside of men’s or boys’ heavy shoes.
Outsole. The sole next the ground, on which all wear comes.
Cross Section of McKay Sewed Shoe.
Cross Section of Goodyear Welt Shoe.
Oxford. A low-cut shoe no higher than the instep lace, button, or goring, made in men’s, women’s, and children’s sizes.
Packer Hides. Hides taken off in the large slaughterhouses. They are rated slightly higher in price, because great care and skill are used in taking them off.
Packing. Placing a pair of shoes in a carton.
Pacs. Coverings for the feet made of good quality calfskin, similar in form and appearance to the Indian moccasin. They do not have sole leather bottoms. If properly made, they are waterproof.
Pancake. A term applied to one of the many artificial leathers formed from leather scraps, shaved thin, and cemented together under heavy pressure.
Pasted Counter. One that is cut from two pieces of sole leather pasted together. It is sometimes called a two-piece counter.
Patent Leather. Varnished leather.
Pattern. The model by which the pieces comprising the upper of a shoe are cut, applied collectively to upper as modified by the differing shape of these pieces.
Pebble. A term used in the process to bring out the grain of leather and give it a roughened or rubbed appearance.
Pegging. Lasting out soles with pegs.
Perforating. Making very small holes around parts of upper. It is performed mostly for decoration.
Polish. The name of ladies’ or misses’ front-lace shoe of higher cut than “bal,” and named from Poland, where it originated.
Pressing. Consists of a flat-press pressure for heels and soles, to prevent cracking of edges and to make parts adhere.
Porpoise. This skin is sometimes used for leather and boot laces, but porpoise hides are ordinarily obtained from the white whale.
Pulling Lasts. Removing the lasts from shoes.
Pulling Over. Pulling upper on the last and tacking it in position.
Pump. A low-cut shoe originally having no fastenings, such as laces or buttons. A pump is cut lower than the instep.
Pump Sole. An extra-light single sole, running clear through to the back of the heel. A pump sole in former years was distinguished by its flexibility and was hand turned.
Putting on Tap. Sticking half sole to the outsole.
Quarter. The rear part of upper when a full vamp is not used. Term is used mostly in women’s, and Oxfords or low shoes.
Rand. Made of sole leather about as wide as a welt, but thin at one edge. It is tacked to the heel so as to balance the heel evenly on the sole and fill any open space around the edge between sole and heel.
Rapid Stitching. Sewing the sole to welt.
Relasting. Consists in putting lasts in shoes from which the original lasts have been removed.
Repairing. A term applied to filling slight cracks in patent tips or patent leather.
Roan. Sheepskin tanned with sumac. The process is similar in its details to that employed for morocco leather, but lacks the graining given to the morocco by the grooved rollers in the finishing. It imitates ungrained morocco.
Rolling. The process of passing leather between rolls to make it firm and hard. Rolling consists in polishing the bottom on roll and brush.
Rough Rounding. Rounding outsole to the shape of last, and cutting channel in the welt-channeled shoes.
Royalties. Sums paid for the use of machines to machine companies.
Russet Calf. Russet-colored calf is made from calfskins.
Russet Grain. Russet-colored grain is made from a split cowhide.
Sabot. The name of a one-piece wooden shoe, carved from a block of basswood. A novelty to Americans, but worn by people in the rural and manufacturing sections of Holland, Germany, and France.
Sack Lining. The lining inside the shoe and insole.
Sandal. The name of a woman’s strap slipper, or a sole worn by children. Originally fastened on the foot by straps.
Satin Calf. A grain split, stuffed with oil, and smooth finished.
Scouring Breast. Sandpapering the front part of the heel.
Screw-fastened. A shoe having the sole attached with screws, as in cheap or working shoes.
Seal Grain. Usually a flesh split, with an artificial grain which is stamped or printed on the finished leather.
Second Lasting. The same as relasting. Term used most in turn work.
Shank. The middle position of the bottom of the foot. Shank supports are placed in shoes to stiffen that part of the bottom. They are of steel, of wood, or of a combination of leather board and steel, and can be placed in the shoe any time before the outsole is laid.
Shank Burnishing. Polishing a black shank with hot iron.
Shank Finishing. Finishing the shank with blacking or in colors. The top lift is generally finished at the same time.
Shanking Out. Means making the edge of the shank thinner than the other part of the sole, and making it smooth.
Sheepskins. Used largely for linings and for cheap shoes for women and children. It is too soft and weak in texture for heavy wear, and liable to split and tear.
Short Vamp. A foreshortened vamp. The distance between the extreme tip and the throat of the vamp shortened for appearances.
Sides. Leather made from hides which are split into two sides down the back.
Side Lasting. Lasting the side of the shoe only.
Size. Shoes are measured by the length and width. The length is expressed by numbers and the widths by letters.
Skins. A term used to represent the skin covering of small animals, such as goats.
Skirting. The outer parts of leather (hide), such as shanks, bellies, necks, etc.
Skiving. Making the sole the same thickness in all parts. Skiving means cutting or shaving down to a thin edge. This operation may be done in the cutting department or stitching department.
Slip. The name applied to spring heels or to soles. Slip is a thin piece of sole leather inserted above the outer sole.
Slugging. Driving slugs in heels, on part or all of the heel.
Sock Lining. The lining for insole, inside of shoe.
Soft Tip. A term applied to a shoe on which no boxing is used under the tip.
Soles and Sole Leather. Name applied to pieces of leather of various thickness on the bottom of a shoe, usually made from heavy hides of leather. There are many varieties of soles: a “full-double” sole has two thicknesses of leather extending clear back to the heel; “half-double” sole is a full outer sole, with slip extending back to shank; single sole is self-defining; “tap” is a half sole.
Sole Laying. Sole laying is the operation of laying the outsole.
Sorting. The process of selecting and sorting soles, so that they may be put up in different qualities.
Spewing. Shoes in stock sometimes become coated with a grayish white, powdery substance, that looks like mildew. This formation on leather that is not fully seasoned is called spewing, and the deposit is called bloom. It can readily be wiped off, and does not indicate any serious defect or trouble with the leather. It is not a mildew or growth, but apparently an exudation of materials used in tanning.
Splits. A name applied to split leather, that is, two or more parts of the hide.
Spring Heel. Consists of one or more lifts used between the outsole and upper. It is seen mostly in children’s shoes and is often called wedge heel. It can also be put on outside instead of under the outsole.
Stamping. The operation of putting size and width on the inside of the shoe. Parts of the uppers are often stamped or marked so that the whole are put together properly in the stitching room.
Stay. The name given to any piece of leather put in the upper to strengthen it or to strengthen a seam.
Stamping Bottoms. The operation of stamping name on bottom. It is often performed in finishing rooms.
Stamping Carton. Putting the size, width, and other marks on carton.
Stamping Sizes. Stamping sizes on heel part of the sole.
Standard-fastened. Nailing bottom on standard screw machine.
Staying. Putting on a stay, generally heel stay.
Stitch Separating. Marking between stitches so as to make them show to good advantage.
Stitch Down. A term applied to a flexible shoe used in the army, in which the top is turned out instead of under and stitched through the sole.
Stitched Aloft. A term used to indicate that the sewing stitches show on the bottom. No channel is necessary in this sole. It may be a slight groove. In stitching, the shoe is held bottom up, therefore the name “stitched aloft.”
Straight Last. One that is neither right nor left, and a shoe made over such a last can be worn on either foot. This term is sometimes applied to right and left shoes that have a barely perceptible outside swing.
Stripping. Consists of cutting in strips wide enough to cut soles all of equal size in length.
Suede. A trade term applied to kid skins, finished on the flesh side.
Swing. A term applied to the curve of the outer edge of a sole.
Tacking On. Consists in laying the outsole on McKay’s lasted shoes.
Tack Pulling and Trimming Out. Consist of preparing bottom for welting. It also makes it better for the operation.
Tampico. A variety of goat skins coming from the province of Tampico, Central America.
Tap. Half of a complete sole, often called half sole when used under outsole.
Tan. Tan is a sort of brownish leather.
Tanning. Tanning is the process of converting hides or skins into leather.
Tap Trimming. Shaping the tap to conform to the sole.
Tawing. The process of making leather by soaking hides in a solution of salt and alum, or by packing them down with dry salt and powdered alum. Used to prepare skin rugs and furs.
Tempering. The operation of wetting the leather in water to take hardness out and make leather “mull,” so that it may be worked easier.
Tip. The toe piece which is stitched to the vamp and outside of it. Stock tip is a tip of the same material as the vamp. Patent tip is a patent leather tip. Diamond tip refers to the shape extending back to a point. Imitation tip-stitching across the vamp is imitation of a tip.
Tip Cutting. Cutting the tip which goes on the toe of the vamp.
Toe and Heel Lasting. Lasting heel and toe.
Toe Piece. A piece attached to cut-off vamp to lengthen it.
Tongue. A narrow strip of leather necessary on all laced shoes.
Top. The part of the upper above the vamp; tip of shoe.
Top Cutting. Cutting the top only.
Top Facing. The strip of leather or band of cloth around the top of the shoe on the inside is called the top facing. It adds to the finish of the lining, and is sometimes used to advertise the name of manufacturers by a design of letters woven or sewed on it.
Top Lift. The lift which is next to the ground.
Top Lift Scouring. Sandpapering top lift of heel to make it smooth.
Top Stitching. Consists of stitching across the top and down the side.
Treeing. Shaping the shoe, making it smooth. Produces the same effect as ironing, although no hot iron is used. It makes the upper plump and gives it a good finish and “feel.”
Trimming Cutting. Cutting stays, facings, and other small parts of the upper.
Trimming Vamp. Cutting off hanging or surplus thread.
Turning. To turn shoe right side out. Also turning upper right side out.
Turned Shoe. A lady’s fine shoe that is made wrong side out, then turned right side out, which operation necessitates the use of a thin, flexible sole of good quality. The sole is fastened to the last, the upper is lasted over it wrong side out, then the two are sewed together, the thread catching through a channel cut in the edge of the sole. The seam does not come through to the bottom of the sole where it would chafe the foot on inside.
Upper. A term applied collectively to the upper parts of a shoe.
Ungrained. Smooth surface.
Vamp. The lower or front part of the upper of a shoe. It is the most important piece of the upper and should be cut from the strongest and cleanest part of the skin. “Cut-off” vamp is one that extends only to the tip, instead of being continued to the toe and lasted under with the tip. Whole vamp is one that extends to the heel without a seam.
Vamping. Stitching the vamp to the top.
Vamp Cutting. Cutting vamp with or without the tip.
Velour. A finish for calf leather. It is the French name for velvet and is used in the shoe trade for a patent chrome-tanned calf leather. It is an excellent leather and has a smooth and velvety finish.
Vellum. A name for skins that are made into a variety of parchment.
Veneering. Consists in making soles, whole or part, heavier, by means of leather-board or other material fastened to the sole by an adhesive.
Vesting. A material originally designed for making vests. As used in shoes, it is made with fancy-figured weave, having a backing of stiff buckram or rubber-treated tissue to strengthen it.
Viscolizing. A patent method of waterproofing sole leather by the use of partly emulsified oils with a water-resisting tendency. Viscolized soles are used in hunting and sporting boots.
Vici. A patent trade name for a brand of chrome-tanned kid.
Wash Leather. An inferior quality of chamois.
Welt. A narrow strip of leather that is sewed to the upper of a shoe with an insole leaving the edge of the welt extending outward, so that the outsole can be attached by sewing through both welt and outsole, around the outside of the shoe. The attaching of the sole and upper thus involves two sewings, first the insole, welt and upper, then the outsole to the welt. The name is applied to the shoe itself when made in this way to distinguish it from a turned, or McKay sewed shoe. This is the method used by cobblers in the production of hand-sewed shoes to fasten the sole and upper together. Goodyear welt is a welt in which the sewing is done by a machine named for the inventor. There are very few hand-welted shoes made.
Welt Beating. The flattening out of the welt, making it smooth.
Welting. Sewing the welt to shoe.
White Alum. Bleached leather tawed with white alum.
Wooden Case. Large box for twelve or more pairs.
CHAPTER TEN
LEATHER PRODUCTS MANUFACTURE
The use of gloves is so old that relics of them have been found in the habitations of the cave dwellers. The Romans used them as decorative articles of dress and the Greeks to protect the hands when doing heavy work.
The gloves of ladies and gentlemen in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and before and after, were most beautiful in hand workmanship and embellishments, but they were usually shapeless things, and in these days no one would wear them; they are not to be compared with the elegant style and artistic finish of the modern product.
When the social world was restricted, so to speak, in the numbers of its members who could afford some of life’s luxuries, the use of the glove was confined largely to royalty, nobility, and the well-to-do. And the trade not being extensive, prices were high—being added to by decorative elaboration in needlework in order that the manufacturer and his employees might extract as much money as possible from the ultimate buyer. While glove making is now one of the stabilities of modern manufacture, it is, nevertheless, constantly changing in styles, due to eagerness for novelties and new fashions.
Glove making of leather, in a rough, crude form, was carried on in this country to a very limited extent in New York State as early as 1760, by glove makers brought from Scotland to settle on the grants of Sir William Johnson, in Fulton county. But there was no general market for the home product until one was found in Albany in 1825. These early gloves, crude and clumsy, were cut with shears from leather by means of pasteboard patterns, and men did the cutting and women the sewing. Dies were later introduced, and this led to a great improvement in the character of the output.
But a still greater step forward was taken when the sewing machine was introduced in 1852. This abolished handwork entirely, but still the industry remained largely of a domestic nature, since it could be carried on at home with a machine as well as in a factory. Later steam power was installed in factories with which to run the machines. The cutting of gloves, and the stitching on the backs, was done before the gloves were sent out to be completed in workers’ homes.
As in everything wherein power can be substituted for hand labor in these days, the methods of glove manufacture have undergone a great transformation. The treating of skins in a great tub, three feet deep, whole dyeing and scouring, in rooms of high temperature, has been displaced by putting skins and colors into a cube-shaped box, which, revolving with an irregular motion, produces the same results more quickly than by the primitive way. But when color is to be applied to but one side the process is the same as of old,—hand use of a brush while the skin is stretched out on a slab.
When taken from the stock on hand to be made into gloves, the first thing done to skins by some glove makers is to “feed” them with eggs—not eggs of suspicious merits, but good enough for table use. And of these nothing is used but the yolk. One glove maker imports from China large quantities of the yolks of duck eggs for his work, and his yearly consumption of yolks amounts to seventeen thousand.
When the skins leave the dyehouse, they are rapidly dried in steam-heated lofts; and while stiff and rough they are, or were, worked into softness and smoothness over a wooden upright standard, called a stake, at the top of which is fitted a blunt semicircular knife. Over this the skin is drawn by hand, back and forth, until it becomes as pliable and delicate as silk. When this work was done manually it was most laborious. But now it has been mostly taken over by very ingenious machinery, which looks, in operation, as if it would tear a skin into fragments by the way it snaps and pulls at it, but which is adjustable to such nicety of action and power that the work is done exactly as it is wanted.
The next operation is to pare the skins to uniformity of thickness. This also was handwork for a long time, done with a peculiarly shaped knife, but now emery-coated wheels, with rounded edges, are used by the workers, who, with their aid, do just as good and much faster work in drawing and thinning the skins with absolute precision. This completes the treatment of the skin.
Now the function of the cutter begins, and he must be a workman of experience and good judgment, in that he must contend with the inconstant inelasticity of the skin, reducing it to uniform resistance. He must get so many pieces of glove size from each skin, and suit the pieces to particular features of the skin. When done with a skin he must have left, as useless, only trifling strips and shreds. The shapeliness of the glove which a woman draws over her hand, depends altogether upon the intelligence and skill of the cutter. In American factories the cutter is usually from some glove-making center in Europe and from a family whose occupation has been glove making for centuries.
A punch next cuts these glove pieces into shape, forming and dividing the fingers, slitting the buttonholes, providing side pieces for fingers and thumbs, and also the fragments used for strengthening the buttonholes. The sewing, formerly the handiwork of women, is now done on machines of capacity for exceptionally fine quality of intricate stitching. The number of glove sizes made is sufficient to meet every likely demand. When sewn, and the buttons or fastenings put on, they pass beneath the critical eye of an inspector for scrutiny as to faults. Then they are finally shaped on a hot metal hand, smoothed, banded, boxed, and sent to the salesroom for shipment.
The first and fourth fingers of a glove are completed by gussets, or strips, sewed only on the inner side; but the second and third fingers require gussets on both sides to complete the fingers. In addition to these, small, diamond-shaped pieces are sewed in at the roots of the fingers. Special care is necessary in sewing in the thumb pieces, as poorly made gloves usually give way at this point.
Natural lined gloves are now common enough, although it is not many years since they were regarded as impracticable. These are made from pelts of various animals with the hair left on the skin to form the lining.