A Manual of Shoemaking and Leather and Rubber Products

by William H. Dooley

Skins of leather are received in the shoe factory in different shapes. Some are perfect, others have blemishes or imperfect spots. The skins that are to be used for upper stock are carefully graded by two or three men, as to quality of leather and weight. This is necessary in order to be sure that a lot of shoes made for a certain dealer will be uniform. On account of the leather coming in different shapes, some skins perfect, others having imperfect spots, the cutter must place his patterns in such a way that certain parts of the shoe will use up all the perfect parts, and others, less important, will be composed of the weaker parts of the skin. This explains why you sometimes find the inside top part of a shoe made of flanky leather, while the vamp is made of a better grade.

There is a pattern for each and every size shoe, and each piece of leather is cut out separately on a block of wood. Nothing is wasted. In order to make each cutter as efficient as possible, the cutters are divided, so as to have a different cutter for each grade of leather. In this way they become better judges of leather.

The lining cutters use patterns and knives on drilling. The facing is cut out with a knife and pattern. The side stays and the tongue are cut out by dies.

After the leather has been cut into the desired shape, uppers, vamps, toe pieces, back stays, lace stays, etc., cutting at times ten pieces, and for some styles of shoes as many as fourteen pieces, the cutters take care to keep the parts for the same shoe together, matching and marking them so that eventually all will meet again in the shoe.

Machines are used now on almost every operation, and annually several new machines make their appearance. The cutting of uppers up to four or five years ago was performed by an operator cutting the leather by running the knife along the side of the pattern. Now they are using a cutting machine and dies to cut uppers in nearly all factories. This cutting machine is called the “clicking machine,” and it is considered quite a labor saver in a department where it was the universal opinion that machines never could be used.

It is impossible to give a list of all the operations performed and have it complete. But a good general idea of the system can be given and the name and meaning of the main operations in the several departments. It should be kept in mind that the methods in rooms differ, and that hardly any two factories put a shoe through in exactly the same manner. The general system and plan is the same everywhere and the machines are the same in all factories, but the details and minor operations are so numerous that there is plenty of scope for them to vary.

The function of the clicking machine is to cut the upper leather into the desired shapes required. It consists of an iron frame, with a cutting board on the top of it. Above this is a large beam which can be swung to the right or left of any portion of the board. The skin to be cut, which may be of any kind, is placed on the board and a die of the design or shape of the leather desired is placed on it. The handle of the swinging beam is taken by the operator and moved over the die; then by pressure of the handle the beam is brought downward, pressing the die through the leather. As soon as this is done, the beam automatically returns to its full height.

These dies are made in different designs and sizes to meet the different sizes and designs in the upper of the shoe. One die for each design and size. They mark the vamps for the location of the toe cap and blucher foxings as well as the size by means of nicks in the edge of the piece cut. The dies are about three-quarters of an inch in height and so light that they do not mar the most delicate leather.

Cutting the Leather by Means of Pattern and Knife. [Page 118.]