The Path to Mechanized Shoe Production in the United States

history book by Ross Thompson on mechanization

The University of North Carolina Press

ISBN-13: 9780807818671

ISBN-10: 0807818674

Notes

machine versus tool:
- “internally controlled motion”
- worker not involved in designing and choosing how to make
guild system:
- quality, virtuosity of craftsman
- hierarchy valued in itself for moral, family, aesthetic, moral, technical reasons
Karl Marx
Paul Mantoux
machines spread fast when they could be used in the putting-out system

Part I

2

fundamentally restructured in first half of 19th century
from small shops to putt-out system and wholesale markets
American Shoemakers, 1648-1895
The Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts Before 1875
wholesale markets: Philadelphia in 1790s, in Massachusetts earlier, Lynn leading
shoemakers were used to innovation
man western frontier areas neve had custom shoe production, skipped right to wholesale
small-town Massachusetts shoemakers sold in auctions, consigned to country stores, set up own retail shops

3

binding done in home, because could transport finished uppers without damage
bottoming in ten footers
couldn’t transport lasted shoes on lasts easily
central shop sent out materials, inspected work, did some cutting and finishing
before 1815 “making” meant making shoes as a whole, after 1815 restricted to bottoming
“cabbage”: leftover leather from material sent out from central shop
1820: central shops start cutting sole leather
- less waste
- they get to keep the scrap
- birth of scrap-leather market
finishing sometimes divided into sandpapering and polishing
gangs in ten footers
- a laster
- 2 or 3 sewers
- one pegger
- one edge trimmer
- one polisher
- maybe one heeler
formal apprenticeship ceased in Massachusetts in the 1830s, was never strong there
Henry Wilson
- traded shoemaking training for five months of work
- a few weeks later, bought back the time, started producing for himself
Training was merely the imparting of technique.
trained craftsman organized the bottoming gang, often the only trained shoemaker among them
women’s daily wages were a quarter to half of men’s
Massachusetts beat other states on price
Massachusetts overwhelmingly on putting-out system
decline of agriculture left labor for shoemaking
throughout 18th century, much leather provided locally
1825: international trade in hides, national markets for sole and upper leather
- sole leather concentrated in New York, less so Pennsylvania
- upper leather in North Shore Massachusetts: Lynn, Peabody, Salem
tools and forms mostly from Massachusetts

4

Pegging

dominated by mid-century
originated around 1810
introduced almost simultaneously in several towns
spread fast in 1840s and 50s
replace stitching with simpler hole punching and hammering
a pegger could do the work of 2–3 stitchers
more ridig, less comfortable
lower price
took over cheap and medium-price shoes
left sewing to bespoke

Standardized Lasts

second quarter of 19th century
first lengths, later also widths
for shoes sold by sample
wet tissue paper to take last forms
each last a standard, and also a tool for building to standard
before division of labor, maker cut uppers on the last
wholesale shoes had been sold by size since second half of 18th century, but sizes weren’t uniform
standard lasts made in Lynn and Brockton at least as early as 1830s
1832: first complete set of diagram patterns for upper cutting, in Boston
1840s: tin sole patterns begin to be used
replaced “rounding on”

Tools

1800: still importing from England
1830s: Massachusetts had closed gap
South Shore iron center of North Bridgewater (later Brockton)
new tools for pegging
- Herrick Aiken of Dracut, Mass. invented pegging awl haft
- pegging jacks
- tools to cut and rasp pegs
lasting pincer designs
channel cutting tools
most patents by type for crimping devices

Process

movement of workers had driven acquisition of English tools
same way textiles, firearms tools came in
new tools often invented by shoemakers
Rufus Chapin
Josiah Green
1850: Lynn, Brockton, Haverhill, Braintree had own toolmakers and lastmakers
Massachusetts and New Hampshire pegs traded, exported
standard last made by lastmakers, not shoemakers
Paul Pillsbury
- shoemaker approached him to make heel peg machine
- generalized from heel attaching to bottoming
- making pegs
  - “plow”, then “cross-plow” to make points
  - split into combs
  - split combs into pegs
- focused on making pegs, not shoes
- “Peg Pillsbury”
- built own machine tools and machine shop
- opened peg mill in 1815
standard last from lathe
- minor adaptation of Blanchard Lathe from gunsmithing
- milling machine another gun tool generalized
- “simply the pattern lathe applied to last making”
- also axe handles, wheel spokes, oars, hat blocks, sculptures
- 90 seconds per last
- model making and finishing still done by hand
new peg making machines caused huge price drop
1848 George Parrot applied “pantograph principle” to last grading
turning rights and lefts from one model made possible to make symmetrical last pairs
overall: reduced bottoming time
2-3 sewers to keep a gang busy, but just one pegger
pegging done more and more by children and less skilled men
peggers got lower wages
lower shoe prices, more shoe consumption
sales by sample by the time of the Civil War

Part II

5

1850s were the “transitional decade”
earlier 1809 leather splitting machine
sole leather machines
- leather rolling machines
- sole-splitting machines
- first: 1840s stripping machine
sewing machine
- John Wooldredge introduced a Singer for binding
- light machines with dry thread for light uppers
- heavier machines with waxed thread for heavier
- 1,8000 in use by 1856
pegging
Canton Boot and Shoe Machine Company offered widest range of machines
steam engines, water power
hand binding became a lost art
neater, exact stitching better than old hand binding
employment of women fell, employment of men grew
out-of-work rural shoemakers often moved to towns
lots of subcontracting
sole-preparing and sole-cutting machines started in central shops
some sewing machines bought and used at home
1860s: most fitting in central shop or factories
pegging machine brought bottoming into the factories
pegging created more uniform products
could introduce machines one at a time

6

sewing was about 25% of the time in craft shoemaking
homes were primary market for dry-thread sewing machines after Civil War
heavier leathers required separate awls
problem with dies: veer to one side under pressure
waxed threads clogged sewing machine needles
machinists very much like a craft
craft that eliminates other crafts
most new machines marketed by new first
some machines made to be used by inventor
relatively little investment required to make new machines
machines light enough to make in general machine shops
individuals had enough funds to finance development
men’s clothing more centered in cities than shoemaking
“break-in problems”

7

sewing machine developed to make clothing
Elias Howe
- financier of knitting machine sought his advice
- suggested sewing machine more profitable
- tried to reproduce hand stitch
- two-point needle with eye in middle
- rejected
- two sets of pincers to push needles through and hold it
- eye-point needle
- shuttle
- worse for hand use, better for mechanization
- likely adapted shuttle from loom
- machines almost entirely of metal
- raced five Boston seamstresses in demo
- didn’t have the money to build his machine
- partnered with George Fisher, rich friend
- stitch had been used in embroidery
- sold English patent rights for 250 pounds
- left for England
- impractical for sewing
- bad holding and feeding
- could only stitch the length of its baster plate
Figure 7.3, Page 85: lines of influence of sewing machine patents
developments
- vertical reciprocating needle
- horizontal work table
- Singer’s vertical presser foot
- More and Johnson single-thread chainstitch
- Grover and Baker reinvented double-thread chainstitch
- Robinson hand-stitch machine
- Thimonnier not in right time and place
- Allen Wilson two-motion feed
  - hobbyist
  - built own workshop
  - also invented a rotary steam engine
  - could afford only one patent, chose the sewing machine
  - patented through Scientific American Patent Agency
- inventors collaborated, formed partnerships, used contractors to build

8

key providers
- Singer
- Grover and Baker
- Wheeler and Wilson
all licensed out rights to sell in distant areas, but not to produce machines
1852–1855: most sewing machine patents to new inventors
Singer introduced treadle to allow guiding fabric with two hands
Wilson: rotary hook, stationary bobbin
buttonhole, zigzag, embroidery machines
attachments to bind, hem, gather
Singer led creating network of commission agents, then company agencies
similar to Cyrus McCormick’s network for reapers
eventually became branch sales and service offices
patent pool
Howe returned from England in 1849
patents still valid until 1854
Howe joined with Massachusetts manufacturer George Bliss
1855 second round of lawsuits
Sewing Machine Trust
- $15 per machine
- $5 on machines sold in US, $1 on each export
- divided evenly among Howe and three leading companies
Singer bought back territorial rights

9

shoe machines developed differently from sewing machines
sewing machines
- between sewing machines and cotton textile machines, locomotives, machine tools, steam engines
- Jim Nichols leather sewing machine
  - learned cutting from cousin in Lynn
  - adapted machine to sew pantaloons
  - smaller needle, new thread
  - Singer sold exclusive territory, so wouldn’t equip subcontracting show where Nichols could sew uppers
  - went to work for Grover and Baker
  - formed company with Elias Howe, George Bliss
- few clothing producers cared about shoes
- dry-thread sewing machine firms weren’t important in waxed-thread for shoes
- William Wickersham solved wax clogging eyes with chain stitch using barbed needle, like Thimonnier’s
- David Haskell patented post-arm
- dry sewing machine companies didn’t control early waxed thread patents
Richard Richards’ 1844 sole-cutting machine
- Lynn lastmaker
- one of first to use lathe to copy
- simpler “hand pegging machines” copied hand operations
- 1860: practical pegging machine
  - “product of many”
  - most important Benjamin Sturtevant, a shoe pegger
    - continuous peg strip
    - compress the strip
    - invented wood-veneer lathe
    - still used for wood veneers in furniture
Elmer Townsend, biggest waxed thread sewing machine manufacturer, became biggest pegging machine manufacturer

Part III

10

dry-thread sewing machine remained most adopted in shoemaking
automatic turret lathe developed to make bobbins for Weed sewing machine
Albert Eames introduced molding press to make Wheeler and Wilson parts
Joseph Brown introduced grinding machines to make Wilcox and Gibbons part
Joseph Billings developed board drop for drop forging
efficiency improvements
- speed: shuttle design
- cranks and eccentrics replaced springs and cams
- parallel seam sewing machines
- bobbin winding
- automatic tension adjustments
- take-up, shuttle, and tensioning against thread breakage
cylinder-arm introduced for pant legs
many attachments
by 1890 Singer sold machines to shoe companies than anyone else
buttonhole machines
eyeletting machines

11

McKay

changed the product
claim: wouldn’t have arisen within craft setting [???]
“could not readily be performed by hand” [but see inside stitching]
hard around the toe
“machine-made in principle”
Lyman Reed Blake 1858 patent
barbed needle as awl
can’t stitch on the last
chainstitch
Blake employed by brother in a central shop
sent to Singer agency to learn sewing machines
added Elmer Townsend’s wax-thread machines
expert operator of both
barbed needle and chain stitch patented by Townsend, had to pay royalties
had more orders for sewn shoes than could fill, due to lack of skilled workers
Blake claimed he never observed handsewing, would have stopped him inventing
pegging was the model
local wheelwright built prototype, local foundryman produced it, Blake used in own shop
wanted to sell to others, but couldn’t afford to
sold patent to McKay for $70k, $8k in cash and the rest out of revenues
Howe had offered his to Singer for $2k
Bachelder patent sold for $4k
two prior deals for McKay patent at $50k fell through
McKay had experience producing machines, printing press patents, witnessed Edgar Stevens’ pegging machine patent, knew of Stevens’ attempt to buy Blake’s patent
hired inventors to improve
- rotating horn
- thread-drawing mechanism for different leather thicknesses
- feed
adequate machine on market by 1862
Lynn an early center of McKay shoes
made about 150k for Union army, had another 125k made by others
Civil War orders helped shoe machinery like firearm machinery
followed marketing example of sewing machine companies
full-age ad in Shoe and Leather Reporter
sold use of the machine, not the machines themselves
$400 set-up charge, then royalties, at different rates by kind of shoes, men’s costing most
provided auxiliary machines at nominal cost
more than half shoes bought by Union Army during Civil War

Goodyear

returned the hand method to bottoming
exceeded McKay output by 1909
“chain stitches and lockstitches were unknown to craft shoemakers, as were the fineness and regularity of stitches”
evolved out of August Destouy’s turn- and welt-shoe sewing machine, patented in 1862
Charles Goodyear Jr. bought the patent
president of American Shoe Tip Company, rubber company
hired English mechanic Daniel Mills
- needle guard
- independent needle and awl
- second machine to stitch outsole to inner sole and welt
employed a shoemaker to use new machines
prospectus for public stock offering
took another decade to make practical
lighter leathers: chainstitch loops showed through sole
changed direction so loops on inside
thick chain stitch caused problems for outseams, so changed to lockstitch
stitch had recently been applied to uppers
curved needle sewed closer to upper
by 1890, good enough to manufacture shoes
spent about $250k
followed McKay marketing model, leasing system
royalty not defined as for use of active patents, but for use of the machinery
continued after patents expired
included auxiliary machines

Overall

612 leather-sewing patents issued from 1862–1901
companies not often listed in commercial directories
Massachusetts led
lockstitch preferred since didn’t create ridges
had been hard to tighten stitches without breaking thread or material
firms began to use Campbell machine for outseaming in the 1880s, prompted Campbell to work on a welt sewing machine, spurned Goodyear to work on lockstitch
group of inventors around each firm
separation of firms by type continued after patents expired

12

“In an industry with many machine users, self-usage was inferior to learning by selling as a social form for ongoing mechanization.”

13

two kinds of operations
1. leather preparing and some finishing at central shop
2. upper fitting at home by women
3. bottoming, heeling, some finishing in ten-footer
1873 peak of pegged shoes
important legacy of pegging machine: Townsend got interested in metallic pegging
- bottom nailing machine had come out
- developed screw-wire bottoming machine for heavy shoes
Lyman Blake
- first patent for nailed shoes
- adapted horn of McKay stitcher for nailing soles
McKay Metallic Fastening Association
never more than 15% of industry output
McKay soles had to be “beaten out” or “leveled” after stitching
channeling a critical complement to McKay stitching
accuracy of channeling depended on accurate sole rounding
1880 Jason smith patent for combo rounding and channeling machine to an iron sole pattern
Henry Briggs 1891 patent outsole rough rounder and channeler
fixed problem of outseams crossing inseams and cutting them
molding machines eliminated McKay bagginess
David Knox 1860 sole-molding machine
Joseph Johnson adapted molder for beating-out machine

14

Shoe Machinery Manufacturing Company combination, foreshadowing USMC
McKay didn’t pay a dividend until 1866
McKay per-pair royalties stayed the same until 1881
McKay Metallic Fastening Association
McKay and Bigelow Heeling Machine Association
McKay Lasting Association
“Through employment and regular patent purchase, McKay professionalized invention.”
Charles Glidden the second most prolific inventor
- Lynn heel contractor
- assigned 40 patents to McKay companies
Hadley Fairfield assigned 14 shoe patents to McKay firms
McKay machines did most tasks of the ten-footer
after channeling, McKay invested in machines that substituted for or were largely independent of its other machines
Goodyear focused on complementary machines
- system of welt-sewing machines
- additional machines for only minor set-up fees
Andrew Eppler developed turn- and welt-sewing machine with backing of several large Goodyear users
Copeland Rapid Laster the first integrated into bottoming system
Goodyear threatened to enforce patents against channeling, stitch-separating, and indenting machines
lasting the hardest bottoming step to mechanize
- variable material
- pull-and-twist motions
- analogy to cotton picking hand motions versus reaping arm motions
- still mostly by hand in 1890s
Goodyear took Copeland machine into its system
“Hand Method lasting machine”
Jan Matzeliger
- operated a McKay stitched in Lynn
- observed hand lasters
- applied as well to different weights, shapes, construction methods
- practical within a decade
- couldn’t develop, produce, market
Consolidated Hand-Method Lasting Machine Company
- practical McKay compatible machine by 1890
- Goodyear by 1897
- training school in Lynn
by 1900, practical pulling-over machine produced by USMC

15

Hand and Machine Labor
about 3/4 of labor time mechanized by 1898
hand operations came to be fined in relation to machine work
USMC justified its agency system on protection of small firms
Goodyear lasting machine was inferior to the hand method machine, but Goodyear could tie it to the use of its inseamers
USMC continue Goodyear practice of leasing whole lines
New England Association of Boot and Shoe Manufacturers negotiated, god USMC to allow leasing machines for just one department, but at a higher fee
USMC experimental division
pulling-over machine took $900,000 to develop
USMC diversified a lot by buying other companies
43 acquisitions 1899-1904, 16 through 1911
USMC machinery line marks completion of mechanization

Part IV

list of important inventors
list of important businesspeople
cooperation often came from inability to “appropriate the results of one’s own efforts”
Figure 16.2, Page 241, “Lines of Influence of Sewing and Shoe Inventions”