Timpson Processes of Shoe Making

promotional video by Timpson Fine Shoes showing the process of shoemaking at their Kettering and Corby factories in the mid-1960’s

• spin-around shot of a wood dress-shoe last with alpha hinge and receding chisel toe
• 1:37 shows two lasts for the same size foot of different toe styles

  • the style is obtained by making the toe longer, leaving the essential properties untouched

• designing on the last form
• cuts the pattern pieces off the last, darts them and flattens them
• 3:05 insole and shank placed on the bottom of the last
• 3:30 last set on heel to achieve toe spring
• 4:51 clicking room
  • brass binding on patterns
  • extension-style clicking knife
  • shows graded vamps
  • press knives
• 6:36 closing room
  • stamping lining with model, size, last numbers
  • stamp to mark lines in white ink
  • bell skiver
  • three main objects
    1. edges made attractive
    2. fancy designs like broguing
    3. pieces joined together
  • folded edges by hand and machine
  • cemented binding [perhaps French binding]
  • broguing by punch machine or press with die
  • fancy stitching
  • machine cross-stitching vamp plugs
  • eyelet machine
  • laced by machine
• 13:18 bottom stuff
  • sorting bends
  • cutting dies under press for heel lifts and soles
  • bellies for insoles
  • rubber soles cut from sheet with hydraulic press
  • insoles for molded shoes with forged knives from “man-made materials”
  • machine shaves down and marks thickness
  • sorting by grade
  • 15:29 specification card for a model of shoe
  • requirements sent to lasting room

Part 2

• 16:25 overview of men’s shoes made at North Park
  1. cemented
  2. welted
  3. molded/vulcanized

Cemented Shoe

• cutaway examples to show construction
• also diagram
• 17:43 cemented shoe line
• conveyor belt
• mold insole under press on wood form
• tack to last by machine
• stiffener insertion
• back forming machine
• toe puff through conditioning machine (looks like solvent-activated)
• toe and insole coated in cement stripes
• toe lasting machine
• 19:26 toe lasting machine
• 19:51 side lasting machine
• 20:08 seat lasting machine using tacks
• 20:47 cementing machine
• 21:10 rubber sole trimming
• 21:21 stack of a dozen soles have edges sprayed black in a booth
• heat-reactivation of cement
• 21:17 heel nailing machine
  • nailed from the inside
  • heel came as a unit with top lift on
  • trimmed
  • dyed by hand with brush
  • burnishing wheel with wax

Welted Shoe

23:25

• cut mode
• diagram
• temporary stapling to rib
• cork filler
• “indirect attachment”
• “this makes it easy to repair”
• 24:18 “FormuLast” conveyor system
• heat shaping of uppers
• 24:52 insole trimming
  • by machine
  • wooden guides placed below
  • machine’s knife runs around, guided by the wood shape
• rib cemented on
• 270°
• insole tacked on
• conveyor tunnel sprays with warm water
• upper tacked to back of last
• 26:50 toe lasting machine with temporary tacks
• pulls with Swedish-style lasting pliers before stapling waist to rib
• 27:21
• steamer to soften toe
• thread lasting toe lasting machine
• heels lasted with nails (not shown)
• track through heat setter
• “equivalent to four days on the last…in fifteen minutes”
• upper trimming
• 28:43 welting
• [shows insole: Texon 437]
• rib trimmed
• welt beaten out under tiny power hammer
• cork filling
• wood shanks
• “seat piece” riveted on
• mulling machine for outsoles
• “rough rounded”
• same machine cuts groove on bottom of outsole
• another machine cuts channel under flap
• fixture to open the channel
• apparently the same stitching machine for groove and hidden channel
• bottom roller
• heeling
  • nails driven in from the bottom by machine
  • upper still on the last
• edge trimming freehand on machine with three different cutters
• there is now a fabric cover over the upper
• freehand edge coloring with brush, very quick
  • heel stack then pressed onto the nails
• 32:49 automatic edge ironing machine
• bottom finish sprayed on by holding heel under fixed blind
• “shadow-sprayed sole” (sunburst)
• machine to assist delasting

Molded Shoe

35:02

• lasted to insole with tacks rather than cement
• wood seat filler
• on “steel foot” into mold
• uncured rubber in mold
• 150°C for 9 minutes
• vulcanized directly
• “completely waterproof”
• outsole “virtually finished” out of the mold
• “rubber spew”, “rubber flash” removed

Finishing

37:06

• “the shoe room”
• [men and women here]
• heel sock
• reforming machine to clip in backs of heels
• cleaning and dressing
• spray-on finish, dull or shiny
• “shadow sprayed”
• brogues have to be spray antiqued
• line finisher
• boxing
• “Hi-Style”
• railway container stacked very dense