Glove making is almost a century old in this country, having been
begun in the neighborhood of Gloversville and Johnstown, N.Y., about
1803. Until 1862 the manufacture of gloves in Fulton County, although
even then the chief manufacturing industry, was of comparatively small
importance. Gloversville and Johnstown were then quiet villages of
from three to four thousand people. The flourishing establishments of
to-day, or such of them as then existed, were small and comparatively
unimportant. In 1862 the stimulating influence of a high protective
tariff showed itself in the increased business at Gloversville,
Johnstown, and the adjoining hamlet, Kingsboro. These became at once
the leading sources of supply for the home market gloves of a medium
grade. The quality of the product has steadily improved, and the
variety has been increased, until now American-made gloves are
steadily driving out the foreign gloves. The skill of American glovers
is equal to that of foreign glove makers, and in some respects--notably
in the quality of the stitching, and, in some grades, the shape--the
American gloves are the best. Foreign expert workmen have been drawn
over here from the great glove centers of Europe, so that the greatest
skill has been secured here. The annual value of the glove industry in
Fulton County has reached about $7,000,000.
One hundred and seventy-five glove makers and 20,000 people in Fulton
County draw their subsistence directly from glove making. Some of the
firms have a business reaching from $100,000 to $500,000 yearly. The
majority, however, have small shops, and do a small but profitable
business. Most of the work in Fulton County, as abroad, is done at the
homes of the workers. The streets of Gloversville and Johnstown are
lined with pretty and tasteful homes, in which the hum of the sewing
machine is constantly heard during the working hours of the day, but
the workers are exceptionally fortunate in being able while earning
good wages to enjoy all the comforts and surroundings of home, and in
being practically their own masters and mistresses.
Before the leather can be cut and sewed into the handsome articles
that are sold over the counters of the retail dry goods houses and
furnishing goods stores as gloves, the skins from which they are made
must be specially prepared. The two important points in this
preparation are the removal of the albuminous portion of the skin and
the retention and chemical changing of the gelatinous part, so that
it shall become pliable, elastic, and resist decomposition.
There are various methods which produce these results, and they are
technically known as tanning, alum dressing, oil dressing, and Indian
dressing. Each method produces a leather distinctly different from
that produced by any other. All the preliminary processes of these
various methods are alike in principle, although they vary somewhat in
detail. The object in all is to remove the hair from the hide,
separate the fleshy and albuminous matter, and leave only the
gelatinous, which alone is susceptible to the chemical action and can
be transformed by it into leather.
When the skins are received in the factory they are thoroughly soaked
to open out the texture and prepare them for the removal of the hair.
Then the skins are placed in vats of lime water, where, for two or
three weeks, the lime works into the flesh and albuminous matter, and
loosens the hair. The skins having thus been properly softened, the
dirty but picturesque operation of beaming for removing the hair
ensues. Before each beamer, as the workman is called, is an inclined
semi-cylindrical slab of wood covered with zinc. The skin is first
spread upon this, and the broad, curved beam of the knife glides
across it from end to end, scraping and removing all the loosened
hair, the scarf skin, and the small portion of animal matter adhering
to the skin.
After the unhairing, kid skins must be fermented in a drench of bran,
whose purpose is to completely decompose the remaining albuminous
matter, and also to remove all traces of the lime. The operation is
extremely delicate. While the gelatine is not so sensitive to the
decomposing action of the ferment, nevertheless great care is required
to prevent overfermentation and resulting damage to the texture of the
skin. It is impossible for even the most experienced to tell just how
long the fermentation should continue. Sometimes the work is done in
two or three hours, and sometimes it requires as many days. Incessant
watchfulness both day and night is required to detect the critical
moment. With the less delicate skins this bran bath is not necessary.
Lime and acid solutions accomplish the same purpose. When the gelatine
matter is all removed the skins are ready for the actual curative
process.
Oil dressing or Indian dressing--which merely differ in application,
but are founded upon the same principle--is the most simple method of
curing skins. The principle of each is the soaking of the gelatine
fibers of the skin with oil, the union of the latter and the gelatine
appearing in the form of oxide, and resulting in the insoluble,
undecomposable, pliant, and tough material known to the commercial
world as leather. The first step in the oil dressing, after the skins
have been duly soaked to render them porous and absorptive, is to
cover them with fish oil and place them in the stocks or fulling
machines--huge wooden hammers with notched faces working in iron
cases--where they are beaten and turned, and subjected to a uniform
pressure until the oil is gradually absorbed. After taking them out,
hanging them up, and stretching them, the oil and fulling process is
repeated according to the thickness of the skin, and until every part
of it is full of oil. After this the skins are dried in a mild heat
that causes the oxidization of the oil. This being completed, all the
superfluous oil is removed by putting the skins in an alkali bath.
Then the curing process is complete.
With the preparation of kid leather alum is the astringent curative
agent. Its operation is accompanied by that of others whose purpose is
to secure elasticity and pliability, and mainly to preserve that
beautiful texture which makes kid leather superior to all others.
These assistants in the process are eggs, flour, and salt. They are
combined into what is called a custard. A proper quantity of the
custard and a number of skins having been put together in a dash
wheel, where they are thrown about for some time, the open pores of
the skin absorb the custard freely, and become swelled by the chemical
union of the custard and the skin. In trade parlance this swelling is
known as "plumping." This having progressed satisfactorily, the skins
are folded together with the fleshy side outward, and are dried by a
gentle heat.
They are now cured, but they are yet hard and rough. Another
objectionable feature is that they are of unequal thickness. Breaking
and staking, as they are called, are now resorted to, to make the
skins soft, pliable, and of even texture, removing the superfluous
chemicals with which they become charged, and the stiffness by
manipulating the fibers. Much trained skill and dexterity, especially
in knee and arm staking, are required in the stretching, which is the
essential feature of these operations. Breaking is first resorted to.
The break beam, which is armed at each end with a knife edge,
oscillates up and down. In a frame beneath it the operator stretches
the dried and stiff skin. The break beam comes down upon the skin,
stretches and softens it, and removes much surplus custard. The
operator presents a new surface to each stroke of the break beam, and
in a very short space of time the entire skin is rendered soft and
pliable.
Further manipulation upon the arm or knee stake--of which a dull,
semicircular knife blade, supported upon a suitable standard upon the
floor or upon a beam about opposite the worker's elbow is the main
feature--is required. The skin must be drawn across this knife blade
with a considerable application of force so as to reduce the unduly
thick parts, stretch the skin and secure a uniform thickness suitable
for gloves. Much dexterity, especially in the case of fine skins, is
required in this operation to avoid cutting or tearing. The operator
places the fleshy side of the skin over the knife, grasps the two ends
of the skin, and placing his knee upon it and slowly drawing the skin
across the knife edge, he brings his weight to bear upon it. If the
operator is skilled and experienced the skin yields quickly, when
needed, to the strain applied and a uniform texture is secured. The
operation of transforming the skin into leather is now finished, but
age is necessary to secure perfect pliability and softness. The skins
are, therefore, laid away to let the slow chemical operation going on
within them be completed.
The visitor can now watch the further processes of manufacture by
visiting the dye rooms. Skins which have already been aged are
immersed in dye vats, where the delicate colors are imparted to them.
The same care is not required in obtaining the ordinary range of dark
colors, for these are "brushed" on, the skin being spread upon a glass
slab and the dye being painted on with a brush. After they are dyed
the skins are sometimes somewhat hard, and in some classes have to be
staked again in order to restore their pliability. The finishing
touches to a kid skin are secured by rubbing the grain side over with
a size, which imparts a gloss. The experience of Gloversville
manufacturers with "buck" gloves has enabled them to impart a special
finish to a skin which is very popular under the title of "Mocha."
This is the same as suede finish, which is produced in other countries
by shaving off the grain side of the skin at an early stage of its
progress. The Gloversville method is much better, however, and has
more perfect results. Here the grain is removed, and the velvet finish
secured by buffing the surface on an emery wheel. The surface of the
leather is cut away in minute particles by this process, and the
result is an exceedingly even and velvety texture, superior to that
obtained by other methods. European manufacturers do not approach the
Americans in this respect.
The leathermaker leaves off and the glovemaker begins.
A marble slab lies before the cutter on a table, and every particle of
dirt or other inequality is removed before "doling." The skin is
spread, flesh side up, upon the slab, and the cutter goes over it with
a broad bladed chisel or knife, shaving down inequalities and removing
all the porous portions. The dexterity with which this is done makes
the operation appear extremely simple, but any but a skilled and
experienced operative would almost surely cut through the skin. The
most delicate part of the glovemaker's art, in which exact judgment is
required, comes in preparing the "tranks" or slips, from which the
separate gloves are cut. The trank must be so cut as to have just
enough leather to make a glove of a certain size and number. The
operation would be easy enough if the material were hard and stiff,
and if the elasticity were uniform, but this is rarely the case.
To accomplish this operation the trank must be firmly stretched in one
direction, and while so stretched a "redell" stamps the proper
dimensions in the other direction, to which the leather is trimmed.
Upon the nicety with which this operation is performed depends the
question of whether the finished glove will stretch evenly or too much
or too little in one direction or the other. After this the trank or
outline of the glove must be cut out. In olden times of glove
manufacture an outline was traced upon the leather and the pattern was
cut with shears. Modern invention has produced dies and presses which
are universally used. The steel die has the outline of a double glove,
including the opening for the thumb piece. The die rests upon the bed
of the press. Several tranks are laid upon it, the lever is drawn, and
in a moment the blanks are cut out clean and smooth. The gussets,
facings, etc., are cut from the waste leather in the thumb opening at
the same operation. Similar dies are used in the cutting of the thumb
pieces and fourchettes or strips forming the sides of the fingers.
The pieces now go to the great sewing rooms of the factory, where are
long rows of busy sewing girls. If the manufacturer of years ago
could revisit the scenes of his earthly toil, and wander through the
sewing rooms of a modern factory, he would doubtless be greatly amazed
at the sight presented there. In his day such a thing was unknown. The
glove was then held in position by a hand clamp, while the sewing girl
pushed the needle in and out, making an overseam. All this is done now
in an infinitely more rapid manner by machine, and with resulting
seams that are more regular and strong than those made by the hand
sewer. The overseam sewers earn large wages, and their places are much
coveted. Overlapping seams are produced on the pique machine, which is
a most ingenious mechanism. The essential feature of this machine is a
long steel finger with a shuttle and bobbin working within, and the
finger of the glove is drawn upon this steel finger, permitting the
seam to be sewn through and through. The visitor to the factory can
see also the minor operations of embroidering, lining--in finished
gloves--sewing the facing, sewing the buttonholes, putting on the
buttons, and trimming with various kinds of thread. Before the gloves
are ready for the boxes one more operation remains. The gloves are
somewhat unsightly as they come from the sewers' hands, and must be
made trim and neat. To secure these desirable results the gloves are
taken to the "laying-off" room.
In this are long tables with a long row of brass hands projecting at
an acute angle. These are filled with steam and are too hot to touch.
These steam tables by ingenious devices are so arranged that it is
impossible to burn the glove or stiffen the leather by too much heat,
a common defect in ordinary methods. The operation of the "laying-off"
room is finished with surprising quickness. Before each table stands
an operator, who slips a glove over each frame, draws it down to
shape, and after a moment's exposure to the warmth removes it, smooth,
shapely, and ready for the box. The frames upon which the gloves are
drawn are long and narrow for fine gloves and short and stubby for
common ones. Then the glove is taken to the stock room, where there
are endless shelves and bins to testify to the chief drawback to glove
making, the necessity for innumerable patterns.--_The Mercer._
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