There can be no doubt that nature intended mankind to walk in his
bare feet, and in that event the phalanges of the foot would occupy a
much more important part than is now the case as a result of modern
civilization. There are nineteen bones in the foot, and the disturbance
of one or more of these will serve to upset the entire foot by throwing
out of relationship the general unit of work devolving upon the whole
number of joints and bones. Each joint has its accompaniment of muscles,
and each lack of alignment of bones and joints provokes discord and lack
of harmony in the muscular action.
Muscles are attached to bones, and by their contraction or extension the
bones are moved. Very few movements are effected by means of a single
muscle. The muscles of the foot in nearly all cases are in combination,
and are so complex in their action that the best surgeons find it
difficult to describe them satisfactorily.
The chief characteristics of the foot are its spring and elasticity.
While the foot has wonderful powers of resistance and adaptability, it
is the shoemaker’s duty not to strain the same, but to provide for each
action.
The most sensitive part or the one part that is most susceptible of
injury is the big toe. This is due to the fact that the tendency of
the foot in walking is to travel toward the toe of the boot, and in a
word to press into rather than shun danger. The shoemaker provides for
this, first, by allowing sufficient length of sole to extend beyond the
termination of the toe, and second, by the fit of the upper and the
preparation of the sole. In this way, if the toe of the shoe strikes
against a hard substance, the big toe of the foot will remain untouched.
Seventy-five per cent of the people have more or less trouble with their
feet. Some of these troubles are caused by the manufacturer putting on
the market shoes whose lines look handsome and attractive to the eye,
but are lacking in any other good features. Shoes that fit properly
should have plenty of room from the large toe joint to the end of the
toes, and also should have plenty of tread, especially at this point.
A mere glance at our bare foot will show conclusively that pointed-toe
boots are false in the theory of design. The toes of a foot when off
duty touch each other gently. When they are called on to assist us in
walking or in supporting our body, they spread out--although not to any
great extent. This, then, being the action, no sensible maker of boots
and shoes would attempt to restrain them. Box or puff-toe shoes allow the
greatest freedom.
The pointed-toe shoes, which join the vamp to the upper immediately over
the big toe joint, exceedingly high heels, and thick waist shoes are not
for the best interests of the foot.
The evils of ill-fitting shoes are corns, bunions, and calluses.
Corns are mainly due to pressure and friction. When the layers of skin
become hardened, they form a corn, which is merely a growth of dead
skin that has become hard in the center. This hardened spot acts like a
foreign body to the inflamed parts.
A hard corn is formed more by friction than pressure. It is produced by
the constant rubbing of a tight or small shoe against the projecting
parts of some prominent bony part, as the last joints on the third,
fourth, and little toe. When this action continues, it produces
inflammation. Rest--as relieving the feet of the friction--decreases
this inflammation, leaving a layer of hardened flesh. Renewed action
reproduces the same effects, leaving behind a second layer of hardened
flesh. This continued action and reaction brings on a callus, rising
above the surface of the skin. This increases from its base. An ordinary
hard corn may be removed by scraping up the callous skin around its
border, and prying out carefully with a knife. Soft corns are chiefly
the result of pressure or friction. These corns are soft and spongy
elevations on the parts of the skin subjected to pressure. Soft corns are
mostly found on the inner side of the smaller toes. Those on the surface
of joints by mechanical action will become hard.
The blood corn is excessively painful. It is the result of an ordinary
corn forcibly displacing the blood vessels surrounding it, and causing
them to rest upon its surface.
The bunion is an inflammatory swelling generally to be found on the big
toe joint. The chief cause of bunions is known to be the wearing of boots
or shoes of insufficient length. The foot, meeting with resistance in
front and behind, is robbed of its natural actions, the result being
that the big toe is forced upward, and subjected to continuous friction
and pressure. The wearing of narrow-toe boots that prevent the outward
expansion of the toe is another cause.
The comparisons of quantities are often called ratios. The ratios of the
different parts of the foot to the height are different in the infant
from that of the adult period. Between these two periods the ratios are
constantly changing.
There are two series of shoe sizes on the market; the smallest size of
shoe for infants (size No. 1) is, or was originally, four inches long;
each added full size indicates an increase in length of one third of an
inch (sizes 1 to 5). Children’s sizes run in two series, 5 to 8, and 8
to 11; then they branch out into youths’ and misses’; both running 11½,
12, 12½, 13, 13½ and back again to 1, 1½, 2, etc., in a series of sizes
that run up into men’s and women’s. Boys’ shoes run from 2½ to 5½; men’s
from 6 to 11 in regular runs. Larger sizes usually are made upon special
orders. Some few manufacturers go to 12. Women’s sizes run from 2½ to 9.
Some manufacturers do not go above size 8. The rate of sizes is sometimes
varied from by manufacturers of special lines of shoes. A man’s No. 8
shoe would be nearly eleven inches long. These measurements originated in
England and are not now absolute.
A system of French sizes is used which consists of a cipher system of
markings to indicate the sizes as well as widths so that the real size
may not be known to the customer.
All feet are not alike in structure and shape. In infancy the foot is
broad at the toes, which press forward in the direction of their length.
The heel is small in comparison to the width of the toes, and also short
in length, due to the undeveloped bones. But during growth, the thickness
above the heel bones disappears, and the heel itself becomes thicker and
assumes the beauty of perfection at maturity. This development is due
to the growth of bones which must be well exercised and properly cared
for during this period. The various parts of the feet and legs do not
mature at the same rate--those at the upper part of the body increase at
a greater rate than the lower parts. Thighs develop first, next the upper
part of the legs, and lastly the feet.
The adult foot, when properly formed, is straight from heel to toe on the
inner side, and is wider across the joints than one inch or so farther
back. The manner of walking has a considerable bearing on the character
and development of the foot.
There are many sorts of feet, which are due to a number of causes, such
as habits, climate, occupation, locality, etc. As a general rule we may
divide the feet into four classes: Bony feet--those with very little
flesh upon them; hard feet--those that have plenty of flesh, but which
are almost as hard as a stone; fat feet--plump, with plenty of flesh, but
having little shape; spongy feet--those that seem to have no bones in
them, usually found in the female sex.
The characteristics of a foot are common with the body to which it is
connected. Some people have a strong, bony frame, with strong, firm
muscles, prominent bones and muscles, and a flesh that is hard. The
feet of this type of person are usually long, bony, and arched, with
a well-developed big toe joint. The heel measurements are large in
proportion. A soft foot is prevalent among the Scotch. The feet of a
person who is delicately shaped, with a small frame and thin, small,
tapering muscles, are usually thin and finely formed, giving evidence of
quickness. This kind of a foot in a man has a tendency to develop a flat
foot.
A person with a form inclined to plumpness, full of exercise and
activity, and a good circulation, has a well-developed foot. The heel
is round and fairly prominent, although there are no special bony
prominences. On the other hand a person with a body of general roundness,
but with tissues and muscles flabby, and a languid blood circulation, has
feet that are short, soft, and flabby.
We will allow that these four different kinds of feet all measure a 4
size and D in width. One would naturally think that the same size shoe
would fit them all, but this is not so. This size shoe will only fit one
and that is the bony foot. The hard feet require a C½ width; the fat feet
require a C width, and the sponge feet require a B width.
The same last may, and often will possess a slight variation in some
manner or other. The fitter of feet must know the stock, each pair, and
be on intimate terms with the peculiarities of each last and the inside
lines of each pair of shoes before attempting to try them upon the feet
of the customer.
Different makes of footwear are apt to be manufactured over a slightly
varying system of measurements. One line of shoes made over a small
measure may be longer or shorter or narrower or wider than some other
line. The heel measurements require careful study for each line
introduced. The peculiarities of each line must be tested by tape and
measure, and the foot fitter must have a strong knowledge along these
lines.
We should measure the foot by the stick if necessary, and make a note
of the size and width that will be likely to prove a fit. The height of
the arch must be considered, and the shape of arch curve, the shape of
the instep, and the general contour of the foot. A normal foot will show
about a half-inch arch. The average foot will carry from an inch to an
inch and a quarter heel, without putting a strain on any of the joints of
the foot. Some feet vary from this by a wide margin. A foot is a trifle
longer in walking than in repose. Allowance should be made, in using the
measuring stick, over what the foot actually draws on the stick. In men’s
shoes the allowance, should be from two to two and one half sizes.
When a one-legged man buys a shoe, the dealer sends to the factory a shoe
to match the one left remaining. In these days of the use of machinery
in every process of their manufacture, shoes are made with the utmost
exactness and precision, and it is easily possible to mate that remaining
shoe with the greatest nicety in size, style, material, and finish.
Few people have feet exactly alike; commonly the left foot is larger than
the right, so that one shoe may fit a little more snugly than the other.
Commonly, however, people buy shoes in regularly matched pairs, the
difference in their feet, if it is noticeable to them at all, not being
enough to make any other course desirable.
But there are people who buy shoes of different sizes or widths, in
which case the dealer breaks two pairs for them, giving them, to fit
their feet, one shoe from each. In such cases the dealer matches up the
two remaining shoes, one from each of two pairs just as he would where he
had broken one pair to sell one shoe to a one-legged man.
But a man does not have to be one-legged nor to have feet of uneven
sizes or shapes to make him ask the dealer to break a pair of shoes for
him. A man with two perfectly good feet came into the store where he was
accustomed to buy and wanted one shoe. While traveling in a sleeping car,
his shoes had been mixed up with others and he had received back one of
his own and one of some other man’s; a fact which he had not discovered
until he was too far away from train and station to set things right. So
he came in to buy one shoe to match his own.
CHAPTER FIVE
HOW SHOE STYLES ARE MADE
If you examine the shoes worn by people in a large city, you will notice
different styles. Shoe styles that were called grotesque a few seasons
ago are comparatively usual to-day, for the new designs in women’s
footwear, which manufacturers are now making, are the most varied that
ever have been put on the market. Pink and green and blue are among the
new colors in materials for footwear.
Some of the styles for the coming seasons are more lavish than have
hitherto been seen in the women’s shoe trade of America. Coronation
purple velvet boots look like an extravagant color for footwear, but they
are now selling. Samples of pink, green, and blue shoes, both boots and
pumps, are being made up, and they will soon be offered to buyers.
The style of the shoe is dominated by fashion. All styles are related,
that is, every part of our dress is influenced by the prevailing fashion,
ideas of color, fabric, or garment outline. To illustrate: when short
skirts are stylish, women wear mannish shoes to harmonize with them; on
the other hand, with long skirts they must have a shoe that is neat and
small, hence, the short vamp. When women wear white in the summer, cool
canvas shoes spring into favor; when gray and blue dress materials are to
be used, a variety of tan shoes are worn to harmonize, etc.
After the style has been decided upon, it is necessary to work out an
exact reproduction. An expert model maker, called a last maker, produces
a last, a wooden model of the shoe. In order to do this, it is necessary
to lay out certain plans or specifications for the details of the
manufacturer of the shoe.
There are certain parts of all feet that have fixed measurements. To
illustrate: the length of the shank, that part of the sole of the foot
between the heel and ball, in every person’s foot is always the same. The
part of the foot back of the ball or large toe joint conforms to certain
fixed measurements. These definite measurements form a basis by which the
last maker originates new styles by shortening, lengthening, widening, or
narrowing the space in front of the toes, but always retaining the true
and fixed measurements of the back part of the last.
When the last maker desires to produce a new style, he takes an old last
and tacking pieces of leather on some parts of it (front of the toes), he
builds it up and cuts off other parts. This patched-up last is taken to a
special machine (lathe), where a number of duplicates are turned from a
block of wood.
The “pattern maker” is the man in the factory who makes patterns,
consisting of heavy pieces of cardboard bound with brass, in the shapes
of the various pieces of leather required to make up the upper part of
the shoe.
The pattern maker has found by experience that the top part of the shoe
also conforms to certain fixed measurements, and by working in sympathy
with the last maker he need only to change the front part of the vamp to
bring out the latter’s ideas. With these measurements as a foundation, he
puts forth from time to time different style uppers, as buttons, lace,
blucher, fixings, scrolls, straps, ties, pumps, etc. This is the way new
style tops originate.
After the manufacturer has approved of sample patterns, the pattern
maker receives an order for a certain quantity of patterns to be made
over a certain last which is submitted to him. Working on the fixed top
measurements and the last submitted as a basis, the pattern maker draws
plans for a model pattern. The standard size of a model pattern is size
7 in men’s shoes and size 4 in women’s. He is also given an order for a
certain number of widths; for instance, B, C, D, and E, and he draws out
on paper a complete set for each width in the size 7. These four sets of
model patterns are reproduced and cut out in sheet iron by hand. But from
these sheets any number of iron models, and any size regular cardboard
pattern can be reproduced by a machine.
Wood to be made into lasts comes to the shoe manufacturers in a rough,
unchiseled form. The lasts are made of maple wood; hollow forms used by
traveling salesmen and window trimmers are made of bass wood.
The making of the model of the last is the most exacting operation in the
factory. It is produced by a machine most important. The principle of
this machine has been brought about by the pantograph; that is, it will
turn from a rough block of wood an exact copy of the model last; or it
will enlarge or reduce a duplicate of any other size or width, so, from a
single model last, such as the manufacturer has decided on, any number of
lasts can be made, and of any size or width. The machine itself consists
of two lathes. On one is placed the model and on the other the block of
wood. The model is held against a wheel by a spring. By adjusting this
wheel, any desired width last can be obtained, and by adjusting a bar in
front of the machine any length last can be produced from the block of
wood.
[Illustration: Rough Unchiseled Block of Maple.
A Last after leaving Turning Lathe.
A Finished Last.]
The lathe, when in motion, revolves both the last and the model, the
model being pressed against the wheel, which is really a guide for the
revolving knife that digs into the block of wood, and regulates the depth
that the knife is allowed to cut. In this manner the model is reproduced
from the block which is also regulated as to size and width by the wheel
and by the bar. This machine is so accurate that a tack driven into the
model to locate the center of the last is reproduced by a sort of a
wooden pimple in the block of wood when finished. The model sole pattern
is now tried on the half-finished last to insure accuracy.
Notice in the figures of lasts that the turning lathe has left stubs of
wood on the toes and heels. These must be finished to a “templet.” The
templet is a measure or guide used to indicate the shape any piece of
work is to assume when finished. From the heel and toe of the model, a
piece of iron is shaped on an exact arc of that model, and is used on
the heeler machine as a guide to form an exact copy of the heels and
toes of the model. This machine works very rapidly, and by the aid of
an irregular shaped, revolving knife it quickly transforms the toes and
heels to the desired shape. The bottoms are again tried out on a sole
pattern and the last number, the size and the width are stamped on.
We now have the last as a solid piece of maple wood and turned to the
desired shape, size and width. Were it possible to insert and extract
the last in this form from the half-finished shoe, no other steps
would be necessary in last manufacture, but inasmuch as the leather is
stretched very tightly over this last a little later, it necessitates the
introduction of some method that will facilitate a quick removal of the
last from the shoe. This is accomplished by cutting it in two parts and
making a hinged heel. The fact that the slightest measurement changes
the size of the shoe, necessitates great care in the introduction of
the hinge as a part of the last, and in order to insure accuracy and
uniformity in all the lasts, they are marked with templets and gigs. The
hinge must be placed inside of the last.
The finished last is so constructed that it can be readily inserted or
withdrawn from the shoe, and the strong hinge provides the last, when
inserted, with the same rigid qualities as though it were one piece. The
center of the last is indicated, as before stated, by a reproduction in
the side of the last of the tack that was placed in the model. This is
the mark that locates the position of all the holes, and it is done by a
“gig” in the following manner:--
A gig is a piece of steel having cylinders that guide the bit of the
boring machine in an exact perpendicular line. This gig, being placed
on the last in the position marked by the turning machine, forms the
accurate location of the bolt holes that hold the hinge.
After the hinge is placed in the last, it goes to the ironers to have
the bottom put on it, if it is a McKay last, and a heel plate if it is a
welt. The bottom is again tried and the plate filled up to the same. The
last is then ready to go to the scouring room. In this room the last goes
through three operations, first of which is ruffing. This consists of
scouring with a coarse grade of quartz. This operation must be carried on
so that the sole lines and insteps are not brought into contact with the
quartz.
The second operation, medium grinding, is done with a fine grade of
quartz, and in this operation, also, the worker keeps away from the toe.
The third operation is done with a much finer-grade quartz, the operator
going over the entire last. The last is now ready for polishing, and
after that, for a heavy coat of shellac. It is polished and waxed on a
leather wheel. Then it goes into the shipping room ready for shipment to
the manufacturer.
CHAPTER SIX
DEPARTMENTS OF A SHOE FACTORY--GOODYEAR WELT SHOES
The principal methods of manufacturing shoes are the following:--
Goodyear welt; McKay; turned; standard screw; pegged; nailed.
The simplest and the clearest way of showing how the various kinds of
shoes are made is to explain the manufacture of a Goodyear welt and
afterwards bring out the points in which this method of shoemaking
differs from the others.
Shoes are manufactured in up-to-date factories, employing hundreds of
operatives. The modern shoe factory of to-day is divided into six general
departments: the sole leather department, upper leather department,
stitching department, making department, finishing department, and the
treeing, packing, and shipping departments.
In some sections of the country, several of these departments are often
designated by other names. The stitching department is often called the
fitting department; the making department, the bottoming department;
and the sole leather department, the stock-fitting department. The
departments are popularly termed rooms for brevity.
A shoe factory is designed so as to have a width of about fifty feet
for each room, while the length is according to the number of shoes to
be produced. A width of about fifty feet gives plenty of daylight and
ample room in the center of each department, which is very essential in
shoemaking.
[Illustration: A Modern Shoe Factory.]
Shoe factories are usually about two hundred feet long, while many are
nearly four hundred feet. A few exceed four hundred feet, running as long
as eight hundred feet. Some are built in the shape of hollow squares,
while others have wings added, which give almost as much floor space as
the original building.
The average factory has usually four floors. The first floor, or
basement, is occupied by the sole leather department. The next floor
above includes the treeing, finishing, packing, and shipping departments,
and also the office. The third floor is devoted entirely to the making or
bottoming department. The top floor is divided so that the cutting and
stitching departments have each half a floor.
There are several exceedingly large factories in this country that find
it advantageous to divide the factory into more departments, as, for
example, the cutting room is divided so that the linings and trimmings
are cut in a separate department. The skiving may also be done in a
separate room. The making room will be divided so that the lasting is set
off as a separate department on account of the many workmen and machines
employed. In the same way there will be a division of work so that the
packing and shipping will be set apart from the treeing. Then, again, in
the sole leather room, the making of heels as well as the fitting of the
bottom stock may become independent departments.
The system of making women’s shoes is practically the same as that of
men’s except that in a great many factories the method of preparing the
bottom stock is somewhat different. Most manufacturers of women’s shoes
do not cut sole leather, but buy outsoles, insoles, counters, and heels,
all cut or prepared. These soles are in blocked form and large enough so
that they can be cut or rounded by the manufacturers to fit their lasts.
The counters, when bought, are all ready to put in the uppers, while the
heels are ready to put on the shoes. Whenever a manufacturer of women’s
shoes cuts his sole leather, he has the same system as that in the men’s
factories.