[Illustration: Insole for Hand Sewed Shoe.]
Much of the style of a shoe depends upon the wooden last over which the upper is shaped before being attached to the sole. To find a substitute for the human hand in fitting the shoe to the last and pulling the leather over its delicate lines and curves seemed for a long time impossible.
This took place in the early seventies, when a machine was invented for doing this work. It created a great change in a department of shoemaking which, prior to this time, had been regarded as a confirmed hand process. This machine, as well as those which followed afterwards for a period of twenty years, was known as the best type of machine, by which the shoe upper was drawn over the last by either friction or pincers, and then tacked by use of a hand tool.
At a comparatively recent period another machine which revolutionized all previous ideas in lasting was introduced. This machine is generally in use at the present time, and is known as the “consolidated hand method lasting machine.” It was fitted with pincers, which automatically drew the leather round the last, at the same time driving a tack which held it in place. This machine has been so developed that it is now used for the lasting of shoes of every type, from the lowest and cheapest to the highest grade, and it is a machine that shows wonderful mechanical ingenuity.
The perfection of the lasting machine has been followed recently by the introduction of a machine which performs in a satisfactory way the difficult process known as “pulling over,” which consists of accurately centering the shoe upper on the last and securing it temporarily in position for the work of lasting. The new machine, which is known as the “hand-method pulling over machine,” is provided with pincers, which close automatically, gripping the shoe upper at sides and toe. It is fitted with adjustments by which the operator is enabled to quickly center the shoe upper on the last, and, on pressure of a foot lever, the machine automatically draws the upper closely to the last and secures it in position by tacks, which are also driven by the machine. The introduction of this machine marked a radical change in the one important shoemaking process that had up to this time successfully withstood all attempts at mechanical improvement.