The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

A SHOEMAKER'S' SEWING MACHINE.

The Engineer contains a description of a shoemaker:.
sewing machine, which has recently been perfected'
Exactly ten years since, it says, a Mr. Lyman Blake
patented in England an improvement on the American
Wickersham sewing machine, the object being to enable
it to sew on the soles of boots. Tne rigidity cf the boot,
as there was no welt to connect the upper with the Ole'
made the system a most inconvenient one. There wee
also a difficulty with regard to repairs ; and the mwobin,,Ae
could not be profitably used for " children's" work. The
projection of the stitching on the inner sole was t.
reverse of comfortable in walking, and although it IT':
endeavoured to remove this objection by the insertion
of a sole or sock, it proved to be only a temporal
expedient. The sole soon became uncomfortable to the
foot, and had to be drawn out, leaving the sewill%
to g,,t destroyed by the moisture of the foot, whe°
riveting or pegging had to be resorted to to patch it
°
These considerations occupied the careful attention
Messrs. John Keats, William Keats, and William
Clark, the inventors of the Crispin sewing machine an
system of boot manufacture. The object was, in the o_,
place, to secure with two threads, capable of being nee'
when waxed with shoemakers' wax, seams which could,n°t
be made sufficiently solid by the ordinary sewing machin'
which does not admit of the use of shoemakers' wax. ill
the second place, they desired to manufacture bymachined
welt-sewn boots which should be equal in quality to thet
very best hand-sewn boots, and at a price approaching the'
of riveted boots. The first patents were taken by John lefetja
and William S. Clark for the Crispin sewing machine, on
by William Keats and John Keats for their improved
system of boot construction. The chief characteristic °
the Crispin sewing machine is the combination of a 11°°:ifA
"
and a shuttle instead of a needle and shuttle, and the
advantages of this arrangement are twofold. First, the
thread, not having to pass through an eye, can be
thoroughly saturated with the wax, which is neither
squeezed out nor scraped off by the eye ; and, secondlY,
the hook in descending has no thread in it while piercing the
leather, the hole made is no larger than the size of the
hook, and a thicker thread can be used, so as to fill the
hole with thread and wax. The shuttle and hook beili;,
both situated above the table on which the work is placed'
the stitch is formed on the upper surface of the work, ei
that the operation can alwaysbe seen. The stitch produce,
is a twisted lock-Stitch, which makes the firmest sewer
known. The machine is arranged to be driven II
power, and a stop motion is applied by means of a fe°,,
lever, which stops the motion of the machine instant
„AA
in any part of the stich, leaving the operator both 11.:The
at liberty with which to manipulate the work. .I'.
Crispin sewing machine was first used for the clan);
of heavy uppers, and from that time until the
present this work has been carried on with coMtmPleo
success, a large trade having been developed in co
direction. After satisfactorily testing the Criefl3
machine at this work for three years, during 11111-0
time some hundreds of thousands of seams have b
closed, it was decided to adapt this machine to the O
facture of boots having welts to connect the uppers ands`
together, according to the system before alluded toss hnrnii
been patented by Messrs. W. and J. Keats, of the Lon 't,
Mills, Leek, Staffordshire. In carrying this °i/i„t
improvements and special arrangements were devised "a
which patents were obtained by Mr. Thomas Grew:Li/gr.
(of the firm of Greenwood and Batley, of Leeds), and
William Keats, Mr. Greenwood, and Mr. John ICeatih

Sir Robert Clifton, M.P., is reported to be raPicilg

sinking.
The plasterer's strike at Manchester still COil.

tinues.
A Catholic journal has suggested that the reignig,
Pontiff should in future be written and spoken of to l'ailigi
the Great, in the same way as the first Leo and the al."
first Gregory. The Talkt approves of this proposal-
Sir Frederick lieygate will move, on the 0/101
OP
for third reading of the Irish Church Bill, "That, as tb:
Bill for the disestabiishment and disendownient of the DIE
7, Church amounts to a fundamental change in the Constit
tion of Ireland, it ought, in justice to all rarties concerrie
ledge
to be accompanied by a declaration of the principle, at
, f any other remedial measures in contemplation 11 to
Government."
The Sheffield betting men baying been Bowed
heavily for permitting and facilitating betting in theirthei
spective private premises, they have now formed what 110
call an " Exchange Club and Newsroom." The ellibtaisl
been established in conscquencce of the recent nlagm!at
decisions against betting, and the place is being tqoal.o
fitted up. , 4ou li the club is not yet sip,mods
at