Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1870-01-11
How Shoe-Pegs are Made.

Is based IS not altogether satisfactory. A
sh"e-peg is little affair, but its invention
I was by no means an uuimportant evont. 1t
| worked perhaps as great revolution in q
most important branch of industry as was
ever effected by single device. Before its
introduction the soles of all boots and shoes
were attached to the uppers by sewing; now,
nearly ninety per cent. of all the boots and
shoes manufactured are pcgged.
1t has given birth also to numerous other
important inventions pegging avis of i'm,
! proved form, rasps for cutting off the parts of
the pegs inside tho boot, pegeiDg machines,
i which wilipeg on sole almost before one can
think about IT, machines for cutting, pelish-,
ing. and bleaching pegs, etc, etc.
IL is within the memory of the writer that
shoe.pegs were made by hand. The timber
from which they were made was sawed into
blocks the grain, of such thickness
as would, when the block was split into pegs,
make them of the right length Slabs, or
bolts, thin as the body of the pegs wanted,
were then split off by the use of long thin
knife and a hammer; the knife being used
like the instrument called ..fro,o" by coop>
ers aud shingle makers. The bolt or slab
was next bcvclcd on bath sides of one edge.
the slab thus prepared was next split into
pegs one by one.
! OF course such a rude method as this was
destined to be suppanted by far more rapid
and perfect one, and there is probably no. ar
ticle so we'll made and finished that is sold
cheaper than the modern shoe-peg.
1t is worthy of remark that the same prin-
cples are applied to their manufacture blythe
best modern machinery, as were adopted in
| the hand method.
The wood must he Of some hard, closes
grained variety which splits easily. Hard
maple and birch are the tavorie woods for
this purpose birch, however, is, We believe,
the shoe peg timber pnr erceHe"cr.
The wood is cut into lengths of about eight
feet, and is sold by the cord, at three or four
times the price of the same kinds of timber
cut into fre-wood. The logs are received ut
the factory in the green state, and are wOl ked
up as wautod
The first operation is reeling of the bark,
an adze being employed for this purpuse.-
The logs arc next sawed into blocks across
the grain. Il little thicker than the length of
u peg These blocks are placed on planning
machine and the side which is intended for
the heads of the pegs is planned smooth
The blocks are now ready to be grooved.
This is done very rapidly by a machine in
which n cutting tool reel ciprocates rapidly
across the face of the block, the block being
at proper Intervals OF time carried along by
feed rollers. After the blocks have been
groHved one way they are agan grooved at
right angles to the first grooves aud both
sets of grooves being V.shaped, the surfnce
Of the blocks, on one side now present reg
uIar succession OF quadrnngulnr pyramids,
which are the points of the yet embryo pegs.
The next operation is splitting, which is
done on machiues operating very rapidly and
with great precision. The splitting knives on
these machines Gre pivoted at one end, and
the other end is made to play rapidly up and
down, the motion being similar to that of a
shears blade FOR trimming sheet iron The
pivoed end may be raised or lowered so that
the knife may only enter the wood as far as
required the o. ject being not to split the
pegs entirely apart, but to have them hang
together at the heads. The blocks are fed
to the splitting knives by futed rollers, the
flutes of which fit the grooves in the blocks
made by the growing machines The blocks
are fed in with the planed side downward,
aud the splitting knife ut each stroke enters
the wood at the bottom of the V>shaped
grooves with great accuracy. Thus the split
ting is done from the points towards the heads
Of the pegs. When the block has passed
through the splitting machine once, it is
turned and fed through again at right angles
to the direction in which it was frst fed
through, aud after this operation the pegs are
very nearly split apart but they still hang
together Somewhat like bunch of split aci-
fer matches. The object of keeping them
thus together is to enable them to be fed to
the machines in a mass. After the second
feeding the block is f"rcibly thrown off the
table of the splitting machine on the floor.
and the pegs fall asunder The pegs at this
| stage are of different colors. somewhat rough
on their sides uuseasoned and dusty. They
are therefore dried in tumbler heated by
steam pipes. bleached with sulphur fumes till
they assume uniform white coCr, run
through tanning mill to free them from
! dust, aud finally packed for market.
! The extent of this manufacture is much
| greater than would seem possible to most
| people. 1t would seem at first, that if all tho
! people in the world were shoemakers they
must be overstocked with pegs. There are
numerous factories in the Eastern States turn
ing out from fifty to one hundred bushels and
upward of shoe per day, and still the
demand keeps up. Anything in universal
demand even if individually the demand is
small, must foot up large in the ngeresnte for
the civilized world. The New England
States manufacture the greater part of all the
shoe-peg used; Germany, we are Informed,
being one of the best customers.
Scientific american.
Cure FOR HEADAcHE.-Sulpburet of car
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