Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-08-31
THE SHOE WOULD NEVER Do.
So Practical Men Told the Inventor of
Sewing Machine.

So Practical Men Told the Inventor of a
Sewing Machine.
Shoe and Leather Reporter.
Gordon Mckay, with whom the man
ufaccurers were once better acquainted
than now, was recently honored with
the degree Of Master of Aras by Harvard
College.
When Mr. Mckay sought to bring his
sewing machine into use, ne was told
by all practical shOemallerse that The
thread must fiC the hole" This was at
once seen TO be impossible, for in this
machine the needle must draw the thread
through the hole, and when the needle
was no longer in The hole, of course
the thread could nos fiji il. 1t was then
that Mr.. Mckay said: If it is true the
Jhread mus, fill then the machine
(Which was .Aen d finished invenucn) Il
so much scrap.
1t was here that r. II. Mathies again
showed that wonderful qu-ckness OF
perception which had played 50 impOr.-
ant a part in the improvements that
finally made the machine practical
success. Needing not the Fact that eX-
rerts were against him, he said: One
experiment is better th3l a thousand
expert opinions. Try it." So pair or
shoes was made, each sewed with the
same thread. one with the smallest
needle possible ana the other with q
needle ridiculOus,y laTge-and being
worn by Mr.. M2.hies, in two weeks
the shoes sewsd with the small nsedle
riDped. while the other stood well until
the sole was worn through. and then
served as a welt TO sew on tap wH-cl
twas worn out and renewed. The sew
ing never failed. It is on this discov-
erv that the whole business Of Mckay
,machile-sewed shoes res.s to-day, and
there are probably 100000 pairs OF
them made each year
An amusing anecdote relating to this
feature n the shoe may not be out
Of place. When these shoes had been
allowed to be taken as equal to hand
sewed shoes in the army. by order OF
Gen. Meigs. some cases were sent to the
Arsenal at Philadelphia on a contract.
Col. Crossman gave them TO an inspec-
tor who had been long in the shoe
department making army shoes. He
exam ned them and soon discovered the
thread did not FL the holes and re-
ported that they were worthless. Never
theless, under orders from Gen. Me.gs.
they were accepted and given ont to the
army. In a few months Col. CrOssman
informed Mr.. Mckay that he heard the
shoes were falling in the army and Fhat
he had sent his inspector TO look into
t. The inspector returned with the
report that the shoes that failed were
Handmade"
Col. Crossman. then, to make an end
of the doubt cas-; on machine shoes,
sent the same Inspector by the
way. was the same one who first re-
ported against the shoes because the
thread did not fill the hole-to 90
through all the hospitals and see every
man and get report from al! who had
worn the machine shoe. The report
was made, covering one ream Of fools
cap. Each mans name, regiment, etc,
was given. and the words ne used rs
far as Doss' BILE. There were over 1000
soldiers statements in the report. and
the inspector concluded his report by
saying: I have executed the work
given ne. and l must say 7 have not
heard OF >-machine shoe that has rip
ped. Nevertheless. ] know machine
shoe cannot be good. because the thread
does not fill the hole" 1t is probable
that n.na in ten Of the shoe manufac-
turers who vii, read this article are Of
the same opinion of the Inspector.