River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-07-02
CHAPTER ON GLOVE MAKING.
Particulars of an Industry That Dates
Back to Early Ages-AnimaIS
and Materials.

The principal material from which
gloves and mittens are manufactured
is the roans, including all kinds Of do
| mestic sheepskins. Horse, COW, seal,
! hog and dogskins were also used. A
horse or cow hide is generally split up
the back, and it is estimated that in
each hide there is 80 square feet. Mocha
and imported kid are used for fine lined
and unlined gloves for men, women
and children, and the domestic kid Is
made into the more common varieties.
! The Cabretta and Brazilian sheep skins
are cut into mems medium grade
gloves for driving, while the roans or
domestic sheepskins are made into
mems low-grade gloves and mittens,
the cheapest leather gloves manutac-
tured, says the Philadelphia Record.
The horse and COW hides and the goat
and seal skins are used as a substitute
for deer skins in the manufacture OF
mems imitation buck gloves and NIT
| tens.
The manufacture of ladies' fine
gloves has not yet been attempted to
any considerable extent in the Unrted
States. This is due to the fact that
thus far glove manufacturers here
have been unable to secure the finest
grade of skins.
Probably the most notable glove
making machine is the multiple-needle
machine, for stitching the back of
gloves, which seWs two, three, four,
/ 1. /
The automatic trimmer, which is at
tached to the head, or needle bar, of
the machine, was introduced in 1898,
and has greatly facilitated the work,
as it trims the leather much better
| than do shears.
At various periods, and in different
countries, the glove has been the
theme for many fanciful and poetic
theories 1t has been a customary
offering in occasions of JOY and sor-
row; the pledge of friendship, OF love
and of safety, the symbol of hatred,
defiance, humiliation and honor; the
token of loyalty and the tenure by
which estates have been granted or
held.
and its material history is not aided
to any extent by the history OF the
world itself From all the evidence OBJ
tainable, the glove probably constl-
tuted a part of mems dress from time
immemorial. If recent discoveries in
the geological world are to be credit
ed, it formed part of the costume OF
II. L. Il 4 &
supposed that the gloves of the cave
dwellers were made from roughly
dressed skins, and sewed with needles
made of bone, and were not of ordinary
size, but reached to the elbows, thus
anticipating the multibuttOn glove OF
the Victorian era. They were known
to the Greeks, and also to the Romans.
Among the Greeks they were chiefly
used by the laborers as protection
for the hands in gathering harvests.
Among the Persians and Romans they
were also worn as ornaments chiefly
by the higher orders, particularly the
military.
They were considered a necessary
adjunct to the regalia of royalty, and
they were not generally worn by wom-
en- until about the period of the
reformation. The manufacture of
gloves in the United States dates from
1860.
In the early period of the industry
the Indian process of tanning was ex-
clusively used. The distinguishing
feature of the process was the use of
the brain of a deer. which insured q
durable, as well as soft and pliable
| leather. The brain of a hog was sub
sequently tried. but it was not en-
tirely satisfactory, as it lacked certain
properties possessed by the deer brain.
At the present time the sheep and
lamb skins used are received in what
is known as the "salt pickle" which is
applied to the skin after the removal
of the hair.
When the glove maker gets the
1Kins, he stretches them, and then
shaves them down to the desired thin
ness, and they go to the cutters. From
| the cutters room the leather, which
has assumed the shape of glove, goes
back to the "silkers," who embroider
the back, and then to the makers"
Some sew the fingers and put the
thumbs in, while others welt or hem
the glove around the wrist, and 9TH
| ers, called pointers" work the orna-
mental lines on the back.
BURIED IN HAREM FOR YEARS.