The Detroit times., 1914-12-21
Hooks Above Eyelets Bring in
Revenue on Patent of $4,000
Per Year
RETAIL DEALERS
EARN BIG PROFITS
But Shoe Manufacturers Find
improvements Are I'm
profitable

preston unless IL refers TO a shoe
strlng. shoestring Is six-fourths
long when you do not specify the
length required. Further research
would most likely what?
when man buys a new pair OF
shoes the strings in them are just
long enough. When he buys the next
pair OF shoestrings they are too long
Inc strings that come with the, shoes
are fourfourths long, the next pair
VIII be six-fourths unless you ask fol-
lengths, have TO do with mems high
snoes. There Is not the same trou.
bic as to low shoes.
Some shoestrings are very strong
and will wear a long time, but they
VIII turn brown. Others will not wear
SO long, but they will retain original
Dlackness. The strong strings that
turn brown are of linen or very
strong cotton. The others are OF blk
ed hbres that held their color
Many persons prefer the less dura-
Die shoestring, not only because IL
holds Its color, but because, being OF
a less hard fibre, IL stays tied better
than the other. A few OF the millions
OF shoestring wearers know how to
tie bowknot that won't come united.
The method can be explained without
a diagram.
Instead of tucking the bow once
over before drawing the knot tight.
tuck IL twice over. A fiddlestring used
for shoe lace would not come united
IL the knot were made in that way.
This knot can be united in the same
way as the other by pulling at the
ends.
The hooks above the eyelets were
very profitable invention, but not
for the inventor. the shoe manufacture
er or the consumer. The story OF the
invention has been printed many
times. II II were not fairly accurate
it would have been contradieted
The story has IL that the hook was
devised by a man somewhere In the
west and that the idea fas sold for a
song to travelling salesman who hap
pened to come along. Various versions
OF the story give the amount paid as
from $50 TO $780, The story says
that the salesman patented the de-
vice and that for a few years after
its Introduction and before the patent
han out the profit from II was about
$4,000 year.
The invention was Improbable for
manufacturers OF shoes because all
had to use II, none could charge more
for their shoes with IL than without
It, and It did not increase the demand
for shoes. II added to the cost OF
their output the amount of their roy
alties and 1t brought no return
A man patented q hook to be used
as the last at -the top of the shoe,
which did away with the knot in the
shoestring. II was like the jam cleat
for fastening small lines on sailing ca
noes and the string would never slip,
but manufacturers would not adopt IL.
They said that II one used II all would
have to use IL, and II would add lit
tie to the cost OF every pair OF shoes
with no return.
3 The hook that was adopted was un-
profitable for the consumer, because
his shoestrings wore out faster after
Il was introduced, but II his time was
valuable there was compensation be-
cause Il was a timesaver. The sales
man OF the story and the shoestring
makers reaped the harvest from the
invention.
Il was not long ago that high top
shoes were invariably laced fishbone
fashion all the way up. Then came
the over and over lacing from the
eyelets nearest the toe TO the hooks,
with the fishbone lacing from hook TO
hook. A later device was to lace over
and over to within two eyelets OF the
hooks and begin the flshbone lacing
there, because the latter is more cas-
ily opened than the former.
A few young men who have prided
= themselves on their display OF foot
gear, wearing fancy hose with low
cut shoes and trousers turned up, have
affected lacing their shoes with broad
laces from the top OF the shoe down
ward and making the bow at the point
nearest the toe.
There are many merchants OF
wealth who started out in business
peddling shoestrings. Perhaps one OF
them is the Polish boy who came TO
this country at the age OF IA and two
years later met an acquaintance VINO
asked him how he was getting along
He replied that he was doing we'll;
had business OF his own now
wheref Broadway and Tentn-st
Good location; what line? Selling
shoestrings on the sidewalk.
There is one way for the unknow'
ing TO tell q good shoestring, as there
IN n WAY IOr the HuiuiOimou W wi
rood summer shirt. In the case OF the
shirt look at the buttons; IL they're
rood. the shirt Is good. Look at the
tins OF the shoestrings. The best
have twisted wire tips that do not
pun OF.
There Is almost drug store profit
in shoestrings. Your cobbler charges
Ave cents a paid for rather poor
quality. The boy shoestring peddler
charges 10 cents for dozen pairs
The price OF the same goods at whole
sale Ia 65 cents for gross pairs.
go the cobbler realizes profit oi
1885 on an investment OF 65 cents
The drug store man sells gasoline
that costs about 10 cents a gallon fol
1920 a gallon. which Is a somewhat
larger profit The boy peddler OF
shoestrings gets only So cents profit
on his gross of pairs at 65 cents a
gross, but that is more than the In
terest allowed by savings banks.
There are about three million two
hundred thousand bicycles In use In
U>ronna noxy aa comDarpd with 200 0O(