Year: 1886

page_text: I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex
M.I.M.E. do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a cominunication from
Charles M. Hooker of Rochester, New York, United States of America, Manu-
facturer), and in what manner the same is to bo performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to an improved process of uniting leather capable of being
used in the manufacture of boots, shoes, harness or other articles made of leather,
whereby the strength and flexibility of hand-sewed work is obtained at a material
reduction in the cost. This invention is fully described and illustrated in the
following specification and accompanying drawings and the novel features thereof
specified in the claims annexed to the said specification.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoe illustrating this invention.
Figure 2 is a view of the sole of a shoe embodying this invention.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through a row of stitches showing the manner
of carrying this invention into practice.
In the practical operation of uniting leather by means of this improved process
the parts are attached together by stitching or sewing with any munchine forming
n stitch which can readily be removed-the row of stitches thus formed is then
removed leaving the perforations made by the needle open and adapted for the
final step of the process which consists in sewing the parts together in the ordinary
way by hand, dispensing entirely with the use of the awl in the latter operation
and thereby materially reducing its cost and enabling an unskilled workman to
produce work of a better character than that ordinarily done by hand. The
machine sewing should be done with a smaller needle and thread than the hand
sewing thread which is to follow and the machine thread be wet with or passed
through water (without using wax or gum) so as to properly set the form of the
stitch holes and permit the ready removal of the thread. In making boots
and shoes by this invention the outside is sewed to the welt stitched aloſt or in
any desired channel, by any ordinary machine which makes a chain or other stitch
Umian 11

page_text: which can readily be removed. The shoe is now ready for the hand-sewing work-
Inan (either skilled or unskilled) who proceeds to remove the machine sewed
stitches leaving the holes open and ready for the reception of the waxed end thread,
which is inserted in the usual manner; dispensing entirely with the use of the awl
and producing thereby (even with unskilled labor) improved and more perfect
hand-sewed work than can be accomplished by the old method.
In the accompanying drawings the shoe A is represented as having the sole B in
the different stages of the process. Thus at C is represented the machine sewing
which having been removed leaves the row of perforations made by the awl or
needle of the machine as indicated at D and at E is shown the hand sewing done in
the usual manner but without using the awl by means of the waxed ends F. In
Fig. 3 1 bave répresented two pieces of leather B B' as attached together at C by
the machine stitching and at E by the hand sewing-the intermediate space being
provided with the perforations D left after the removal of the machine sewing.
The operations are substantially the same as those already described, when this
improved process is used in uniting pieces of leather together in the manufacture of
barness trunks or other articles. By using the thread in the machine sewing, the
holes once formed are prevented from being entirely or partially closed up as
would occur if it were not used-the awl or needle in piercing one bole forcing the
intermediate leather into the one last made-and I am thereby enabled to dispense
with the awl entirely in doing the hand-sewing, as the thread of the machine
sewing keeps the holes open so as to permit the introduction of the waxed ends,
after the macbine sewing has been removed.
It will be readily understood that this improved process may be applied to
materials other than leather.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what
ananner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The herein described process of sewing or stitching, consisting in sewing the
parts together by suitable machinery with a line of stitches which permit the
thread to be easily removed and then sewing the parts again together by hand in
the holes previously made by the machine stitches whereby the employment of an
awl is dispensed with substantially as described.
2. The improved articles of manufacture such as boots harness and other
articles formed of leather or other suitable material the parts of which are united
by the process of sewing substantially as described.
Dated this 16th day of November 1886