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                                  THE
           BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURERS’ ASSISTANT AND GUIDE.
                               CONTAINING
                     A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TRADE.
               History of India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha,
      AND THEIR APPLICATION TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES.
                     FULL INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ART,
                  WITH DIAGRAMS AND SCALES, ETC., ETC.
                   VULCANIZATION AND SULPHURIZATION,
                     ENGLISH AND AMERICAN PATENTS.
                                  WITH
                   AN ELABORATE TREATISE ON TANNING.


                        “SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM.”


                         COMPILED AND EDITED BY
                         W. H. RICHARDSON, JR.


     “Give good hearing to those who give the first information in
                           business.”—BACON.

                                BOSTON:
                       HIGGINS, BRADLEY & DAYTON,
                           20 WASHINGTON ST.
                                 1858.




       Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858, by
                         W. H. RICHARDSON, JR.,
     In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                PREFACE.

[Illustration]


In preparing the following pages, the author has aimed to supply a want
hitherto unsupplied. No work devoted to the wants of the Boot and
Shoe-maker, manufacturer, or merchant, has ever been compiled. Able
articles upon the “Trade,” statistical statements, and general comments
upon matters of interest local in their character, and having particular
reference to the state of the times in which they were written, have
been published, perused and forgotten. But no work, containing a history
of this important mechanical interest, together with instructions in the
science of the Boot and Shoe manufacture, has ever been written. The
Author does not flatter himself that he has, by any means, exhausted so
fruitful a subject, but that he has prepared and compiled important
facts and rules, and submitted valuable suggestions which are correct in
theory, and practical in their application, he has not a doubt.

Within a few years, this important industrial interest has assumed
almost wonderful proportions, and it now towers in magnitude and
importance, above all its compeers. New elements have been introduced
into the manufacture of boots and shoes, and fortunes have been expended
in endeavoring to introduce new methods by which to cheapen the process
of manufacture, as well as the raw material. The introduction of
India-rubber and Gutta-percha as articles of mechanical use, has
quickened the pulses of invention, and has already produced wonderful,
and important changes in all departments of the mechanic arts, and more
especially in that of boots and shoes. Already have these important
vegetable gums, and the thousand uses of which they are susceptible,
attracted the attention of the world, and last but not least, we are
indebted to the discovery and use of _Gutta-percha_ for the successful
insulation of the _Atlantic Cable_, without which substance, the cable
could not have been safely submerged. Establishments for the manufacture
of India-rubber, and Gutta-percha, into almost every conceivable shape,
have sprung up, as it were in a day. Patents for its use and
application, are constantly presenting themselves. Heretofore, it has
been the policy of all interested in the manufacture of India-rubber and
Gutta-percha, to surround their inventions with an air of mystery. “No
admittance” has been blazoned upon their laboratories, and no “open
sesame” pronounced by the uninitiated, has succeeded in opening the
doors to their carefully guarded treasures.

In this work, we have endeavored to make clear, simple, but important
facts, scientific discoveries and observations, which, from _practical
experience_, we know to be of great utility. A collection of the most
approved recipes for the preparation of compounds of India-rubber, and
Gutta-percha, would alone, make a volume worthy of preservation. But we
have endeavored to present all the important rules, practical hints, and
observations, necessary to the manufacture of boots and shoes, also an
important and _economical_ method of _repairing_ the same.

Herein may be found a history of the discovery of India-rubber and
Gutta-percha, its uses and applications, the inventions which they have
called into existence, the patents that have been taken out, the
“claims” set forth by different individuals, the causes of the failures
of many of them, and a brief history of their pretensions. We herein
introduce a process of manufacturing boots and shoes, of the _most
durable character_, at about one-half the expense of the old method, by
a process so simple that the humblest cordwainer in the land, no less
than the wealthy and extensive manufacturer, can at once enter upon the
field of competition; but time and _experiment_ will determine the real
value and utility of Gutta-percha as a substitute for “pegs” and
“stitches,” in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

Particular attention has been given to the application of Gutta-percha,
and India-rubber, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, inasmuch as it
is a new field, and much interest is manifested by the “_craft_” to
understand its value and use.

Not least in the application of this process of shoe manufacture, is the
invaluable benefit to be derived by all who wear _thin soled shoes_ or
boots, inasmuch as shoes thus made are _impervious to water from the
sole_, thus allowing the most delicate lady to walk with impunity upon
ground, wet by the morning shower, or evening dew. Perspiration of the
foot is in no wise confined by this process, as it escapes from the
_upper portion_ of the shoe.

The _system of cutting Patterns_, herein set forth, is alone worth the
price of the work, as its simplicity, scientific correctness, and
application to every description of