BOOT-MAKING BY MACHINERY.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 75, 26 September 1898, Page 2

BOOT-MAKING BY MACHINERY.

TIIE FACTORY OF MESSRS. W. &. J. STAPLES. The sign of the " Iron Dnke " over the boot fiictory of Messrs. W. & J. Staples ja Glniisnee-fjtreet is almost as familiar to Wellingtonians as was the Duke himself to his troops. For more than a decade the factory has been making footwear for colonials, each year's output growing in volume until to-day something like 5500 pairs a month are being turned out b}' the 150 hands employed, and with the assistance of the latest labour-saving machinery. Recent additions and alterations have considerably changed the old order of things. The factory has a frontage of 33ft to Ghuznee - street, and runs to a deptb of 150 ft. Until some months ago a courtyard space was in use for cartage, but the growth of business made it necessary to utilise not only every inch of room, but the air also, for the whole structure is two-storied. Both the new and renovated buildings are well ventilated, and have the most approved sanitary arrangements, making one of the healthiest- and best equipped factories in the colony. Under the guidance of Mr. W. Staples, the head of the firm, the writer was shown the process of the making of a boot, going through the stamping and press room into the clicking department, where Mr. W. J. Thompson ..id his eight clickers were busy upon the making of uppers, one man manipulating kangarette only, and three girls were busy at the skiviug and beading machines. Here were seen unique mechanisms for waxing threads, punching artistic designs upon toe-caps, aud blocking the leather. A whole roomful of girls, busy over their sewing machines, were next seen, Mrs. Boyd being in charge. A Pearson and Bennion eye-letting machine, which, driven by power, has a capacity of putting through from 3000 to 4000 pairs of boots an hour, is the " little wonder "of Ihe room. The tops or uppers were next followed down to the press-room, -which is furnished with two double eccentrio presses, cutting and splitting machines, and the Union solerounder (most humorous-looking in its evolutions). There are other machines, but they are of too technical a natum for description in the limited .space at our disposal. In the benching department some 38 hands are seen hard at work on all classes of footwear. Then the machine-room "was entered. A bird'seye view of the room shows a whole host of separate pieces of mechanism, most of them standing upright, each of which does its little part towards the success of the whole. A Pearson's sole-sewer has a 200-pair per day capacity, and the " Standard Screw " is a marvel, automatically making and inserting brass screws into the soles and uppers of the heavy work. This is one of the many late American machines. A Goodyear weltstitohing machine adjoins the •' screw," and close to this again, and used in conjunction with the Goodyear, is the Blake sole-sewer. A lightning "heeler" is another American wonder,, with a capacity of heeling ]500 pairs of boots per day. A smart man can heel from two to three dozen per day by hand work. The Smith heeltrimmer; the "slugging" machine, and the Ross-Moyer "breasting" machine, with the Bussell edge-trimmer, and the Globe heel-scouring machine, all do their respective little duties upon sole and heel of the boot, quickly passing from hand to hand. Then the Union twin edge-setter gets its work upon the edge, doing in a few twists and turns that ebony-like polish which is so tedious to the hand-worker. Another piece of mechanism, containing half -a - dozen pads and brushes, does to the heel what the edge-setter has done to the sole. For the purpose of providing for the dictates of fashion the Ryder heel-key, the fair-stitch pricking, the "chopping" and " bunking," and the automatic pneumatic Naumkeag machines put in their fancy work and finish. The Naumkeag machine and another shaft of a dozen puds and brushes get iii their line work upon the " waist" of the boot (that part lying between the heel and the sole). The driving power for the machinery is supplied by* a 6 to 10 h.p. Tangye gas engine. Under the direction of the foreman of this department the visitor was shown the advantage of a factory having a complete plant, and so being able to turn out a fine boot, aud was convinced that Messrs. Staples possess a thoroughly up-to-date factory. There are from 12 to 15 men engaged in the machine-room, and no men have been displaced by its introduction, but the output has been considerably increased. Out of the machine-room the boot went up to the packing-room, where a youth finished it off on the Miller "twin" shoetreeing machine. Then it was either" hung" or packed away in its box. In the packingroom is seen a large stock which comes up from the factor}' on]y to go to the country, the firm having two travellers constantly going about the colony. In the sampleroom some 400 boots and shoes are seen, conspicuous being a group showing the newest American shapes and styles, the make and finish comparing favourably with the American. The Kangarette footwear is also seen in varied form, and we learn that the output of this speoialty has about doubled upon that of last year, showing that quality, finish, and enterprise have been rewarded in the case of Messrs. Staples and their manufactures.