Plymouth Cordage Company creates Plymouth Cordage Industries (PCI)

On May 21, 1956 the Plymouth Cordage Company announced the incorporation of Plymouth Cordage Industries, Inc.

 

PCI, as the new subsidiary was called, was formed to acquire the J.C. Rhodes Co. and the W.W. Cross Co. from the United Shoe Machinery Corporation which had been forced by the courts to divest several companies after losing an antitrust case.

 

A note of interest - Ellis W. Brewster was Chairman of the Board of the Plymouth Cordage Co. and his son, William S. Brewster was CEO of the United Shoe Machinery Corp.

The Old Virginia Shoe Shop

Notation accompanying this picture:

"Interior view of the old Virginia Shoe Shop, Craddock - Terry's exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition. The old colored man, Alfred Leigh, was a slave belonging to Judge Thomas Leigh of Halifax Co., VA. His wife belonged to Dr. Charles Craddock, the father of the Craddocks of the Craddock - Terry Co.who are the largest shoe manufacturers in the South, with three large factories in Lynchburg, VA., in which they manufacture the celebrated "Longwear Shoes"

United Shoe Machinery Headquarters in Boston, MA

Headquarters of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, located at 140 Federal Street in Boston, MA. At the time of its opening it was the tallest office building in Massachusetts at 300 feet, containing 5,300,000 cubic feet and about 307,000 feet of useable floor space. 11 high speed elevators provided transportation for the population of 3000.

Types of Shoes

Over the years shoes have been divided into three basic groups, based upon the method of attaching the outsole to the upper.

1. Cemented Shoes

2. Nailed Shoes - rare to non-existent today.

3. Sewed Shoes

Within each of these groups are several types of shoes in which distinctly different types of forming or lasting and structure are employed. Sometimes a combination of constructions are used.

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1. Cemented Shoes

a. Littleway Staple Lasted Cement Shoe- Flat Lasted

b. Tack Lasted Cement Shoe - Flat Lasted

c. Cement Lasted Cement Shoe - Flat Lasted

d. Silhouwelt and Cement Welt Shoes - Rib Lasted

e. Slip-Lasted Shoe - Force Lasted

2. Nailed Shoes

a. Nailed Shoe - Flat Lasted

3. Sewed Shoes

a. Goodyear Welt Shoe - Rib Lasted

b. Goodyear Turn Shoe - Rib and Force Lasted

c. McKay Sewed Shoe - Flat Lasted

d. McKay Welt Shoe - Flat Lasted

e. Stitchdown Shoe - Flange Lasted

f. Moccasin - Moccasin Seam Lasted

g. Littleway Lockstitch Shoe - Flat Lasted

h. Pre-Welt Shoe - Pre-Welt lasted

 

The chart below shows the Basic Lasting Methods in the upper portion and the Basic Sole Attaching Methods in the bottom half.

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Matzeliger's Lasting Machine

Jan Earnst Matzeliger could speak only broken English and although there were many inventors and expert machinists with ample financial backing, in the 1880's, it was Matzeliger, working alone, who made the breakthrough of creating the first viable lasting machine. Working five times faster than a human laster, the device could perfectly last 700 pair of women's shoes per day. Other machines had performed parts of these operations but, Matzeliger's machine was the first to combine so many complex steps and produce a shoe indistinguishable from the hand lasted ones. 

The whole Matzeliger story is interesting, not only of itself but, because it was this great invention, as developed and marketed by Sidney Winslow and George Brown, that proved a dominate factor in the formation of the United Shoe Machinery Company. In fact, throughout its development, the principle of the Hand Method Lasting Machine never changed.

Jan Matzeliger was the son of a well educated Hollander who was sent to Dutch Guiana in South America to oversee important government works. There he married a native Indian women and their son, Jan Earnst, was born in Paramaribo in 1852.  Jan Earnst, at the age of ten began training in a government machine shop under his father's supervision as a machinist. His apprenticeship finished, he came to the United States, looking for opportunities, travelled about a bit and turned up in Lynn, Massachusetts at the age of 25. Though earning his living stitching shoes on the McKay machine, with his machinist's background Matzeliger was more interested in machinery than in shoes. He thought of making a turn shoe sewing machine, but, he heard the hand lasters in the shop boast that whatever else might be done by machine, nothing could ever be invented to supplant hand lasting. This was cue enough for Matzeliger.

The lonely bachelor, already in delicate health, rented a room over the West End Mission and spent his evenings mocking up out of cigar boxwood, nails and other odds and ends a model of a lasting machine which was to duplicate the actual operations of the hand laster by means of pincers and tacking mechanisms which progressively tensioned the shoe upper over the last on to the insole and tacked it there. This was 1880. The crude model and its maker were much ridiculed but, there was one offer of $50 for the idea, and Matzeliger was tempted.

Luckily, he declined and set about making a second model out of some castings and old machine parts which he bought out of his wages, forging, filing and fitting; patiently working alone. This was a real machine with a more finished appearance. He was even offered $1500, no small sum in 1880, for the device which pleated the upper around the toe. On the verge of accepting this offer, he concluded that if it was worth that much to someone else, it should be worth more to him.

A patent was issued to him in 1883 but, only after the United States Patent Office had sent a man to Lynn to study and try to understand the incredibly intricate motions of the machine and their useful purpose.  A third and still better machine was patented in 1884.

To finance the further development and production of the Lasting Machine, the Union Lasting Machine Company was formed in 1884, which became the Hand Method Power Lasting Machine Company in 1885 and the Consolidated Hand Method Lasting Machine Company in 1887. Sidney W. Winslow  bought stock in the new enterprise and hired experts to assist Matzeliger. It was this Consolidated Hand Method Lasting Machine Company that commanded the highest per share price of the forty companies forming the United Shoe Machinery Company.

Matseliger went on working, as he was able, on improvements to his machine and development of a tack delivery system until his death in 1889 from tuberculosis, just shy of his 37 birthday. He received 5 patents, 3 of them posthumously.

His creation has lived long after him, not only in thousands of his lasting machines operated around the world but, in 1904 the North Congregational Church of Lynn, ceremonially burned it's mortgage, discharged by sale of United Shoe stock acquired in exchange for Hand Method stock bequeathed to them by Matzeliger. 

Good as it was, the Hand Method Lasting Machine did not get to market without trouble. The hand lasters in Lynn resented it fearing for their livelihood. In those days such resentment frequently expressed itself in direct action sometimes with violence. The laster had a formidable organization and they considered themselves the aristocracy of the shoe factory. There was a series of pitched battles with some manufacturers being driven out of Lynn and some out of business. In the end, the hand laster learned to run the machines, which really made their work easier and more productive, and peace was restored.

Matzeliger's double memorial stones in Lynn, Massachusetts

Matzeliger's double memorial stones in Lynn, Massachusetts

 
1955 USMC catalog page

1955 USMC catalog page

Wire Brush Operating Hints

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Wire brushes from United Global Supply are pre-sharpened as part of the manufacturing process, to insure proper balance. The arrows on the hub indicate the direction of rotation when the brush is first installed . After initial period of use, reversing the brush on the shaft, periodically, will tend to resharpen the tips , providing faster cutting and increase the life of the brush.

When resharpening a United Global wire brush - reverse the direction of rotation, using a United Global No. 78 Sharpening Stone, apply light pressure, holding the stone flat against the brush surface. Light pressure will insure that the wire tips are not overheated, causing the temper of the wire to be removed and making it difficult to maintain sharp cutting points. 

USE OF FLANGES

The use of graduated flanges is recommended for maximum brush life. Use the largest flange possible to reduce excessive flexing of the wires., reducing flange diameters as the brush wears. The rule of thumb is to have a maximum wire extension beyond the flange of 3/8" and to change to a smaller flange when 1/8" of wire is showing. United Global has a complete line of wire brush flanges. They maybe purchased in individual sets of two or complete graduated sets to fit any machine. 

BRUSHING PRESSURE

Remember - The tips of a wire brush do the work. Operate the brush with the lightest pressure so, only the tips of the wire come in contact with the surface to be abraded. 

If heavier pressures are used, the wires will be over flexed, resulting in a wiping action and, if this is continued, the life of the brush will be severely shortened due to wire fatigue from the wire flexing. 

Apply the surface to be roughed to the face of the brushing such a way that as much of the brush face, as possible, is in full contact with the work surface. Applying the work to the side or edge of the brush will result in wire breakage and shortened brush life. 

WIRE BRUSH SAFETY RULES 

Read and observe the "Power Brush Safety Requirements" insert that is packed with each United Global Supply wire brush. 

ALWAYS USE REQUIRED EYE PROTECTION WHEN USING WIRE BRUSHES.