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 A Goodyear stitching machine has altered little over the years. At its core is the same technology developed decades ago to assist with the construction and repair of welted footwear. Invariably the Goodyear head was mounted on an enormous, impossibly heavy, tripod ironwork construction more in keeping with a WWII artillery division than a shoe repair shop.
What has changed is the opinion of society and more pertinently, Health and Safety officials to machines with unguarded motors and belts flying around only a few feet from prying fingers of Joe Public.
At Standard we’ve been in the business of solving the problems associated with the old cast-iron Goodyear stitchers for many years now. One of our earlier attempts at making the machinery safer was to construct and fit guards to the pullies, wheels and motors which were gleefully wheeling away inches from the operator and customers. Whilst this method of rendering the machine safer alleviated some of the immediate problems, unfortunately more head-scratching ensued.
We were soon struck by the enormous differences in sizes and construction of these machines. Such were the differences between one machine and another that we could not simply build sets of guards and supply from stock. Almost every machine had to have a bespoke set of guards constructed, which is easy enough to do in our factory, but not so convenient if the stitcher was in a customer’s basement in Edinburgh!
In addition, fitting guards merely covered over the problem, in a figurative as well as a literal way. We wanted to do better.
- We wanted to modernise the machinery by fitting the Goodyears with new, controllable motors.
- We wanted the facility to make the machines single phase so that they could be plugged into a 13-amp plug socket, allowing their use in any shop.
- In a market where the shoe repairer was looking to maximise his floor usage we also wanted to make the stitcher smaller.
- We also wanted to make it a good deal lighter as we were the people expected to install them!
The good news is we achieved all that and more. The modernised Goodyear Stitcher from Standard now comes on a 50cm square base. The head is completely stripped, renovated and rebuilt and fitted to brand new purpose-built bases with the most up-to-date electronics. This is also good news for the shoe repairer looking to invest in quality machinery, or trade-in an their old Goodyear when purchasing a new one.
It’s not necessarily good news for the repairer who has a perfectly running old-style Goodyear and would desperately like it to be smaller and safer, but would like to keep the current head he is using.
Well, providing the machine is in good working order, the head is of a type we have the necessary parts for (sorry – no Pedersens!) and it can be easily removed and uplifted by us, Standard can totally refurbish your own Goodyear head. We then build it into a new machine painted to your specifications and redeliver this machine with your head back to you. This way you get the best of both worlds – a stitcher head you are comfortable with, within a smaller, modern machine.
Sounds good, eh? If this is a service which could be of use to you please get in touch.
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