We were contacted recently by Chris from Gwyndd with a request to identify and hopefully give an age of a shoe repair machine in his possession.  We get several of these kinds of requests every year, and whilst we are inclined to wish customers would trade their old kit in against a new machine, the better part of our nature can't help but smiling at the fact that these really old machines are still out there.  We are always happy to dig back into the achieves to see if we can trace any ancient pile of cast iron found in a back room or in a shed somewhere!

This was the reply we forwarded to Chris in this instance -

"Hi Chris

 Please see attached photograph.  This image of the Standard No.3 Treadle Finisher comes from machinery manual dated 1938.  I think it is reasonable to assume the machine had been in production for a few years by this time.  Most machinery produced in the late 1930’s had at least rudimentary motors, even if they were located elsewhere and the machine driven by large pulley systems (usually hanging from the ceiling).

 The only major thing missing from this machine as opposed to our latest model would be the lack of sole and heel trimmers.  However, this is partly made up for by the inclusion of a wide scouring roll which most modern repairers would quite like!

Unfortunately we know of no other organisations that may have comparable machinery records to us, which is a shame.  We only have these records because a handful of old brochures and manuals were retrieved by me from our company dustbins when we moved premises at the turn of the century.

 Hope this helps.

 Regards..."

If you think you may have a similar, or, heaven help us, an even older machine, built by Whitfields or Standard please get in touch and we'll see what we can do to help!