DDIN Library

The First Meeting in Diecutting - 1842

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Written by Robert Larson

The Situation

It all started with an idea. The idea developed into a concept. The concept developed into a worldwide industry.

This story is a tongue in cheek presentation of what probably could have taken place. The story was included as Chapter 7 in the book written by Robert Larson entitled “The World of DieCutting”. That book can be ordered at www.worldofdiecutting.com.

For generations whenever people wanted to cut more than one identical thing out of soft materials like cowhide, sheep skin, rattle snake skin, fabric or even paper, they had to make a template out of some harder material and use the template or pattern to draw the outline of the part onto the material to be cut. This was a slow and often un-accurate process, but at the time it was the best way of doing things. A sharp knife blade was then used to cut the outline of the pattern into whatever material was going to be cut. This caused several results, many cut fingers and it made a mess out of a tabletop. Even the church got involved in what would become diecutting.

In the early 1800’s, a craftsman would make a pair of shoes by first tracing the outline of his customer’s foot into a piece of thick leather. Each pair of shoes was a custom made creation. At that time there were no shoe stores with many different sizes and hundreds of styles imported shoes from China or Italy.

People knew there had to be a better way. The era of mass production was just coming into being. The Industrial Revolution was creating many new ideas on how to do things better and faster. In New England entrepreneurs started to create shoe factories to produce pairs of shoes. Shoemakers were looking to new ways of manufacturing shoes to meet the demands of many people in need of low cost footwear.

The Meeting

In May of 1842, a learned group of deep thinkers gathered together in the sleepy hamlet of Windsor, Vermont to act as the forbearers of a new type of process to eventually to become known as diecutting. They met at the Village Pub where they could imbibe in a couple of pints of beer during their discussions. Needless to say, this group of individuals knew that cutting pieces of leather or other soft to semi-rigid materials by hand was not the thing to do. It was a practical skill, but as I have mentioned, too many people were getting cuts on their fingers.

ERIK – The Instigator

Erik Futurist had a good idea. He wanted to bring together a group of individuals to ponder questions of great merit. Not on the universe or the politics of nations, but of a different nature. Now that the Industrial revolution was in full swing, the days of making things one by one was becoming old hat. There had to be a better way of doing things. In an area running from Vermont down through Massachusetts into Connecticut, know as the Precision Valley, many people were involved in creating new ways of making things. In the machinery end of commerce, people were inventing practical ways of duplicating exact copies of machine parts with new machines. There had to be a better way of making exact duplicates of many softer materials other than iron, copper, brass or other metals.

He has no idea of plastics, Kevlar®, Mylar® and other materials to be invented at a much later date. He was interested in developing some way of cutting natural items like cow hide, sheep skin, cotton and wool plus cloth and paper.

Just how to do this and what machinery or tooling it would require was a challenge. He felt that if he assembled an interested group of individuals, then some answers could be discovered or agreed upon.

After all, the people of the United States could not be upstaged by some Frenchman or German who may have a spark of genius to conjure up some new method of cutting soft things out in mass production. It was a matter of national pride to be the first. Erik wanted to be a part of those people who were to become the innovators and creators of a new way of doing something.

JERIMIRE - The Printer

Jerimire Johnson, the local printer in nearby Reading, Vermont was also to be represented in this group. In his little printing shop he had a sincere interest to cut thing out. His trusty old scissors were getting dull. His paper cutter would only cut straight lines. He had an artistic flair and the urge to do curves. There had to be a better way to cut thing out of paper. It was a pain in the neck to hand cut paper hearts before each Valentine’s Day for customers. The printing job was a piece of cake but the cutting job was a real pain!

ROBERT - THE Experimenter

Robert had to travel for one week from Norwell, Massachusetts to attend this meeting. In 1842, this was no easy trip in his reliable, but rather uncomfortable horse and buggy. Robert had often seen his mother preparing cookies for a church gathering. She used a cookie cutter that she had purchased at the local Norwell Center Country Store.

Robert was enticed by the ease that the cookie cutter easily cut through the cookie dough with minimal pressure. One day he took the cookie cutter to his shop and performed an experiment. He placed the heart shaped device on top of a piece of paper that was on top of his wooden worktable. He applied hand pressure to the cookie cutter, but nothing much happened.

Well, almost nothing happened. He noticed an indentation on the paper due to the uneven top of the table. His mind came alive as he concluded that he needed more pressure. He placed a thick piece of wood on top of the cookie cutter and proceeded to hit the piece of wood with a swift whomp of a hammer. After a good swift whack, he inspected the piece of paper. He had made a definite impression and in spots had cut through the paper.

Robert was elated. He had come upon something quite unique. The problem was that he had smushed his mother’s cookie cutter. He was in deep trouble. His first mission was to replace the smashed cookie cutter. He went to the general store to see the proprietor, Lucas Morehouse. Lucas was all out of heart shaped cookie cutters. He only had a Christmas tree shape and a gingerbread shape man.

It would take two weeks to get another heart shaped cookie cutter from Boston. Robert only hoped that his mother would not be in a cookie-cooking mood for several weeks. He did not want to face her with the discovery that he had ruined her favorite cookie cutter.

WILLIAM - The Shoemaker

At a church fair in Norwell, Robert met a shoemaker from Brockton, located about 12 miles from Norwell. The two men started to talk about their jobs, as was a natural event during a church social. Robert told his story of the ruined cookie cutter. William Shoeman listened with great interest.

He had a shoemaking shop and had just purchased a new fangled type of tool to cut out the thick leather soles of his shoes. It was a contraption with a handle on it that had a sharp blade in the shape of a shoe sole. With a big heavy mallet he would place his new mallet handle die on top of a section of heavy leather and with a powerful whack of the mallet on the top of the handle he could cut through the leather and behold, there was a sole for his shoe. This was a challenging operation. He had to hold the handle of the mallet die right over the area of leather he wanted to cut out. With his other hand he held the heavy rawhide mallet. Sometimes he missed the top of the handle and crunched his fingers. The result was that he could cut out an identical set of shoe soles to make the right and left bottom for his shoe. At that time he only had one die for his most popular size. He eventually would need a series of mallet die sizes for other sizes of shoes that his customers wanted.

This was a much easier method of cutting out the heavy sole leather than using a knife. It was also much faster and somewhat safer than cutting your fingers with a knife blade. Within a few minutes he could cut out a few dozen sets of soles. That would free him up to do other tasks.

HERMAN - The Dim Witted Apprentice

Our savvy shoemaker relegated that task of whacking out the heavy leather soles to Herman, his young but not so bright apprentice. After all, there was no OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) at the time and if Herman missed with the mallet from time to time, that was his problem. He had better learn fast how to use the mallet and have a better aim at the handle on the die.

Robert was intrigued by the story of cutting out pieces of leather. Where could he get hold of such a die? How could he do such a thing in his small workshop? Who would want many duplicates of the same shapes of all kinds of leather or fabric? There had to be a demand for cut parts. Little did he know at the time, but he could become the first commercial diecutter.

He was so excited that he forgot about his mothers ruined heart shaped cookie cutter until his mother mentioned one day that she could not find it. Robert then told his mother of his experiment and the results of smashing the cookie cutter. Her initial reaction was one of shock, but then understanding what her son was trying to do, she forgave him with a smile. After all, the new cookie cutter should arrive from Boston any day by Mr. Limpert’s delivery service to the general store. He son had shown a definite surge of creativity and she thought that that was good.

One day Robert, was reading a copy of the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe. On page 42 was a small article about a conference to be held in Vermont on the cutting of things. It seemed that other people had the same urges as he had to cut things out of leather and paper. He was ecstatic. He immediately sat down with his favorite quill pen and wrote a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe. How could he get in contact with the people who were running the meeting in Windsor, Vermont?

The following week he received his answer from Isaiah Goodfellow, editor of the Boston Globe with the information that he requested. Now Robert had a dilemma. Being a visionary person, he wanted so much to attend that meeting. On the other hand, who would tend his shop while he was gone? How much business would he loose going off to learn about something new?

His apprentice probably could run the business in his absence. He had done a pretty good job last year when Robert was hit by a run away horse during a snowstorm. Robert had been out of work for a week tending his injury. He had made a decision. By hook or by crook, he was going to attend that meeting. He was going to be a part of this new process to cut out things.

He contracted William Shoeman in Brockton about the meeting. William was enthused about the meeting, but just could not tear himself away from his business. He had just received an order from the local nunnery for 36 pairs of shoes for the sisters. It seems that Morris Stinghoffer, a local merchant had made a donation to the convent with the stipulation that all the sisters got new shoes.

THE Nun Story

Now this may have seemed like a rather strange request, but here is the story behind the story. It seems that Mr. Stinghoffer and Mr. Shoeman occasionally met at Ye Olde Englander Pub with several other gentlemen of commerce to imbibe in some drink and food. In the back room they would discuss topics of business and occasionally women. You would look at these meetings as the fore runners of the Rotary Club. After the meeting, on occasion a friendly game of cards developed.

The previous day Sister Mary Margaret of the Sisters of Good Charity convent visited Mr. Shoeman’s shoemaking shop. She remarked that her sisters in the convent were in dire need of new shoes. After all, winter was coming on and the ladies could not stand another winter plodding through the deep snow in their sandals. They needed shoes.

It is amazing what a few pint of brew can accomplish during and after a business meeting. Mr. Shoemaker made a point of wishing that he had all the different sizes of mallet handle dies to cut out the soles for the nun’s shoes. Mr. Stinghoffer was about to raise Mr. Shoeman's poker hand, when the topic of the nun’s feet was raised along with the need to buy new dies to make the shoes. It seems that even in those days conversations gravitated to women, sometimes their feet!

The topic seemed to fit into the game of chance perfectly. Mr. Stinghoffer was so confident with his three aces that he told Mr. Shoeman that if he lost the bet he would pay for the shoes and the new dies. Mr. Shoeman held a full house in his hand of cards. As he laid down the cards on the table, he smiled with the realization that the nun’s would get their new shoes and he would get his new mallet handle dies all at the expense of Mr. Stinghoffer.

That was how Mr. Shoeman was able to provide the shoes for the nunnery at no expense to himself except for his labor and the hide off of old Bessie his neighbors cow that had died a month ago of old age. The game of poker indeed was to the advantage of our good shoemaker and the Sisters of Good Charity.

THE Communion Wafer Story

Many years before, Monsignor Patrick O’Reilly of the Boston archdiocese had visited the

Sisters of Good Charity convent. He made a very special request of the good sisters. He had to find a reliable source of communion wafers for his local churches in the Boston area.

For many years priests had been making their own communion wafers. The priests disliked have to spend so much time conjuring up communion wafers. Too many parishioners complained about the taste and quality of the communion wafers being served in local churches. A new source of better tasting communion wafers had to be found.

The challenge was therefore laid before the Sisters of Good Charity to provide communion wafers. How they did this was up to the ingenuity of the sisters. After all, women were supposed to be good cooks. The Mother Superior summoned her sisters together and discussed the challenge. They created a recipe for communion wafers that would please the most finicky parishioner. The next challenge was how to cut them out.

One day Sister Margaret Mary was visiting the Norwell Country Store where she saw an assortment of tin cookie cutters. She asked Mr. Limpert, the proprietor if it would be possible to obtain some cookie cutters about one inch in diameter. Mr. Limpert said that he would look into the matter. A few days later he informed Sister Mary Margaret that his source of tin cookie cutters could supply the one inch diameter cookie cutters to the Sisters of Good Charity at a substantial discount for the nuns.

Now the good sisters had a method to cut out their communion wafers even if it was only one at a time. It was a long and laborious effort, but the sisters were now into the early stages of the diecutting process. As time went on, they had a hand operated arbor press donated to the nunnery. That’s another story for another time. They conjured up an apparatus whereby they could cut out 12 communion wafers at one time. Things were looking up.

Their reputation as suppliers of quality communion wafers spread across Massachusetts and beyond. Their next challenge was developing some kind of box to put the communion wafers into for shipping to nearby and far away parishes. Several sisters were assigned to hand cut out, then fold and glue the boxes.

Sister Mary Margaret made a visit to Mr. Jerimie Johnson, the local printer. He agreed to design a catchy logo for communion wafers made by the sisters. He then printed up a good supply of paperboard sheets for the sisters to cut out for their boxes even if it was by hand at that time.

Now they could package boxes of 500 communion wafers. Their efforts turned into a profitable business that financed the survival and prosperity of the nunnery. The Sisters of Good Charity Communion Wafer Company was a definite success. The good Monsignor Patrick O’Reilly was elated with their success. He now had his reliable source for communion wafers. He also had a new source where could solicit sizable donations for the church.

LUSIUS - The Hat Box Maker

Another gentlemen from Albany, New York made custom hatboxes for the millinery trades. In his shop he cut out the pieces of the boxes with his trusty knife by placing a wood pattern on top of the cardboard and drew a line around the shape. He had tried to use a knife around the wood pattern but the blade kept shaving off parts of the edges of the pattern. This was very frustrating and caused changes in the sizes of his boxes. That did not help him in his quality control. Of course at that time the concept of quality control was still in its infancy.

Lusius Boxman was proud craftsman who took extra care in his producing the finest hat boxes in his area. He covered the cardboard with fancy fabrics. Some hatboxes were masterfully painted in different designs. He even hand cut out special designs to past onto his hat boxes. Lusius knew there had to be a better way of making his hat boxes. He had read in a science fiction magazine about men on Mars making boxes in a new and wonderful automated means of production. There was a picture of this big machine spitting out finished hatboxes. The only problem was that the article never said how the machine worked.

When Lusius read the announcement of the future meeting in Vermont in the Albany Plain Dealer newspaper, he just knew that he had to be a party to this event. He knew that he had to be a part of what ever it was that was going to be to change in the way things are to be cut out.

Lusius had an advantage living in Albany, New York. He was not too far from Vermont. Also not to far from his home was a machinery company called Brunius Machinery who made arbor presses for the metal stamping industry. They had fitted the press to a large leather belt that powered the press from a central shaft in the factory that got its power from a water wheel outside the factory next to the river. Lusius wanted go to the factory to see these presses. The company also made a pretty ingenious apple press to squeeze the juice out of apples. This new fangled equipment had to have other uses.

INQUISTUS - The Professor

There was one other illustrious member of the conference. That one was Professor Nibulas Inqusitus who was an expert in knives and blades. His claim to fame was his invention to cut soft stuff with a straight blade. He had earned the true distinction of being able to cut a straight line in a cowhide while being blindfolded. At parties he would entertain his guests with a demonstration with meat clever and a Bowie knife in cutting paper and leather. His guests were intrigued to see his skillful swashing and flaying with his knives. He was also good at knife throwing at carnivals and festivals, but that’s another story.

THE Meeting

You have now met the list of characters to this first definitive meeting on what was to become the diecutting process. The only missing major character in this story was not at the meeting was Sister Mary Margret. She was pre-occupied in supervising her communion wafer enterprise.

The time came for the meeting to convene. It took place in a Ye Ole Drinking Establishment local pub. At that time the idea of the conference room at the local Holiday Inn just had not yet materialized. Like every good meeting, the event started off with a pint of brew to whet the whistles of all the attendees. After all, the pub owner would only allow such a meeting in his pub if he could be insured of an income from food and drink. That is the way of every true entrepreneur. It is good to be part of something new, if you can make a buck or two in the process.

The group opened the meeting by trying to identify the problem. They soon developed an agenda of topics to discuss. The plan was coming together. As is typical in any meeting of the times where a brew or two (or more) are involved, the group soon saw that they had different interests and different agendas. How could a common goal be attained? Who would become the true innovator, the professor, the shoemaker, the printer or some other good soul? Everyone wanted his claim to glory. There was no International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking at that time to mediate the meeting.

They all agreed that a new method of cutting thing out had to be developed. They also agreed that a common element had to be used in cutting things out. Finally they agreed that some type of mechanism or press had to be used to cut thing out. They all had different ideas, different dreams and different goals.

This is where the whole conference fell apart. No one had the vision to think totally. Each individual could only see the problem from their own personal perspective. They started to in-fight and accuse others of grand standing. Maybe the brews had something to with the situation. Maybe it was just human nature of the times.

The conference came to a rapid halt when the members could not decide of the cutting mechanism or as some called it a press should cut up and down or sideways. It was decided to adjourn the meeting to let the members retreat and rethink the issues. After all, great strides had been made in just convening this first meeting on the diecutting process. New possibilities had been explored and debated.

That my good friends, is the story of the first organized meeting on the eventual new process to be called diecutting. Oh, yes, our printer did eventually find out about steel rule dies. He advanced in his craft to using a cutting die that could cut as well as crease paper. The shoemaker did use more and more mallet handle dies especially with the luck of a good hand of cards in the game with Mr. Shiffman. His assistant Herman became a master at hitting the die handle with his mallet without bashing his fingers.

Several years later our shoemaker invested in a new belt driven dinker cutting press to cut out his soles. Our shoemaker progressed from using mallet handle dies to 3-1/2” high safety flange dies to cut out the soles of his shoes. He became the biggest manufacturer of black nun’s shoes in the USA. He eventually bought one of those new fangled clicker swing armed cutting die presses with clicker dies to cut out the upper parts of his shoes.

Our box maker also discovered the steel rule die after many attempts at new cutting methods. His hatboxes can still be seen today in some antique shops and flea markets around the country. The professor was committed to an asylum because he just became too dangerous at throwing knives at all sorts of objects and some people. Robert LaPlant’s mother did get her new heart shaped cookie cutter.

Eventually a whole new industry called “diecutting” developed in North America as in other parts of the world. There were many different types of diecutting using many different types of dies and different types of diecutting presses. So you see, the original band of interested individuals did finally develop different methods of doing the same thing. That was cutting out identical parts in one way or another, but all using a sharp edged cutting die. At the time of their original meeting, they just could not visualize that the wonderful world of diecutting would become so broad based, influencing the whole converting industry of soft to semi-rigid materials and most important, affecting the lives of so many people who use products that are die cut.

Final note:

I hope you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek spoof of that possibly could have been the first meeting to discuss the development of the diecutting process. If you would like to know the rest of the “real” story, continue on reading this book.

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