Blake and Rapid Method
Devised in 1858 by the American technician Blake, this invention carrying his name consists of a machine sewing – at the same time, with single or double thread - upper, insole and sole.
This kind of working binds the intersole and the sole together and it is achieved by means of a sewing machine called Rapid. This machine, with needles and curved awls, is normally used also in the Goodyear method to sew the welt with the sole.
BLAKE RAPID METHOD:
It is the combination of the two seam stitching procedures in the production of a single shoe.
Blake Rapid Flex Method
This method was patented by Romit in 2008. It consists of adding to the traditional Blake-Rapid method, a slip-lasting working method of the insole lining and the seam stitching. This allows the realisation of a resistant but also flexible shoe.
This method, also called sacchetto construction, consists in sewing the inner lining like a pouch (sacchetto) around the last, making the shoe softer and more flexible.
It is a handcrafted sewing according to which the leather is pierced by hand using an instrument called lesina (awl). This utensil allows to pierce the leather from the grain side passing inside the leather thickness, and finally coming out in the upper part. The thread for sewing is then introduced. The advantage of this sewing method is that the leather is not pierced in its underlying part since the awl allows the thread to pass exclusively inside the leather thickness, without passing through it.
In the tubular working, the upper envelops the last also on the tread side, and it is then hand sewed on the above part called vaschetta (apron), by using a waxed thread.
Shoe manufacturing system according to which the welt is first sewed on the lip of the channel of insole and upper, and then externally joint to the sole. The shoes produced using this method are compact, solid and durable.