Goodyear welt sewing machine. The welt is a strip of leather sewn around the bottom edge of a shoe. Stitching attaches the welt to the upper of the shoe and to the insole. The outer sole is sewn to the welt rather than the underpart of the shoe, thereby maximising water resistance. Charles Goodyear Jr. patented his Goodyear welt sewing machine in 1871. This machine could quickly stitch together the welt, upper, and soles, a process previously done by hand. This photograph is from an archive of images dating from the 1860s to the 1920s, collected for 'The Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States' (1925-1929).