Rubber Heel

[Shotgun Franklin]

Ok, when did boot makers first start using a rubber piece on the bottom of the heel?

[Delmonico]

Ok, when did boot makers first start using a rubber piece on the bottom of the heel?

Right after Charles Goodyear invented vuvanized rubber.  Of course they did't all change overnight.  Rubber soles also on some footwear.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Right after Charles Goodyear invented vuvanized rubber.  Of course they did't all change overnight.  Rubber soles also on some footwear.

Del....
Do you have resources that show the earliest date, and the commonality of when they were actually used on boots/shoes? I'm sure there was a time lag before someone got the bright idea of attaching rubber heels/soles to foot wear. It would be a good piece of information to archive.

Bill

[Delmonico]

I don't have it handy, but one of my books has a picture from a page in one of Goodyears Catalogs that shows rubber sole and heels, it is dated to the early 1850's.  Also accounts from the prison camp where Confederate raider John Morgan escaped from says the guards wore rubber soled shoes to make them quieter to help keep and eye on Morgan and his men.  They crushed up coal and tossed it out into hallway to counter this.

[Delmonico]

BTW the company that Charles Goodyear formed and that went out of bussiness later is not the same company as the Goodyear Rubber Company of today.  All they did was name it in his honor.

[Shotgun Franklin]

So a rubber heel on the boots is period correct for at least the Civil War on. Kinda about what I guessed.

[Delmonico]

So a rubber heel on the boots is period correct for at least the Civil War on. Kinda about what I guessed.

Like many things, depends on the source.  Someone should run to the Arabica or the DeSoto bend museum and see if those boots have rubber heels.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

So a rubber heel on the boots is period correct for at least the Civil War on. Kinda about what I guessed.

Well maybe....see my post on "History of the Rubber Heel......we're still looking for more definitive evidence.....

Bill

[Delmonico]

I have and it don't change a thing except to document an improved rubber heel.  Got to busy last night to search out and read the patent.