Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-10-17
The Earliest Rubber Shoes.

India rubber shoes we're first manu-
factured in Roxbury, Mass, in 1888,
and verify they we're "fearfully and
wonderfully made" They really bore
no resemblance whatever to a shoe.
They had the appearance of having
been run into molds. or blown, the
same as glass bottles are made. They
were made of pure rubber gum. No at
tempt was made to initiate the shape
of The shoe or the foot they were in
tende dto cover. In shape they were
hollow tubes, tapering toward the toe.
At the place where the opening to pull
them over the shoe should be was an
irregular hole, without shape, just as
they came from the mold The hole
was enlarged with sharp pair of
shears to fit the lnstep, or cut high or
low to suit the taste or caprice of the
customer. The work was done by the
salesman after the buyer had selected
according to his requirements, heavy or
light, thick or thin. Mems sizes were
very heavy, the soles being frequently
from one-fourth to half inch in
thickness. They were tied in pairs
and stuffed with straw or hay to keep
them in shape for shipment. A lady's
foot, incased in this huge, illshaped
mass of India rubber gum Weighing at
least a pound, presented clumsy ap-
pearance particularly when compared
with the light and truly artistic ap-
pearance of the present styles
The first attempt at making over
shoes of India rubber did not prove
success, a large amount of capital be-
ing sunk in the experiment, as well as
all the unsold stock. They answered
the purpose in cold weather, but would
not stand the heat, melting into a dis
gusting mass.
Experiments to remedy this difflcul-
ty resulted in reaching the opposite
extreme, the cold weather freezing
them so hard as to make them brittle,
so they could not be drawn over the
shoe until they were thoroughly warm
ed, and this obstacle to success was
not overcome until Charles Goodyear
discovered his process of vulcanizing
rubber, which has rendered his name
immortal.
I Rapidly following this area of devel
Opments, the India rubber shoe began
to assume beauty of proportion and
practical utility. They were lasted,
and the shoe merchant threw aside his
shears. One particularly popular style
that had a great run for a couple of
years was trimmed with fur around
the tops and came well up on the an
kles. Dickens has immortalized this
particular style by placing them on the
feet of the pretty Arabella that Mr.
Wrinkle met and fell in love with
while visiting with Mr.. Plckwick at
Old Wardles.
All rubber shoes were made from the
solid gum at that time and we are
safe in saying that a single pair would
outweigh six pairs of those now in
the market. Besides being heavy and
ugly, they were often painful from be-
ing so tightly stretched over the foot
They made the wearer look club-footed
and any attempt at Establishment was
failure and made them appear clum-
sier still. But this condition of things
was not to last In 1914 Goodyear per-
fected his vulcanizing process, and his
method of spreading the pure gum
upon elastic textile fabrics, and the
manufacture of rubber shoes has
since improved from year to year, un-
til they have become a thing of beauty.
Philadelphia Record.