3-102-266 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rubber heels in the making: an elaborate calendering machine which flattens the raw rubber that is afterwards used in the "heels", 1909. 'The Heel of Achilles & the Heel of the Modern...the Wood-Milne revolving rubber heel was invented some thirteen years ago. Like most of the useful, great inventions of the world, Mr. Wood's was a simple one. It occurred to him that instead of tough leather, or of tough leather tipped with clumsy iron, some new material, at once springy and durable, might be found as a comfortable cushion between the foot and the ground. That substitute was found in indiarubber, one of the most lasting and elastic of fabrics...Doctors have long since recommended patients suffering from nervous or spinal troubles to wear rubber heels'. Factory in Preston. From "Illustrated London News", 1909.