-
100
Early day shoes
How shoes were in early days
Back in the late 1600-1200 BC, the most common shoe used in early civilizations were sandals. In some more advanced civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, had soft shoes that mountain men would wear, which were made of wraparound leather, similar to moccasin. These shoes were used throughtout many ages and wasn't improved until later years with new additions and improvements to make them better. -
Harvey Kennedy and his creation of the shoelace
Harvey Kennedy
The Shoelace was an improvement that was created by Harvey Kennedy. When he first created the product, he used leather for tying shoes and added aglets to put on the ends to make it easier to loop the lace through the eyeholes. Aglets were first made from metals such as silver but were later changed to plastic as seen today in shoes. This addition was added because they kept shoes from falling off feet. -
Machinery for creating shoes
Lyman Reed Blake
First, in 1856, Lyman Blake had created a sewing machine that was able to sew the sole of shoes to the uppers. He had partnered with Isaac Singer's sewing machine company, which set up these machines in actual shoe making factories. These factories loved his idea and made many throughout all of their stores. later, in 1858, he had recieved a patent for his machine. -
Jan Matzeliger and the Lasting Machine
Jan Matzeliger
In 1877, Jan Matzeliger moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, to seek a job in the rapidly developing shoe industry. He ended up finding a job as an apprentice in a shoe factory, where he learned how to make shoes by hand. After watching how ending processes worked, he tried to find a solution to make shoemaking easier. After testing out many different machines, he was able to create one that worked. -
The Rubber Heel Creation
History of Shoes
In 1889, inventor Humphrey O'Sullivan had created a rubber heel that could outlast that of a leather heel. This heel was made of rubber and was said to be able to last longer than original heels that were made of leather. Later, Elijah McCoy had made an improvement to the rubber heel that was first created. McCoy made this improvement so that the heel would be easier to make and more comfortable. -
Charles Goodyear and vulcanization with rubber
History of Shoes
In 1899, Charles Goodyear had created a manufacturing process for melding rubber together, called vulcanization. It is an important process for the rubber in shoes because this process molds rubber to either cloth or other rubber for a better bond and to have a more permanent bond inside of the shoe, so that falling apart would be harder in shoes. -
The First Sneakers
History of Shoes
In 1917, the first sneakers were created and were named that by Henry Nelson McKinney, who is an advertising agent who got the phrase to help better sell his shoes. The name came from the reason that they are very quiet when people would walk in them, where you could sneak up on someone. These sneakers were great for both looking nice and being comfortable while wearing them, unlike old shoes.
