August 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



799 



The Rubber Sole Up to Date 



The Question of Health— Popular Fallacies Concernins Rubber Soles— Wide Use for Rubber Soles- Marketing and Production— Quest (or Solin? 

 Conipounds— Types of Soling Compounds— Unusual Types of Rubber Soles— Modern Shoe Machinery Used— Rubber-Sole Testing Machines 



A QUESTION OF HEALTH 



WITH the drug stores of the world i)acked with cold remedies, 

 and civilized man coughing, expectorating, suffering, and 

 dying from colds, preventatives should be taken into ac- 

 count far more than they are. What has been done in guarding the 

 throat and nasal passages by isolating coughers, lining the spitters, 



TvPtS UF Rl'BBEIv ANll KuiiBEK-l'IUtK SoLES 



and insisting upon pure air night and day, is excellent. One 

 source of cold-catching, however, is almost totally neglected, and 

 that is through the feet. Here are the largest and most active 

 pores. They are constantly at work throwing off poison. If 

 chilled, this work stops, congestion is brought on, and a cold is 

 the result. 



Not that dry cold feet are a menace. 

 It is the cold feet brought about by 

 outside wet or dampness that does 

 the harm. A prolific source of colds 

 is the leather sole, thick or thin, from 

 which the natural oil has been re- 

 moved. While such a sole may wear 

 well, there is also its quality of ab- 

 sorbing water quickly and as quickly 

 drying out. Such soles, just as soon 

 as they are damp, should no longer 



be worn, because in their quick drying-out the cold is taken. In 

 other words, take off damp or wet shoes at once, or, better still, 

 wear waterproof soles and let the damp earth, wet grass, or 

 slushy sidewalks do their worst. Certainly, thus shod, there is 

 no danger of catching cold through the feet. 



The waterproof rubber sole, if of proper thickness, also keeps 

 the feet much warmer than leather, and without the use of 

 cumbersome insoles; and this means better circulation of the 

 blood. Such equalization of the blood current in turn means less 

 congestion in the respiratory and other organs sensitive to hy- 

 peremia or overfulncss of the blood vessels ; and hence less likeli- 

 hood of the development of many maladies commoidy attributed 

 to this cause. With such a sole it is possible to dispense with 

 the wearing of rubbers and overshoes except in the tnost stormy 

 weather. Walking may be one of the best forms of exercise, yet 

 every step means more or less jar on the spinal cord and the 

 brain, which is reduced by the elastic and flexible rubber sole 

 that acts as a cushion. Many a sufferer from rheinnatism, sci- 

 atica, backache, headache, and various nervous ailments has been 

 afforded marked relief by substituting rubber soles for the har.sher 

 though time-honored ones of leather. 



POPULAR FALLACIES CONCERNING RUBBER SOLES 



Many people who ought to know better still cling to the belief 



Grosjean Cord Sole 



that rul-ber soles act like poultices, that is, that they burn and 

 draw the feet, while leather soles allow the feet to "breathe." 

 The best that can be said of both notions is that they are like 

 half-truths and that they lack scientific proof. Doubtless the 

 earlier makes of soles contained too much rubber and were too 

 heavy, and this caused as much discomfort to people with sensitive 

 feet as the wearing of thick rubber boots. However, in recent 

 years, there has been a wonderful improvement in the manufac- 

 ture of rubber soles, former sole faults having been quite over- 

 come by intelligent cooperation on the part of the rubber chemist, 

 superintendent, and sales manager. 



If rul'lier really burned cr dievv the feet tliere should lie some 

 complaint made by the great number of people who mostly un- 

 knowingly but with evident satisfaction wear rubber-fiber insoles, 

 which are now used in a large percentage of good quality shoes.. 

 .\s for leather soles allowing the feet to "breathe," the fact is- 

 only too patent that the bottom of any well-made leather shoe, 

 composed as it is of layers of tough tanned hide, waxed fabric, 

 and other such material, is simply impermeable to air ; and if the- 

 feet "breathe," they do so through or above the upper. It is 

 familiar experience that the rubber sole is a boon to sufferers- 

 from swollen and tender feet and to those afflicted with corns 

 and bunions; nor does the rubber-soled shoe have to be "brokeni 

 in" as is necessary so often with leather shoes. Orthopedic sur- 

 geons are quoted as saying that the rubber sole allows the muscles 

 of the foot to flex and function more naturally than leather. 

 WIDE USE FOR RUBBER SOLES 

 .\part from even the question of health, the modern rubber sole 

 has many points in its favor. It is re- 

 markably durable, often wearing 

 tliree times as long as a good leather 

 sole, affording miners, marketmen, 

 tanners, abattoir men, and others a 

 perfect foot protection ; it saves the 

 shoes of farmers who inust walk in 

 moist alkaline fertilizers ; its noise- 

 less tread, if placed on children's shoesj 

 affords much relief to tired mothers, 

 and it is a certain advantage to police- 

 men, soldiers, sailors, marines, hunters, hotel, hospital, and other 

 workers. Being an electrical non-conductor, it can safeguard fire- 

 men, linemen, motormcn, conductors, and others from possibly fatal 

 shocks ; it greatly lessens for brakemen, firemen, engineers, and 

 others the harmful viliration of trains and gives thein a surer 



Foster Crimpep Rubberized Fiber Sole 



footing on car-steps ; and it also provides bicyclists, golfers, hikers^ 

 fishermen, yachtsmen, and others with an ideal shoe sole, 

 MARKETING AND PRODUCTION 

 Despite tlie fact that the rublier sole had proved its right to 



