Sunday, July 17, 2011

CAT'S PAW MICROLITE SOLES / O'SULLIVAN HEELS

Brand: Unknown
Circa: "1940's"
Color: Black
Size: 8 1/2
Measurements:
Length: 11 1/4"
Width: 4"
Height: 16 1/2"
Soles: Cat's Paw Microlite
Heels: O'Sullivan
Leather: Unknown, but looks like Horsehide
Hardware: Brass
Sold For: $157.50 / 13 Bids
Seller: wearekoalas
 
Here's an interesting pair of Vintage Engineer Boots at the right price.  As I mentioned in a previous post, companies used the popular "Engineer Boot" style to promote their company and there was often a design twist as with the buckles on these boots.  If you look close at the third photo, there are verticle stitch holes on the outside of the boot shafts.  They aren't seams, though...not sure what this was for.
 
The biggest takeaway from these boots, for me, are the heels and sole caps.  I always like finding the "nonstandards." 
 
The first rubber heel for shoes was patented on January 24, 1899 by Irish-American Humphrey O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan patented the rubber heel which outlasted the leather heel then in use.  He was working in a print shop, standing on the hard floor all day long. His feet were killing him by the time he got home so he started standing on a small rubber mat. It was such a good idea that his coworkers started stealing it! Then he had an idea! Attach that rubber to the soles of his shoes and no one would steal them again!  It was such a success that he got a patent for it and opened his own company! O'Sullivan Corporation is still in existence, manufacturing and distributing plastics for the automotive and manufacturing industries.
 
The Cat's Paw sole caps are really neat, too.  At first, I thought the letters survived and the traditional intricate design usually associated with Cat's Paw was worn out.  It turnes out that this particular style of sole had no design and comes just as pictured. 
 





 

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