HEELS
A shoe is made from many different parts but probably none is as controversial as the heels.
There is much ado about heels; especially high ones. They have a reputation of being sexy, uncomfortable, indispensable, and elegant.
For shoe making, quality heels are a very expensive «ingredient». At the same time they are very vulnerable since it is easy to damage the leather.
REMOVABLE HEELS
A GOOD IDEA IN THEORY
The American Journal «Hide and Leather and Shoes» was established in 1890 and edited every Saturday. It contained insider information about methods of tanning, leather dying as well as the weekly prices for skins and hides. Other information appear quite funny to us. For example the journal announces in an edition of 1939 that a certain director just returned from a business and leisure trip to Cuba.
This journal published the news of a removable heel. The inventor Enrico De Gironimo, New York, N.Y. was granted the patent no. 2,139,885 for a removable heel in 1939. As required for the application of a patent, Mr De Gironimo created a technical drawing (see below) and added the following description:
A shoe heel comprising a plate fixed to the sole of a shoe and having an inwardly inclined border flange constituting a socket, a second plate having a down reaching dowel secured in said socket, a heel body held to said second plate, a heel lift, means to prevent twisting of said lift relative to said body, and means to clamps said lift and body to said second plate.
Enrico De Gironimo
HEELS ARE MEANT TO LAST
As it seems the invention did not take the market by storm. Or did you ever see a shoe with a removable heel?
We think that such a model might have faced some challenges:
- Once you «killed» the heel and needed a removable one it was imperative to find one with exactly the same height and shape
- A heel normally must be attached with a screw and 5 nails to enable it to carry our weight safely. Was this heel really stable or did the clients think it was?
- Once the heel is in such a shape that it needs to be exchanged, is the body of the shoe still worth such an investment?
If you ever break the heel of a shoe you need a shoe maker with a special machine to attach it again; provided the heel itself is still intact. This is because shoes are meant to have the same heel in their entire lifetime.
