Rubber Sole

[drstrange169]

" To our clumsy regulation boots we nailed strips of rubber, usually bits of old bicycle tires (sic) ..."

40 years of Scotland Yard - Fred. Wensley

[Enigma]

" To our clumsy regulation boots we nailed strips of rubber, usually bits of old bicycle tires (sic) ..."

40 years of Scotland Yard - Fred. Wensley

Presumably from Dunlop tyres.

[DJA]

Goodyear.

[DJA]

Oops,Dunlop made the first tyre in Belfast in 1888.

[Enigma]

I was about to suggest they had Dunlop on the right boot and Goodyear on the left, but the different tread patterns might have caused them to walk in circles.

[Joshua Rogan]

Oops,Dunlop made the first tyre in Belfast in 1888.

First pneumatic tyre, that is....bicycle tyres had existed for a long time before this but were simply solid rubber strips.

[DJA]

Suspect garden hose would have been used by the police in 1888,not tyres or tubes.

In the tyre/industrial rubber timeline,that is what John Dunlop was first recognised for.

Thomas Hancock and Charles Goodyear had patented rubber vulcanization mid 1845.

[DJA]

I was about to suggest they had Dunlop on the right boot and Goodyear on the left, but the different tread patterns might have caused them to walk in circles.

Reminds me of handling Michelin's first assymetrical car tyre in 1967.It was a 145x10 for a Mini.

Was employed by Pirelli's distributor in Melbourne.We had hold of one before AP Sutherlands,Michelin's distributor down here.

[Newbie]

Its hard, from quick glance, to come up with accurate information about dates.

https://sneakerbinge.com/blogs/news/the-origins-of-sneakers-during-the-1800s-complete-history-guide

This site claims tennis shoes were first mass produced in the US, some time after the civil war, and that the first tennis shoes designed for sports came about in the 1870s ... 'Keds' by the US rubber company; but then a different site mentions the same company and brand being introduced in 1892 .... whose wrong?

One problem I have with JtR in sneakers is that it would render him somewhat conspicuous, wandering at night in them, during the Autumn of terror. Also, the footsteps of the street walkers, who accompanied him, were likewise not heard, or ignored, and I doubt they were wearing sneakers.