Oswald Williams’ Shoe cod invention

This is one of the Oswald Williams crazy inventions which came into the Davenport Collection via his wife Rae Warwick. We know of no written patter for it, but John Davenport’s father believed that the shoe solved the problem of your foot remaining soaking wet once you’d got caught out in the rain. All you have to do is lift your foot up and push down on the front of the shoe. The toe cap hinges downwards and the water simply runs out. You then let go of the front and the toe cap neatly snaps back into place. The Davenport Collection also contains an exercise book (illustrated) which is headed ‘Inventions and illustrated ideas for more’ in Rae Warwick’s handwriting. The book is full of some great ideas but, unfortunately, this shoe is not explained. It is likely that Harry Hemsley was involved in some or all of the inventions.