Puzzle Description:

Brannock Device

#1: Steve (stevieb) on Jun 25, 2020 [SPOILER]

The Brannock Device is the standard foot measuring tool for the world's footwear industry :)

Those NEVER worked right for me. Anybody have a clue as to why?

Feet too long? Or too wide?

Great illustration.

I remember those things.Fun puzzle.

I did not know that those had a name!

I don't know, Kristen. I've always thought my feet were perfectly normal (maybe we all do!), but whenever I used this device the shoes were too short.

Wow...those used to be part of the going back to school ritual...hadn't thought about that in the longest time...blast from the past.

Remember when some nice salesclerk actually sat down, measured your feet and waited on you? Now they just stick all the shoes out on the floor and you try them on to see if anything fits. And then people leave them lying around the floor and they get stepped on.

Bill, if you have a higher than normal arch, that would make the measurements off. The measurements just put us in the ballpark, I think. I remember when a salesperson would INSIST on the size we were supposed to have based on our measurements. But no shoe or foot is exactly the same as another - you gotta try 'em on.

The average shoe narrows toward the toe but the average foot doesn't. I don't know how fashionable women manage to squeeze their feet into those torture devices, much less spend their day walking in them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXHsY1eoIzA

I know my best friend in middle school used to have horrible bunions; mainly from the narrowness of 80s dress footwear. Nowadays, the cuts tend to be kinder. Modern pointy-toe pumps usually have room for an actual foot, and THEN taper to a point.

Oh my haven't thought of this device in years! I remember taking my son when he was young to the store for new shoes. He went and got the Brannock Device and measured his foot. He announced his shoe size which was two sizes bigger than his current shoe. I thought he didn't know what he was doing and measured again...dang if he was squished in a shoe two sizes too small. He was never a complainer. Still isn't.

Remember when they used a device that looked like a fat ruler with a slider on it and a stop for your heel? For a long time my foot was measured wrong because I have short toes. So when I finally got measured with a Brannock Device I was fitted with the right size because it measures the distance from your heel to the bone next to your big toe joint.

Bill, I used to have the same problem. Koreen is on the right track with the arch. The Brannock Device can measure the length and width of your foot and locate your arch, but not the depth - or height - of your instep. This measurement can vary due to a high arch or simply the structure of your foot. Because I have a high instep, I have to buy shoes a size larger than the device tells me.
Brian, thanks for the informative puzzle!

Carol, my son did the same thing. Twice. From a 4 to 7, then to 11. He's now a 15, lol, and in charge of his own purchases!

Thanks, Koreen, glad to hear I wasn't the only "bad" parent!!

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