In response to a request by a major sport shoe manufacturer, a project to develop an innovative (outdoor) sport shoe traction tester was designed and constructed in the labs of William English, Inc.

Designed as a functional traction tester for shoes intended for activities besides walking it ca.ns apply physical exertion requiring additional traction above the 1.0 range of slipmeters.

Now on European Tour
The International Tennis Federation has purchased the prototype SST, and it has been domiciled near London with prospects for traveling around Europe in connection with studies of tennis shoe traction and clay court conditions.

A second-generation SST Specialized Shoe Traction Tester developed by William English, Inc.is a powerful new instrument that applies thrust vectors in a range of magnitudes and velocities that actually occur in work and athletic pursuits. Compressed air provides pneumatic force on two axes of motion: (1) vertical (or normal), (2) horizontal. The thrust vectors can be coordinated, so as to avoid sticktion. Velocities and force magnitudes are controllable independently, and angles of thrust vectors are adjustable.

New Developments
Because of new interest by the military in testing combat footwear and some interest from employers for testing shoes requiring higher available traction than can be tested with a conventional slipmeter, the SST has been redesigned incorporating operational simplifications making it much easier to use and having a less-complicated data capture protocol. This device has been sold to eXceL Tribometers, LLC in South Carolina.

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