@GoatsLive@mastodon.social @FediThing@social.chinwag.org I thought we had these when I was a kid, but looking more closely Europe had strongly discouraged them by 1970s and even in late 1950s the UK put warning signs on them. What replaced them by 1970s was an electromechanical machine that gently moved some bars against your foot and there was mirror/light display like the type of galvanometer used in Physics class demonstration that projected the position of this bar to a ground glass screen. So it was still possible for kids to get shoes that fit them well, without exposing them to hazards.. Alas, it took longer to get lead out of petrol, and asbest removed from brake pads for cars (both only happened at start of 21st century for "Western" nations and took a decade or more longer in many Global South countries)