The importance of TOES and the discovery of Toe-Articulated Stilts.
George, a friend of my father was informed by his doctor that he had gangrene in all his toes. They would all need to be amputated before the decaying skin would spread to the rest of his feet. He told my dad & I that he didn’t forsee any problem with this operation because his toes were just a small percentage of his entire foot.
After the healing from the surgery he told us how much he missed his toes for the following reasons:
- Could not maintain his balance while standing still.
- Difficult to slow down or stop from walking. (putting on the brakes)
- Difficult to start walking from standing. (pushing off)
- No dexterity in walking, clumsy.
As George mention these symptoms, he said “I feel like I’m walking on stilts”.
It was several year later that I actually was hired as a stiltwalker for Twin Hills Apple Orchard in Sebastopol, CA. This 640 acre orchard was on the hilliest terrain in the area. The problem was that the orchard ladders were almost impossible to stabilize at steep inclines and this was extremely dangerous for the employees. Injuries were common, and this was not acceptable.
In 1962, Darrel Hurst, the owner of Twin Hills was driving by Clovis, CA when in his amazement, he saw workers harvesting peaches while ontop of tall stilts. He made a U turn and drove back to the peach orchard and met owner Wayne Demmings and his son, who manufactured these stilts for his employees. Soon a deal was made for Wayne to manufacture 100 pairs of stilts at a cost of $100 each to be shipped to Twin Hills Apple Orchard to replace the orchard stilts.
The orchard stilts proved invaluable on many levels.
Even though a stilt walker can get accomplished on stilts (without articulating-toes), there is still that missing element of balance without the ability to manipulate the toes.
When I was 13 years, I was a very accomplished professional stilt walker with almost 1,000 hours on stilts, one summer on both 4-1/2’ and 7’ tall stilts. I worked on a hilly 640 acre apple orchard in Sebastopol, CA, where I was part of a group of 50 stilt walkers picking apples and pruning trees. We used Orchard Stilts which consisted of 3 long aluminum poles that connect to a hinging flat ground plate.
By combining my experience with orchard stilts and George’s toes experience, I decided to combine those 2 experiences and invent a better stilt by adding articulating toes.
The Orchard Stilts were manufactured by Wayne Demmings of Clovis, CA. These are the same model stilts I trained on as a teenager. In order to be hired as a stilt walker, I was required to go to the orchard and practice on my own time on the 4-1/2 foot tall stilts. When I was able to get comfortable enough on the stilts to be able to perform JUMPING JACKS and opposite TOE TOUCHES in front of the boss Darrel Hurst, then I could be employed. It was such a wonderful experience to work with my head in the skys that summer in 1963 with 50 other stilt walkers.