Boots – shoes – and leggings – Uppers – Closure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-08
2001-09-11
Kavanaugh, Ted (Department: 3728)
Boots, shoes, and leggings
Uppers
Closure
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286233
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to footwear and, more specifically, to an internally laced shoe.
BACKGROUND ART
There are a multitude of known shoe and lacing designs for footwear. However, these known designs are deficient in light of the present invention. For instance, previous designs fail to adequately and comfortably secure a user's foot within the shoe. Traditional shoes have an upper central exterior lacing system wherein the lacing is usually channeled through a plurality of eyelets positioned generally on both sides of the center top of the shoe and in close proximity thereto. This type of design fails to provide adequate support by limiting the securing area to generally the upper portion of the foot. For instance, in sporting applications these traditional designs may be physically dangerous and reduce the athlete's performance by allowing the foot to slide or otherwise move within the shoe during use. In addition, because the lacing in traditional designs are exterior, undesired accidents including snagging on objects and tripping on lacing that becomes untied during use may result. Moreover, because of the dangers of the exposed lace of exterior-laced shoes becoming snagged on machinery and placing a user in dangerous positions, many companies forbid the use of these types of shoes in certain industrial applications. Additionally, the lacing of exterior-laced shoes is exposed to the shoes exterior environment and often results in premature wear.
Several attempts have been made to overcome some of these deficiencies. For instance, designs have been proposed wherein the lace system wraps around the heel portion of the shoe to provide a better means for securing the foot within the shoe. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,006 to Breuner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,529 to Bell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,078 to Cochrane and U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,098 to Chalmers. However, these designs teach the use of heel lacing in boots and therein incorporate more complicated and/or bulky fastening means and thus, are not suitable for typical shoes, especially sporting shoes. Moreover, lacing systems that only wrap around the heel of the shoe do not provide maximum securing of the entire foot within the shoe.
In an attempt to solve some of the above-discussed deficiencies of exterior lacing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,078 to Cochrane discloses a partially internally laced shoe. However, the internal lacing only wraps around the heel of the shoe; traditional lacing is needed for the upper center of the shoe. Nonetheless, even with the dual lacing system, Cochrane fails to secure the entire foot within a shoe as adequately as provided by the present invention. Moreover, the exterior lacing of Cochrane remains susceptible to snagging and premature wear and tear.
An additional deficiency noted in previous designs is the need to utilize two hands to tie and/or secure the lacing in position. For many handicap individuals, traditional shoes can be difficult if not impossible to tie and/or adequately secure around the feet. Additionally, many professional and nonprofessional athletes and other users find it both interfering and time consuming to use both hands to retie traditional shoe lacing that may become easily untied during use. In an attempt to overcome these deficiencies designs have been proposed that allow one hand or finger tightening. An example of such a design may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,949 to Seidel. Although Seidel discloses a one-pull tightening system, as with other previous deficient designs, Seidel's lacing system only tightens the upper center portion of the shoe and thus fails to adequately secure the entire foot within the shoe.
It is readily apparent that a new and improved internally laced shoe is needed that provides for a one-pull lacing system that wraps around the entire shoe and foot, including the heel, to provide means for more adequately securing the entire foot within the shoe. It is, therefore, to the provision of such improvements that the present invention is directed.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly described, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention overcomes the abovementioned disadvantages by providing an internally laced shoe that more fully secures the wearer's foot within the shoe.
The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, comprises a shoe, a plurality of lace guides, a buckle and lacing. More specifically, lace guides are positioned at a multitude of advantage points to maximize the tightening of the shoe around a wearer's foot. These advantage points in the preferred embodiment are along the upper center, bottom inside edge, bottom outside edge and heel of the shoe. Preferably two to eight lace guides are positioned along the bottom inside edge, two to eight along the bottom outside edge, two to eight along the upper center and one to three on the heel of the shoe. The lace is preferably one continuous generally elongated rectangular-shaped cloth, elastic or other flexible material having a first end and a second end.
The first end of the lace is sewn or otherwise secured internally near the toe of the shoe. The second end of the lace is channeled through each lace guide starting with the first bottom edge lace guide proximal to the first end of the lace, through the sole of the shoe and through the first bottom lace guide opposite the secured first end of the lace and then through the first lace guide of the upper center set. Next, the lace is channeled through the next adjacent bottom edge guide on the side of the shoe having the secured first end of the lace. This pattern is continued until the lace is channeled through the next to last (fifth) upper center lace guide, at which time the lace is wrapped around the heel of the shoe, through the heel lace guide, and back around through the last upper center lace guide. Upon exiting this last lace guide the second end of the lace is channeled through a fixed buckle and into a small slit positioned near the buckle to provide a means for hiding any excess lace. Alternatively or additionally, hook-and-loop fastener or other suitable securing means may be utilized to secure the lace in the desired position in lieu of the buckle. Preferably, the first, fourth and sixth upper center lace guides extend through apertures formed in the outside layer of the shoe and thus are the only externally visible lace guides. As such, the lace remains internal until it exits out of the sixth upper lace guide except for small portions that are externally visible near or at the first, fourth and sixth upper center lace guides.
Because of the strategically placed lace guides, a user simply pulls on the exposed second end of the lace thereby allowing the lace to roll along a roller positioned within each lace guide. Additionally, because the first end of the lace is fixed, the pulling on the second end of the lace will result in a reciprocating force about each lace guide thus securely tightening the shoe around the user's foot.
In a first alternate embodiment, an internal lacing system is disclosed wherein the lace guides are positioned internally in a generally diamond-shaped layout. There are preferably four lace guides each comprises preferably two rollers. The first lace guide is positioned generally in the upper centerline of the shoe near the toe area; the second lace guide is positioned generally on the left side of the shoe and in close proximity to the sole at approximately the middle of the shoe, lengthwise; the third lace guide is positioned generally on the right side of the shoe and in close proximity to the sole at approximately the middle of the shoe, lengthwise, and thus directly opposite the second lace guide; the fourth lace guide is positioned generally in the upper centerline of the shoe near the foot opening. The lace in this first alternate embodiment is generally two elongated cylindrical-shaped cords made from cloth or other flexible material. Each lace has a first end and a
Kavanaugh Ted
Myers Joel D.
Myers & Associates, P.C.
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