Patent Application
20150289609
The present invention relates to the field of adjusting and tightening devices for accessories such as footwear, and more particularly, to accessory cinching devices for adjusting and securing shoelaces to a desired tightness or looseness, respectively.
Conventional adjusting devices have many disadvantages in that such devices are either unable to adjust footwear without creating excess remaining shoelace or are unable to securely fasten the shoelace. In particular, shoelace can be adjusted and secured by a few known methods. For example, the shoelace can be secured with a knot or clasped with various conventional accessory devices. These methods, however, leave the remaining shoelace to dangle off the side of the user's footwear. In addition, shoelaces can become loose, dangle, or create a trip hazard in that the shoelaces, including the remaining length, are not adequately secured in conventional tightening devices. Also, conventional devices are comprised of relatively many individual components or parts, which increase the production cost and may likely result in early wear and tear of such devices. It would thus be desirable to have an improved accessory cinching device for adjusting and securing shoelaces to a desired tightness or looseness, which avoids the disadvantages of the known devices.
In a first aspect, there is provided herein an accessory cinching device for securing shoelaces to a desired tightness or looseness. The device includes a first cylindrical housing configured to be stationary that has a side wall, a plurality of side line holes, a base collar, a plurality of bottom line holes, and a bottom core hole. The plurality of side line holes are adapted to accommodate placement of shoelace on the interior of the device. The plurality of bottom line holes are adapted to accommodate placement of the device on top of the shoelaces. A second cylindrical housing is configured to be rotating, a top screw hole with a plurality of top screw hole notches, a top collar, and a plurality of lower guides. The top collar is configured to provide alignment of the rotating housing disposed on top of the stationary housing. A retaining nut has a bottom core with a plurality of bottom core notches, a bottom lip, and an internal thread. The bottom core of the retaining nut is adapted to be inserted up through the bottom core hole of the stationary housing. A screw has a flat, winged head and an external elongated thread and is adapted to secure the rotating housing to the retaining nut. The plurality of top screw hole notches of the rotating housing and the plurality of bottom core notches of the retaining nut are adapted to interlock to prevent the screw from over-tightening or backing out when the rotating housing is turned. The base collar and the bottom lip are adapted to maintain the assembled rotating housing, the retaining nut, and the screw in alignment while allowing the device to rotate relative to the stationary housing when securing the shoelaces to the desired tightness or looseness.
In certain embodiments, the first cylindrical housing and the second cylindrical housing are configured to be concentric with each other in an assembled configuration.
In certain embodiments, the rotating housing is configured to be positioned over the stationary housing and aligned so that the top screw hole notch and the bottom core notch interlock.
In certain embodiments, the plurality of lower guides of the rotating housing, allow shoelace to be secured and pulled into the device during operation.
In certain embodiments, the bottom core of the retaining nut is adapted to form a spool around which the shoelaces wrap when the rotating housing is turned relative to the stationary housing.
In certain embodiments, the shoelaces are wrapped around the spool centered on an axis of rotation.
In certain embodiments, the rotating housing winds the shoelaces around the spool and tightens the shoelaces externally when the rotating housing is rotated in a tightening direction.
In certain embodiments, the rotating housing unwinds the shoelaces around the spool and loosens the shoelaces externally when the rotating housing is rotated in a loosening direction.
In certain embodiments, the device is configured to use friction to secure the shoelaces to the desired tightness or looseness.
In certain embodiments, the device is configured to be positioned over the shoelaces on a top surface of a shoe tongue with the stationary housing facing downward.
Various advantages of this disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.
This disclosure is not limited to the particular apparatus, systems, methodologies or protocols described, as these may vary. The terminology used in this description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.
As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. All publications mentioned in this document are incorporated by reference. All sizes recited in this document are by way of example only, and the invention is not limited to structures having the specific sizes or dimensions recited below. As used herein, the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.”
In consideration of the figures, it is to be understood for purposes of clarity certain details of construction and/or operation are not provided in view of such details being conventional and well within the skill of the art upon disclosure of the document described herein.
The present disclosure pertains to an improved accessory cinching device for footwear that includes no gear teeth, ratcheting or otherwise, and instead uses friction to hold attached lines at the desired length, is simple to assemble with few components, has a low cost to manufacture, and is capable of functioning as an independent accessory with existing footwear, and does not have to be part of a total system design, among other desirable features, as described herein.
To facilitate production, the number of separate components or parts is limited to the minimal number necessary to perform the cinching function of the device in a reliable and efficient manner. The various parts are designed such that dimensions, draft angles, and overhangs are amenable to standard fabrication processes such as three-dimensional (3D) printing and injection molding.
The accessory cinching device of the present disclosure,
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The base collar 133 and the bottom lip 143 are adapted to maintain the assembly comprising the rotating housing 120, the retaining nut 140, and the screw 110 in alignment while allowing the assembly to rotate relative to the stationary housing 130 when securing the shoelaces 101, 104 (
In accordance with the present disclosure, the first cylindrical housing 130 and the second cylindrical housing 120 are configured to be concentric with each other in an assembled configuration as shown in
In assembly of the accessory cinching device 100, the rotating housing 120 is configured to be positioned over the stationary housing 130 and the retaining nut 140 and aligned so that the top screw hole notch 123 and the bottom core notch 142 interlock as shown in
In the initial set-up of the accessory cinching device 100, a left shoelace 101 is threaded upward through the closest bottom line hole 135 on the stationary housing 130. The shoelace 101 is then threaded out through the next bottom line hole 135 on the same side and the shoelace aglet is threaded through the shoe eyelet on the same side and then cross threaded through alternate shoe eyelets. A right shoelace 104 is threaded upward through the opposite bottom line hole 135 on the stationary housing 130. The right shoelace 104 is then threaded out through the next bottom line hole 135 on the same side and the shoelace aglet is threaded through the shoe eyelet on the same side and then cross threaded through alternate shoe eyelets. The plurality of lower guides 125 of the rotating housing 120 allow the shoelace to be secured and pulled into the accessory cinching device 100 during operation. Screw 110 is inserted through rotating housing 120 and is fastened to retaining nut 140 as shown in
In accordance with the present disclosure, the bottom core 141 of the retaining nut 140 is adapted to form a spool (
It should be understood that the accessory cinching device 100 can be fabricated into any suitable size and is sized to scale depending on the application. In some embodiments, the dimensions of the accessory cinching device for footwear 100 include a height of about 13 mm (0.51 inches) and a diameter of about 35 mm (1.38 inches).
It is contemplated by the present disclosure that the various components of the accessory cinching device 100 can be made from different materials. In particular, the accessory cinching device 100 can be made of any sufficiently rigid and strong material such as plastic, wood, metal, or combinations thereof, and the like.
Several of the features and functions disclosed above may be combined into different apparatus, systems or applications, or combinations of apparatus, systems and applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
