Patent Application
20120085000
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates generally to the field of women's shoes and more specifically to an adjustable height shoe heel system.
Women's shoes are designed with varying heal heights. A woman's dress shoe may have a high heel, whereas a woman's casual shoe may have a low heal. High heals, although fashionable, can become uncomfortable if worn over long periods of time. High heals may also be dangerous to wear on uneven or snow covered walking surfaces. In some cases women, when wearing high heeled shoes, carry an extra pair of low heal shoes with them in order to be prepared for occasions where high heels become impractical or uncomfortable. Often a woman will wear low healed shoes to work, and then change to high healed shoes when at work. For all these reasons, it would be desirable to have one shoe that could be adjusted to be a high heal shoe or a low heal shoe.
Others have addressed the concept of a convertible healed shoe. These include patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 235,290
U.S. Pat. No. 2,439,310
U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,418
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,320
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,730
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,021,586 and 6,785,987
However, there is are deficiencies in the prior art. Many of the designs require the user to slide off, or in other ways, remove the high heel from the shoe. This requires that the person store both high heels in a separate location and then attach them when needed. In many cases The bottom of the low heel would have to be completely cleaned off to prepare for the receiving of the high heel members. This would tend to be time consuming and messy. The telescoping designs shown in several of the patents, for converting from high heel to low heel are problematic in that telescoping members require a space consuming overlap from one portion to another making the low heel mode relatively thick.
Additionally, the telescoping members tend to have small gaps between the outer wall of one member and the inner wall of the next member thereby creating a high heel that may feel somewhat unstable during use.
The primary object of the invention is to provide an shoe heel system for a woman's shoe that can quickly and easily adjust from a low heel to a high heel.
Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable shoe heel that does not need to be removed from the shoe to be adjusted.
Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable shoe heel system that allows the shoe to look like a traditional high or low heel when set in the desired position.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable shoe heel system where the side walls of the shoe can automatically adjust to accommodate either a high heel or a low heel condition.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed an adjustable height shoe heel system comprising: a sole portion, a front toe covering portion, a side wall portion, a side wall elastic portion, a rear portion, a low heel member, a high heel member, a heel pivot shaft member, a heel retaining torsion spring member, a high heel cover member, said side wall portion including a plurality of vertically oriented slits, said side wall elastic portion fixedly attached to the inside walls of said side wall portion, said high heel portion having a Y shape, said low heel portion having a W shape, said low heel portion fixedly attached to the underside of said sole portion, the top legs of said Y shape capable of nesting into the recesses of said W shape when in the low heel orientation, said top legs of said Y shape rotatably pinned by said shaft member to the central portion of said W shape so that said high heel can pivot down when in the high heel orientation, said heel retaining torsion spring member fixed at its lowest point to a post protruding from said high heel member, the upper portions of said heel retaining torsion spring member bent outward from each other and removably retained by apertures located in the side walls of said low heel member, and said high heel cover member surrounding said high heel member and removably retained to said low heel member by standard means.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
In an alternate embodiment 300 shown in
Referring back to
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
