Patent Application
20100132170
Lace-up shoes have the utility of providing adjustable fit, and a secure retention of the shoes on the feet, through the use of an easy-to-tie bow knot. The latter bow knot is easy to untie, as well, to facilitate removing the shoes. Unfortunately, conventional bow knots are prone to untying themselves—sometimes several times a day—during the stress cycles of normal walking. The most securely tied bow knots may cause the shoes to constrict blood circulation in the feet. Much of the desirable adjustability in the tightness of the fit of shoes is lost, simply to try to make the bow knots secure enough not to keep coming untied.
The present invention is a simple wire clip, or clips, fitted through the top grommets of lace-up shoes to serve to grip and hold from one to three of the lace portions which extend from each side of a conventional bow knot. In order for a bow knot to be untied, or to untie itself, at least three of the six lace portions which extend to the sides of the bow knot must become loose enough to slip back through the central knot portion. But with the present Bow Retainer Clips holding even one of the six lace portions, the knots cannot come undone.
Keeping shoes tied can prevent dangerous tripping due to a person stepping on a loose shoe lace with their adjacent foot. Mothers with young children must stop what they are doing to retie their kids' shoes. When the latter happens in a public place, or on a street, there is diminished safety and an increased vulnerability to crime. But loose shoe laces don't need to be a fact of daily life—if shoes are equipped with, and correctly utilize, the present Bow Retainer Clips.
Lace-up shoes usually have evenly spaced grommets on each side of the tongue area of the shoes. Typically, those grommets have a large enough inside diameter to allow portions of a bent wire clip to pass through the same grommets which will be holding the laces. An ideal bow retainer clip will function much like the metal or plastic pocket clips on pens and mechanical pencils. If such a clip type were located in the shoe area below the bows of shoes, then from one to three of lace portions, which extend beyond the bow knot on either side, could be retained under such a clip.
Bow retainer clips, when installed in the grommets, need to have a small enough cross section to allow the laces to still be threaded through the grommets. Bent wire retainer clips, in addition to being compact in cross section, have the added advantage of being both neat and decorative on shoes. The horseshoe loops on the bow retainer clips, also, can serve as attachment points for jewelry charms. The latter usage should not reduce the bow retaining ability of the clips.
The present disclosure describes two types of bow retainer clips. Both are made of either plated spring steel, or other springy wire; or made of vinyl coated wire in various colors. Retainer clip Type One has two side-by-side wire portions which are exposed to view when installed. There are two out-of-sight, looped end portions which are located between the tongue of the shoes and the adjacent sides of the shoes. During the installation of the clips, the shoe laces are threaded through one, or both, of those looped ends to help to maintain the exposed portion of the clips in a neat and straight alignment.
Bow retainer clips Type Two have just a single strand of bent wire exposed to view. But such has two bow retention areas—a lower and an upper. Either of those can retain three bow portions. But bows retained in a group are not as conventional looking nor attractive. Type Two bow retainer clips will function perfectly well with just one of the three bow portions retained. But by using both the upper and the lower clip areas, the fit of the clip on the bows is made much tighter and more secure. A single strand of wire will bite into the laces more tightly for better retention.
The Type Two bow retainer clips project up vertically from the plane of the grommets. The latter orientation is maintained by a 90 degree bend in the wire that is integral with two zigzag bends in the wire. When correctly installed, the latter zigzags will be located between the tongues of shoes and the sides of the shoes. The alignment of the exposed portions of Type Two bow retainer clips is maintained by having the terminal end of the zigzag portion of the wire, bend up through the adjacent grommet of the shoes. The zigzag itself will act as a spring to adapt to the variable grommet spacing on different makes and models of shoes. And the horseshoe-shaped end loop is both snag proof and can serve as an attachment point for (optional) jewelry charms.
A final and important functional aspect of both clip types is that the laces are wedged more tightly in those grommets which have the wires threaded through. That extra tightness can reduce the tendency of the bow knots to come untied. But the clips themselves must be correctly utilized in order to have the most secure bows.
Though two different clip types are shown on a single bow knot of a lace-up shoe, only one clip—of either Type One, or Type Two—is required to keep the bows tied. Because most people tie their shoes while seated, and with their legs crossed, the arch side of the shoe is the more ergonomically correct for easy utilization of the clips.
A typical lace-up shoe as shown in
To utilize the Type One bow retainer clip, a standard bow knot, 6, is tied. At the end of the tying operation, bow, 7, will be in the user's hand—pulling the knot, 6, tight. By positioning the lower half of bow, 7, against the upturned, horseshoe bend, 10, and pulling upward on the same bow portion, the latter can be pulled up to position, 9. Position, 9, allows the springiness of the bow retainer clip to compress, and bite into lace, 5, and provides enough grip on the lower half of bow, 7, to prevent such bow from passing back through knot, 6. Without the Type One bow retainer clip in place, knot, 6, could be untied simply by pulling on the opposite end of the lace, 5, which is shown in
Type Two bow retainer clips are shown in
As bow knot, 6, is being tied, the upper and lower halves of bow, 8, will be in the user's hand, pulling knot, 6, tight. By a simple upward motion of the lower half of bow, 8, such can be pulled under wire loop, 15. Loop, 15, will have been fitting against the outside of the grommet area of the shoe, 2. By a simple downward motion of the top half of bow, 8, such can be pushed below bow retainer portion, 16. Because the wire is springy, portions 15 and 16 will bite into bow, 8, with sufficient force to prevent such from being pulled back through knot, 6. It is optional whether the user wishes to insert the end of lace, 5, under the projecting clip at 14. Because the diameters of laces, 5, can vary, the insertion of the end of lace, 5, can, if needed, provide additional compression to retain bow, 8, in place.
It will take approximately three seconds to fully retain bow, 8, under clip, 14. But because both the upper clip at 16, and the lower clip at 15, can be used independently, Type Two bow retainer clips should function on the widest range of shoe, lace, and grommet sizes and spacings. The springiness of the metal in the zigzag beginning at 17, will allow such clip type to adapt to variations in shoe makes and models. It should be noted that both Type Two bow retainer clips, and Type One bow retainer clips may be used, interchangeably, in either grommet area 1 or 2. A single bow retainer clip per shoe will make it difficult or impossible for knot, 6, to come untied. And knot, 6, need not be pulled exceptionally tight in order for the two clip types to function. Laces, 5, which happen to be too short, or too long, may need to be replaced to assure the proper function of the bow retainer clips.
