Patent Application
20060101667
This invention relates generally to a cleaning shoe. In particular, the present invention relates to a cleaning shoe that may be quickly and easily attached to a wearer's foot or shoe.
Scrubbing and cleaning floors is often a tiring task. Although a good hand-held mop may eliminate some of the drudgery, painful kneeling or bending is often required to clean tough spots. A product that eases the difficulties associated with floor cleaning would be useful and appreciated in both homes and commercial establishments. To eliminate the need to kneel or bend over, then, it would be desirable to operate floor-cleaning tools with the feet instead of the hands.
Various proposals for providing cleaning shoes (also referred to as foot mops, overshoe mops, and cleaning slippers) are found in the art. Such cleaning shoes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,644,813; 6,038,726; 6,047,434; 6,052,856; 6,122,793; 6,134,741; 6,145,156; and 6,430,771. While assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices do not provide a cleaning shoe that is quickly and easily attachable to a wearer's foot or shoe, contains a cleaning agent, and may be easily manufactured.
If the cleaning shoe is difficult or time consuming to attach to a wearer's foot or shoe, the energy and time saved over using traditional (hand) cleaning methods is diminished, making the cleaning shoe much less beneficial to the wearer. Conversely, if the cleaning shoe contains a cleaning agent that may be dispersed when desired, the wearer does not have to locate, carry with his hands, and pour the cleaning agent. This provides the wearer with additional energy and time savings. Furthermore, if the cleaning shoe is easy and cost-effective to manufacture, it may reach consumers at a price that is well received while still being economically profitable for the manufacturer. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a cleaning shoe that is quickly and easily attachable to a wearer's foot or shoe, contains a cleaning agent, and may be easily manufactured.
A cleaning shoe according to the present invention includes a foldable boot, at least one abrasive patch, and a cleaning solution packet. The foldable boot has a sole portion, a rear securing portion, and a front securing portion. Fastening members are connected to both the rear and front securing portions for allowing the sole portion to be secured to a wearer's foot. The sole portion has a waterproof layer positioned atop an absorbent layer, and a detergent pocket is situated between the waterproof layer and the absorbent layer for nesting the cleaning solution packet. The foldable boot is preferably constructed of a single flat sheet of material which may be quickly and easily folded into proper shape around a wearer's foot or shoe. This single-sheet construction makes the foldable boot easy and inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.
In use, the foldable boot is initially in an unfolded configuration and placed with the absorbent layer downward. A wearer positions his foot or shoe atop the waterproof layer of the sole portion, folds the rear and front securing portions in a predetermined manner, and uses the fastening members to secure the rear and front securing portions. This secures the sole portion to the wearer's foot or shoe. The wearer may then walk with the cleaning shoe. The absorbent layer may be used to absorb fluids from a floor surface, and the at least one abrasive patch may be used to dislodge articles from a floor surface by scuffing. The wearer may selectively cause the cleaning solution packet to rupture and exude a cleaning solution contained therein for cleaning purposes.
Therefore, a general object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe that is quickly and easily attachable to a wearer's foot or shoe.
Another object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that is absorbent.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that keeps a wearer's foot or shoe dry.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that has abrasive areas for scrubbing.
A further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that contains a cleaning agent.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that may be easily manufactured.
An even further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning shoe, as aforesaid, that provides a large amount of cleaning surface area.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, embodiments of this invention.
a is a bottom view of the cleaning shoe as in
b is a top view of the cleaning shoe as in
a is a bottom view of the cleaning shoe as in
b is a sectional view of the cleaning shoe taken along line 4b-4b of
A cleaning shoe according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to
The rear securing portion 114 has at least one ankle strap 115, and an ankle strap fastening member 130 is connected to the at least one ankle strap 115 for releasably securing the rear securing portion 114 to a wearer (
The front securing portion 116 has at least one forward strap 117, and a forward strap fastening member 132 is connected to the at least one forward strap 117 for releasably securing the front securing portion 116 to a wearer (
The sole portion 112 has a waterproof layer 112a positioned atop an absorbent layer 112b (
The sole portion 112 includes a pair of laterally opposed sole extender members 113 for increasing a surface area of the foldable boot sole portion 112 (
The foldable boot 110 is preferably constructed of a single flat sheet of material 110a which may be folded into proper shape around a wearer's foot or shoe (
The at least one abrasive patch 120 preferably includes a plurality of abrasive patches for use in dislodging articles from a floor surface. At least one abrasive patch 122 is connected to the absorbent layer 112b of the sole portion 112 adjacent the sole portion forward edge 112d (
In use, the foldable boot 110 is initially in an unfolded configuration 102 (
The wearer may then walk with the cleaning shoe 100. The absorbent layer 112b may be used to absorb fluids from a floor surface, and the abrasive patches 120 may be used to dislodge articles from a floor surface by scuffing. The sole extender members 113 provide additional surface area for cleaning. A user may selectively apply an impact force upon the cleaning solution packet 142. This impact force causes the cleaning solution packet 142 to rupture and exude a cleaning solution contained therein. This cleaning solution may then be used to clean a floor surface, and the absorbent layer 112b may be used to absorb the cleaning solution.
When the wearer is ready to remove the cleaning shoe 100 from his foot or shoe, he unfastens the fastening members 130 at the ends 115a, 115b of the two ankle straps 115. Next, he unfastens the fastening members 132 located on the two forward lateral straps 117a and the forward center strap 117b. This may be done quickly and easily. At this point, the cleaning shoe 100 is no longer secured to the wearer's foot or shoe, and the cleaning shoe 100 may be discarded, recycled, or washed, depending on the materials used. Notably, the waterproof layer 112a has kept the wearer's foot or shoe dry.
It is understood that while certain forms of this invention have been illustrated and described, it is not limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims and allowable functional equivalents thereof.
