Patent Application
20100236100
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to shoes and, more particularly, to a composite shoe composed of two shoe bodies coupled together so as to have different applications.
2. Description of Related Art
“To choose proper shoes for specific work, sports, and occasions” may well be a concept preached by shoe companies to promote shoes, but it has also been deeply rooted in consumers' minds so that people tend to prepare different shoes for different events. During a business trip, for example, a formal pair of shoes are required for meeting clients or attending formal gatherings, but casual footwear is also needed for private or leisure time. As a result, luggage for a single business trip becomes heavier because of the different pairs of shoes. Besides, it is common practice in many families to take off shoes before entering the residence and walk barefoot or in slippers indoors. While this is helpful in maintaining household cleanliness, it is inconvenient for visitors because, when it is required to walk inside the house barefoot or only with socks on, the visitors may be concerned about their foot odor being offensive to others. On the other hand, if visitors are asked to wear indoor slippers, the slippers will inevitably be worn and shared by many different people so as to cause hygiene problems.
In view of the aforesaid problems associated with conventional shoes, the prevent invention provides a composite shoe that serves as a formal shoe as well as a casual shoe, thereby solving the problem of carrying several pairs of shoes on a business trip. The composite shoe is also interchangeable between an indoor mode and an outdoor mode so as to eliminate the inconvenience of changing between indoor and outdoor shoes and the aforementioned hygiene problems.
The composite shoe according to the present invention includes a first shoe body and a second shoe body detachably coupled together. The first shoe body is a close-toed and open-heeled shoe and has an open-heeled portion whose outer surface is provided with at least one coupling element. The second shoe body is a close-toed and close-heeled shoe to be received in and coupled with the first shoe body in such a way that an outer bottom surface of a sole of the second shoe body is disposed on a surface of an insole of the first shoe body while the second shoe body has a close-toed portion inserted in a close-toed portion of the first shoe body and a close-heeled portion disposed at the open-heeled portion of the first shoe body. In addition, the close-heeled portion of the second shoe body has an outer surface provided with at least one coupling element to be coupled with the at least one coupling element at the open-heeled portion of the first shoe body.
The composite shoe with the first and the second shoe bodies coupled together serves as a common outdoor shoe. When moving indoors from an outdoor environment, a wearer of the composite shoe only has to disengage the coupling elements of the first and the second shoe bodies to remove the second shoe body, which is already worn by the wearer, directly from inside the first shoe body so that the second shoe body turns into an indoor slipper. For the first and the second shoe bodies to serve respectively as outdoor and indoor shoes, the first shoe body should be more rigid and more impact-resistant than the second shoe body while the second shoe body is softer and more elastic than the first shoe body.
The composite shoe according to the present invention has several modes of use. For example, when riding a long-distance bus or a plane, a wearer may take off the first shoe body (i.e., the outer shoe) and wear only the second shoe body (i.e., the inner shoe) to alleviate foot discomfort and prevent poor blood circulation. In addition, the first shoe body, which is an open-heeled shoe, can be used independently as a casual shoe, a slipper, or a sandal for outdoor applications. Hence, the composite shoe according to the present invention changes its modes of use easily for indoor and outdoor applications, thus not only reducing the number of shoes to be carried on a business trip, but also eliminating the hygiene problems associated with walking barefoot or changing into indoor slippers. Furthermore, the soft second shoe body can be removed completely from inside the first shoe body for thorough cleaning, thereby solving the long-standing hygiene and odor problems caused by difficulty in cleaning the inside of a conventional shoe.
In the composite shoe according to the present invention, the coupling elements of the first and the second shoe bodies are mutually engageable and disengageable fasteners or hook-and-loop fasteners.
In the composite shoe according to the present invention, the outer bottom surface of the sole of the second shoe body is preferably an anti-slip surface, and the second shoe body preferably has an elastic tongue that moderately covers the back of a wearer's foot to facilitate walking.
In the composite shoe according to the present invention, the open-heeled portion of the first shoe body preferably includes a stop flange extending upward from the surface of the insole of the first shoe body for stopping the second shoe body.
At least one embodiment is provided hereinafter to illustrate the preferred implementation mode and features of the present invention.
Referring to
The second shoe body 20 is a close-toed and close-heeled shoe, and a close-heeled portion 21 of the second shoe body 20 has an outer surface provided with at least one coupling element 22. In this preferred embodiment, the coupling element 22 is a fastener provided at a distal end of a flap 23 extending outward from the close-heeled portion 21 of the second shoe body 20. The at least one coupling element 22 can be coupled with the at least one coupling element 14 at the open-heeled portion 11 of the first shoe body 10 so that the second shoe body 20 is received in and detachably coupled with the first shoe body 10. When the second shoe body 20 is received in and coupled with the first shoe body 10, as shown in
The composite shoe 1 according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention provides the following modes of use. When the first and the second shoe bodies 10 and 20 are coupled together, the composite shoe 1 serves as a general outdoor shoe, as shown in
It has been demonstrated by way of example that the first and the second shoe bodies of the composite shoe according to the present invention are coupled to each other by the flap 23 extending outward from the second shoe body 20 and provided with the coupling element 22 in the first preferred embodiment or by the strip-like or flap-like coupling element 41 extending outward from the first shoe body 40 in the second preferred embodiment. The first and the second shoe bodies can nevertheless be coupled together by ways other than illustrated in the above two embodiments. For example, the strip-like or flap-like coupling element can be provided at the first shoe body or the second shoe body as appropriate.
The embodiments provided herein are intended to demonstrate the preferred implementation modes, but not to limit the scope, of the present invention. A person of ordinary skill in the art can make changes or modifications to the embodiments without departing from the technical concept of the present invention after reviewing the contents disclosed herein. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
