Patent Application
20200288882
This invention relates to footwear. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus to carry footwear.
Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which originally serves to purpose of protection against adversities of the environment, usually regarding ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves the purpose to ease the locomotion and prevent injuries. Secondly footwear can also be used for fashion and adornment as well as to indicate the status or rank of the person within a social structure. Socks and other hosiery are typically worn additionally between the feet and other footwear for further comfort and relief.
Cultures have different customs regarding footwear. These include not using any in some situations, usually bearing a symbolic meaning.
Footwear has been in use since the earliest human history, archeological finds of complete shoes date back to the copper age (ca. 5.000 BCE). Some ancient civilizations, such as Egypt and Greece however saw no practical need for footwear due to convenient climatic and landscape situations and used shoes primarily as ornaments and insignia of power.
The Romans saw clothing and footwear as unmistakable signs of power and status in society, and most Romans wore footwear, while slaves and peasants remained barefoot. The Middle Ages saw the rise of high-heeled shoes, also associated with power, and the desire to look larger than life, and artwork from that period often depicts bare feet as a symbol of poverty. Depictions of captives such as prisoners or slaves from the same period well into the 18th century show the individuals barefooted almost exclusively, at this contrasting the prevailing partakers of the scene. Officials like prosecutors, judges but also slave owners or passive bystanders were usually portrayed wearing shoes.
In some cultures, people remove their shoes before entering a home. Bare feet are also seen as a sign of humility and respect, and adherents of many religions worship or mourn while barefoot. Some religious communities explicitly require people to remove shoes before they enter holy buildings, such as temples.
In several cultures people remove their shoes as a sign of respect towards someone of higher standing. In a similar context deliberately forcing other people to go barefoot while being shod oneself has been used to clearly showcase and convey one's superiority within a setting of power disparity.
Practitioners of the craft of shoemaking are called shoemakers, cobblers, or cordwainers.
When a person's foot hurts after walking in footwear or there is a desire to no longer have footwear on such as on the beach, these people may desire to carry their footwear. When carrying their footwear, it takes either one or both hands to carry the footwear which prevents these people from using their hands for other, more desirous things. Therefore, there is a need to have an apparatus that a person can carry their footwear without preventing them from using their hands for other uses.
The phrases “in one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and the like are used repeatedly. Such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. Such terms do not generally signify a closed list.
“Above,” “adhesive,” “affixing,” “any,” “around,” “both,” “bottom,” “by,” “comprising,” “consistent,” “customized,” “enclosing,” “friction,” “in,” “labeled,” “lower,” “magnetic,” “marked,” “new,” “nominal,” “not,” “of,” “other,” “outside,” “outwardly,” “particular,” “permanently,” “preventing,” “raised,” “respectively,” “reversibly,” “round,” “square,” “substantial,” “supporting,” “surrounded,” “surrounding,” “threaded,” “to,” “top,” “using,” “wherein,” “with,” or other such descriptors herein are used in their normal yes-or-no sense, not as terms of degree, unless context dictates otherwise.
Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments as illustrated in the drawings. While embodiments are described in connection with the drawings and related descriptions, there is no intent to limit the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents. In alternate embodiments, additional devices, or combinations of illustrated devices, may be added to, or combined, without limiting the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein.
Referring to
The footwear carrier 100 may carry footwear. The footwear may preferably be sandals, but may be any type of footwear such as tennis shoes, boots, dress shoes, etc. The footwear carrier 100 is preferably made of a plastic material, but may be made of other materials such as PVC, cloth, aluminum, steel, etc.
The footwear carrier 100 has a
The
The second hook 112 of the
The top 114 of the
Optionally and or additionally, the top of the
The optional connecting rod 116 may be coupled to the base 106 of the footwear carrier 100. The connecting rod 116 may further be coupled to the rotator 104.
The rotator 104 is preferably coupled to substantially near a center 118 of the base 106 of the footwear carrier 100. The rotator 104 is useful for positioning the footwear carrier 100 in a different position if the footwear carrier 100 is uncomfortable.
The base 106 further has a back 120. A clip 108 is coupled to the back 120 of the base 106 of the footwear carrier 100. The clip 108 is useful for coupling to an article, such as a belt, waist band, bag, stroller, etc. The clip 108 is preferably a u-clip, but may be a string, an s-clip, etc.
Moving now to
The footwear 200 has a right footwear 202 and a left footwear 204. The right footwear 202 has a first strap 206 and a second strap 208. In other types of footwear 200 instead of a first strap 206 and second strap 208, the footwear 200 may have shoestrings, Velcro, etc.
The left footwear 204 has a first strap 210 and a second strap 212. The first hook 110 of the
The second hook 112 of the
Although not shown, the base 106 is coupled to a belt of a pair of shorts worn by a person. The base 106 is coupled to the belt by the clip 108. The rotator 104 may be repositioned to help make the footwear carrier 100 more comfortable.
In the numbered clauses below, specific combinations of aspects and embodiments are articulated in a shorthand form such that (1) according to respective embodiments, for each instance in which a “component” or other such identifiers appear to be introduced (with “a” or “an,” e.g.) more than once in a given chain of clauses, such designations may either identify the same entity or distinct entities; and (2) what might be called “dependent” clauses below may or may not incorporate, in respective embodiments, the features of “independent” clauses to which they refer or other features described above.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies are representative of more general processes and/or devices and/or technologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.
The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features of other embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
