The present invention generally relates to stirrups for being slipped around human feet. The present invention more particularly relates to pant stirrups for holding the distal ends of pant legs in place while a person engages in an activity.
When riding a motorcycle along a road, a person will often experience the ends of his pant legs being blown from his ankles and lifted up toward his knees because of wind turbulence. As a result, the lower portion of the person's legs may become largely exposed. Such leg exposure, however, can be quite uncomfortable for a person, especially when riding in cold weather. Furthermore, such exposure can also be undesirable when riding on roads with loose rocks and debris thereon. In such instances, the rocks and debris will often be kicked up off the road by leading vehicles. As a consequence, the loose rocks and debris will frequently strike a following rider's bare legs and hence inflict some measure of discomfort or pain thereto.
To remedy the problem of leg exposure, some motorcycle riders attempt to cinch and tie the ends of their pant legs about their legs with ankle bands so as to hold the distal ends of the pant legs at their ankles when riding. Other riders, however, instead wear boots on their feet while riding so that they can tuck and hold the ends of their pant legs in their boots. Though such attempts to prevent leg exposure while riding are somewhat successful, riders still must often stop at the roadside so as to re-tie or re-tuck the ends of their pant legs about their ankles before continuing their rides.
To alternatively remedy the problem of exposure, still other riders opt to wear special pants equipped with foot-receiving stirrups at the distal ends of the pants' legs. Though wearing such pant stirrups is often successful in preventing leg exposure while riding, a rider will often experience foot discomfort if the stirrups are particularly worn over his feet and inside his shoes. If, on the other hand, the rider wears the pant stirrups both over his feet and over his shoes, the stirrups are then prone to sliding across the bottoms of the shoes and consequently off both the rider's feet and shoes altogether. Furthermore, if a rider chooses to wear such pant stirrups for riding, the rider is then often relegated to wearing compatible pants and shoes from a very limited range of biker fashion styles. As a result, the rider is thereby effectively prevented from wearing pants and shoes available from a broad range of stylish biker couture.
In view of the above, there is a present need in the art for an apparatus, a contrivance, or a device that will both securely and comfortably hold the ends of pant legs at a motorcycle rider's ankles while he rides down the road. Such a device will preferably be adapted so that it can be compatibly worn with many various different types and styles of long pants and/or shoes.
The present invention provides a harness for holding the distal end of a pant leg about the ankle region of a person who is wearing long pants. In one embodiment, the harness includes an elongate first strap (i.e., a stirrup-type strap), an elongate second strap (a heel or spur-type strap), and a pair of releasable fasteners. The first strap has two ends, and the second strap has two ends joined to the first strap so that the two ends of the second strap are respectively proximate the two ends of the first strap. The fasteners are respectively located at the two ends of the first strap. In this configuration, the first strap is adapted for substantially fitting about the sole of a foot of the person, and the second strap is adapted for substantially fitting about the heel of the foot. The fasteners are adapted for being releasably attached to the distal end of the pant leg so as to releasably hold the distal end of the pant leg in place about the person's ankle region.
Furthermore, it is believed that various alternative embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the detailed description of the best mode(s) contemplated for practicing the invention, as set forth hereinbelow, is reviewed in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawing figures.
The present invention is described hereinbelow, by way of example, with reference to the following drawing figures.
To facilitate an understanding of the present invention, a list of parts and features highlighted with alphanumeric designations in
In
In such a configuration, the first strap 12A is adapted for substantially fitting about the sole of a person's foot or shoe, and the second strap 14A is adapted for substantially fitting about the heel of the person's foot or shoe. The first strap 12A and the second strap 14A may each be resilient and comprise, for example, an elastic type of material. Optionally, the first strap 12A and the second strap 14A may also include means for adjusting their respective lengths. Any such length adjusting means may include one or more contrivances such as, for example, a button, a snap fastener, a buckle, a hooks-and-loops fastener, or a hook-and-grommets fastener. In having any one or more of such features, the first strap 12A and the second strap 14A can thereby be closely or snugly fitted about a person's foot or shoe.
For a person's use, the fasteners 17L and 17R are adapted for being releasably attached to the distal end of a pant leg so as to releasably hold the end of the pant leg in place about the person's ankle region. In general, each of the harness' fasteners 17L and 17R may be of any known, conventional type of fastener that is utile for being attached to clothing. For example, each of the fasteners 17L and 17R may include one or more contrivances such as a button, a clasp, a hooks-and-loops fastener, or a snap fastener. In other possible embodiments, the fasteners 17L and 17R may optionally be of the type of fasteners disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,408, which was issued to Sal Herman on Feb. 20, 1990, and which is incorporated herein by reference. An updated version of one of these fasteners is depicted, for example, as fastener 17 in
As shown in
To help ensure that the end 35 of the pant leg 34 does not slip free from the fastener's jaws 20U and 20L when closed together, the two jaws 20U and 20L respectively include an upper clamp pad 21U and a lower clamp pad 21L with one or more complementarily aligned recesses 22 and protrusions 23 defined therein. To even further help ensure that the pant leg 34 does not slip free, one of the jaws' clamp pads 21U or 21L may optionally include a tack 24 with a pointed end, while the other one (i.e., pad) may include a hole 25 for receiving the pointed end of the tack 24 when the jaws 20U and 20L are closed together. In this optional configuration, the tack 24 pierces through the fabric of the pant leg 34 when the fastener's jaws 20U and 20L are closed together, thereby securing the pant leg 34 within the fastener 17.
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In sum, the harness 11 according to the present invention can be comfortably worn over a foot or shoe so as to securely hold the distal end of a pant leg in place about the ankle region of a person who is wearing long pants. In view of such, the harness 11 is highly suited for better enabling a person to participate in recreational activities such as, for example, riding a motorcycle (or motorbike), mountain biking, riding a horse, skydiving (or parachuting), hang gliding, paragliding, parasailing, base jumping, rock climbing, or others. In addition to being useful in such recreational activities, the harness 11 is also suitable for wear and use at many building, construction, and manufacturing work sites.
Furthermore, though the harness 11 disclosed hereinabove is only shown in
Lastly, because the harness 11 can be worn either over or inside a person's shoe and also be attached to the pant leg of most any pair of long pants, the harness 11 can thus be compatibly worn with many different types and styles of various shoes and pants.
While the present invention has been described in what are presently considered to be its most practical and preferred embodiments or implementations, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed hereinabove. On the contrary, the present invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent configurations included within the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereinbelow, which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and configurations as are permitted under the law.
The present invention claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/975,322, which was filed on Sep. 26, 2007 and also entitled “A Harness for Holding the Distal End of a Pant Leg in Place.”
Number | Date | Country | |
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60975322 | Sep 2007 | US |