Protective foot pad, composite and method of manufacture

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6684442
  • Patent Number
    6,684,442
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, May 11, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, February 3, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A disposable protective foot pad, composite and its method of manufacture including a resilient planar foam base, an adhesive layer on one side of the base, carried by a film having another adhesive layer on its opposite side covered by a protective sheet. The foot pad composite is manufactured by feeding a web of elastomeric foam in contact with a double-sided film after one of two protective sheets is removed from one side of the film and thereafter simul- taneously die cutting a plurality of protective foot pads from the foam web, film and protective sheet composite.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




There is a need in hospitals, athletic clubs, health clubs, rehabilitation facilities, health care facilities, hotels, and in fact even in the home environment for a low-cost, disposable foot protector.




There are presently available low-cost disposable cellulose paper slippers for this purpose, but these slippers do not provide an adequate barrier against bacteria and other foreign materials, and also are degradable when subjected to significant moisture, such as found in the bathing and shower environment.




There have, in the past, been provided a plurality of upperless footwear for a variety of purposes that include various attaching devices to other footwear, such as stockings.




The following is a list of United States Patents disclosing these footwear devices:




















Inventor




Pat. No.




Issue Date













Tranmal




2,746,173




May 22, 1956







Meltzer




2,772,488




Dec. 4, 1956







Bartels, et al.




2,933,830




Apr. 26, 1960







Shecter, et al.




2,948,971




Aug. 16, 1960







Saffir




2,965,982




Dec. 27, 1960







Price




3,059,350




Oct. 23, 1962







Cho




4,497,070




Feb. 5, 1985







Safdie




5,771,605




June 30, 1998















The Tranmal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,746,173, shows a vacuum-held sandal that has a plurality of suction cups, such as at 8, in the top surface that lock the out-sole 1, 4, to the user's feet.




The Saffir, U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,982, shows a high heel shoe with a plurality of magnets, such as at 3, that attach the shoe to the user's foot with a plurality of ferro-magnetic elements that are bonded to the user's sock or foot.




The Price, U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,350, shows a strapless sandal that has a plurality of hook elements shown at 18 that snag on the user's stockings and hold the sandals to the feet.




It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in detachable footwear and provide a low-cost, readily disposable, protective foot pad composite and its method of manufacture.




SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION




In accordance with the present invention, a disposable protective foot pad composite and its method of manufacture are provided in an attempt to produce a very low-cost, mass producible, disposable pad readily attachable to the bottom of the human foot and one that provides an effective barrier to bacteria and moisture.




Toward these ends, the present disposable protective foot pad composite includes a planar foam base having an outer configuration conforming to a generic foot shape common to both the left and right foot, with a double-sided film attached on one side to the base with a protective sheet over the other side of the film. The double-sided film has a layer of adhesive on both sides and a protective sheet over both layers of adhesive. One of these protective sheets is removed prior to adhesion of the film to the foam base.




The foam pad composite is manufactured by feeding a web of planar elastomeric foam in contact with a double-sided film after one of two protective sheets is removed from one side of the film, and thereafter simultaneously die-cutting a plurality of protective foot pads from the foam web, film, and protective sheet composite.




Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of the present protective foot pad applied to the bottom of the human foot;





FIG. 2

is a top view of the protective foot pad illustrated in

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

is a side view of the protective foot pad illustrated in

FIGS. 1 and 2

;





FIG. 4

is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section of the foot pad illustrated in

FIGS. 1

to


3


;





FIG. 5

is a sub-assembly view of the double-sided adhesive film utilized in making the foot pad composite with protective layers on both sides thereof;





FIG. 6

is a plan view of a composite web from which the present protective foot pads are simultaneously die-cut;





FIG. 7

is a perspective view of the present protective foot pad with the upper protective sheet partly peeled away, and;





FIG. 8

is a schematic illustration of a web feed manufacturing system for the present protective foot pad composites.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Defining the drawings, and particularly

FIGS. 1

to


5


, the present disposable foot pad protector composite generally designated by the reference numeral


10


as seen in

FIG. 1

, is attachable directly to the bare bottom or sole surface of the human foot


11


without any attaching means surrounding the upper or metatarsal area of the foot. The present protective foot pad


10


is secured to the sole of the foot by direct contact with the epidermal skin on the sole of the foot and does not require the use of an intermediate attaching mechanisms such as stockings.




As seen in

FIG. 2

, the composite pad includes a wide toe portion


12


, and a relatively narrower heel portion


13


that are generic to both the left foot and the right foot to decrease manufacturing costs and to reduce confusion of the user in application to his or her right or left feet.




As seen in

FIG. 3

, the composite pad


10


has a uniform thickness throughout its length and as seen more clearly in

FIG. 4

, which is an enlarged fragmentary cross section of the foot pad composite


10


, the composite


10


is seen to generally include a heavy uniform thickness foam sheet


15


, a contact adhesive layer


16


, a sheet film


18


that initially carries the adhesive layer


16


, an adhesive layer


20


on the opposite side of film


18


, and a protective sheet


21


that is removable from adhesive layer


20


to expose the adhesive layer


20


for attachment to the user's foot, and of course sheet


21


is designed to be removed by the ultimate user.




The foam sheet


15


is preferably a closed cell foam so that it does not act as a sponge for moisture and is in the range of {fraction (1/16)}th to {fraction (3/16)}ths inches in thickness.




One exemplary material for foam sheet


16


is urethane.




However, it should be understood that other similar foam products could be used and that urethane is merely one that has been found satisfactory for this purpose.




In

FIG. 5

, a film composite


22


is illustrated, including film


18


, adhesive layer


16


, adhesive layer


20


, and protective sheet


21


, and a second protective sheet


24


. Sheet


24


, as will appear in connection with

FIG. 8

, is removed prior to the adhesion of layer


16


to one side of the foam


15


. The film composite


22


is commercially available from 3M Manufacturing Corporation.




However, it should be understood that other double-sided film composites can be utilized as well.




While the use of a double-sided film composite


22


is the preferred embodiment because it facilitates the mass production of the present composite protective foot pads, and it eliminates certain manufacturing problems such as the non-uniform spraying of adhesive, it should be understood that the present invention, in its broadest aspect, with respect to the protective foot pad per se and not its method of manufacture, encompasses the application of adhesive to one side of the foam


15


without the use of film


18


.




The method of manufacture of the present protective foot pad composite is illustrated in diagrammatic form in FIG.


8


.




As seen, a roll


30


of uniform thickness elastomeric foam


15


is fed by roller sets


31


,


32


,


33


, and


34


in a linear planar direction.




A second roll


36


of the film composite


22


is fed around roll


38


where sheet


24


is removed and rolled exposing adhesive layer


16


to top surface


39


of the foam


15


. At rollers


33


, the modified film composite


22


is joined to the foam


15


by the attachment of adhesive layer


16


to foam surface


39


.




Thereafter, platen


42


, which carries a plurality of die-cut tools


43


, arranged and shown in

FIG. 6

, stamps a row, such as one of rows


45


,


46


, and


47


, from the composite web


50


.




A variety of techniques can be used for removing the resulting preforms


52


from the web


50


, such as vacuum, pressure blowing, and web bending.




Thereafter, the preforms


52


, which are the completed protective foot pad composites, can be packaged as desired for the particular market application. That is, they can be packaged in packages of two, or simply bulk packaged, because as noted above, the pads are generic to both the left and right foot.



Claims
  • 1. A method of making a plurality of disposable human foot protectors adapted to be adhered to the human foot without other components and with only two layers after the removal of a protective sheet, including the steps of continuously feeding a web of planar elastomeric material, applying an adhesive to one side of the web while the web is moving with a protective sheet over the adhesive layer, and simultaneously cutting a plurality of individual foot protectors from the resulting elastomeric material adhesive and protective sheet composite.
  • 2. A method of making a plurality of disposable human foot protectors adapted to be adhered to the human foot without other components and with only two layers after the removal of a protective sheet as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of applying a protective sheet over the adhesive layer includes feeding a film with adhesive layers on both sides thereof in contact with the web of elastomeric material.
  • 3. A method of making a plurality of disposable human foot protectors adapted to be adhered to the human foot without other components and with only two layers after the removal of a protective sheet as defined in claim 2, wherein the step of feeding a film with adhesive layers on both sides thereof includes feeding a film with adhesive layers oh both sides thereof and protector sheets over both adhesive layers, prior to contact with the web of elastomeric material, removing the protective sheet from the adhesive layer to be contacted with the web of elastomeric material, and then engaging that adhesive layer with the web of elastomeric material.
US Referenced Citations (18)
Number Name Date Kind
1980621 Innis Nov 1934 A
2191704 Bennett Feb 1940 A
2599359 Banks et al. Jun 1952 A
2772196 Pooley Nov 1956 A
2816655 Crozier et al. Dec 1957 A
2985970 McCarthy May 1961 A
3059350 Price Oct 1962 A
3099026 Reid et al. Jul 1963 A
3415706 Ettre Dec 1968 A
3554835 Morgan Jan 1971 A
3693269 Guarrera Sep 1972 A
3733721 Clemens May 1973 A
3903620 Gillet Sep 1975 A
4030212 Ito Jun 1977 A
4484574 DeRusha et al. Nov 1984 A
4925724 Ogden May 1990 A
5482593 Kuhn et al. Jan 1996 A
5542198 Famolare Aug 1996 A