Patent Application
20140013620
The invention generally relates to a releasable connection system.
In a variety of different applications it may be desirable to employ a releasable connection system that is capable of providing a firm connection between two objects while still allowing the relative position of the two objects to be adjusted. Specifically, there are many applications (such as the placement of transportable goods in a container or vehicle, the storage of goods in a warehouse or private storage unit, and so forth) where it is desirable for two objects to be connected at a certain position for a certain amount of time without slipping or sliding and for there to be a relatively easy way of fixing and releasing the connection. Having a fast and reliable connection is especially desirable in a dynamic environment, such as a sports environment where quick release of a connection is needed for safety and/or performance reasons.
As one of many examples, with certain activities, such as cycling, it is sometimes desirable for the outsole of a shoe to releasably attach to another structure, such as the pedal of a bike. For example, a cyclist is able to generate more power if the pedal is connected to the shoe so that the cyclist is able to transmit power to the crank via the pedals during the upstroke as well as the downstroke. The connection of the shoe to the pedal also provides more stability in certain situations.
There are known ways of releasably attaching a shoe with a pedal, such as cage-type construction pedals (where the shoe is received snuggly within a cage of the pedal) or clip-in (clipless) pedals. With a clip-in pedal, a cleat on the outsole of the shoe clicks into a receptacle located on the top surface of the clip-in pedal when the cleat is aligned a particular way with respect to the receptacle. Once clicked into place, the shoe is attached to the pedal and the cleat can only be disengaged from the receptacle of the pedal when the shoe is turned a certain way. With clip-in pedals, clicking the cleat into place within the pedal and releasing the shoe from the pedal can be difficult and therefore dangerous.
Another type of attachment mechanism is the use of a generally flat pedal that includes pins (also referred to as screws) that project from a top surface of the pedal so that the pin (which may be a spike or a screw with threads) is exposed and available for engagement. The outsole of the shoe typically comprises a tread pattern (such as tread elements 2 shown in
Disclosed is a connection system having at least one male engagement component configured to interact with a female engagement component. The female engagement component is a generally flat surface formed of a material that, when pressure is applied, enables the at least one male engagement component to imprint into the material and lock the position of the male engagement component with respect to the female engagement component. The material is configured to flow/float around the male engagement component so that a closed connection can be made. The position of the male engagement component with respect to the female engagement component can be individually chosen while the two engagement components are in contact with one another so long as pressure between the two components is not fully applied to imprint the male engagement component into the female engagement component. In this way, the position of the male engagement component with respect to the female engagement component can be individually adjusted.
In some embodiments, the connection system is used to releasably connect a fixed device (for example, but not limited to, the pins on a plate or a pedal) to a movable device (for example, but not limited to, a shoe, glove, container, box or other transportable or storable good). In some embodiments, the connection system is used to releasably connect a shoe to another component, such as a pedal of a bike.
The terms “invention,” “the invention,” “this invention” and “the present invention” used in this patent are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this patent and the patent claims below. Statements containing these terms should not be understood to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of the patent claims below. Embodiments of the invention covered by this patent are defined by the claims below, not this summary. This summary is a high-level overview of various aspects of the invention and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to the entire specification of this patent, all drawings and each claim.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawing figures:
The subject matter of embodiments of the present invention is described here with specificity to meet statutory requirements, but this description is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claims. The claimed subject matter may be embodied in other ways, may include different elements or steps, and may be used in conjunction with other existing or future technologies. This description should not be interpreted as implying any particular order or arrangement among or between various steps or elements except when the order of individual steps or arrangement of elements is explicitly described.
Disclosed is a releasable connection system for use in a variety of applications. For example, the releasable connection system described herein may be used in the transportation industry, the retail industry, the storage or warehousing industry, the furniture industry, the sporting industry, or any other desired application or industry. With respect to the transportation industry, the connection system may be used, for example, to facilitate loading and unloading and/or transporting of transportable goods or cargo. More particularly, as described below, the goods to be transported may be housed within a container or box or on a rack having a bottom surface that faces and is configured to interact with a surface of the transporting vehicle (such as but not limited to a plane, ship, truck, forklift, automobile, etc.). For example, the bottom surface may have a female engagement component that includes a material in which a male engagement component associated with a device/plate on the flooring surface is capable of imprinting, as described below.
With respect to the retail industry, the connection system may be used, for example, to facilitate the display of retail items on shelves or in display windows. With respect to the storage industry, the connection system may be used, for example, to facilitate loading and unloading and/or transporting of boxes or other storable goods. With respect to the furniture industry, for example, the connection system may be used to facilitate the movement of furniture along a surface.
With respect to the sporting industry, for example, the releasable connection system may be used to facilitate connection between (1) a shoe and an exercise machine such as a stepper, cross trainer, rowing machine or the like, (2) a cycling shoe and a flat pedal, (3) a boat shoe and a boat, (4) a horseback riding shoe and a stirrup, (5) a glove and a baseball bat, (6) a climbing glove and a climbing structure, and so forth.
In essence, the disclosed connection system may be used in any application, including both commercial and private applications, where it is desirable to selectively limit movement between a fixed object and a movable object while also permitting easy adjustment of the relative positions of the two objects and easy fixing and release of the connection between the two objects. As a few non-limiting examples, the fixed object might be a piece of sporting equipment such as a bike, a bat, or a boat and the movable object might be a shoe, a glove, or a piece of apparel.
The disclosed connection system includes a female engagement component configured to interact with at least one male engagement component. In some embodiments, the female engagement component is a material having a low rebound elasticity, a high viscoelasticity, and a hardness that is low enough to allow a desired amount of deformation and hard enough to impart a desired amount of stability. For example, in some embodiments, the material of the female engagement component may have a rebound elasticity that is less than approximately 20%, an elongation that is more than approximately 600%, and in some embodiments is more than 900%, and a hardness that is between approximately 40 Shore A and approximately 70 Shore A. In some embodiments, the hardness is between approximately 45 Shore A and approximately 60 Shore A, and in some embodiments is between approximately 50 Shore A and approximately 55 Shore A.
In some embodiments, the material is a rubber compound containing high-molecular, absorbing, viscous, cross-linked elastomers that are able to return to their original state after permanent deformation. Therefore, after the release of a structure imprinting into the material, the material/compound will return to its original shape. The long-chain high-molecular compound may be capable of withstanding a high degree of inner deformation, rendering it elastically deformable. In some embodiments, the base elastomer is high-molecular and viscous for high elongation and low rebound elasticity. In one embodiment, the base elastomer of the material is one or more butyl rubbers (Isobutylene Isoprene Rubber—IIR), for example, but not limited to, ChloroButyl Rubber (Cl-IIR) or BromoButyl Rubber (Br-IIR). The material may comprise a base elastomer as described, and may include additional fillers, cross-linking agents, accelerators and activators. The activators may be used to generate and improve the cross-linking reaction between the filler and the elastomer. Compared to high-elastic elastomers like styrol butadiene rubber (SBR) with a rebound elasticity of approximately 45% or natural rubber (NR) with a rebound elasticity of at least 50%, the rubber compound of non-high elastic base elastomer may have a rebound elasticity of less than 20%. The high viscose and high-molecular compound is capable of allowing imprinting and following the contour of the microstructure of the surface as described below.
The female engagement component may be any object or device having a surface formed of the above material, where at least a portion of the surface is generally flat. The male engagement component may be a pin, screw, spike, post, projection, protrusion, a crown shaped surface of a pedal, or any other suitable structure. In use, the flat surface of the female engagement component is positioned at an approximately 90 degree angle relative to the male engagement component.
The material of the female engagement component is configured so that, when sufficient pressure is applied, the male engagement component is capable of imprinting within the material to lock the male engagement component into position with respect to the female engagement component (“locked position”). In some embodiments, sufficient pressure is applied by pushing either the weight of the object with which the female engagement component is associated into the male engagement component, or by putting an additional weight onto the connection system. In some embodiments, the female engagement component is placed on top of the male engagement component and weight/pressure is applied in a substantially vertical direction. In some embodiments, the weight/pressure is applied over a range of approximately 85 degrees to approximately 95 degrees from horizontal.
When in its locked position, the male engagement component is restricted or prevented from slipping, sliding, or shifting in one or more directions with respect to the female engagement component, as explained in more detail below. In some embodiments, the movement is restricted/prevented in a generally horizontal direction. In some embodiments, the movement is restricted/prevented in all non-vertical directions.
The material of the female engagement component is also configured so that the female engagement component and the male engagement component may be released from their locked position when sufficient pressure no longer exists between the two components. The material of the female engagement component is further configured so that the material “flows” or “floats” around the male engagement component, thus allowing the position of the male engagement component to be adjusted relative to the female engagement component when full pressure is not applied between the two components but while the two components are in contact with one another. In other words, the material of the female engagement component is configured to follow the outer contour of the male engagement component.
As stated above, the male engagement component may be any suitable structure, such as, but not limited to, a pin, screw, spike, post, projection, protrusion, crown shaped pedal or the like. The male engagement component may be fixed with respect to a surface or structure (such as a plate or pedal, etc.) or may be connectable to any surface or structure. The tip of the male engagement component may be pointed or flat and the sides of the male engagement component may be flat, uniform, sloped, tapered, or have any suitable configuration. The dimensions and shape of the male engagement component will vary depending on the application with which it will be used. For example, a male engagement component to be used within a truck will likely be thicker and longer than one to be used with a bike pedal. The male engagement component may project relative to the structure with which it is used in any suitable manner, such as generally vertically, generally horizontally, or at any suitable angle. In some embodiments, the male engagement component projects at an approximately 90 degree angle relative to the female engagement component and/or the male engagement component. If more than one male engagement component is provided, the more than one engagement component is provided substantially parallel to the others, in some cases regardless of the shape/configuration of the structure from which it projects.
As shown in
In one non-limiting application, a portion of a top surface of a transporting vehicle such as a plane, automobile, truck, ship, forklift, etc. may include one or more male engagement components or one or more female engagement components. Likewise, a bottom surface of a container or box or rack for housing goods or the like may include the other of the male and female engagement components. The female engagement component interacts with the one or more male engagement components as described throughout this disclosure to releasably connect the two objects. If desired, the top surface of the objects may have pins, protrusions, or other suitable structure positioned to interact with a female engagement component of another object to facilitate stacking of the objects on top of one another.
Other non-limiting applications of the connection system described above are shown in
As shown in
As illustrated in
As also described above, the female engagement component of the generally flat region 12 is configured to interact with a male engagement component, such as pins 6 or protrusions of a flat pedal. In some embodiments, the pins 6 are between approximately 1 and 15 mm tall, although the pins 6 may have any suitable dimensions. In some embodiments, the pins 6 are between 4 mm and 10 mm tall. Pins 6 may be of uniform size and shape or may be irregular. Moreover, pins may be positioned any suitable distance from one another. In some cases, pins 6 are microstructures with heights of less than 1 mm. The pins and/or the pedal may be metal, or any synthetic material or other durable material such as renewable natural materials. In some cases, there will be only one pin 6 per pedal. As shown in
As detailed above, the generally flat region 12 is configured so that, when sufficient pressure is applied, pins 6 are capable of imprinting within the material to releasably attach the outsole 10 of the shoe to the pedal 4. In the context of shoes, sufficient pressure may be defined by weight applied to the connection system by the person wearing the shoe. For example, the pressure may vary from approximately 20 to approximately 150 kilograms, depending on the age, gender, and body type of the user. In essence, the material of the generally flat region 12 is such that it flows/floats around the pins 6 when the pins are in contact with the material (as shown in
In some embodiments, the generally flat region 12 is substantially free of treads and other protrusions and is otherwise substantially smooth. Because the generally flat region 12 is substantially smooth, the pins are capable of imprinting within any part of the generally flat region 12 when the shoe applies sufficient pressure in a generally vertical direction V to the pins, which is in contrast to the configuration shown in
Once the pins have imprinted within the generally flat region 12, the outsole 10 is locked in position and restricted from moving in a generally horizontal direction H, as well as any diagonal direction such as directions X and Y shown in
Locking the outsole 10 in the non-vertical directions when the pins 6 are imprinted within the generally flat region 12 prevents the outsole from slipping off the pedal. Moreover, connecting the outsole 10 with the pedal allows the cyclist to apply power during both the upstroke and the downstroke when pedaling. This is feasible because the pedal stroke is a circular movement and thus the movement is in a diagonal direction instead of in a generally vertical direction V (
Because of the properties of the female engagement component described above, the disclosed connection system allows a cyclist to unlock/disengage the connection between the generally flat region 12 and the pins 6 simply by releasing the pressure imparted on the pedal in a generally vertical direction V (see
As also described above, the material of the generally flat region 12 is such that the pins 6 can re-sink into the generally flat region 12 so that the pins can be repeatedly engaged and disengaged with the generally flat region 12 in any desired way at any position along the generally flat region 12.
Moreover, the size and dimensions of the generally flat region 12 may vary. In some embodiments, the minimum dimensions of the generally flat region 12 correspond with the dimensions of the pedal with which it interacts, although this is not required.
In some embodiments, outsole 10 includes treads 14 along the toe region 16 and/or the heel region 20 to provide grip and assist the cyclist with walking when off the bike or to provide grip in situations where the cyclist needs to stabilize and balance by removing his foot from the pedal and touching the ground or sur-face near the bike. In some embodiments, the toe region 16 and the heel region 20 have limited to no contact with the pedal during normal cycling. The design of the toe and heel regions may vary, including the design of the tread if any is located within these regions. For instance, the tread region 14 may be configured in a dot or fence or any other suitable pattern, with or without sipes. For example, either the toe region 16 or the heel region 20 or both may have any of the treads 14 shown in
In the embodiment shown in
Positioning the pedal 4 in an area B along generally flat region 12 beginning underneath the toe region 16 and extending along the complete width to about the center of the foot to middle of the mid-foot region 18 as shown in
In some embodiments, the outsoles may include flat surface in areas for preferred movement and, in some embodiments, the outsoles may include a flat surface in more than one preferred area and improve the connection and adjusting of the position and the adjusting movement on the outsole.
The foregoing is provided for purposes of illustrating, explaining, and describing embodiments of the present invention. The foregoing is not limited to use with shoes or with cycling shoes, but may be used in many other applications as described above. Further modifications and adaptations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Different arrangements of the components depicted in the drawings or described above, as well as components and steps not shown or described are possible. Similarly, some features and subcombinations are useful and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. Embodiments of the invention have been described for illustrative and not restrictive purposes, and alternative embodiments will become apparent to readers of this patent. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above or depicted in the drawings, and various embodiments and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims below.
