Patent Application
20120297591
Embodiments of the present invention are generally related to a fastening system for footwear. One embodiment of the present invention is a fastening system for a cycling shoe that employs a ratcheting buckle that selectively receives and secures a corresponding strap and that allows for the strap to be incrementally loosened.
Cycling shoes are often used with clipless pedal systems wherein a cleat incorporated into the bottom surface of the shoe selectively interconnects with a pedal. Like in other types of footwear, some cycling shoes employ laces to maintain the user's foot. More commonly, however, the shoes include a primary strap that is selectively secured to a buckle. Systems that employ a ratcheting buckle also include one or two auxiliary straps to further secure the shoe to the user's foot. The strap includes a plurality of teeth that selectively interact with one or more pawls associated with the buckle in a ratcheting fashion. More specifically, to tighten the strap, the user repeatedly rotates a lever portion of the buckle that includes a feed pawl that engages successive teeth of the strap to incrementally move the strap relative to the buckle. Once the desired strap tension is achieved, a locking pawl on the buckle is used to hold the strap in place. To allow loosening of the strap or complete removal of the strap from the buckle, the locking pawl is rotated away from the strap which removes all interferences that would prevent relative motion between the buckle and the strap.
During use, the cyclist's foot can become swollen and thus there is often a need to alter the tension applied by the primary strap, e.g., loosen the strap to maintain comfort. In addition, often cyclists will wish to adjust shoe tension to accommodate specific peddling circumstances associated with peddling uphill, downhill, on flat terrain, etc. Thus there is a continuous compromise between comfort and support—loosening the strap too much will not provide sufficient support and tightening the strap to increase support will often lead to foot pain and possibly injury.
To address this issue, some buckles allow the user to incrementally release the strap relative to the buckle and thus loosen the shoe in a controlled, incremental fashion. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,877,845 to Signori discloses a controlled release fastening device that employs a buckle having a tightening component, a release component, and an incremental release component that allows for selective movement of the strap relative to the buckle. More specifically, the first component of the buckle is used to tighten the strap, the second component is used to maintain the location of the buckle relative to the strap, and the third component is used to selectively move the locking component to the next tooth i.e., the distance associated with the “pitch” of the strap teeth.
Another method of selectively releasing the buckle is disclosed in European Patent Application No. EP1611811 to Giusti. Giusti discloses a gradual release mechanism that is comprised of multiple components wherein the release and locking mechanism employs cogs that selectively interface with the teeth of the strap. Similar to Signori, the locking release system as comprised of three primary components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,555 to Lin discloses a fastener that allows for micro adjustment that possesses an extended outer profile and thus may not be desirable to be used in many applications.
Thus it is a long felt need to provide a buckle that allows for incremental loosening of the interconnected strap and associated shoe, is low profile, and less complicated to manufacture and use. The following disclosure describes an improved buckle that allows for selective, incremental release of the strap relative to the buckle that is achieved by moving the mechanism associated with tightening the strap in a direction opposite to that associated with tightening the strap.
It is one aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle that selectively receives a strap. The buckle is generally comprised of a base portion that interconnects to a shoe upper. A frame is interconnected to the base portion and spaced a predetermined distance therefrom to define an opening for receipt of an end of the strap. The base also provides a channel that helps maintain the position of the strap relative to the base. The frame includes a lock pin and a lever pin for securing a lock and a lever arm, respectively. The lever arm includes a feed pawl at a proximal end that selectively engages successive teeth of the strap when the lever arm is repeatedly rotated away from and toward the base to tighten the strap in a ratcheting manner. The lock is rotatably interconnected to the lock pin and includes a locking pawl that engages a tooth of the strap to hold the strap relative to the buckle when the lever arm is in a neutral position. To release the strap, the lock pawl is rotated away from the tooth to which it is engaged.
To incrementally move the strap relative to the buckle, a distal end of the lever arm is moved past its neutral position, i.e., depressed towards the strap. When depressed, the lever arm of one embodiment rotates the locking pawl away from the tooth to which it is engaged. A distal end of the lever arm additionally includes release pawls that engage corresponding teeth of the strap to incrementally shift the strap relative to the locking pawl. Once the distal end of the lever arm is released and allowed to return its neutral position, the strap is able to move incrementally relative to the buckle, i.e., loosen, until the locking pawl engages a tooth adjacent to the one which it was previously engaged. That is, after the strap moves the predetermined amount, the locking pawl will fall into the space between two adjacent teeth and abut against the tooth adjacent to the tooth from which it was displaced when the distal end of the lever was depressed. In this manner, a user may incrementally release the strap from the buckle one tooth at a time, for example.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide an incrementally releasing buckle with that employs fewer components than found in the prior art. Here, as opposed to the embodiments of the prior art described above, a buckle is provided that uses the lever arm to achieve incremental release as opposed to a separate component. The contemplated buckle is thus low profile, easy to use, and less expensive to manufacture. More specifically, unlike the buckles of the prior art, which include separate mechanisms or components to impart an incremental release of the strap, embodiments of the present invention use the lever arm to both tighten and incrementally release the strap. The shape and spacing of the release pawls located on the lever arm dictate the amount of travel the locking pawl experiences relative to the strap when the lever arm is depressed. Furthermore, the release pawls maintain the position of the strap relative to the buckle and act as an auxiliary lock that prevents total release of the buckle when the locking pawl is removed from the strap teeth. Once pressure is removed from the lever arm, the lock resiliently deflects into engagement with a strap to again hold the strap relative to the buckle.
It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle that is easy to operate. More specifically, the contemplated buckle includes two ways to release the strap. First the lock includes a release button common on most ratcheting buckles that rotates the locking pawl away from the strap teeth and removes all interferences between the buckle and the associated strap that would prevent removal of the strap from the buckle. Furthermore, the distal end of the lever arm includes a “button” that when pressed, allows for the buckle to be incrementally released from the strap as described above. The contemplated system is easy to access by a user for release when the shoe is clipped into a pedal, for example. Furthermore, the distal end of the lever arm may be upwardly sloped to allow the user to easily access the same with a single digit to tighten and re-tighten the strap, if needed.
It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle that is low profile. More specifically, most embodiments of the present invention are made of two fixed components and two rotating components. As will be appreciated upon review of the figures, this assembly renders a low profile, easy to manufacture, and easy to use system. Furthermore, the majority of the components of the buckle are made of lightweight and moldable materials, such as plastic, which facilitates manufacturability.
It is still yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle adapted for tightening and selectively securing a strap having a plurality of teeth, comprising: a base having a channel for receiving the strap, said base also including a first hub and a second hub positioned on opposite sides of said channel; a frame that includes a lock pin that is operably associated with said first hub and said second hub, said frame also having a lever pin that is spaced from said lock pin; a lock positioned between said first hub and said second hub and rotatably interconnected to said lock pin and, said lock having a locking pawl, which is adapted for selective engagement with a tooth of the strap, on a first end and a release button on a second end; and a lever arm rotatably interconnected to said lever pin on a first end and wherein a second end of said lever arm includes a release pawl directed towards said base that is adapted for selective engagement with the teeth of the strap when the second end of said lever arm is defected towards said base, said first end of said lever arm also including a feed pawl adapted for selective engagement with the teeth of the strap when said second end of said lever arm is directed away from said base.
It is still yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle adapted for tightening and selectively securing a strap having a plurality of teeth, comprising: a base; a frame associated with said base and having a laterally extending lock pin and a laterally extending lever pin spaced from said lock pin; a lock rotatably interconnected to said lock pin and, said lock having a locking pawl, which is adapted for selective engagement with a tooth of the strap, on a first end and a release button on a second end; and a lever arm rotatably interconnected to said lever pin on a first end and wherein a second end of said lever arm includes a release pawl directed towards said base that is adapted for selective engagement with the teeth of the strap when the second end of said lever arm is defected towards said base.
It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a buckle adapted for tightening and selectively securing a strap having a plurality of teeth, said buckle comprising a base defined by lateral edges, a frame associated with said base and having a laterally extending lock pin and a laterally extending lever pin spaced from said lock pin, a lock rotatably interconnected to said lock pin, and a lever arm having a first end rotatably interconnected to said lever pin, the improvement comprising: a release pawl positioned on downward-facing surface of a second end of said lever arm that is adapted for selective engagement with the teeth of the strap when the second end of said lever arm is defected towards said base.
It is still yet another aspect of the invention to provide a method of selectively releasing a buckle that is interconnected to a strap, comprising: providing a buckle comprised of a base, a lever arm rotatably associated with said base and having a laterally extending finger, and a lock rotatably associated with said base and having a laterally extending projection, said strap having a plurality of teeth and positioned between said lock and said base; rotating said lever arm towards said base such that said finger contacts said projection to rotate said lock away from said strap thereby allowing said strap to move and incremental amount.
The Summary of the Invention is neither intended nor should it be construed as being representative of the full extent and scope of the present invention. Moreover, references made herein to “the present invention” or aspects thereof should be understood to mean certain embodiments of the present invention and should not necessarily be construed as limiting all embodiments to a particular description. The present invention is set forth in various levels of detail in the Summary of the Invention as well as in the attached drawings and the Detailed Description of the Invention and no limitation as to the scope of the present invention is intended by either the inclusion or non-inclusion of elements, components, etc. in this Summary of the Invention. Additional aspects of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the Detail Description, particularly when taken together with the drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the drawings given below, serve to explain the principles of these inventions.
To assist in the understanding of one embodiment of the present invention the following list of components and associated numbering found in the drawings is provided herein:
It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the invention or that render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood, of course, that the invention is not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.
Referring now to
In operation, the buckle 2 receives the strap 34 wherein rotation of the lever arm 50 away from and towards the base 6 repeatedly moves the strap 34 relative to the buckle 2 to tighten the strap 34. More specifically, to tighten the strap 34, the strap 34 is first positioned within the channel 26. Next, the lever arm 50 is rotated away from the base 6 (counterclockwise as shown in
Referring now to
Referring now specifically to
As the distal end 66 is moved towards the strap 34, as shown in
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it is apparent that modifications and alterations of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and alterations are within the scope and spirit of the present invention, as set forth in the following claims. Further, the invention(s) described herein is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.
