Patent Application
20240269534
This invention relates generally to shin guards, and more particularly to shin guards for use in martial arts.
Various forms of protective padding are worn by martial artists for protecting themselves and their opponents during workouts and sparring matches. Shin guards, in particular, are worn by the martial artists, for protecting the fighter's shins and feet, and also to protect their opponent from being injured by a kick by providing padding over the user's shins and feet.
Prior art shin guards used in martial arts generally have four attachment straps on the back of the shin guards for attaching the shin guard to the user's foot and lower leg. A leg portion of the shin guard has two open, adjustable leg straps that include hooks and loops fasteners for fastening the shin guard on a lower leg of the user. A foot portion of the shin guard has two closed loop straps, a mid-foot closed loop strap that fits around the user's mid-foot, and a heel closed loop strap that fits around the user's heel.
An example of such a prior art shin guard is shown in Shepherd, U.S. 2008/0120756, which teaches a shin guard that includes a leg protective segment that extends over the shin of the user, and a foot protective segment that covers the top of the user's foot.
Applicant has found that replacing the heel closed loop strap with an open, adjustable strap with a hooks and loops fastener provides superior performance and is significantly easier to put on and take off. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
The present invention provides a shin guard for covering a lower leg and a foot of a user, secured around a back of the leg, beneath the foot, and around a heel of the foot. The shin guard includes a padded protective guard that includes a leg portion that is sized and shaped to fit over the lower leg of the user, and a foot portion that is sized and shaped to fit over the foot of the user. At least one open, adjustable leg strap is provided on the leg portion for securing the leg portion onto the lower leg of the user. A mid-foot closed loop strap is provided on the foot portion extending beneath the foot of the user's foot. An open, adjustable heel strap is also provided on the foot portion that may be adjusted between an open position and a closed position, the open, adjustable heel strap having hooks and loops fasteners for securing the open, adjustable leg strap in the closed position securely around the heel of the user.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a shin guard having advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide a shin guard that is easier to put on and take off.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention.
The above-described drawing figures illustrate the invention, a shin guard 10 that is adapted to cover a user's lower leg and foot, for use in marital arts sparring. The shin guard 10 has a unique arrangement of attachment straps that make the shin guard 10 easier to put on and take off.
As shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, the leg portion 24 and the foot portion 40 are connected together by a hinge 50, in this case in the form of a thinner flexible portion with may be unpadded, or lightly padded, so that it may flex more easily than other portions of the padded protective guard 22, thereby enabling movement of the foot portion 40 relative to the leg portion 24, so allow movement of the user's foot relative to the leg.
As shown in
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
In this embodiment, the second strap of the foot portion 40 is in the form of an open, adjustable heel strap 72 of the foot portion 40 that may be adjusted between an open position and a closed position, the open, adjustable heel strap 72 having a fastener 74 (e.g., hooks and loops, or other suitable fasteners) for securing the open, adjustable heel strap 72 in the closed position securely around the heel of the user. In this embodiment, the open, adjustable heel strap 72 includes a first strap 72A fixedly (e.g., sewn, glued, welded, etc.) attached to the first side 42 of the foot portion 40, adjacent the rear edge 49 of the foot portion 40, and a second strap 72B fixedly attached to a second side 44 of the foot portion 40, adjacent the rear edge 49 of the foot portion 40. The first strap 72A and the second strap 72B are removably jointed by the fasteners 74 for fastening the shin guard 10 around the heel of the user's foot. While one embodiment is illustrated herein, those skilled in the art may devise alternative constructions that should be considered within the scope of the present invention.
The title of the present application, and the claims presented, do not limit what may be claimed in the future, based upon and supported by the present application. Furthermore, any features shown in any of the drawings may be combined with any features from any other drawings to form an invention which may be claimed.
As used in this application, the words “a,” “an,” and “one” are defined to include one or more of the referenced item(s) unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms “approximately” and “about” are defined to mean +/−10%, unless otherwise stated. Also, the terms “have,” “include,” “contain,” and similar terms are defined to mean “comprising” unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, the terminology used in the specification provided above is hereby defined to include similar and/or equivalent terms, and/or alternative embodiments that would be considered obvious to one skilled in the art given the teachings of the present patent application. While the invention has been described with reference to at least one particular embodiment, it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments, but rather the scope of the invention is defined by claims made to the invention.
