Patent Application
20140202032
The subject technology generally relates to shoe comfort strap devices that are configured to detachably connect to the heel of a shoe, and their methods of manufacture. Preferably, but not exclusively, the strap devices are configured for use with a woman's high-heeled stiletto-style shoe.
Women love shoes. The appeal of a woman in a beautiful pair of shoes is nearly universal, across many cultures and backgrounds. Women wear high heels practically everywhere: to school, at work, and at play. Women often buy shoes for their aesthetics, for instance with a high heel to give swagger and poise. The higher the heel, however, the steeper the incline against which the arch of the foot rests, pushing and possibly crushing the toes into the point of a shoe, with the woman's heel then extending a great distance from the rear of the shoe, or what is typically called the heel collar.
When too much distance is present between a woman's heel and the heel collar, the shoe can “flop” with each step. When shoes flop around they can be dangerous to the wearer, causing them to be unstable and potentially fall. For these reasons women sometimes buy shoes that are actually a size or two too small for their feet, which forces their toes and balls of their feet against the structure of the shoe. This attempt at a solution can cause blisters, cramped/crushed toes, and even cause skeletal alignment issues. Even simply wearing the correct size in a high heel can actually cause muscle damage and permanent deformation, according to Drs. Neil Cronin, Rod Barrett, and Christopher Carty's article “Long-term Use of High Heeled Shoes Alters the Neuromechanics of Human Walking,” Journal of Applied Physiology, January, 2012. In sum, heels are admired but they can cause damage to the feet. Further, some women have high-heeled shoes they would like to wear, but choose not to because of “flopping” or due to an improper fit.
The subject technology overcomes the previous problems by providing a shoe comfort strap device that is configured to support a shoe substantially against the bottom of a human foot. Individual embodiments of the instant invention may include all of the elements of the claims and written description as provided herein, or a portion or portions of the element(s) of the claims and written description as provided herein.
In accordance with the subject technology, a shoe comfort strap device is provided with a flexible length, a fixing end, and a heel attachment. The flexible length includes at least two ends, is typically no more than 2 inches in width and 18 inches in length. The fixing end is disposed at one end of the flexible length, with the heel attachment affixed between the fixing end and another end of the flexible length. The fixing end is configured to connect to the flexible length around a human foot or ankle area, with the heel attachment detachably connected to the heel of the shoe, to support the shoe substantially against the bottom of a human foot. The shoe comfort strap device may be manufactured using the steps of braiding or linking the flexible length, the fixing end, and the heel attachment together in a unitary body.
Additional features and advantages of the subject technology will be set forth in the description below, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the subject technology. The advantages of the subject technology will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the subject technology as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide further understanding of the subject technology and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate aspects of the subject technology and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the subject technology. The features and nature of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:
In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a full understanding of the subject technology. It will be obvious, however, to one ordinarily skilled in the art that the subject technology may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and techniques have not been shown in detail so as not to obscure the subject technology.
The shoe comfort device 6 may comprise strips of leather than have been braided together and linked to a buckle or other fixing end 8, such as a snap, button, hook, latch, or additional fixing/connecting means. The shoe comfort device 6 may also comprise links of metal, for instance, steel or titanium links that form a portion or even an entirety or substantial majority of the shoe comfort device 6.
In an exemplary embodiment, the shoe comfort device 6 may be a centimeter or more in width, up to a width of substantially a few or more inches, and may be as long as up to 18-24 inches in length, with longer lengths potentially being used to wrap multiple times around a foot, as is further described in detail herein. In additional embodiments, the flexible length may be a thin string or strip of plastic or nylon, including variants of polyethylene.
Various embodiments of the shoe comfort strap device 6 have varying tensile strengths. For instance, an embodiment crafted entirely of titanium chain links would have an ultimate strength of approximately 1040 megapascals, while an embodiment comprised entirely of aromatic polyamide, or paramid, for instance Kevlar™ made by Dupont, would have an ultimate strength of approximately 2757 megapascals, and an embodiment comprised substantially of leather would have an ultimate strength of approximately 20-50 megapascals.
In an embodiment where the flexible length 9 is braided leather, the leather is braided and linked, or otherwise stitched to a buckle, acting as fixing end 8. During the braiding of the leather strips, preferably 2-5 strips of leather are used for a total width of typically less than 2 inches. For heel attachment 7, the leather strips are braided to form a fixed lariat-style loop located about three to seven inches from fixing end 8 and in-between fixing end 8 and the opposite end of flexible length 9. The leather strips are braided until an appropriate length of the shoe comfort strap device 6 is reached, typically about eight to twelve inches in length to connect in one loop around the typical human foot and for about twice those lengths for two loops around the typical human foot, in differing embodiments. The ordinarily skilled artisan comprehends that leather is shown by way of example only, and that various other materials, including plastics, metals, strips, strings, and various combinations of materials could be used to construct device 6.
Heel protector 11 comprises a semi-form fitting material for covering stiletto heel 3 Annular heel tip opening 12 comprises an opening that my be elastic from a diameter of less than one centimeter to multiple centimeters in diameter, and provides means for keeping the bottom portion of heel protector 11 near the bottom of stiletto heel 3, once the device 6 is attached to shoe 4. This embodiment of device 6 is further explained in relation to
As shown in
As shown in
Elastic portion 10 has been pulled up and over heel collar 2, pulling heel attachment 7 close in, against, and around heel 3. Once pulled over heel collar 2, elastic portion 10 keeps device 6 in an attached position on shoe 4 for use by a wearer/user by creating tension against stiletto heel 3 via heel attachment 7. Not all of elastic portion 10 need be elastic, but may include a smaller section 13 that is elastic nearly entirely around the top area of where heel collar 2 is located beneath device 6 at the top of shoe 4. Heel protector 11, elastic portion 10, flexible length 9 and fixing end 8 may comprise lace, or fanciful/colorful material. Flexible length 9 and fixing end 8 may comprise ribbon and may be located below the heel collar 2 along the periphery/edge of the opening of shoe 4, or may be located higher up and/or above heel collar 2.
As shown in the second step illustrated in
The description of the subject technology is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various configurations described herein. While the disclosure has been particularly described with reference to the various figures and configurations, it should be understood that these are for illustration purposes only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the subject technology.
There may be many other ways to implement the subject technology. Various functions and elements described herein may be partitioned differently from those shown without departing from the sprit and scope of the subject technology. Various modifications to these configurations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and generic principles defined herein may be applied to other configurations. Thus, many changes and modifications may be made to the subject technology, by one having ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject technology.
It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps or blocks in the processes disclosed is an illustration of exemplary approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps or blocks in the processes may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Pronouns in the masculine (e.g., his) include the feminine and neuter gender (e.g., her and its) and vice versa. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims.
All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various configurations described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and intended to be encompassed by the subject technology. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the above description.
