Patent Application
20200146399
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The disclosure and prior art relates to shoelace securing devices and more particularly pertains to a new shoelace securing device for securing shoelaces on shoes without tying the shoelaces.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a block that has a plurality of apertures each extending therethrough. Each of the apertures insertably receives a respective one of a pair of shoelaces on a shoe having the shoe laces arranged into a pair of loops. In this way the block facilitates the shoe laces to be secured in lieu of tying a knot. Thus, the block facilitates a child to secure the shoe on the child's foot without knowing how to tie the shoelaces. Each of the apertures has a prominence therein and the prominence in each of the apertures frictionally engages the respective shoelaces for retaining the shoelaces in the block.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each of the apertures 14 has a prominence 20 therein and the prominence 20 in each of the apertures 14 frictionally engages the respective shoelace 16. In this way the shoelaces 16 are retained in the block 12. The block 12 has a first lateral surface 22 and a second lateral surface 24, and each of the apertures 14 extends through the first 22 and second 24 lateral surfaces. Each of the apertures 14 has a bounding surface 26 and the bounding surface 26 of each of the apertures 14 has the prominence 20 thereon. The prominence 20 on the bounding surface 26 of each of the apertures 14 extends substantially between the first 22 and second 24 lateral surfaces of the block 12.
The plurality of apertures 14 includes a first aperture 28, a second aperture 30, a third aperture 32 and a fourth aperture 34. A first one of the shoelaces 36 is extended through the first aperture 28 from the first lateral surface 22 toward the second lateral surface 24. Additionally, the first shoelace 36 is looped back through the second aperture 30 from the second lateral surface 24 toward the first lateral surface 22. A second one of the shoelaces 40 is extended through the third aperture 32 from the second lateral surface 24 toward the first lateral surface 22. The second shoelace 40 is looped back through the fourth aperture 34 from the first lateral surface 22 toward the second lateral surface 24.
The bounding surface 26 of each of the apertures 14 curves inwardly toward a center line of a respective aperture 14 between each of the first 22 and second 24 lateral surfaces of the block 12. Thus, each of the apertures 14 has a biconcave cross section taken along a perpendicular axis with respect to the center line of the respective aperture 14 thereby defining the prominence 20 in the respective aperture 14. In an alternative embodiment 44 as shown in
In an alternative embodiment 46 as shown in
In an alternative embodiment 52 as shown in
In use, the first shoelace 38 is extended through the first aperture 28 from the first lateral surface 22 toward the second lateral surface 24. The first shoelace 38 is then looped back through the second aperture 30 from the second lateral surface 24 toward the first lateral surface 22. Thus, the first shoelace 38 is formed into a loop that is typically formed when the shoelaces 16 are tied into a bowknot. The second shoelace 42 is extended through the third aperture 32 from the second lateral surface 24 toward the first lateral surface 22. The second shoelace 42 is then looped back through the fourth aperture 34 from the first lateral surface 22 toward the second lateral surface 24. Thus, the second shoelace 42 is formed into a loop that is typically formed when the shoelaces 16 are tied into the bowknot. In this way a child that has not learned how to tie a bowknot can secure the shoelaces 16 on shoes 18 that the child is wearing.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
