SKATEBOARD SOCKS

Abstract

A skateboard sock has a body with a foot portion and an ankle portion. The foot portion has a top, bottom, interior side, and exterior side. The foot portion conforms to a wearer's foot. The ankle portion covers at least a portion of the wearer's ankle. A protective padding is positioned on the exterior side of the foot portion. The protective padding is aligned with a wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and a wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal such that the protective padding provides protection for at least a portion of the wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and at least a portion of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present application relates generally to skateboard socks, and more specifically relates to socks having padding positioned strategically for skateboarders.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

For some skateboard tricks, it is common to use the outside of the foot to help control the board. Consistent contact in the same location on a skateboarder's shoe can cause damage to the shoe and ultimately injury to the foot when the shoe breaks. A broken shoe can spell the end of a skateboarder's day and can result in injury. Preventing injuries and being able to continue to skateboard and complete tricks after a shoe breaks can allow a skateboarder to continue to exercise and practice without having to rush out to obtain different shoes.

BRIEF SUMMARY

There is provided a skateboard sock that has a body and a protective padding. The body has a foot portion and an ankle portion. The foot portion has a top, a bottom, an interior side, and an exterior side. The foot portion conforms to a wearer's foot. The ankle portion coverers at least a portion of a wearer's ankle. The protective padding is positioned on the exterior side of the body. The protective padding is aligned with a wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and a wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal such that it provides protection for at least a portion of the wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and at least a portion of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal.

In one embodiment, the skateboard sock further comprises a leg portion. The leg portion extends from the ankle portion and covers at least a portion of a wearer's lower leg.

In one embodiment, the protective padding extends from a front edge of the foot portion adjacent the wearer's fifth proximal phalanx to a head of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal.

In one embodiment, the protective padding extends upwards towards the top of the foot portion.

In one embodiment, the protective padding is shaped as an oval. The semi-major axis of the oval may have a length of 4 inches and the semi-minor axis may have a length of at least two inches.

In one embodiment, the protective padding is shaped such that the length of a bottom edge and at least a portion of the protective padding has a length of 4 inches.

In one embodiment, the protective padding is shaped such that at least a portion of the protective padding has a height of at least 2 inches.

In one embodiment, a bottom edge of the protective padding is straight.

In another embodiment, a top edge of the protective padding is straight.

In a further embodiment, the top edge of the protective padding is curved.

In another embodiment, the top edge of the protective padding has at least one corner such that at least two edge portions contact each other at an angle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which references are made to the following drawings, in which numerical references denote like parts. The drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiments shown.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a skateboard sock.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the skateboard sock shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the skateboard sock shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the skateboard sock shown in FIG. 1 showing the positioning of a pad relative to the bones of the foot.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a variation of the skateboard sock.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of an additional variation of the skateboard sock.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of an additional variation of the skateboard sock.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view of a further variation of the skateboard sock.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A skateboard sock, generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 1, a skateboard sock 10 has a body 12 that is made up of a foot portion 14 and an ankle portion 16. Foot portion has a top 18, a bottom 20, an interior side 22, shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, and an exterior side 24. Foot portion 14 conforms to a wearer's foot. Ankle portion 16 covers at least a portion of a wearer's ankle. A protective padding 26 is positioned on exterior side 24 of foot portion 14. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, protective padding 26 is aligned with a wearer's fifth proximal phalanx 28 and a wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal 30 such that it provides protection for at least a portion of wearer's fifth proximal phalanx 28 and a wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal 30. In the embodiments shown, protective padding 26 also provides protection to the wearer's fifth distal phalanx 31. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that padding may be positioned differently on exterior side 24 of sock but must provide protection for at least a portion of the wearer's foot.

Referring to FIG. 3, skateboarders often prefer crew cut or knee high socks to provide additional protection to legs. A leg portion 32 may extend from ankle portion 16 such that leg portion covers at least a portion of a wearer's lower leg. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the height of skateboard sock 10 may vary depending upon user preference and different sizes and styles of sock may be used.

Referring to FIG. 4, protective padding 26 may extend from a front edge 34 of foot portion 14 adjacent wearer's fifth proximal phalanx 28 to a head 36 of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal 30. In this way, protective padding protects the side of the ball of the wearer's foot. Protective padding 26 may also extend upwards towards top 18 of foot portion 14. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the size and shape of protective padding 26 can vary between different skateboard socks 10. Larger protective padding 26 that covers more of foot portion 14 may provide a larger surface area of protection to the wearer while smaller protective padding 26 can provide protection for specific areas of a wearer's foot.

Protective padding 26 may have a variety of shapes, including simple shapes such as a rectangle or oval, or more complex shapes like clouds and stars. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, protective padding 26 is shaped as an oval. In one embodiment, the semi-major axis 38 of the oval has a length of 4 inches and the semi-minor axis 40 has a length of at least 2 inches. This size of protective padding 26 may be best suited for wearer's having a shoe size of US 8 and up. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that different sizes of protective padding 26 may be used and the sizing described above is provided as an example only. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, protective padding is shaped such that the length of a bottom edge 42 and at least a portion of the protective padding has a length of 4 inches and the height of the protective padding is at least 2 inches. In the embodiment shown, bottom edge 42 is straight and a top edge 44 is also straight. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, top edge 44 of protective padding 26 is curved. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, top edge 44 of protective padding 26 has at least one corner 46 such that at least two edge portions 48 contact each other at an angle. In the embodiment shown, there are three corners 46 and four edge portions 48. It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that a different number of corners 46 and edge portions 48 may be used to create different outlines for protective padding 26.

Any use herein of any terms describing an interaction between elements is not meant to limit the interaction to direct interaction between the subject elements, and may also include indirect interaction between the elements such as through secondary or intermediary structure unless specifically stated otherwise.

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 one and only one of the elements.

It will be apparent that changes may be made to the illustrative embodiments, while falling within the scope of the invention. As such, the scope of the following claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments set forth in the examples and drawings described above, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.

Claims

1. A skateboard sock, comprising: a body having a foot portion and an ankle portion, the foot portion having a top, a bottom, an interior side, and an exterior side, the foot portion conforming to a wearer's foot, the ankle portion covering at least a portion of a wearer's ankle; anda protective padding positioned on the exterior side of the foot portion, the protective padding being aligned with a wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and a wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal such that the protective padding provides protection for at least a portion of the wearer's fifth proximal phalanx and at least a portion of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal.

2. The skateboard sock of claim 1 further comprising a leg portion, the leg portion extending from the ankle portion, the leg portion covering at least a portion of a wearer's lower leg.

3. The skateboard sock of claim 1 wherein the protective padding extends from a front edge of the foot portion adjacent the wearer's fifth proximal phalanx to a head of the wearer's fifth lesser metatarsal.

4. The skateboard sock of claim 1 wherein the protective padding extends upwards towards the top of the foot portion.

5. The skateboard sock of claim 1 wherein the protective padding is shaped as an oval.

6. The skateboard sock of claim 5 wherein the oval has a semi-major axis having a length of 4 inches.

7. The skateboard sock of claim 6 wherein the oval has a semi-minor axis having a length of at least 2 inches.

8. The skateboard sock of claim 1 wherein the protective padding is shaped such that the length of a bottom edge and at least a portion of the protective padding has a length of 4 inches.

9. The skateboard sock of claim 8 wherein the protective padding is shaped such that at least a portion of the protective padding has a height of at least 2 inches.

10. The skateboard sock of claim 1 wherein a bottom edge of the protective padding is straight.

11. The skateboard sock of claim 10 wherein a top edge of the protective padding is straight.

12. The skateboard sock of claim 10 wherein the top edge of the protective padding is curved.

13. The skateboard sock of claim 10 wherein the top edge of the protective padding has at least one corner such that at least two edge portions contact each other at an angle.