Patent Application
20090307931
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).
This invention relates generally to ski boots, and specifically to ski boot protectors and traction aids.
Ski boots are specialized boots which serve several functions. They are intended to retain the warmth of the user's foot in cold conditions. Famously, they move the site of any broken leg up the shin bone and away from the ankle, thus providing an easier medical fix in the event of a broken leg.
On a more mundane level, ski boots are designed, dimensioned and configured to physically cooperate with a ski binding so as to lock the boot and the ski together firmly, thus allowing the user to control the ski with confidence and precision. The fittings, projections and indentations on the ski boot sole exactly match (in a complementary match) the fittings, projections and apertures on the ski binding, indeed, the size and shape of the planform or outline of the boot sole is crucial to this physical engagement to the ski binding. The planform of a ski boot sole is a squared off rectangle very different from practically any other type of footwear. The sole has a specific shape and size in addition to having various devices thereon, and the primary purpose of these devices and the shape of the sole is simply to provide a secure and strong engagement to the ski. As a result, a ski boot in outline and planform resembles no other footwear. The sole may project at front and/or back, the sole may be a considerably narrower shape than the uppers of the boot above it and so on.
Walking on ski boots is initially disconcerting, but most users pick up the trick quickly. After that, a pair of new problems with walking on ski boots quickly emerges. The first is lack of traction. The ski boot is not shaped for walking with good traction, rather it is shaped to fit to a ski binding. Unlike most footwear, it is even possible to lose traction and have a foot slip sideways. Front and back slips occur frequently too, especially considering that most ski boot walking occurs on the icy surface between the parking lot and popular ski runs or on the tile floors many “bottom of the ski run” businesses provide for their customers. This problem tends to yield to practice on the part of the user, which only exacerbates the other problem: damage and wear on the ski boot soles.
The devices on the ski boot sole are not intended for walking, they are precisely designed for physical engagement to ski bindings. The devices (generally “projections, indentations and fittings” in this application) are easily damaged or worn by being used as traction devices or treads by walking users. Even short walks can damage the devices enough to cause problems or even safety issues, since the fit of sole to binding is very precise in some regards. Most ski boot soles are quite strong materials which the maker may hope will minimize such issues.
One known solution to the traction issue is the family of hard plastic snap on devices which have numerous cleats on one side and on the other side fit either the toe or heel of the ski boot. This solves traction problems and even provides a degree of protection at ski boot toes/heels.
A problem with such rigid devices is that they are also somewhat difficult to handle and store when not in use, being essentially squares of hard plastic with cleats on them. A worse problem is that in use, such devices can be fiendishly difficult to put on and take off. The non-elastic plastic construction means that the user has to struggle to get the device in place. The shape and configuration of such devices further ensures that it is very difficult to tell front from back while bundled up and wearing ski goggles.
Two other problems occur with the hard plastic snap on devices. The first such problem is that the devices tend to stretch over time. As a result of stretching, they eventually begin to fall off. While walking, the normal skier simply has very little ability to see such devices at all, as they attach to the bottom of the ski boots. In addition, the typical walker in ski boots concentrates on skis, poles, packs, lift tickets and similar encumbrances. Thus, the absence of the traction device may go un-noticed. The second problem with such devices is that makers tend to compensate for the stretching problem by making the tolerances of the devices as tight as possible, thus making the devices even harder to get on or even off. A fully encumbered skier must then fight with a device securely attached to the bottom of the ski boot when new, or stretched and absent when old.
In the unrelated field of more mundane footwear, a different problem has led to a different structure for solution. Dress shoes may be equipped with a rubber “partial galoshes” which comprise a unitary rubber tread and minimal upper of one or two inches tall (2.5-5 cm tall). Being a single unit of rubber makes such devices water proof, allowing wearers of dress shoes to chance muddy city streets with a bit less trepidation. Such devices cannot fit onto a ski boot, being dimensioned and configured to fit upon a normal dress shoe.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 394,740, to Poust on Jun. 2, 1998, and U.S. Design Pat. No. 377,710 dated Feb. 4, 1997, teach an overshoe type device having numerous holes therethrough. They do not appear to teach structures relating to ski boots.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 340,123, dated Oct. 12, 1993 to Howey, Jr., teaches a hard device of ribs with hinged clips to secure it to footgear.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,982, dated Dec. 5, 2000 and in the name of Bell et al, teaches another device of numerous holes through a rubber or plastic body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,578, granted Apr. 4, 2000 to Ketz teaches a non-elastic device having a heel portion, a toe portion and straps to hold it together and onto footwear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,334, issued Sep. 14, 1999 to Gerhardt teaches a toe trap and a hook and loop strap across the ankle to hold it to footwear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,945, Jun. 8, 1999 to Noy teaches a network of metal encrusted bands across the bottom of footwear, having no true sole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,339, issued Mar. 17, 1998 to inventor Owen teaches a device having a set of strap arrangements for use around the angle of a ski boot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,915, issued Sep. 2, 1997 in the name of Smith teaches a shoe, perhaps an athletic shoe, having a removable spike plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,578, in the name of Voight and issued Feb. 23, 1993, shows a plate which is clamped on with a screw or other arrangement at the toe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,798, dated Sep. 1, 1992 and issued in the name Kaufman et al teaches a multi-part high upper assembly which has significant straps for support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,883, dated Mar. 27, 1990 to Zock, Jr, teaches a metal frame with aggressive sets of spikes thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,672, granted Jul. 4, 1989 to Fasse teaches an oversole and carrier combination which is stiff and quite bulky.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,504, granted Mar. 14, 1989 to Bunke, teaches another stiff plate, with fore and aft holding devices.
It would be preferable to provide a device capable of providing a substantial tread for increased traction.
It would further be preferable to provide a device which a user with cold fingers encased in bulky ski gloves could easily put on, take off and store when not in use.
It would further be preferable to provide a device which is easy to use due to a lack of complex or mechanical attachments to a boot.
It would further be preferable to provide a device which the user can easily see on their boot when in use, and which is less susceptible to falling off un-noticed.
It would be very much preferable to provide a device which could be quickly and easily manufactured at low cost.
It would further be very much preferable to provide a device which could be stored by means of being rolled up, or secured around the ankle of a boot when NOT in use, put into a pocket without danger to the fabric of the pocket or the like.
It would yet further be preferable to provide a device with large easily viewed indicia of front and back directions.
General Summary
A ski boot protector fits on the sole of a ski boot due to being dimensioned and configured to wrap around the sole of the ski boot at the toe and heel of the ski boot, even extending across a portion of the top of the projecting sole. An elastic or rubber rim holds front and back invention sole portions in place, a flexible tread provides protection for the ski boot sole from the ground, snow or ice walked on while being flexible enough to allow the device to roll up for easy storage in a pocket when not being worn. Large loops are dimensioned and configured to allow a user to easily manipulated the device wearing ski gloves, a hook or a hook-and-loop fabric band may be used to hold the device to its companion device or to hold it in the rolled up position.
An arrow device or hook-and-loop fabric band may also be used to store the device around the boot shaft while the user is skiing and thus not using the device, and significantly, allows a user to quickly determine front and back ends of the device even under snowy conditions.
In the presently preferred embodiment and best mode now contemplated, the device may also have a pair of soles sufficient to completely or partially cover the ground contacting portions of a ski boot sole (toe and heel), and with a rising upper at the toe and heel to surround the vertical thickness of the ski boot toe and heel and short lip around the top ends to project onto the top portion of the boot sole, with a short gap between the heel sole and toe sole, so as to further increase flexibility and allow even easier rolling and storage.
Embodiments of the device may be made by injection molding, compression molding or the like.
Summary in Reference to Claims
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention, in addition to those discussed previously, to provide a ski boot traction aid for ski boots having large soles dimensioned and configured to accept a ski binding and thus having substantial projections of the sole beyond the upper at the front end and rear end of the boot, the traction aid comprising:
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid wherein the front and rear soles further comprise: a plurality of irregularities on bottom surfaces to increase traction.
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid further comprising:
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid the large fastener further comprising:
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid wherein the stretchable bodies further comprise:
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid wherein the stretchable bodies further comprise:
It is therefore another aspect, advantage, objective and embodiment of the invention to provide a ski boot traction aid wherein the entire aid and all portions further comprise:
Boot 90 has upper part of boot 92 and the sole part of the boot 94. The junction of the upper and sole is not uniform. Due to the necessity for ski boots to fit into ski bindings, the sole projects beyond the upper at a number of places, particularly front sole projection 96 and rear sole projection 98. Each projection in turn has an upper surface, upper surface of rear projection 86 and upper surface of front projection 88.
These projections may be used to secure the device to the boot.
Front sole 102 and rear sole 104 may be seen to have not just traction enhancements (treads, bumps, grooves, etc) 106 but also vertical portions, particularly at the front and back ends. Front and back vertical projections/sidewalls 103 (see
First, second and third bands 112, 114, 116 connect the two soles.
Front lip 130 and rear lip 132, best seen in
When the device is in use, the skier can easily see the elastic/rubber brim running along the edge of the boot above or along the actual sole of the boot. In addition, donning and removing the device is quite easy, even encumbered: the skier may insert either end in the foot or heel, as appropriate, of the boot and then stretch the rest over the other end of the boot. In embodiments, the device may be “double ended” with a less specific “foot shape” to the tread, so that either end may go onto the toe or heel of the boot.
Secure attachments of the parts to each other may be achieved using sewing/stitching, adhesives, bonding, vulcanizing, riveting, and combinations thereof. One embodiment presently preferred has a unibody construction made by molding, injection molding, compression molding, extrusion or the like, using a rubbery material.
The device still functions as a ski boot sole protector, even without a complete sole from front to back because the intermediate portion of the ski boot sole is less prone to damage, tends to be higher off of the ground than the ski boot toe and heel portions, and because the thickness of the traction aid sole will separate the ski boot sole intermediate portion from the ground surface in the area between the front and rear soles.
The ski boot sole intermediate portion does not normally engage a ski binding in any case, so if were to become damaged it would not impact safety or the interface and physical connection to the ski.
Metal or hard traction aids such as studs, nails, spikes or the like may be used in alternative embodiments. Note that alternative embodiments having no metal/hard aids such as studs, spikes, nails or the like projecting from the bottom of the sole are preferred over other alternative embodiments having such sharp traction aids, but both such types of embodiments fall within the scope of the invention. The reason for this is that such relatively sharp traction aids render the device less safe when carried in the interior pockets: it may rip the lining, or should a skier take a spill with the device in a pocket, the skier may be injured by metal/hard traction aids poking through to the skin. Similarly, when the device is deployed around the ankle of a ski boot, hard projections like studs might present a threat to other skiers, especially in the event of a spill or wipeout. However, the alternative embodiments may be preferable for increased traction on icier surfaces or packed snow surfaces.
In this embodiment, the construction of the device may be a unibody construction in which the soles and the web of materials are all injection molded from a material such as a durable rubber, a somewhat elastic form of polymer or the like, a single body of fabric with elastic properties or the like. It is anticipated that unibody construction in which all soles and elastic rims, webs and so on are all a single piece will reduce manufacturing costs, making this aspect a preferred embodiment for this purpose.
It will be understood that embodiments may have a body or network or cords all having a stretched length, the stretched length sufficient to allow it to pass over the vertical thickness of ski boot soles at least at the heel and/or toe and in alternative embodiments all the way around the ski boot sole.
Large loop 108 is located at the front or rear of one sole. Note that the large loop has an extension shaped like an arrow, that is item number 110 is an arrow shaped extension of material, not a reference arrow nor a direction of movement nor motion.
Arrow shaped fastener 110 is dimensioned and configured to pass easily through small loop 118 located at the opposite end of the device as shown in
When a skier gets to the top of a slope, they may easily remove the devices from their boots and then wrap them around the upper part of the ski boot as shown in
Arrow shaped fastener 110 also serves an additional function as an indicia. In particular, the prior art known (such as the U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,578 reference cited in the Background, similar products on the market and so on) all suffer from the deficiency of being somewhat androgynous of appearance as to front and back, yet the difference between front and back is sufficient that most such devices will not fit nor work properly if the user attempts to install them wrong way round. Since the typical skier is cold, in the snow, wearing goggles and wrapped up against the elements, large indicia are called for. Having the large loop, with an arrow, pointing to one end of the device, greatly increases the skier's ability to sort it out quickly for wearing.
The disclosure is provided to allow practice of the invention by those skilled in the art without undue experimentation, including the best mode presently contemplated and the presently preferred embodiment. Nothing in this disclosure is to be taken to limit the scope of the invention, which is susceptible to numerous alterations, equivalents and substitutions without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention is to be understood from the appended claims.
This invention claims the priority and benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/626,355 filed Nov. 9, 2004 in the name of the same inventor, Frederick Robert May, and entitled “SLIP RESISTANT SKI BOOT PROTECTION SYSTEM”, via co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/270,419, filed Nov. 0, 2005 and also entitled “SLIP RESISTANT SKI BOOT PROTECTION APPARATUS”.
This invention was not made under contract with an agency of the US Government, nor by any agency of the US Government.
