Patent Application
20250143403
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The disclosure relates to sole protectors and more particularly pertains to a new sole protector for protecting a sole of a shoe from damage and soilage.
The potential of damage or soilage to a sole of a shoe is undesirable in many situations. For example, damage or soilage caused to the soled of bowling shoes may cause the gait of the wearer of the bowling shoes to be altered, which affects the wearer's ability to consistently roll bowling balls as desired down a bowling lane. Soilage to bowling shoes may also transfer to the approach area of a bowling lane. Also, ground surfaces other than the approach area of a bowling lane are often rougher on bowling shoes than the approach area, causing premature wear in the bowling shoes.
Sole protectors have been used to guard against premature wear, soilage, and other damage to the soles of shoes. The prior art describes myriad sole protectors which attach to a sole of a shoe to achieve this goal. The prior art discloses, for example, disposable sheets which adhere to the sole of a shoe to temporarily protect the sole. However, the prior art fails to describe a sole protector which relies on frictional engagement with a perimeter of the sole to couple the sole protector to the shoe. Such an apparatus would be advantageous over the prior art in that the sole protector could be used merely by stepping into the sole protector without stooping or bending to affix the sole protector to the shoe. Additionally, a tab could be provided which would aid in removal of the sole protector by stepping on the tab rather than stooping or bending to remove the sole protector via one's hands.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a sole cover with a base and a lip. The base is elongated between a front end and a rear end and has an upper surface configured for supporting a sole of a shoe. The lip is coupled to and extends upwardly from the base, defining a cavity within the lip and above the base. An interior side of the lip has a shape and a size such that the lip is configured to receive the sole of the shoe into the cavity. The lip comprise a frictionally enhanced material wherein the lip is configured to couple to the sole of the shoe via frictional engagement with the perimeter of the sole.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a method of coupling and removing a sole cover to and from a shoe. The method comprises positioning a toe end of the shoe, using a first foot wearing the shoe, against a front portion of an interior side of a lip of the sole cover. The first foot then moves a heel end of the shoe downwardly toward a cavity formed by the lip of the sole cover. The sole is secured within the cavity via frictional engagement between a perimeter of the sole and the interior side of the lip. To remove the sole cover from the shoe, a second foot steps on a tab coupled to an exterior side of the lip. The first foot then moves the heel end of the shoe out of the cavity followed by moving the toe end of the shoe out of the cavity.
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
The base 18 is elongated between a front end 20 and a rear end 22 and has an upper surface 24 configured for supporting the sole 58 of an associated shoe 48 of the pair of shoes 48. The lip 26 is coupled to and extends upwardly from the base 18. The lip 26 defines a cavity 28 within the lip 26 and above the base 18. An interior side 30 of the lip 26 has a shape and a size such that the lip 26 is configured to receive the sole 58 of the associated shoe 48 into the cavity 28. The lip 26 is configured to be complementary in shape to a perimeter 60 of the sole 58. The lip 26 comprises a frictionally enhanced material such as a rubber, a silicone, a resin, or the like, so the lip 26 may couple to the sole 58 of the associated shoe 48 via frictional engagement with the perimeter 60 of the sole 58. A corner 34 between the interior side 30 of the lip 26 and a top side 32 of the lip 26 is tapered inwardly wherein the lip 26 corner 34 is configured to facilitate guiding the sole 58 of the associated shoe 48 into the cavity 28. The corner 34 may be tapered uniformly, may be rounded, or the like.
A tab 38 is coupled to and extends in an extension direction away from an exterior side 36 of the lip 26. The tab 38 is positioned adjacent to the rear end 22 of the base 18. The tab 38 is elongated in an elongation direction perpendicular to the extension direction. The tab 38 comprises an extension portion 40 and an engagement portion 44. The extension portion 40 is coupled to and extends away from the lip 26, and the engagement portion 44 is coupled to a distal end 42 of the extension portion 40 with respect to the lip 26. The engagement portion 44 has a cylindrical outer surface 46 with a diameter which is greater than a thickness of the extension portion 40.
In use, the sole covers 12 are fitted over soles 58 of the shoes 48 to protect the soles 58. Another embodiment of the present invention is a method of coupling and removing a sole cover 12 to and from a shoe 48 is depicted in
To remove the sole cover 12 from the shoe 48, a second foot 64 steps on a tab 38 coupled to an exterior side 36 of the lip 26. The first foot 62 then moves the heel end 56 of the shoe 48 out of the cavity 28 while relying on the second foot 64 stepping on the tab 38 to separate the heel end 56 of the shoe 48 from the sole cover 12. The tab 38 is positioned rearwardly of the shoe 48 during this use to facilitate easier removal of the heel end 56 versus placement of the tab 38 in another position. After moving the heel end 56 of the shoe 48, the first foot 62 also moves the toe end 54 of the shoe 48 out of the cavity 28. For clarity, the above steps use language which sets the steps in a particular order, but the order may be altered if suitable to the method.
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.
