US3012340A - Shoe having interchangeable members - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 12, 1961 c. B. REINHART 3,012,340

SHOE HAVING INTERCHANGEABLE MEMBERS Filed Jan. 14, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HER ATTORNEYS CATHERINE BREI NHART Dec. 12, 1961 c. B. REINHART 3,012,340

SHOE HAVING INTERCHANGEABLE MEMBERS Filed Jan. 14, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR CATHERINE BREINHART BY GFWMBM,

HER ATTORNEYS United States Patent ()hhee Patented Dec. 12, 1961 3,012,340 SHGE HAVING INTERCHANGEABLE MEMBERS Catherine B. Reinhart, Montgomery, N.Y. Filed Ean. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 3,470 2 Claims. (Cl. 362.5)

The present invention relates to improvements in shoes, more particularly to shoes which have interchangeable foot-covering members. This is a continuation-impart of my copending United States application Serial No. 818,878, filed June 8, 1959, and now abandoned.

Shoes with interchangeable foot-covering members are particularly valuable to women who desire variety in footwear and are limited by considerations of economy. One pair of sole and heel members may be used with a number of interchangeable members, thereby affording a wide variety in shoe apparel at a cost of little more than the price of one or two pairs of conventional shoes. Shoes with interchangeable members are also desirable in instances where storage or packing space is at a premium. For example, during a journey a traveler may need several pairs of shoes, which ordinarily would fill an entire suitcase. By carrying several pairs of flexible interchangeable members and only one pair of rigid sole and heel members, substantial packing space may be saved, because the compressible interchangeable members fit into a comparatively small area.

Prior to the invention disclosed herein, shoes having interchangeable foot-covering members were known in the art but had not met with commercial acceptance because of the complex and impractical nature thereof. It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple means for quickly and firmly securing an interchangeable member to a sole and heel member with simple and efiective elements which do not adversely affect the appearance or comfort of the shoe. Another object of the invention is to provide shoes which have a long, useful life and also have the exterior appearance of conventional shoes. These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of the interchangeable foot-covering member and the sole and heel member in disassembled relationship to each other;

FIGURE 2 is a view in side elevation shown partially in cross section of the shoe as it appears on a womans foot;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the interchangeable member taken from a point below and to the side of such member;

FIGURE 4 is a View in side elevation of a modified form of the shoe including means for preventing relative shifting of the two members;

FIGURE 5 is a view in side elevation of another modified form of the shoe including means for preventing relative shifting of the members; and

FIGURE 6 is a view in cross section taken at line 66 of FIGURE 5.

The present invention includes two separable components, a sole and heel member 11 and an interchangeable foot-covering member 10 adapted to cooperate therewith.

The sole and heel member 11 includes a sole 12 made from aluminum or other light-weight rigid material, such as leather, cork, wood, metal or plastic, and a heel 13 firmly attached to the rear part of the sole or integrally formed therewith. The sole 12, which has a heel portion 14, a shank portion 15, and a toe-supporting portion 16, does not have an outer sole or any structure for covering the foot. The upper surface of the sole 12 may be coated, laminated or covered with an inner sole 18.

The interchangeable foot-covering member 19 includes an outer sole 19 and a portion 2% to cover the toes and part of the remainder of the wearers foot. The outer sole 1 may be afiaed to the toe-covering portion 29 in any of the usual ways such as by gluing or stitching. Between the outer sole 19 and the toe-covering portion 26, there is an opening 22 to receive the toe-supporting portion 16 of the sole and also the wearers foot.

The design of the toe-covering portion 2% and the material from which it is made can be varied widely. Thus it can be formed of leather, fabric, plastic, molded material or the like and may consist or" portions covering only the toes or the toes and instep, and may even extend back to and cover the heel of the wearer. In the example given in FIGURE 1, the strap 21, connected to the rear of the toe-covering portion 2 9, is adapted to pass around the wearers ankle and thus to secure the interchangeable foot-covering member 1i?! to the wearers foot. The toe-covering portion 20 may however be designed to fit snugly about the wearers foot so as to enable the strap 21 to be omitted.

To assemble the interchangeabie foot-covering memer 10 with the sole and heel member 11, the toe-supporting portion 16 is inserted between the outer sole 19 and the toe-covering portion 2% tirough the opening 22. When the wearers foot is inserted into the shoe, so formed, the foot wedges the toe-supporting portion 16 against the outer sole 19 thereby securing the sole and heel member 11 and the interchangeable foot-covering member 19 against separation. In this position the shank 15 engages the upturned rear end 23 of the outer sole which further aids in preventing relative shifting of the members 10 and 11.

Although engagement of the upturned portion 23 of the outer sole with the shank 15 is suiiicient to maintain the toe-supporting portion 16 in the interchangeable footcovering member 10, additional means may be provided for preventing relative shifting of the members It and 11. To this end, as indicated in FIGURE 4, one or more projections 25 are formed on the inner surface of the outer sole 27. These projections are adapted to fit into similar recesses 26 hollowed out of the underside of the toe-supporting portion 28 of the sole and heel member 29. The wearers foot maintains the projections in the recesses which in turn retain the toe-supporting portion and the outer sole in the same relative position. It is manifest that identical results may be obtained by employing projections on the underside of the toe-supporting portion 28 and including recesses in the inner surface or" the outer sole 27.

Another means for preventing relative shifting of the members is disclosed in FIGURES 5 and 6. A strip of pile fabric 39 is afixed to the underside of the shank and toe portion 31 and a similar strip of fabric 32 having a myriad of tiny, resilient hook-like elements 33 is fastened to the inner side of the outer sole 34. The fabric strips 39 and 32 form a releasable fastener sold under the name of Velcro. When the toe portion of the sole is inserted through the opening into the interchangeable member, the hook-like structures 33 releasably engage the pile fabric 3t) and thus prevent relative shifting of the sole and heel member 35 and foot-covering member 36.

The present invention, described above in a preferred embodiment, obviously is subject to many variations and modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention. Therefore the invention is not to be limited to any specified form except as such limitations are set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A shoe comprising a sole and heel member having heel, shank, and toe-supporting portions devoid of outer sole and foot-covering portions, an interchangeable footcovering member adapted to cooperate therewith, said interchangeable member having an outer sole, a toe-covering portion afiixed to the outer sole, and an opening to receive the Wearers foot, said toe-supporting portion being disposed within the interchangeable member above the outer sole and substantially coinciding with the upper surface thereof and releasably engageable means c'omprising at least one recessed portion and at least one projecting element engageable in said recessed portion on the under surface of said sole and heel member and on the inner suriace of said outer sole for retaining said to engage the pile fabric.

References Cited in'the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1,304,593 Parmenter May 27, 1919 2,717,437 De Mestral Sept. 13,- 1955 2,887,794 Masera May 26, 1959

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