CA1297660C - Training shoelace - Google Patents

Abstract

TRAINING SHOELACE

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A shoelace is described for use by young children or the handicapped, which facilitates tying of a bow. The shoelace has opposite end portions which are just stiff enough to substantially retain the shape to which they are bent while permitting children to easily bend them during the tying of a bow. This enables a child or handicapped person to bend the end portion to the shape required for one step of tying, and to "freeze" the shoelace in that position while he manipulates the other end portion or decides what is the next step to be done.

Description

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T~AININC SHOELACE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Young children and retarded persons often find great difficulty in tying their shoelaces into bows. The tying of a bow involves several steps in which the perso~s hands must grasp the laces, with the configuration of the laces being partially obscured and in a complex relationship.
Markings can be placed on the free end portions of the laces to indicate how the laces are to be folded, with U.S. Patent 2,646,630 by Miller showing one series of markings to aid in tying shoelaces. However, such techniques still require a person to grasp the laces throughout the tying sequence. A
shoelace which facilitated the understanding of each of the steps by a person so that he could tie the lace slower and with less possibility of failure, would aid in teaching young children and the retarded to tie their shoelaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a shoelace is provided which facilitates the tying together of the end portions of the lace into a bow, by young children and retarded persons. The shoelace has opposite end portions that are each stiff enough to substantially retain the shape to which they are bent and unbent. However, the ~; end portions are flexible enough to permit children and the retar~ed to easily bend the shoelaces during the tying of a ~ow with them. ThiS enables a person to perform one of the sequence of steps required to tie a bow, such as the curling of a lace into a loop, and to then release the lace while it p substantially retains the shape to which it has been bent.

The person can then study the step to try to understand it and hZ976~ii(3 then g~ on to the next step without having to perform the earlier step again.

The shoelace with moderately stiff end portions can include markings that aid a person in performing at least some of the steps of tying a shoelace. This enables a person to bend the shoelace in accordance with the markings, and then release the shoelaces to study them. A means, such as Velcro ; (hook and loop fastener), can be provided on certain areas of the shoelace to retain portions o~ the shoelace together when they have been bent and pressed together. Thus, for example, two widely spaced markings can be p~aced on the end portion of the shoelace, which markings must be brought together to form a loop; one fastener can be attached to at least one of these markings so when the two markings are bxought together, the fastener assures that they will stay together.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended ~laims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in 2Q conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF_THE DRAWINGS -Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of a shoe and lace, showing a first step in the tying of a bow;
~` Figures 2-S are partial perspective views of the shoe and lace of Figure 1, shown during progressively later steps in the tying of a bow.

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 2.
Figure 7 is a partial perspective view of the ; 30 lace of Figure 1.

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Figure 8 and 9 illustrate steps in the tying of a shoelace into a double bow.
DESCRIPTIOW OF THE PP~EFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Figure 1 illustrates a shoelace 10 of the present invention, with its middle portion 12 threaded through the eyelets 14 of a child's shoe 16, and with its opposite end portions 18, 20 extending from the topmost eyelet and positioned for the tying of a bow. Each end portion 18, 20 of the lace has a marking 21, 22 near its outer end, which indicates to a child or retarded person where the laces should cross in the beginning o~ the bow tying, with the first end portion 18 which is colored red, lying over the second portion 20 which is white. The red portion is then bent forward, down and around so its tip lies at the position 24. The extreme ends 26, 28 of the laces are then pulled to form the single interlacement 30 shown in Figure 2.
As shown in Figure 3, the next step is to form a loop 32 in the white loop portion twhich is now on the right ; side), which is accomplished by bringing the outer marking 22 against an inner marking 34. The person then must shift his attention from the loop 32 to the red end portion 18 and bring a middle marked locat.ion 36 behind the loop ~s shown in the phantom lines at 38. The red end portion 18 is then turned in : front of the white loop as shown in Figure 4. The middle location 36 of the red end is then pushed down ~ugh a circle 40 in the red end, in ~he direction of arrow 41. As shown in Figure 5, this results .in a loop 42 in the red end. The person grasps the middle location at 36 of the red loop 42 in his left hand and the middle 43 of the white loop 32 in his right hand, and then pulls them in the directions of the arrows 44, 45. The finished bow is shown in phantom lines in Figure 5.

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Children and retarded persons often experience particular difficulty in c~rrying out two of these tying steps. One difficult step is in Figure 3, after the bow 32 has been formed, when a person must shift his attention to grasping the red end portion 18 to bend it behind the loop. If the loop is released/then the child will be frustrated. To prevent this, at least the white end portion 20 of the lace is constructed-so it is stiff to substantially retain the loop shape to which it is bent, but with the stiffness being low enough to permit children and retarded persons to easily bend the end portion during subsequent ~teps in the tying of the lace. Such stiff-ness can be achieved by using an ordinary shoe lace shown in Fig~re 6, w~ich includes a woven sheath 50, and by including a metal wire 5~ as of copper within the sheath to stiffen it. The copper wire 52 should have a thickness or diameter of at least about 10 mil (one mil equals one thousanth inch) to provide sufficient stiffness, but should not be of greater diameter than about i 40 mil or it will hamper subsequent bow tying steps. Any other metal stiffeners should have a diameter within this range.
~ relatively low stiffness will hold a largely loop shape at 32 (Figure 3),but the ends of the loop will separate.
To prevent such separation so as to retain the loop shape, at least one of the markings 34 is formed with means for retaining ` it to the other marking 22. Applicant sews a Velcro loop pad 35 (Fig. 7) of dark color to the woven lace to form the marking ~2 and sews a dark Velcro hook pad 37 to ~he lace to form the marking 34. Other means such as adhesive on one of the markings can be used as a fastening or retaining means. The combination of the moderately s~iff lace ~o hold a loop shape, with only the inner end of the loop at 54 supported and with the rest of it being ~ ~7~

unsupported by any solid object, and the Velcro fasteners or other retaining means for retaining the marked portions 22, 34 in engagement, enables a child to release the loop while grasp-ing the other end of the lace, without the loop falling and frustrating the person.
Another step wllich children and retarded persons o~ten find to be difficult, is in the transition between the steps of Figure 4 and 5, when a person must release the loop 42 after pushing it, and then grasp it and the other loop 32 to pull them in opposi~e directions. By making both end portions of the lace moderately stiff, the person can release them and still be able to grasp them again without the partial bow falling apart. At almost any part of the tying process, the person can release the laces, and the stiffness of the laces will "freeze"
lS or retain their positions to enable the person to see how the tying process is progressing and to enable him to again grasp the places to continue the tying process.
In the lace of Figure 1, the marking 21 is spaced a dist-ance A of about 3 inches from the tip of the lace, the marking 36 is spaced a distance ~ of about 6 l/2 inches from the end, and the marking 34 is spaced a distance C of about 9 inches ~rom the end.
Figures 7 and 8 illustrate an alternative ~et of steps involved in the tying o~ a double bow. In this case, the two markings 22, 34 and 21, 60 on the two lace end portions are brought together to form two bows 62, 64. One of the bows 62 is then threaded through the space 66 lying under the bows when they are crossed as in Figure 3.

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Althouyh a variety of ~arkings can be used, applicant has marked laces by coloring most of the end portion 18 red and most of the left portion 20 white. The outer and inner markings 20, 21 and 34, 60 have been black, wi~h each pair s such as 21, 34 spaced about six inches apart. The middle markings 36, 43 have been stars.
Applicant has composed a poem to guide a learner through a seven step shoe tying sequence as shown in Figures 1-5, which is as follows:
Red over white, pinch them tight Over we roll, and back through the hole No~ pull them through, I'm tying my shoe.
Make a white bunny ear, and squeeze it right here.
Over we roll, the star stops at the hole.
Push through the star, but don't push too far.
Now pull the stars through, I've just tied my shoe' The Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Basic Skills (Albert Brigance, Curriculum Associates, 1976) indicates that shoe tying is typically acquired during the child's fifth year.
To date, the youngest children tested with shoelaces of the type described above, have been of ages 3 years, 2 mon~hs, ; 3 years, 8 months and 3 years, 8 months. All three of these children became independent shoe tiers within 35 minutes of training. This i5 considerably earlier than ~he expected ages or learning this skill. Of seven children who have demonstrated independent shoe tying with applicant t S laces, none have been able to transfer their skill directly to floppy laces without additional practice. These children show full knowledge of the steps required and can often describe what they are attempting to do, but they lose control of the laces.

Children who are tested who can independently tie floppy laces, have all been able to tie applicant's laces. Applicant also has been successful in teaching retarded people to tie bows, who have been unable to do so with floppy laces.
Thus, the invention provides a shoelace for use by young children or those handicapped by mental retarda~ion, which, after being threaded through the eyelets of a shoe so its opposite end portlons are free for tying a bow, acilitates the tying of the bow. This can be accomplished by con-structing at least the opposite end portions so that they are stiff enough to substantially retain the shape to which they are bent and unbent, but which each resists bending and unbending with a low enough resistance to permit a person to easily bend the shoelaces during the tyiny of a bow with them. The shoelaces can include marked reyions, and can include means such as Velcro pads for retaining together a pair of marked areas brought together to form a bow. A pair of markings can be placed near the inner and outer endsof the end portion, and a distinctly different marking can be placed at the middle.
Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein~ it is recognized that modifications and variations ~ay readily occur to those skilled in the art and consequently~ it is intended that the claims be interpreted to cover ~uch modifications and equivalents.
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Claims (9)

1. A shoelace for use by young children or the handicapped which, after being threaded through the eyelets of a shoe so its opposite end portions are free for tying a bow, facilitates the tying of the bow, comprising:
a shoelace of a width which enables it to be threaded through the eyelets of a shoe, and which has opposite end portions that are each stiff enough to substantially retain the shape to which they are bent and unbent, but which each resists bending and unbending with a low enough resistance to permit children to easily bend the shoelaces during the tying of a bow with them.

2. The shoelace described in claim 1 wherein:
said shoelace includes a limp fabric body and a solid bendable metal wire lying loosely within the body and of a thickness of between 10 and 40 thousandths inch within said body.

3. The shoelace described in claim 1 wherein:
each end portion is stiff enough to retain itself in a looped configuration with only one end of the loop supported and the rest of the loop unsupported.

4. The shoelace described in claim 1 wherein:
at least one of said end portions has a pair of marked locations spaced a plurality of inches from each other along the length of the end portion, and including means on at least one of the marked locations for retaining it to the other marked location when pressed there against, whereby when the end portion is formed into a loop the retained-together marked locations hold the loop configuration.

5. The shoelace described in claim 1 wherein:
at least one of said end portions has a pair of markings at locations that are spaced apart by a plurality of inches to facilitate forming a loop, and including a middle marking different from either of said pair of markings and lying substantially half way between them, whereby to indicate what point of the loop to pull through.

6. A shoelace for use by young children or the handicapped which, after being threaded through the eyelets of a shoe so its opposite end portions are free for tying a bow, facilitates the tying of the bow, comprising:
a pair of marked locations on at least one of said shoelace end portions, said marked locations spaced a plurality of inches apart to enable a loop to be formed by bringing the marked locations against one another, said shoelace having means at said marked locations for retaining said locations against each other when pressed together, whereby to enable the "freezing" of a created loop.

7. The shoelace described in claim 6 wherein:
said end portion which has said marked locations, is stiff enough to retain itself in a looped configuration with substantially the entire loop unsupported except at one end.

8. A shoelace for use by young children or the handicapped which, after being threaded through the eyelets of a shoe so its opposite end portions are free for tying a bow, facilitates the tying of the bow, comprising:

a shoelace which has an end portion which includes a pair of markings spaced apart by a plurality of inches so when the shoelace locations which are marked are brought together they form a loop which is useful in tying a bow, said shoelace being devoid of additional markings identical to said pair of markings that lie between said pair of markings and that are spaced less than an inch apart, said end portion being stiff enough to substantially retain the loop shape when the marked locations are brought together, but said end portion being flexible enough to permit a child to tie a bow with said looped end portion and the opposite end portion of the shoelace.

9. The shoelace described in claim 8 wherein:
said marked end portion is stiff enough to retain itself in a looped configuration with only one end supported and the rest unsupported.