Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
  • A43B3/16—Overshoes
  • A43B3/163—Overshoes specially adapted for health or hygienic purposes, e.g. comprising electrically conductive material allowing the discharge of electrostatic charges
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43D—MACHINES, TOOLS, EQUIPMENT OR METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING OR REPAIRING FOOTWEAR
  • A43D11/00—Machines for preliminary treatment or assembling of upper-parts, counters, or insoles on their lasts preparatory to the pulling-over or lasting operations; Applying or removing protective coverings
  • A43D11/003—Applying or removing protective coverings

Definitions

• Shoe covers also serve to protect the wearer from hazards already present in these environments.
• the shoe covers prevent the wearer from being exposed to hazards such as electricity, chemicals, metals, microbiological agents, disease and tools. It is thus desirable to design a disposable shoe cover that prevents the transmission of contaminates to and from a shoe.
• disposable shoe covers are not limited to the aforementioned environments. Each environment requires a shoe cover made of a material having specific characteristics. As a result, disposable shoe covers may need to be fabricated from a wide array of materials including polyethylene or polypropylene sheet materials, non-woven fabrics or other disposable materials. It is therefore also desirable to design a disposable shoe cover that can be manufactured out of varied materials. Furthermore, the assortment of shoe shapes and sizes necessitate disposable shoe covers of various shapes and sizes.
• a heat-shrinking operation such as the one disclosed in the aforementioned patent, requires multiple motors, a heating unit, heating elements, a blower and extensive wiring and electrical controllers. These elements are not only expensive but also form an intricate system that is difficult to maintain and repair. Furthermore, such an extensive electrical heating system increases the risk of injury to the user who must set his or her foot into the device to have it shrink-wrapped. As described above, many approaches for covering a shoe and applying shoe covers to a wearer's shoe have been proposed. Yet, there remains a need for a simple, inexpensive and safe shoe cover that may be applied to a wearer's shoe without the handling of the shoe cover itself.
• the invention consists of a continuous form disposable shoe cover that is separably linked to at least one other shoe cover or a shoe cover lineal.
• the shoe cover includes a securing portion to secure the shoe cover to a shoe upon the insertion of the shoe into the shoe cover.
• the shoe cover may also be used with an automatic shoe cover application device.
• the guide portion functions to facilitate the conveyance of the shoe cover and associated lineal through the device.
• An embodiment of the present invention also entails a production process from which the shoe cover is produced.
• the production process includes a step for attaching the securing member to the shoe cover and a step for forming the guide portion of the shoe cover.
• the process further includes a step for rendering the shoe cover separably linked from at least one other shoe cover or a lineal of shoe covers.
• Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a continuous form disposable shoe cover and shoe cover lineal of the present invention.
• Fig. 2 is a top view of a layout of a continuous form disposable shoe cover prior to the production process.
• Fig. 3 is a side view of a continuous form disposable shoe cover and shoe cover lineal according to Figure 1.
• Fig. 4 shows the components constituting the production process of a continuos type disposable shoe cover according to figure 1.
• Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a shoe cover application device for use with the continuous form disposable shoe cover and shoe cover lineal according to Figure 1.
• FIGS 1-3 show the preferred embodiment of a continuous form disposable shoe cover.
• Figure 1 there is provided a lineal 100 of disposable continuous-type shoe covers 200.
• the shoe covers 200 are components of a shoe cover lineal 100 and designed for use in an automated shoe cover application device 500, as exemplified in Figure 5.
• the shoe covers 200 are drawn out of a package or storage bin 400 (also shown in Figure 5).
• the shoe covers 200 are then conveyed through device 500 along guide members 510, and held open at holding members 520 in a receiving position awaiting the insertion of a user's shoe.
• the receiving shoe cover is separated from the device 500 and the lineal 100 whereby the subsequent shoe cover 200 in the lineal 100 is drawn onto holding members 520.
• the detailed description of device 500 and its operation is described in related U.S. Patent Application , filed herewith.
• shoe covers 200 may be guided through the device 500 individually and not as part of a lineal. Additionally, each shoe cover 200 may be interlocked with the following shoe cover so that the shoe covers 200 may be uninterruptedly drawn out of storage bin 400 without the shoe covers 200 being connected to one another. Furthermore, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that the shoe cover 200 of the present invention need not be used within a device 500. The shoe cover may be applied manually, where the shoe covers 200 are part of lineal 100, or interlocked to be uninterruptedly drawn out of storage bin 400.
• the lineal 100 comprises a plurality of shoe covers 200 separably linked to one another at perforated portions 260.
• the shoe covers 200 generally include a toe portion 210, a heel portion 220 and side walls 230.
• the side walls 230 are united along longitudinal edge 280 by the folding of a flat sheet of shoe cover material 101, as will be described with reference to Figures 2-4, or may be formed by bonding two separate pieces of shoe cover material 101 to form longitudinal edge 280.
• the shoe cover 200 also has a securing portion 240 for securing the shoe cover 200 about the shoe once the shoe has been inserted into the receiving shoe cover 200. Additionally, the shoe cover 200 comprises a guide portion 250.
• the guide portions 250 are formed as tubes along the top longitudinal edges of side walls 230.
• the guide portions 250 perform at least two functions.
• the guide portions 250 when used with a device 500, facilitate the guiding of the shoe cover 200 through a device 500.
• the guide portions 250 also may be manipulated by either a device 500 or manually to define an opening 205 in the shoe cover 200 for receiving a user's shoe. It is to be understood, therefore, by one skilled in the art, that the shape and contour of the guide portions 250 need only be suitable to guide the shoe covers 200 through the device 500 or to be manipulated to define an opening 205 in the shoe covers 200.
• Figure 1 also shows the securing portions 240 of the preferred embodiment.
• the securing portions 240 are preferably disposed below the guide portions 250 along the top longitudinal edge of side walls 230.
• the securing portions 240 also are preferably elastic bands attached to the side walls 230 of the shoe cover 200.
• the elastic bands of the preferred embodiment are naturally biased to contract around a shoe inserted into the shoe cover 200.
• the elastic bands may be attached using any method known in the art such as ultrasonic stitching or adhesive bonding.
• the shoe cover 200 of the preferred embodiment includes a toe portion 210 and a heel portion 220. As illustrated in Figure 1, both the toe portion 210 and the heel portion 220 are formed by separating the side walls 230 from the guide portions 250 along cut lines 270. In addition to forming the toe portion 210 and heel portion 220, cut lines 270 minimize the tension put on the side walls 230 and the guide portion 250 during the insertion of a shoe into shoe cover 200..
• Figure 4 illustrates the aforementioned preferred production process
• Figures 2 and 3 show the shoe cover prior to and after the production process, respectively.
• the production process begins with a supply of shoe cover material 101 provided to the production line.
• the shoe cover material 101 may be made of, depending on the desired use of the shoe cover 200, single or multi-layered fabrics, made of or coated with fluid resistant or impervious materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene or other materials known in the art for the manufacture of shoe covers.
• the shoe cover material 101 may also include low or high friction strips along the length of the shoe cover material 101 to reduce static electricity discharge or to prevent slipping.
• the disposable shoe cover material 101 may be wound on a roll 110 to be supplied to the production line.
• the shoe cover material 101 may also be provided to the production process in individual sheets the length of the shoe cover 200.
• the disposable shoe cover material 101 is then fed into the production process along a plane parallel to the ground by a feeding device
• the feeding device may be a motor or any other suitable device.
• Roller 115 is mounted on a mobile arm 114 and extends along the entire width of the shoe cover material 101. Mobile arm 114 keeps roller 115 in contact with the surface of the shoe cover material 101 keeping the shoe cover material 101 stretched as it is fed into the production process. The shoe cover material 101 is also aligned to proceed through the production process as it is passed through a pair of alignment drums 116.
• the production process also includes an affixing element 117, for affixing the securing portion 240 on the shoe cover material 101.
• the affixing element is provided downstream of alignment drums 116.
• the securing portions 240 are supplied to the production process by first passing through stretching drums 118.
• the affixing element 117 may be an adhesive sprayer provided upstream of the stretching drums 118 for spraying adhesive onto the shoe cover material 101.
• the securing portions 240 are stretched by stretching drum 118 and set on the adhesive sprayed upon the shoe cover material 101.
• the affixing element 117 may also be an ultrasonic stitching device disposed downstream from securing portion drums 118 used to ultrasonically stitch the stretched securing portions 240 to the shoe cover material 101. It should be noted, if a non-elastic securing member 240 is preferred, such a drawstring, velcro, or the like, stretching drums may not be necessary.
• the production process of the preferred embodiment also includes a folding area 119 where the shoe cover 200 is folded into its useable form.
• Figure 2 illustrates the layout for the folding of the shoe cover 200 during the production process. Specifically, Figure 2 shows the shoe cover material 101 as it arrives at folding area 119.
• Folding area 119 comprises a folding guide (not shown) fashioned to fold the shoe cover material 101 at the desired folding as represented in the layout of Figure 2.
• the shoe cover 200 of the preferred embodiment is folded so that each longitudinal edge 300 is folded inward and set along each fold line 330. As this fold is made, alignment line 310 matches up with alignment line 320.
• the production process continues with the folded shoe cover material 101 passing through heated adhesion drums 120.
• Adhesion drums 120 are fabricated with spaced heating elements (not shown).
• the heating elements heat-press or hot melt each longitudinal edge 300 to each fold line 330 and each alignment line 310 each alignment line 320.
• guide portions 250 are formed as tubes or pipes between the hot melt line 290 (shown in Figure 3) and the new longitudinal edge 296 of the shoe cover 200.
• the securing portion 240 is also encased in a tube-like formation between hot melt lines 290 and 292.
• the folded shoe cover material 101 of the preferred embodiment is then provided to cutting drums 121.
• Cutting drums 121 have spaced cutting members (not shown) to cut the pair of cut lines 270 into the shoe cover material. As seen in Figures 2 and 3, the cut lines 270 are cut to only a fraction of the length of the shoe cover 200.
• the shoe cover material 101 is subsequently fed into a central folding zone 122 wherein the shoe cover material 101 is folded along symmetry axis 350.
• the shoe cover material 101 is preferably oriented so that it is conveyed through the remainder of the production process in a plane perpendicular to the ground.
• the shoe cover material 101 is then delivered to a pair of perforation drums 123.
• the perforation drums 123 each carry a pair of circumferentially-spaced heating elements 125 and a perforating device 124 between the heating elements 125.
• the perforation drums 123 rotate about a vertical axis along the surface of the shoe cover material 101.
• the heating elements heat press or hot melt the ends 294 of the shoe covers 200 to form the toe portion 210 and heel portion 220 of the shoe cover 200.
• the perforating device 124 rotates with perforation drums 123 to perforate the shoe cover material 101 at equal intervals (preferably once per full rotation) between the heel portion 220 of a first shoe cover 200 and the toe portion 210 of the subsequent shoe cover 200. Therefore, the circumference of the perforation drums is preferably equal to the length of each individual disposable shoe cover 200. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the perforation step of the production process of the present invention may not be necessary if the shoe covers 200 are produced individually and not as part of a lineal 100. Once the shoe cover lineal 100 has been perforated, a pair of turnstile devices
• 125 transversely folds the shoe cover lineal 100 along the perforated edges 260 of each shoe cover 200.
• the shoe covers 200 are then stacked at stacking area 130 and placed into storage bin 400 ready for use.
• a counter 128 and cutting member 129 are preferably provided to cut the shoe cover lineal 100 once a desired number of shoe covers 200 have been stacked at stacking area 130. Once again, if each shoe cover 200 is being produced individually and not as part of a lineal 100, cutting member 129 is not needed.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=26666375

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2001
  • 2001-07-11 CA CA002414903A patent/CA2414903A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-07-11 MX MXPA03000351A patent/MXPA03000351A/es unknown
  • 2001-07-11 EP EP01952645A patent/EP1301096A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-07-11 AU AU2001273378A patent/AU2001273378A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-07-11 WO PCT/US2001/021906 patent/WO2002007554A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events