GB1489940A - Protective device for safety shoes - Google Patents

Abstract

1489940 Boots &c. R J HOWLAND JNR 9 Jan 1975 [17 Jan 1974] 937/75 Heading A3B A protective device for insertion arid use in safety footwear comprises a piece of hard stiff sheet material having a sole-protecting portion and toe-protecting portion, having an open front, formed as an arch by at least one element integrally joined to the sole portion. The device is formed as a substantially footshaped blank 12 having a sole portion 10 and an integral extension 14 which is bent along line 16 and joined at edge 18 to edge 19 of the sole 10 to form a toe-protecting arch as shown in Fig. 2. Further embodiments comprise two integral extensions 34, 36 (Fig. 3) formed to produce a two-layer arch (Fig. 4 not shown), or a single integral extension 54 (Fig. 5) attached to the sole portion at lines 62, 64 forming a space 60, and about which the extension 54 is bent to form an arch (Fig. not shown) or a combination of embodiments of Figs. 3, 5 (Fig. 7) to form a three-layered arch (Fig. 8 not shown). The blank may be formed of sheet steel, or thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers such as glass-fibre reinforced or moulded or thermoformed rigid plastics. The extensions when formed into an arch are joined to the sole member by welding, adhesives, ultrasonic welding techniques or sewing, or in the case of multiple layer arches the layers may be joined at positions on the arch remote from the sole edge.