GB2245146A

GB2245146A - Shoe protector

Info

Publication number: GB2245146A
Application number: GB9016161A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hiroyasu Uno
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-05-25
Filing date: 1990-07-24
Publication date: 1992-01-02
Also published as: GB9016161D0; JPH0412906U

Abstract

A shoe protector for protecting a driver's shoe from wearing down or rubbing off due to the driver's action of turning his or her foot with his or her heel resting on a car floor when the driver steps on an accelerator pedal, brake pedal or clutch pedal, said shoe protector being integrally formed of elastic material and capable of being fitted closely on a rear portion of a driver's shoe below the ankle of the driver and said shoe protector comprising (i) a rear end portion corresponding to a rear end portion of a driver's shoe and (ii) opposed side portions corresponding to opposed side portions of a driver's foot below the ankle and having (a) portions which bulge out and (b) front ends which are spaced apart from each other by a distance considerably smaller than a width of the rear end portion of the shoe protector. <IMAGE>

Description

Shoe Protector I, Hiroyasu Uno, of 20-15, Noritake 2-chome, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a shoe protector for protecting the outer surface of the rear end portion of a driver's shoe from wearing down or rubbing off due to the driver's operation of stepping on the accelerator pedal, brake pedal or clutch pedal of a motorcar.

When a driver of a motorcar steps on the accelerator pedal, the driver's foot turns with his or her heel resting on the floor. Repetitions of this action may cause the outer surface of the rear end portion of the driver's shoe to wear down or rub off. Also, when the driver steps on the brake pedal or clutch pedal, the driver's shoe may rub against the car floor and, hence, this action may also result in wearing off the outer surface of the rear end portion of the driver's shoe. Needles to say, in proportion as the outer surface of the rear end portion of the driver's shoe wears down or rubs off, the appearance of the driver's shoe is marred. Thus, drivers bitterly hating a flaw in the appearance of the shoes have provided themselves with driving shoes used exclusively for driving a car. So far no protector has been proposed to protect the driver's shoe from suffering such a damage.The inventor proposes such a protector to eliminate the need for special driving shoes.

According to the invention a shoe protector is provided which is integrally formed of elastic material and is capable of being fitted closely on a rear portion of a driver's shoe below the ankle of the driver and comprises a rear end portion corresponding to a rear end portion of a driver's shoe and opposed side portions corresponding to opposed side portions of a driver's foot below the ankle and having portions which bulge out and front ends which are spaced apart from each other by a distance considerably smaller than a width of the rear end portion of the shoe protector.

According to one aspect of the invention, the shoe protec tor may further includes a bottom portion corresponding to a rearmost portion of a bottom surface of the driver's shoe.

Shoe protectors according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a partly cutaway perspective view of the shoe protector of the invention; Fig. 2 depicts the shoe protector of Fig. 1 fitted on a driver's shoe; Fig. 3 is a side view of the shoe protector of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the shoe protector of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the shoe protector of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross section of the shoe protector of Fig. 1 taken on line X-X of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a vertical cross section of the shoe protector of Fig. 1 taken on line Y-Y of Fig. 4; and Figs. 8 and 9 depict another shoe protector.

Referring now to the drawing, the shoe protector Al of Fig.

1 is integrally formed of elastic material and, hence, can be produced, for example, by injection molding synthetic resin.

Reference numeral ic designates a rear end portion of the shoe protector Al. The rear end portion ic has substantially the same height as the rear end portion of a driver's shoe B which includes the heel thereof.

A solid line of Fig. 4 designates the shoe protector Al not fitted on the driver's shoe B. Thus Fig. 4 shows that the shoe protector Al is generally in the shape of the letter "U" when it is not fitted on the driver's shoe B. When the shoe protector Al is fitted on the driver's shoe B, the shoe protector Al is enlarged as indicated by a dots-and-dash line of Fig. 4.

Reference numerals la and lb designate opposed side portions of the shoe protector Al. The side portions la and ib correspond to opposed side portions of the driver's foot below the ankle.

The shoe protector Al also has a bottom portion id (Figs. 1 and 5). The bottom portion id is adapted to engage the rearmost portion of the bottom surface of the driver's shoe B.

As best shown in Fig. 5, the front ends of the side portions la and ib have a distance between them which is con siderably smaller than the width of the rear end portion ic.

The side portions la and ib bulge out except for their front ends. The maximum distance between the side portions la and lb is slightly smaller than the width of a rear portion b of the driver's shoe B.

The shoe protector Al may include a backward projection 2 with an opening 2a. The driver may pass a string through the opening 2a to hang the shoe protector Al on a suitable object in the car.

In use a driver enlarges the front ends of the side portions la and ib by hand to space the front ends thereof further apart from each other than indicated by the solid line of Fig.

4, and fits the shoe protector Al on a rear portion b of the driver's shoe below the ankle of the driver such that the bottom portion id engages the rearmost portion of the bottom surface of the driver's shoe B. As a result, since the shoe protector Al is of elastic material, the shoe protector Al fits closely on the rear portion k of the driver's shoe B (Fig. 2). The driver can remove the shoe protector Al from his shoe B merely by holding the side portions la and ib and pulling the shoe protector A. Thus it is very easy to use the shoe protector Al.

When fitted on the driver's shoe B, the shoe protector Al covers the rear, outer surface of the driver's shoe B to prevent the rear, outer surface of the driver's shoe B directly engaging a car floor D, thereby protecting the driver's shoe B from wearing down or rubbing off due to the driver's operation of stepping on the accelerator pedal, brake pedal or clutch pedal C.

As described above, the shoe protector Al is fitted on the rear portion b of the driver's shoe such that the bottom portion id engages the rearmost portion of the bottom surface of the driver's shoe B. Hence the driver's action of turning his foot with his heel resting on the floor does not cause the shoe protector Al to move away from the driver's shoe.

Figs. 8 and 9 depict a shoe protector A2 for a high-heeled shoe. The shoe protector is also made of elastic material. The shoe protector A2 has a rear end portion with substantially the same height as the rear end portion of a high-heeled shoe B which does not include the heel thereof. Also, the shoe protector A2 has a smaller overall size than the shoe protector Al.

In addition, the shoe protector A2 includes no bottom portion which engages the rearmost portion of the bottom surface of the high-heeled shoe B. In the other respects the shoe protector Al is constructed in substantially the same manner as the shoe protector Al. If desired, the surface of the shoe protector A2 may be made rough at a lower part a of the rear end portion thereof to prevent the shoe protector A2 slipping on the car floor.

If desired, hairs may be fastened into the inner surface of the shoe protector Al or A2 to prevent the shoe protector from causing damage to the driver's shoe. Hairs may also be fastened in the outer surface of the shoe protector to prevent the shoe protector from slipping on the car floor.

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A shoe protector for protecting a driver's shoe from wearing down or rubbing off due to the driver's action of turning his or her foot with his or her heel resting on a car floor when the driver steps on an accelerator pedal, brake pedal or clutch pedal, said shoe protector being integrally formed of elastic material and capable of being fitted closely on a rear portion of a driver's shoe below the ankle of the driver and said shoe protector comprising (i) a rear end portion corresponding to a rear end portion of a drivers shoe and (ii) opposed side portions corresponding to opposed side portions of a driver's foot below the ankle and having (a) portions which bulge out and (b) front ends which are spaced apart from each other by a distance considerably smaller than a width of the rear end portion of the shoe protector.

2. A shoe protector according to Claim 1 which further includes a bottom portion corresponding to a rearmost portion of a bottom surface of the driver's shoe.

3. A shoe protector substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.