NL2022636B1 - Heel repair patch and method for repairing a heel of a shoe - Google Patents

Abstract

The application describes a heel repair patch (100) for a shoe comprising a piece of wrapping foil (200) composed of stretchable material; an adhesive layer disposed on the piece of foil; and a non-stick cover (300) placed 5 over the adhesive layer. The piece of foil has an isosceles trapezium-like shape. The non-stick cover is segmented comprising a middle part (302), a left side part (306) and a right side part (304). Cutting lines (120, 122) in the non-stick cover between the parts extend from a bottom edge (102) to a top edge (104) of the isosceles trapezium-like piece of foil such that each part of the non-stick cover is 10 removable from the adhesive layer without peeling an adjacent part from the adhesive layer. Furthermore, a method is described to apply the heel repair patch. Fig. 1

Description

HEEL REPAIR PATCH AND METHOD FOR REPAIRING A HEEL OF A SHOE

TECHNICAL FIELD The subject disclosure relates to a shoe heel repair patch, more particular to a patch for repairing a heel of a shoe with a high heel. The subject disclosure further relates to a method for repairing a heel of a shoe.

BACKGROUND ART Elegant ladies’ shoes and boots with raised high heels do not generally have a very long life expectancy.

Numerous covers for women’s shoes have been provided in prior art that are adapted to be attached to the heel area of the shoes for protection. US3270442 discloses a pre-formed heel cover portion of unitary construction with the rest of the shoe cover. GB2171590A discloses a self-adhering plastic protector which can be glued to the back or side surfaces of the heels of ladies’ shoes or boots in order to prevent damage to them.

US5052129 discloses a heel repair patch that includes adhesive material so that it can be applied to the heel of the shoe. The heel repair patch comprises a piece of foil composed of stretchable material, an adhesive layer disposed on the foil; and a non-stick cover placed over the adhesive layer.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an object of the present technology to provide a heel repair patch that overcomes shortcomings of the prior art solutions for heel shoes. A further object is to provide a heel repair patch that is simple and easy to use. A still further object is to provide a heel repair patch that is economical in cost to manufacture.

According to an aspect of the subject technology, this object is achieved by a heel repair patch having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further ways of carrying out the present technology may be attained by the measures mentioned in the dependent claims.

A heel repair patch according to the subject technology is characterized in that the piece of foil has an isosceles trapezium-like shape. The non-stick cover is segmented comprising a middle part, a left side part and a right side part, wherein cutting lines in the non-stick cover between the parts extend from a bottom edge to a top edge of the isosceles trapezium-like foil such that each part of the non-stick cover is removable from the adhesive layer without peeling an adjacent part from the adhesive layer.

These features provides a repair patch that allows a person to position first the middle part of the piece of foil of the repair patch to a back side of the heel without touching the adhesive with its fingers. As his fingers are not stuck to the glue of the foil, the risk is reduced that a part of adhesive coupling of the patch to the heel will be broken when he wants to grasp the piece of foil at another position. Each time the adhesive coupling is broken, the bonding strength of the repair patch with the heel decreases. Furthermore, when attaching the middle part of the foil to the heel, dirt on his fingers will not degrade the bonding strength of the side parts at this stage. When the middle part is correctly stuck to the heel, said person will subsequently remove one of the side parts of the non-stick cover and stuck the corresponding part of the piece of foil to the corresponding side of the heel and after that the other side part of the non-stick cover. In this way, the risk of pollution of the adhesive layer during the repair is reduced which improves the bonding strength between the foil and the heel and also the ease of use of the heel repair patch.

In an embodiment, the piece of foil comprises a top edge and a bottom edge. The top edge is longer than the bottom edge and has a middle section which is convex This feature provides a universal heel repair patch having an optimal shape such that is could be used to repair almost any type of shoe heel while minimizing the average amount of residual material that is cut off during repair. Furthermore, the shape enables one to cut the patches from a sheet of roll of foil with a minimal amount of residual material.

In an embodiment, each part of the non-stick cover comprises a tab configured to form a handle to remove the corresponding part from the adhesive layer. This feature improves the ease of use of the patch.

In a further embodiment, the tab is placed over an adhesive layer disposed on a piece of foil of the same stretchable material as the isosceles trapezium-like piece of foil and having the same shape and size of the tab. This function ensures that the repair patch is easy to fabricate.

In an embodiment, the middle part has a width of at least 2 cm. It has been found that this minimum width is required to secure the patch on the heel so that is does not come off when one side of the patch is pulled over a corresponding side of the heel.

In an embodiment, the foil is made from a wrapping film suitable for use in vehicle and graphic applications. Such wrapping films are easy to stretch without changing the colours of the print due to the stretching of the printed layer.

In an embodiment, the non-stick cover further comprises along the lateral sides of the isosceles trapezium-like piece of foil an additional left part and an additional right part respectively, wherein each part has a width of at least 1 cm. This feature allows a person to position the foil of the repair patch to a left or right side of the heel without touching the adhesive with its fingers. This improves the quality of the repair as the risk that he breaks the bonding between foil and heel when he wants to hold the patch with his fingers in a different way is significantly reduced. According to another aspect of the subject technology, the object is achieved by a method for repairing a heel of a shoe having the features of claim 8. Advantageous embodiments and further ways of carrying out the present technology may be attained by the measures mentioned in the dependent claims. In an embodiment, the method comprises the following actions: Providing a heel repair patch having the technical features of a heel repair patch described above; Peeling the middle part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch; Sticking a section of the foil that was covered by the middle part of the non-stich cover on the backside of the heel of the shoe; Peeling one of the left or right part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch; Stretching and sticking the section of the foil that was covered by the one of the left or right part of the non-stick cover on the corresponding lateral side and front facing side of the heel of the shoe; Cutting off excess foil of the one of the left or right part of the non-stick cover halfway the forward facing side of the heel and removing the cut off part; Peeling the other of the left or right part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch; Stretching and sticking the section of the foil that was covered by the other of the left or right part of the non-stick cover on the corresponding lateral side and front facing side of the heel of the shoe; and, Cutting off excess foil of the other of the left of right part of the non-stick cover along a side of the piece of foil that is stuck on the forward facing side of the heel in a previous cutting of action and removing the cut off part. In a further embodiment, the method further comprises at least one of the actions: cutting off excess foil along the upper edge of the heel outer surface and cutting off excess foil along the lower edge of the heel outer surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other aspects, properties and advantages will be explained hereinafter based on the following description with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like or comparable parts, and in which: Fig. 1 shows schematically a first embodiment of a heel repair patch; Fig. 2 shows schematically the shape of the foil of the heel repair patch; Fig. 3 shows schematically the three parts of the non-stich cover of the heel repair patch shown in fig. 1; Fig. 4 shows schematically a second embodiment of a heel repair patch; Fig. 5 illustrates a stage of repairing the heel of a shoe; Fig. 6 illustrates two other optional actions to be performed after a part of the heel repair is bonded to the heel; and, Fig. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a sheet of wrapping film from which heel repair patches have been slit.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS It is noted that the drawings are schematic, not necessarily to scale and that details that are not required for understanding the present subject technology may have been omitted. The terms "upward", "downward", "below", "above", and the like relate to the embodiments as oriented in the drawings, unless otherwise specified or functionally required. The term “foil” is used to indicate the decorated layer of material that will be stuck on the heel. The term “non-stick cover” is used to indicate the back-liner or backer. The back-liner is the layer that a sticker or label is adhered to before use. Further, elements that are at least substantially identical or that perform an at least substantially identical function are denoted by the same numeral. Fig. 1 shows schematically a first embodiment of a heel repair patch 5 100 for a shoe according to the subject technology. The heel repair patch has a shape and size such that it is suitable to be used to repair almost all possible appearances of heels. The heel repair patch is used to repair the outer surface of the heel of a shoe. Heel types that could be repaired are not limited to the following type of heels: stacked or block heel, continental heel, setback heel, Cuban heel, pantaloons heel, angle heel, pinet heel, heel of a Cromwell type shoe, bar heel, Annabelle heel and stiletto heel. The heel repair patch comprises a first layer being a piece of foil 200 composed of stretchable material, an adhesive layer (not visible in the Figures) disposed on the piece of foil, and a non-stick cover placed over the adhesive layer 302, 304, 306. In an embodiment the non-stick cover is made from anti-adhesive paper. The shape of the piece of foil 200 is shown in Fig. 2. In an embodiment, the material of the piece of foil is made from a wrapping film suitable for use in the vehicle and graphic segment. Such wrapping films enable a high quality film finish and cost effective full colour wrapping. Furthermore, wrapping films allow for faster positioning, application without bubbles and wrinkles.

The heel repair patch 100 has an isosceles trapezium-like shape. The heel repair patch has a bottom edge 102 with a length of 150 mm, a top edge 104 with a length of 244 mm and side edges 106, 108 with a length of 120.5 mm. The perpendicular distance between straight parts of the top edge and the bottom edgeis115mm. When repairing a heel of a shoe, before cutting off the sections that protrude above and below the heel, the top edge is located above the heel to be repaired and the bottom edge is located below the heel to be repaired. The distance between the top edge 104 and the bottom edge 102 is 115 mm. The non-stick cover is segmented in three parts: a middle part 302, a left side part 306 and a right side part 304. Cutting lines 102, 122 in the non-stick cover (dashed lines in Fig. 1) extend from the bottom edge 102 to the top edge 104 of the isosceles trapezium-like piece of foil. The cuttings are such that each part of the non-stick cover is removable from the adhesive layer without peeling simultaneous an adjacent part from the adhesive layer. This allows one to remove only the middle part 302 of the non-stick cover and leaving the left and right part 304, 306 of the non-stick cover in place. In the present embodiment, the middle part 302 of the non-stick cover has a width of 40 mm. The top edge 104 has a middle section which is convex. The radius of the curvature of the middle section is 300 mm. The distance between the two transitions from convex section to straight section is about 102 mm. The piece of foil has a convex section which extends above the isosceles trapezium shaped section of the piece of foil. This convex section enables to reduce the average amount of remaining foil that will be cut off from a heel repair patch which has dimensions that makes the heel repair patch suitable to repair almost all types and heights of heels.

To facilitate the removal of a part of the non-stick layer from the adhesive layer, said part comprises a tab 110, 112, 114. The tabs are configured to form a handle to remove a corresponding part of the non-stick cover from the adhesive layer. A tab protrudes outside the circumference of the piece of foil 200. In the present embodiment, the tabs have a semi-circular shape, it might be clear that any other shape is suitable as long as the dimensions of the tab are sufficient to clamp the tab between two fingers of a hand. The tabs 114, 112 of the left and right part 304, 306 of the non-stick cover are located at the side of the middle part 302 of the non-stick cover. This improves the removability of a corresponding non-stich cover part when the middle part 302 is stuck on the back of a heel.

It should be noted that Fig. 1 shows the heel repair patch 100 from the foil side. This means the non-stick cover is located behind the isosceles trapezium-like shaped piece of foil.

When the heel repair patch has been obtained by die-cutting from a sheet of sticker foil, the tabs are paced over an adhesive layer disposed on a piece of foil of the same stretchable material as the piece of foil and having the same shape and size of the tab. The solid lines 130, 132 and 134 are the lines along which the heel repair patch has been cut up to the non-stick cover.

Consequently, when a part of the non-stick cover is removed from the piece of foil, the tab is still covered with foil material. Fig. 3 shows schematically the three parts of the non-stich cover of the heel repair patch shown in fig. 1 after removal from the adhesive layer. Reference numerals 310, 312 and 314 indicate the foil present on the tabs of the middle part 302, right part 304 and left part 306, respectively.

Fig. 4 shows schematically a second embodiment of a heel repair patch. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in Fig.1 in that the non- stick cover further comprises an additional right part 404 and an additional left part

406. An additional part at a side of the heel repair patch enables one to stretch and stick the piece of foil of corresponding side to the shoe heel without sticking his fingers to the adhesive layer. As a result, he could release easily the patch from his hand without the chance of loosening a part of the piece of foil that is stuck on the heel. The additional part has a width of at least 10 mm. Each additional part comprises also a tap configured to function as a handle to remove the corresponding additional part from the adhesive layer disposed on the piece of foil.

To repair the outer surface of a shoe heel with the heel repair patch described above the following method has to be performed. The shoe repairer selects a heel repair patch with the desired colour print. He peels the middle part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch. Subsequently, he sticks the part of piece of foil that has been covered by the middle part on the backside of the heel of the shoe. Fig. 5 illustrates this stage of repairing the heel of a shoe. Then he peels one of the left or right part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch and stretches the uncovered part of the repair patch and sticks said part on the corresponding lateral side and front facing side of the heel of the shoe. After that, he cuts off excess foil from the piece of foil halfway the forward facing side of the heel and removes the cut off part. After this, about half of the surface of the heel directed to the nose of the shoe is covered with the foil. Then he removes the other of the left or right part of the non-stick cover from the heel repair patch and stretches and sticks the section of the foil that was covered by the other of the left or right part of the non-stick cover along the corresponding lateral side and front facing side of the heel of the shoe. Now, he cuts off excess foil of the other of the left of right part of the non-stick cover along a side of the piece of foil that is stuck on the forward facing side of the heel in the previous action and removing the cut off part. After this action, the outer surface of the heel is covered with foil of the heel repair patch.

To finish the repair, he cuts off excess foil along the upper edge of the heel outer surface and excess foil along the lower edge of the heel surface with a cutting blade. The cutting action along the upper edge and lower edge of the heel is illustrated in Fig 6. If the heel repair patch is made from a wrapping foil used for covering the outer surface of a vehicle, the heel repair patch is pre heated to a temperature in the range of 30 - 50°C before attaching the wrapping foil to the shoe heel. As a result the wrapping foil is then stretchable without a colour change occurring in the foil. The heel repair patch can be kept within said temperature during positioning on the heel surface with the help of a hot air gun or the like. After the heel repair patch is applied to the shoe heel and excess foil is cut off from the patch, the foil is heated for at least one minute at 80 - 90°C, to undo the elasticity of the foil. After this, the tensile forces in the foil have been reduced significantly, which increases at least one of the durability, reliability and quality of the repair.

Fig. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a sheet of wrapping film 700 from which heel repair patches 100 have been obtained. The sheet of wrapping film has a length of 55 cm and a width of 45 cm. In total 8 heel repair patches are slit from one sheet. The solid lines 702 are cutting lines through the foil layer, adhesive layer and non-stick cover layer of the sheet of foil. The dashed lines 704 indicate cutting lines through the foil layer without cutting into the non-stick cover layer. The dashed lines with dots 704 indicate cutting lines through the non-stick cover layer without cutting into the foil layer. The thus obtained layer of non-stick cover material is known in literature as slit backer. The solid lines 702 may also be punched. The solid lines 702 could be made by a punching or slitting machine. The other lines 704, 706 are preferably made by a slitting machine. In an embodiment the foil layer has a thickness of 60pm. In Fig. 7 the lateral edges of two neighbouring heel repair patches are distance from each other. In an alternative embodiment, the lateral edges are separated from each other by only one cutting line. In an embodiment, the heel repair patches remain after punching/slitting in the sheet of foil with small nicks, after which they will be broken out to obtain individual heel repair patches.

Described above is a heel repair patch with dimension such that could be used to repair any type of shoe heel. The patch could be regarded as a universal heel repair patch. However, it might also be possible to use the subject technology for custom made heel repair patches. In that case, the dimensions of the patch are such that the top edge and bottom edge of the foil matches the upper edge and lower edge of the heel.

In that case there is no excess foil above and below the heel surface.

In the embodiment described above, the lateral edges of the middle part of the non-stick cover are parallel.

In alternative embodiment, the middle part of the non-stick cover widens from the bottom edge to the top edge of the heel repair patch.

In an embodiment, the middle part widens from 10 mm at the bottom edge to 40mm at the top edge of the repair patch.

It is contemplated that alternatives, modifications, permutations and equivalents thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification and upon study of the drawings.

The invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments.

Changes can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. -O0-0-0-0-0-

Claims (12)

CONCLUSIONS: A heel repair patch for a shoe comprising: a) a piece of film composed of a stretchable material (200); b) a layer of glue applied to the piece of foil; and, c ¢) a non-adhesive cover placed over the adhesive layer (302, 304, 306); characterized in that the non-adhesive cover is segmented, comprising a center portion (302), a left side portion (306) and a right side portion (304), with cut lines (120, 122) in the non-adhesive cover between the portions extend from a bottom edge to an top edge of the piece of film such that each portion of the non-adhesive cover is removable from the adhesive layer without peeling off an adjacent portion of the adhesive layer. The heel repair patch of claim 1, wherein the piece of foil has an isosceles trapezoidal shape. The heel repair patch of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the piece of film comprises a top edge 104 and a bottom edge 102, the top edge being longer than the bottom edge and having a center portion that is convex. The heel repair patch of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each portion of the non-adhesive cover includes a tab (110, 112, 114) configured to form a handle for removing the corresponding portion from the adhesive layer. The heel repair patch of claim 4, wherein each lip on the side of the piece of foil covers an adhesive layer applied to another piece of foil of the same stretchable material as the piece of foil and having the same shape and size as the tab. Heel repair patch according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the center portion has a width of at least 2 cm. A heel repair patch according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the film is made from a wrapping film suitable for use in vehicle and graphics applications. The heel repair patch of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the non-adhesive cover further comprises an additional left portion and an additional right portion, respectively, along the lateral sides of the heel repair patch, each portion having a width of at least 1 cm. A method of repairing a heel of a shoe comprising the actions of: a) providing a heel repair patch having the technical characteristics of a heel repair patch according to any one of claims 1 to 8; b) peeling off the middle portion of the non-adhesive heel repair patch cover: c) stretching and sticking a portion of the piece of foil that was covered by the middle portion on the back of the heel of the shoe; d) peeling off any of the left or right side portion of the non-adhesive cover from the heel repair patch; e) stretching and sticking a portion of the piece of foil that was covered by the left or right side portion of the non-adhesive cover to the corresponding side and forward side of the heel of the shoe; f) cutting off excess film from one of the left or right side portion of the film midway down the forward facing side of the heel and removing the cut portion; 9) peeling off the other of the left or right side portion of the non-adhesive cover from the heel repair patch; h) stretching and sticking a portion of the piece of film that was covered by the other of the left or right side portion of the non-adhesive cover on the corresponding side and forward side of the heel of the shoe; i) cutting excess foil from the other of the left or right part of the foil piece along one edge of the foil piece adhered to the forward facing side of the heel in act f) and removing the cut part . The method of repairing a heel of a shoe according to claim 9, the method further comprising the act of: cutting off excess film along the top edge of the heel. The method of repairing a heel of a shoe according to any of claims 9 to 10, the method further comprising the act of: cutting off excess film along the bottom edge of the heel. A method of repairing a shoe heel according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the heel repair patch has a temperature in a range of 30-50 ° when the piece of foil is positioned on the heel of the shoe. -O-O0-0-0-0-