US1106000A - Arch-support. - Google Patents

Description

J. D. PRICE. ARCH sUPPoRT.`

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, 1912 UNITED STATES PATENT" oEE'rcE. N

JOHN D. PRICE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOROF ONE-THIRD TO H. G. POWELL AND ONE-THIRD TO HENRY" SPIES, BOTH 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

l ARCH-SUPPORT.

. Specification of Letters Patent Patented Aug. 4, 19141.

Application filed June 13, 1912. Serial No. 703,531.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JorrN D. PRICE, a citi'- zen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, inthe county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Arch-Supports; and do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to boots and shoes, and more especially to foot supporters;` and the object of the same is to produce an improved support for the arch of the shoe and foot, capable of being attached to any form of shoe by which term I mean to be underlstood -in this specification asembracing all classes of foot-wear havin a raised arch between the heel and the baigl of the sole.

To this end the invention consists in the arch support hereinafter specifically described and claimed, and shown in the draw- .ings, wherein# Figure 1 is a perspective view of this support alone, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of the underside of a low-quarter shoe with the support attached thereto; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional'view through the shoe and arch support, and Fig. 1 is a cross section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 8.

In the drawings a shoe or other article of foot-wear is shown as composed ofen upper U, heel H, and sole S arched between the ball of the sole and the heel as at A; and no novelty is claimed for this shoe. .It is well known vthat with some people, especially those of considerable weight the arch often breaks down or flattens out, giving an untidy and unsightly a pearance to the foot and having its bad ev ect u on the health as experience has shown. forts to overcome this defect in or` abnormal condition of the foot have been made by providing arch snpporters, mostof which are placed inside the shoe, but thel result is that the weight whichV caused the original trouble is then thrown ends.

jacent the heel that it normally strikes the licor or pavement in the act ot' walking bo that it assists the heel in supporting the weight thrown -onto the shoe by the wearer."

By preference I make this improved arch supporter of rubber or rubber composition so that itwill have a certain yielding eifect and 'cushion the weight thrown upon it, but the composition should contain matcrials' to prevent undue wear.

Coming now more particularly to the details of the present invention the supporter is shown detached in Fig. 1, attached by screws 1 in Fig. 2, and attached by nails 2 in Fig. 4, although in either case the heads of the fastening devices are at their lower Viewed from beneath, the general 'outline'.of this arch support is that of a truncatedvisosceles triangle, if I may use Cthe expression, with the base-3 disposed ad jacent the ball of the'sole S and by Ipreference slightly dished, the short side 4: along that edge of the arch A which is shortest or where the soleV S comes nearest to the heel H and also slightly dished, the long side 5 at the other sideof the shoe and slightly dished, and the truncated end (3 of the triangle next the heel. Such is the shape oi' the face, or (when the device is inverted and in proper position) the bottom of the supporter. The back, or (when the device is in proper osition and inverted) the tcp 7 also follows the general shape of a truncated Visosceles triangle whose base is coincident with the base of the triangle forming the bottom, whose sides S and 9 are dished to a considerably greater extentthan the sides of the bottom and converge much more rapidly, and whose truncated end 10 is flat like the truncated' end (i of the bottom as shown. It follows that when the two triangles described are superposedwith their bases 3 coincident, there is a` considerable space along their remaining sides; but as the sup-I porter grows thicker from its front edge 3 toward its rear end as seen in Fig. 3, the faces constituting 'these sides are beveled or inclinedas shown at 1l and 13. Finally, thetop face 7 toward its truncated end 10 is dished transversely as best seen in Fig. +L at 14C leaving two sharp edges 1 5 which are intended to contact with the floor or pavethe weight off the heel, althpugh the edges' wear away as fast as does the lower lift of the heel as will be clear.

As Suggested above, the device is attached to the sole by nails or screws whose heads are raised above the floor because they stand within the dished face 7, by preference itso down of the arch of both thefoot and sole is prevented The advantages of. forming the lower face of the supporter in the two sharp edges described, lies in the fact that the block of rubber when brought -to such edges has more elasticityv than if .left flat and solid, the channel between the edges Would span 'an obstruction on the floor if the wearerl should happen to step on it, if the edges should project a little below the heel when the' device is first applied they will cling tothe floor while yet yielding under pressure to allow the heel to come down onto it, and if' they do so project they will wear away more rapidly than. if the blockv were solid. A further advantage of this formation lies in the ease ofapplication ofv this device to a shoe by the cobbler. .If he finds that'the shoe has such a low heel that the edges wouldvproject undesirably below it, he can readily trim off the eXtreme cornersof the edges by-the use of an ordinary knife, and can produce a much better job than if the block were solid throughout its width. But whet-her he cuts it away or the device in time becomes worn down to the level of the bottom of the heel, it wears thereafter just as rapidly as does the lower lift of the heel H or the lower face ofthe sole S, and in fact the deviceawill probably adapt itself better to use after it has'been` worn fo-r a. few days than at rst. Thev forward tapering end of the resilient blockl forming the supporter is solid and closely contacts with the arch of the sole of the shoe adjacent t0 and forming a continuationof the same, said forward end of the supporter i being wider than the remaining portion of.

heights.

witnesses.

the same-whereby the arch of the--sole is rendered more durable, and .further causing the same to retain its original contour.-

It is further t0 be observed -that the lower flat, solid and tapering forward end of the' supporter forms additional wearing surface and protects the arched portion of lthe sole of the shoe fromwear and injury without of course prolongedbe'cause the use of the supporter prevents the arch A of Fthe sole from being crushed by the superimposed It is lextremely economical to manufacture this device, because it may \be made of one piece of material, and ifof yrubber composition itis preferably molded and pressed by a process which it will not be necessary to amplify in this specification. When in place is absorbs the shock due to stepping down suddenly on the foot, as when the wearer ascends or desee-ndsA steps or is forced to run for a few paces. Manifestly the'device will be manufactured in sizes to fit various Shoes,

andin. thicknesses tot heels of various It may be applied atthe time of making theshoe, or `may be sold as anattachment and applied later." What is claimed as new, is;

An arch vsupport of the character described comprising a resilient block arranged'to be detachably secured to the sole of a shoe beneath the arch thereof, with its inner end abuttingfthe front face of the-heel, said block having theopposite sides thereof tapered inwardly andv concavo shaped whereby to produce a narrowed tread surface and thereby at0 increase the resiliency of said support, saidblock being gradually tapered from vits central portion to the outer end thereof, said tread surface being dished transversely to form-two sharp edges whereby to augment the resiliency of said block.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my lhand in presence of two subscribing JOHN D. PRICE.l

Witnesses T. J.- SrIAN'rER, ELIZABETH DUDLEY.

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