US20240197041A1

US20240197041A1 - Tension guide for shoestring

Info

Publication number: US20240197041A1
Application number: US18/542,668
Authority: US
Inventors: Jin Ho Kim
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2022-12-16
Filing date: 2023-12-16
Publication date: 2024-06-20
Also published as: CN118203169A

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a tension guide for a shoestring. The tension guide includes: a guide base 10 having a spring pocket 15; a tension spring 20 disposed in the spring pocket, whose both ends are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring 5 is pulled and released; and a guide cover 30 that covers the tension spring in the spring pocket. This gives continuing tension to a tied shoestring and therefore keeps the shoestring as tight as it initially was. Without the tension applied to the shoestring, the shoestring becomes less tight, and therefore the foot will feel loose in the shoe, not as tight as it initially was, and this problem occurring in the conventional art can be avoided by the tension guide. Moreover, the conventional shoestring becomes inadvertently loose, which basically provides an uncomfortable fit and involves other problems like causing the user's foot to move in the shoe or slip out of the shoe, exposing the user to many dangerous situations. This tension guide prevents safety accidents involving the aforementioned problems, and as a result, provides a steady fit to the user.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a tension guide for a shoestring, and more particularly, to a tension guide for a shoestring that can give proper tension to the shoestring.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, strings (wires) for a shoe are supposed to be laced by the wearer themselves.
Since lacing shoes with hands causes some inconvenience, there are a variety of reel systems being proposed in which strings are tied using a dial.
Wires (cables, strings, etc.) currently used in a reel system for tightening strings are very smooth cords having a high friction coefficient, a high elastic modulus, and a high tensile strength, which are made from nylon fibers or polyethylene fibers.
These strings have a high weight-to-strength ratio, highly durable, and have very low elasticity.
Strings are preferably made from fibers tightly intertwined, tightened, and interwoven. The strings have more rigidity when tightly intertwined and tightened.
The strongness added by tightening and interweaving increases squashing performance, allows the strings to be easily threaded through a string guide and be inserted into a spool, or helps form loops in the strings which the user can easily hold through the guide.
However, such a string guide according to the conventional art has no elastic means at all. Due to this, a string passed through the string guide and wound on the spool tends to become less tight over time after tightening. Thus, the upper is expanded to some extent greater than the original volume due to movement of the foot in the upper of the shoe, a change in the volume of the foot, a shock exerted onto the shoe, and so on.
In this case, the user will find the string not maintaining the pressure with which it was initially tightened.
In other words, the string comes undone from the reel, making the foot feel loose in the shoe, not as tight as it initially was.
Moreover, the shoestring becomes inadvertently loose, which basically provides an uncomfortable fit and involves other problems like causing the user's foot to move in the shoe or slip out of the shoe, exposing the user to many dangerous situations.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

Patent Document

- Korean Laid-Open Patent No. 10-2016-0027989

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Technical Problem

The present disclosure has been made in an effort to solve these problems and to provide a tension guide for a shoestring, which gives continuing tension to a tied shoestring and therefore keeps the shoestring as tight as it initially was, by including a guide base having a spring pocket; a tension spring disposed in the spring pocket, whose both ends are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring is pulled and released; and a guide cover that covers the tension spring in the spring pocket.

Solution to Problem

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a tension guide for a shoestring comprising a guide base, a tension spring, and a guide cover, the guide base with a spring pocket whose top is open, including: a bottom face formed on an upper surface; a base front wall disposed at a front end portion of the bottom face; a base rear wall disposed at the rear, spaced a predetermined distance from the base front wall; and a pair of base side walls that connect both ends of the base front wall and both ends of the base rear wall, and that extend upward by a predetermined distance from the bottom face and allow both ends of a shoestring to run outside through the bottom face, the tension spring is disposed on the bottom face of the spring pocket, and is a coil-shaped tensile spring structure in which the shoestring is passed through an inner through-hole, a middle part is securely attached between the base front and rear walls, and both ends are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring is pulled and released, the guide cover that covers the tension spring in the spring pocket, including: a ceiling face formed on a lower surface; cover front and rear walls disposed to correspond to the base front and rear walls; and a cover side wall corresponding to the base side wall, spaced apart therefrom by a predetermined distance, and forming a string run-through passage.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base front wall of the spring pocket may be a curved wall structure in which the distance to the base rear wall becomes wider toward both ends, and the corresponding cover front wall of the guide cover also is a curved wall structure in which the distance to the cover rear wall having a linear wall structure becomes wider toward both ends.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base front wall of the spring pocket may have a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the base front wall from being damaged by the shoestring being pulled through the tension spring.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base rear wall of the spring pocket may have a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the base rear wall from being damaged as the loose shoestring is pulled backward of the base rear wall.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cover front wall of the guide cover may have a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the cover front wall from being damaged by the shoestring being pulled through the tension spring.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cover rear wall of the guide cover may have a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the cover rear wall from being damaged as the loose shoestring is pulled backward of the cover rear wall.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the tension spring may be a coil-structure extension spring in which ring-shaped loops are consecutively and securely held together in a helical direction.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the spring pocket may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the bottom face, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the base front and rear walls and placed on the bottom face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the spring pocket may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the base front wall, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the base front and rear walls and placed on the bottom face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the spring pocket may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the base rear wall, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the base front and rear walls and placed on the bottom face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the guide cover may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the ceiling face, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the cover front and rear walls and securely attached to the ceiling face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the guide cover may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the cover front wall, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the cover front and rear walls and securely attached to the ceiling face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the guide cover may have a plurality of movement preventing protrusions on one side of the cover rear wall, in order to prevent the tension spring from moving to both sides of the spring pocket, since they are caught between the unit rings of the tension spring securely attached between the cover front and rear walls and securely attached to the ceiling face.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the guide base may have positioning guide grooves recessed downward from an upper surface of the base front and rear walls, and the corresponding guide cover has positioning guide projections which protrude downward from a lower surface of the cover front and rear walls and are inserted into the positioning guide grooves so that the guide base and the guide cover are held together in place by contact with each other.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the bottom face of the spring pocket and the ceiling face of the guide cover may have a pressure control means which restricts movement by applying pressure to the top and bottom of the tension spring before the tension spring is artificially pulled by the shoestring, and releases the pressure on the top and bottom of the tension spring after the tension spring is artificially pulled by the shoestring.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the pressure control means may have a narrow bottom face on the guide base and a narrow ceiling face on the guide cover, the distance between which becomes narrower before the tension spring is artificially pulled by the shoestring, so as to apply pressure to the top and bottom of the tension spring, and an extension bottom face on the guide base and an extension ceiling face on the guide cover, the distance between which becomes wider after the tension spring is artificially pulled, so as to release the pressure on the top and bottom of the tension spring and restore the same to the original position.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a sloped sliding portion may be provided between the narrow bottom face and the extension bottom face to allow the tension spring in operation to run smoothly.
Furthermore, in the tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a sloped sliding portion may be provided between the narrow ceiling face and the extension ceiling face to allow the tension spring in operation to run smoothly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, from which a guide cover is removed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a guide base of a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a guide cover of a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a projected plan view schematically showing an operation process of a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a projected plan view schematically showing an operation process of a tension guide for a shoestring according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

MODE FOR THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 , a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a guide base 10, a tension spring 20, and a guide cover 30.
Here, a plurality of tension guides for a shoestring may be installed on either side of a shoe upper (not shown) where eyelets or through-holes for a shoestring of a typical shoe to be passed through are formed.
The guide base 10 is a plate-like structure with a spring pocket 15 whose top is open, which includes a bottom face 11 formed on an upper surface, a base front wall 12 disposed at a front end portion of the bottom face 11, a base rear wall 13 disposed at the rear, spaced a predetermined distance from the base front wall 12, and a pair of base side walls that connect both ends of the base front wall 12 and both ends of the base rear wall 13, and that extend upward by a predetermined distance from the bottom face 11 and allow both ends of a shoestring 5 to run outside through the bottom face 11.
The tension spring 20 is disposed on the bottom face 11 of the spring pocket 15, and is a coil-shaped tensile spring structure in which the shoestring 5 is passed through an inner through-hole 21, a middle part is securely attached between the base front and rear walls 12 and 13, and both ends are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring 5 is pulled and released.
The guide cover 30 is cover structure that covers the tension spring 20 of the spring pocket 15 by including a ceiling face 31 formed on a lower surface, cover front and rear walls 32 and 33 disposed to correspond to the base front and rear walls 12 and 13, and a cover side wall 34 corresponding to the base side wall 14, spaced apart from it by a predetermined distance, and forming a string run-through passage 40.
More specifically, the base front wall 12 of the spring pocket 15 is a curved wall structure in which the distance to the base rear wall 13 becomes wider toward both ends, and the corresponding cover front wall 32 of the guide cover 30 also is a curved wall structure in which the distance to the cover rear wall having a linear wall structure becomes wider toward both ends.
And, the base front wall 12 of the spring pocket 15 has a projection-shaped, damage preventing portion 16 on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall 14, in order to prevent both ends of the base front wall 12 from being damaged by the shoestring 5 being pulled through the tension spring 20.
And, the base rear wall 13 of the spring pocket 15 has a projection-shaped, damage preventing portion 17 on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall 14, in order to prevent both ends of the base rear wall 13 from being damaged as the loose shoestring 5 is pulled backward of the base rear wall 13.
And, the cover front wall 32 of the guide cover 30 has a projection-shaped damage preventing portion 35 on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall 34, in order to prevent both ends of the cover front wall 32 from being damaged by the shoestring 5 being pulled through the tension spring 20.
And, the cover rear wall 33 of the guide cover 30 has a projection-shaped, damage preventing portion 36 on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall 34, in order to prevent both ends of the cover rear wall 33 from being damaged as the loose shoestring 5 is pulled backward of the cover rear wall 33.
And, the tension spring 20 is a coil-structure extension spring in which ring-shaped loops 22 are consecutively and securely held together in a helical direction.
And, the spring pocket 15 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 11 a on one side of the bottom face 11, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the base front and rear walls 12 and 13 and placed on the bottom face 11.
And, the spring pocket 15 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 12 a on one side of the base front wall 12, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the base front and rear walls 12 and 13 and placed on the bottom face 11.
And, the spring pocket 15 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 13 a on one side of the base rear wall 13, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the base front and rear walls 12 and 13 and placed on the bottom face 11.
And, the guide cover 30 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 31 a on one side of the ceiling face 31, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the cover front and rear walls 32 and 33 and securely attached to the ceiling face 31.
And, the guide cover 30 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 32 a on one side of the cover front wall 32, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the cover front and rear walls 32 and 33 and securely attached to the ceiling face 31.
And, the guide cover 30 has a plurality of movement preventing protrusions 33 a on one side of the cover rear wall 33, in order to prevent the tension spring 20 from moving to both sides of the spring pocket 15, since they are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20 securely attached between the cover front and rear walls 32 and 33 and securely attached to the ceiling face 31.
And, the guide base 10 has positioning guide grooves 12 b and 13 b recessed downward from an upper surface of the top of the base front and rear walls 12 and 13, and the corresponding guide cover 30 has positioning guide projections 33 b which protrude downward from a lower surface of the cover front and rear walls 32 and 33 and are inserted into the positioning guide grooves 12 b and 13 b so that the guide base 10 and the guide cover 30 are held together in place by contact with each other.
Unexplained reference numeral 41 represents an upper attaching plate that allows the guide base 10 to be securely attached onto the upper of the shoe.
With this construction, an example of using a tension guide for a shoestring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below.
First, the tension spring 20 is disposed on the spring pocket 15 of the guide base 10 fixed on both sides of the upper of the shoe.
In this case, with the middle part of the tension spring 20 being securely attached between the base front wall 12 and the base rear wall 13, the movement preventing protrusions 11 a, 12 a, and 13 a of the spring pocket 15 are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20, thereby allowing the tension spring 20 to be stably secured without inclining to the left or right.
Then, the shoestring 5 is threaded through the inner through-hole 21 of the tension spring 20, and then the guide base 10 is covered with the guide cover 30.
In this case, too, the movement preventing protrusions 31 a, 32 a, and 33 a of the guide cover 30 are caught between the unit rings 22 of the tension spring 20, thereby allowing the tension spring 20 to be more stably secured without inclining to the left or right.
Here, the positioning guide protrusions 32 b and 33 b of the guide cover 30 are inserted into the positioning guide grooves 12 b and 13 b of the guide base 10. Thus, they can be assembled together in place.
Although this alone allows the guide base 10 and the guide cover 30 to be assembled together to some degree, an additional bonding process may be performed to make them assembled more firmly.
When the user wearing the shoe intends to tighten the shoestring 5 using the assembled tension guide, the user will pull the shoestring 5 in the direction in which it is tightened.
Then, the shoestring 5 moves to a front end portion of the shoe run-through passage 40, as shown in FIG. 5 , and accordingly, the tension spring 20 is rounded and bent in a V shape, thus giving tension to the shoestring 5.
In this manner, the shoestring 5 receives continuing tension until it is released, and the shoestring 5 therefore can be kept as tight as it initially was.
Meanwhile, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 6 , the bottom face 50 of the spring pocket and the ceiling face 60 of the guide cover have a pressure control means which restricts movement by applying pressure to the top and bottom of the tension spring 20 before the tension spring 20 is artificially pulled by the shoestring 5, and releases the pressure on the top and bottom of the tension spring 20 after the tension spring 20 is artificially pulled by the shoestring 5.
Here, the pressure control means has a narrow bottom face 51 on the guide base and a narrow ceiling face 61 on the guide cover, the distance between which becomes narrower before the tension spring 20 is artificially pulled by the shoestring 5, so as to apply pressure to the top and bottom of the tension spring 20, and an extension bottom face 52 on the guide base and an extension ceiling face 62 on the guide cover, the distance between which becomes wider after the tension spring 20 is artificially pulled by the shoestring 5, so as to release the pressure on the top and bottom of the tension spring 20 and restore them to the original position.
And, a sloped sliding portion 53 is provided between the narrow bottom face 51 and the extension bottom face 52 to allow the tension spring 20 in operation to run smoothly.
And, a sloped sliding portion 63 is provided between the narrow ceiling face 61 and the extension ceiling face 62 to allow the tension spring 20 in operation to run smoothly.
With this construction, an example of using a tension guide for a shoestring according to another embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below.
The process described herein is generally identical to the process of tightening the shoestring 5, except that, in the step preceding the tightening of the shoestring 5, the tension spring 20 is compressed between the narrow bottom face 51 and the narrow ceiling face 61 to respond securely to unwanted pulling of the shoestring 5, and when the shoestring 5 is pulled in the direction it is tightened, the tension spring 20 slides along the sliding portions 53 and 63 and moves to the extension bottom face 52 and the extension ceiling face 62, thus restoring them to the original position and giving tension to the shoestring 5.
As seen from above, a tension guide for a shoestring according to the present disclosure gives continuing tension to a tied shoestring and therefore keeps the shoestring as tight as it initially was, by including: a guide base having a spring pocket; a tension spring disposed in the spring pocket, both ends of which are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring is pulled and released; and a guide cover that covers the tension spring in the spring pocket. Without the tension applied to the shoestring, the shoestring becomes less tight, and therefore the foot will feel loose in the shoe, not as tight as it initially was, and this problem occurring in the conventional art can be avoided by the tension guide. Moreover, the conventional shoestring becomes inadvertently loose, which basically provides an uncomfortable fit and involves other problems like causing the user's foot to move in the shoe or slip out of the shoe, exposing the user to many dangerous situations. This tension guide prevents safety accidents involving the aforementioned problems, and as a result, provides a steady fit to the user.

Claims

1. A tension guide for a shoestring comprising a guide base, a tension spring, and a guide cover,

the guide base with a spring pocket whose top is open, including:

a bottom face formed on an upper surface;

a base front wall disposed at a front end portion of the bottom face;

a base rear wall disposed at the rear, spaced a predetermined distance from the base front wall; and

a pair of base side walls that connect both ends of the base front wall and both ends of the base rear wall, and that extend upward by a predetermined distance from the bottom face and allow both ends of a shoestring to run outside through the bottom face,

the tension spring is disposed on the bottom face of the spring pocket, and is a coil-shaped tensile spring structure in which the shoestring is passed through an inner through-hole, a middle part is securely attached between the base front and rear walls, and both ends are elastically moved forward and backward as the shoestring is pulled and released,

the guide cover that covers the tension spring in the spring pocket, including:

a ceiling face formed on a lower surface;

cover front and rear walls disposed to correspond to the base front and rear walls; and

a cover side wall corresponding to the base side wall, spaced apart therefrom by a predetermined distance, and forming a string run-through passage.

2. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the base front wall of the spring pocket is a curved wall structure in which the distance to the base rear wall becomes wider toward both ends, and the corresponding cover front wall of the guide cover also is a curved wall structure in which the distance to the cover rear wall having a linear wall structure becomes wider toward both ends.

3. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the base front wall of the spring pocket has a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the base front wall from being damaged by the shoestring being pulled through the tension spring.

4. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the base rear wall of the spring pocket has a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the base side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the base rear wall from being damaged as the loose shoestring is pulled backward of the base rear wall.

5. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the cover front wall of the guide cover has a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the cover front wall from being damaged by the shoestring being pulled through the tension spring.

6. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the cover rear wall of the guide cover has a damage preventing portion on either end, which protrudes a predetermined length toward the center of the cover side wall, in order to prevent both ends of the cover rear wall from being damaged as the loose shoestring is pulled backward of the cover rear wall.

7. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the tension spring is a coil-structure extension spring in which ring-shaped loops are consecutively and securely held together in a helical direction.

8. The tension guide of claim 1, wherein the guide base has positioning guide grooves recessed downward from an upper surface of the base front and rear walls, and the corresponding guide cover has positioning guide projections which protrude downward from a lower surface of the cover front and rear walls and are inserted into the positioning guide grooves so that the guide base and the guide cover are held together in place by contact with each other.