US2484935A - Sole protector - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 18, 1949. E, F. DE Rooy 2,484,935

SOLE PROTECTOR Filed Sept. 5, 1947 7 WWI-miauw i INVENTDR *gh v531mm FRANCIS nenooY Patented ct. 18, 1949 SOLE PROTECTOR Edward Francis De Rooy, Alberni, British Columbia,

Canada., assignor of one-third to Thor Melanchton Peterson, Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada Application September 5, 1947, Serial No. 772,336

2 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to improvements in a sole protector and appertains particularly to a plate, removably applicable to the sole of a boot, shoe or other article of footwear, for use with a spade, shovel or like digging implement.

The shoe soles of those engaged in railway building or maintenance, gardening, and such occupations are seriously damaged by the constant pressure applied to the top edge of the shovel with the result that the soles become cut or cracked and the shoe is prematurely rendered y useless.

It is an object of this invention to provide a sole protector of simple design and that may be produced at low cost, in the form of a removable plate stamped, cast or moulded from steel, iron, aluminum, magnesium, thermo-setting synthetic plastic or other suitable material that can be applied to the underside of the sole of a shoe, underlying the ball rather than the instep, and provided with downwardly extending, spaced, transverse, spade-retaining ridges at front and rear.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sole protector having interior grooves at opposite sides in which the edges of the sole may be accommodated to aid in preventing rearward displacement of the protector.

To the accomplishment of these and related objects as shall become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as shall be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

The invention will be best understood and can be more clearly described when reference is had to the drawings forming a part of this disclosure wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sole protector .applied to a work boot;

Figure 2 is a transverse, vertical section therethrough as taken on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a modified form of protector; and

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of a further modified form;

Figure 5 is a side elevation, similar to Figure 1, of a slightly different form of sole protector.

The preferred form of protector is a light Weight aluminum casting 5 such as is shown in the drawings having a sole-engaging part 6 across the front and rear of which shovel-retaining extensions or ridges 1 extend. Opposite sides 8 are upturned as vertical side walls or flanges with longitudinally spaced strap-receiving slots 9 near their upper edges. A pair of 2-part buckle straps it, of suitable length attach to the protector by these slots, the rearmost of which may loop around the back of the shoe in addition to passing over the instep arch if so desired. As an aid to holding the plate against backward displacement and to anchor it more snugly, the inner faces of the side ilanges 8 may be laterally grooved as at l l near the bottom to clampingly receive the edges of the sole.

In the modified form of protector shown in Figure the side flanges 8 are cut away in the middle as at hi to save material and weight and the under side of the plate is formed with a longitudinally arched central pocket l5 to receive the spades top edge. The further modified form seen in Figure 5 combines in effect the underside structure of the preceding forms, the bottom I6 rounding back from the thickened front ridge I1 to a rear transverse ridge l as in the preferred design of plate; the sole-engaging upper surface I8 however is concaved in a longitudinally extending arc to correspond with the curve occurring in some soles.

In the protector shown in Figure 5, a less favoured design of sole plate has a sole-under lying part I9 with a slight reverse curve extending longitudinally to facilitate the location of the protector in a more rearward position and either partly or wholly covering the instep part of the sole.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be manifest that a sole protector is provided that will fulfil all the necessary requirements of such a device but as many changes could be made in the above description and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained in the said accompanying specification and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitative or restrictive sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sole protector comprising an integral soleengaging plate arced longitudinally, upstanding side flanges on opposite sides thereof, spaced longitudinal slots near the top of said side anges, complementary strap and buckle assemblies attached thereby, sole edge-receiving grooves on the inside of said side anges at the base thereof and following the longitudinally arced contour of the plate and transversely extending shovel top edge restraining projections depending from the underside of said plate across the bottom-thereof at both front and rear.

2. A sole protector comprising an integral soleengaging plate arced longitudinally, upstanding side flanges on opposite sides thereof, spaced longitudinal slots near the top of said ilanges, complementary strap and buckle assemblies attached thereby, sole edge-receiving grooves on the yinside of said side flanges at the base thereof and following the longitudinally arced `contour of the plate and a centrally arched, ange at opposite 4 ends depending from the underside of said plate.

EDWARD FRANCISv DE' ROOY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the lle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date '756,560 Austin Apr. 5, 1904 836,964 Edwards Nov. 27, 1906 890,388 Wilcox June 9, 1908 1,437,376 Young Nov. 28, 1922 2,387,819 Wingfield Oct. 30, 1945

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