US2711672A

US2711672A - Shoe salesman's stool

Info

Publication number: US2711672A
Application number: US313109A
Authority: US
Inventors: Nordbak Carl
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1952-10-04
Filing date: 1952-10-04
Publication date: 1955-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 1972-06-28

Description

June 28, 1955 C.1NORDBAK 2,711,572

SHOE SALESMANS STOOL Filed Oct. 4, 1952 a9 INVENTOR. CneL Noeosmd 10 J2 BY Jfforn e] United States Patent .1. ,6 v SHOE SALESMANS STOOL Carl Nordhak, Lynwood, Calif.

Application October 4-, 1952, Serial No. 313,109

2 Claims. (or. 88-74) This invention relates to a stool of the type used by retail salesmen in fitting shoes on a seated customer and is directed to improvements in such a salesmans stool having the general object of promoting sales as well as the objectof reducing the time required to complete individual sales.

In the usual selling procedure wherein a conventional salesmans stool is, used to try a shoe on a customer, the customer seesthe shoe only from one viewpoint unless he rises from his seat and walks to a set of mirrors.

Usually the one viewpoint is not enough for reaching a decision since the customer is naturally interested in how his shoes impress other people and other people see his shoes from other viewpoints, including front viewpoints and side, viewpoints. Instead of taking the trouble to walk to a mirrora customer may sit looking at a newly fitted shoefrom his limited viewpoint for an appreciable period of time, trying to visualize the shoe as seen from other viewpoints. It has been found, too, that a customer may reject a pair of shoes. on first sight from the single viewpoint that he would probably buy if he took trouble to walk to a viewing mirror;

It is a, specific object of the present invention to give the customer multiple, views. of the newly fitted shoe while he is. still seated. One, result, of course, is to eliminate the time and trouble, required to walk to a viewing mirror, thereby reducing the time necessary to try on and inspect a shoe. promptly viewing; the. shoe from several angles. If the customer is inclined to favor the newly fitted shoe, the successive diverse images have a cumulative effect in building up a first impression conducive to a quick di ision to buy. On the other hand, if the customer is not favorably inclined, the successive images encourage a prompt rejection. Thus the invention tends to minimize the indecision of a customer.

The invention is embodied in a stool having a seat portion for the salesman and having a forward downwardly sloping footrest for the customers foot and the invention accomplishes its basic object by providing the stool with at least one mirror, preferably several mirrors. A certain problem arises, however, since mirrors positioned for front and side views of a customers shoe on the footrest tend to interfere with the salesmans manual task of fitting shoes. The problem of providing a mirror for a front view is especially troublesome.

A feature of the invention is that it solves the mirror problem at the footrest of the stool by two different concepts. One concept is to place the mirrors for side views at such low angles on each side of the footrest as to minimize interference with the shoe fitting procedure. The other concept is to provide a retractable mirror for the front view of shoes, which mirror is normally in a retracted position out of the way but may be quickly shifted to a viewing position when desired. A further feature of the invention in this regard is the concept of placing a mirror on the side of the salesmans stool, preferably on the front side of the stool, for use by the Another result is the psychological effect of customer to view a shoe on his foot from a standing position. v

The various objects and advantages of the invention may be understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, which is to be regarded as merely illusttrative:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the presently preferred embodiment of the salesmans stool;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the salesmans stool shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken as indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The illustrative embodiment of the salesmans stool is of hollow box-like structure having two side walls 10 that converge from a relatively wide rear wall 11 to a relatively narrow front wall 12. The rear wall 11 is provided with an outer mirror 15 and is inclined at an angle to serve as a viewing mirror for the customer. At the salesmans suggestion the customer may rise to stand in front of the mirror 15 to view the shoes from various angles as may be desired. The salesman, of course, rises as the customer walks around the stool.

The top of the salesmans stool is made in two sections both of which are relatively wide to overhang the two sidewalls 10. One of the top sections is a seat 17 for the salesman and may be padded or upholstered in any suitable manner. The other top section of the salesmans stool is a support surface or footrest 18 that slopes forwardly and downwardly from the seat 17 and is pro.- vided at its lower end with a suitable cross-strip 20. The footrest 18 is preferably covered by a rubber mat 21.

To afford side views of a shoe on the footrest 18 for the benefit of the customer a pair of side mirrors 24 is provided each being mounted on one side of the footrest and extending outwardly at an angle therefrom. Since a salesman seated on the seat 17 has ready access to the footrest 18 through the space between the two side mirrors 24, the side mirrors 24 may be at relatively high angles with respect to the plane of the footrest 18. Preferably, however, the two side mirrors 24 are inclined atrelatively low angles with respect to the footrest 18, not only to provide maximum freedom of movement for the salesmans hands and arms but also to provide low-angle side view images of a shoe for the customer.

A mirror 27 to afford the customer a front view of a shoe on the footrest 18 is suitably mounted on the salesmans stool to retract out of the way when not in use. In the present construction, for example, the mirror 27 is mounted in the upper part of an upright vertical frame 30 of rectangular configuration and the vertical frame 30 is suitably mounted in a slot 31 that extends transversely across the top of the salesmans stool between the seat 17 and the footrest 18. The vertical frame 30 is movable in the slot 31 between an upright position shown in full lines in the three figures of the drawing and a lower position shown in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3. It will be noted in Fig. 3 that at the lower retracted position, the vertical frame 30 extends sufficiently upward from the slot 31 to afford a hand hold so that the salesman may grasp the retracted frame and lift it to its upper position. The top of the retracted frame is indicated by the dotted line 32 in Fig. 3.

Any suitable arrangement may be employed to guide the vertical frame 39 between its two positions and to releasably hold the vertical frame at either of the two positions. In the presently illustrated construction, for example, the vertical frame abuts a pair of upright guide strips or rails 35 that are mounted on the side walls 10 inside the stool. A suitable helical spring 36 connected at one end to a bottom cross-piece 37 of the vertical frame 39 and connected at its other end to an eye-screw 38, on the inner side of the front wall 12 serves to hold the vertical frame against the two rails 35 in a yielding manner.

The two guide rails 35 are formed with a lower set of shoulders 39 to support the vertical frame 30 at its lower retracted position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and are also provided with upper similar shoulders 40 to support the vertical frame at its upper position as shown in full lines in Fig. 2. In the particular rail construction here illustrated, each rail 35 is made in two pieces, namely, a main strip 41 of full width and an auxiliary strip 42 nailed thereto. The auxiliary strip 42 provides the two

shoulders

39 and 40 as well as an inclined guide surface 43 between the two shoulders.

The manner in which the described salesmans stool serves its purpose may be readily understood from the foregoing description. With the upright mirror 27 in its lower retracted position the salesman has the necessary freedom for arm movement necessary to fit a shoe on the customer. The salesman may then lift the vertical frame 30 to its upper position thereby placing the'upright mirror 27 in its effective position as shown in the three figures of the drawing. As may be understood by inspecting Fig. l the customer, without rising from his seat,

is provided with a front view image of the shoe by the upright mirror 27 and is provided with two low angle side view images by the two side mirrors 24.

If the customer desires to continue trying on shoes after inspecting one shoe with the aid of the three mirrors, the salesman lowers the upright mirror 27 out of the way by simply grasping the mirror and simultaneously rocking it forward and pushing it downward. The slot 31 serves as a fulcrum for rocking the vertical frame 30 out of engagement with the upper shoulders 40 of the guide rails 35, thereby freeing the vertical frame for downward movement to its lower position into engagement with the lower shoulders 39.

If a customer seems interested in a shoe as he views it in the upright mirror 27 and the two side mirrors 24, the customer may be invited to rise and try out the shoe from a standing position, the sloping mirror 15 being available for the customers convenience.

It is apparent that the described salesmans stool arouses customer interest and stimulates sales by affording multiple images of a new shoe while the customer is seated and will shorten the time required for a customer to make up his mind whether or not to buy a particular pair of shoes. It is also apparent that the described stool saves the usual time required to walk to and from a Wall mirror.

My description in specific detail of the presently preferred form of the invention will suggest to those skilled in the art various changes} substitutions and other departures from my disclosure that properly lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A salesmans stool for use in fitting shoes on a seated customer, said stool comprising: a box-like structure forming a seat for the salesman and a footrest sloping downward therefrom, said structure having a transverse slot between said seat and footrest; an upright frame mounted for movement through said slot between a lower retracted position at least largely inside said structure and an upper position extending above the plane of said footrest; a mirror on said frame to present to the customer a front view image of a shoe on the customers foot on said footrest when said frame is at its upper position; a shoulder on said structure for engagement by said frame to hold the frame at its upper position; yielding means interconnecting said structure and frame to urge said frame laterally into releasable engagement with said shoulder; and a pair of mirrors inclined outward from opposite sides of said footrest to present to the customer side view images of the shoe.

2. A salesmans stool for use in fitting shoes on a seated customer, said stool comprising: a box-like structure including a top wall having a substantially horizontal portion to serve as a seat for the salesman and an adjacent sloping portion to serve as a footrest for the seated customer, with a transverse slot in the top wall in the region of the juncture of said two portions; ail-upright mirror mounted on said structure for movement between a lower retracted position inside the structure afiording the salesman full accessibility to said footrest portion and an upper position extending above the footrest portion to permit the seated customer to view his foot on the footrest from the front; means to retain said mirror releasably in its upper position; and twomirrors fixedly mounted by their lower edges on the opposite sides, respectively, of said footrest to permit the seated customer to view the sides of his foot on the footrest, said two mirrors being inclined outward from the vertical to give the seated salesman arm room for fitting a shoe on said footrest portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS is A nnAtt