US2721399A

US2721399A - Protective shoe covering

Info

Publication number: US2721399A
Application number: US431886A
Authority: US
Inventors: Emmer Charles Edward
Original assignee: WARREN FEATHERBONE CO
Current assignee: WARREN FEATHERBONE CO
Priority date: 1954-05-24
Filing date: 1954-05-24
Publication date: 1955-10-25
Anticipated expiration: 1972-10-25

Description

Oct. 25, 1955 c. E. EMMER 2,721,399

PROTECTIVE SHOE COVERING Filed May 24, 1954 1.222%: C ELES EDWARD EMMEB QsQ/Q EZZQ.

United States Patent PROTECTIVE SHOE COVERING Charles Edward Emmer, Three Oaks, Mich, assignor to Warren Featherbone Co., Three Oaks, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application May 24, 1954, Serial No. 431,886

3 Claims. (Cl. 36-7.1)

This invention relates to a protective shoe covering for use in ground radiation areas.

Radioactive particles of dust and the like are frequently accumulated on certain floors and grounds of atomic plants and testing sites (ground radiation areas). Temporary contact with such areas may be harmless, under proper conditions, but hazards are apt to arise for a long time from the entrainment of radioactive particles by a persons shoes and the persons prolonged exposure thereto.

The invention eliminates such hazards. It does so by providing a shoe covering which is particularly easy to store, issue, use, remove, discard and destroy or it may be decontaminated if desired for reuse. It can easily be slipped on over shoes of any size and securely held thereon while in use; and it is extremely simple and inexpensive to make.

These and related features will be understood upon a perusal of the detailed disclosure of a preferred embodiment, which follows. In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top view of the shoe covering when closed.

Figure 2 is a side view thereof.

Figure 3 is a bottom View thereof.

Figure 4 is a top view of the shoe covering when opened.

The new shoe covering consists of two mutually overlying,

flat sheets

11, 12 of flexible, abrasion-resistant material such as rubberlike plastic and the like, both sheets having practically the same size and outer contour. They are elongated and rounded at both ends. Preferably they are somewhat Wider near one end 13, normally forming the back or heel than at the other or front end 14. Adjacent their outer contours a plastic heat seal 15 is suitably formed between the

sheets

11, 12. The heat-sealing and cutting of the material can be performed with the material in one and the same position, insuring accuracy of register.

The lower sheet or sole 12 and an outer, annular part of the upper sheet 11 are imperforate, whereas the inner portion of the upper sheet 11 is divided into three separate flaps or

lobes

16, 17, 18 by suitable slits or cuts. A longitudinal cut 19 divides an inner front part of the upper sheet into two symmetrical flaps or

portions

16, 17 and a transverse cut 20 forms a separate heel part 18, symmetrically disposed relative to these front parts.

"ice

The

cuts

19 and 20 are preferably in the nature of substantially line-shaped, narrow slits, except that their free ends are desirably enlarged into small punched-out circular openings 21. This design minimizes, in manufacture, the need for disposal of waste stock, while minimizing in use the stressing of the slit ends.

In use, the outer parts of the unit act as a pocket. Vertical expansion of this pocket by the inserted shoe, of practically any size, causes a tendency of the

flaps

16, 17, 18 to close and actually to overlap and thus to cling to the shoe. Of course it is possible, for extra safety, to connect the inner ends 22 of the

flaps

16, 17 by a safety pin or the like, but this is generally unnecessary except in cases where the article is used by persons with unusually small shoes.

The transverse slot 20 between the heel flap 18 and the

front flaps

16, 17 is best cut in form of a single sine wave curve the crest of which coincides with the back end of the longitudinal slot 19, thus providing a convenient tab at the back of the heel for pulling off the shoe covering. At the same time, insertion of the shoe between the

front lobes

16, 17 is facilitated.

In their normal, perfectly flat condition these articles are easy to store and equally easy to issue to the individuals who need them, to carry to the danger area and there to apply to the shoe. They are equally easy when discarded to be picked up, collected and destroyed without danger and waste.

What is claimed is:

l. A protective, readily applicable and disposable shoe covering consisting of two similar, flat, superposed, elongated and terminally rounded sheets of flexible abrasionresistant material, heat-sealed together adjacent their outer contours; one of said sheets and an outer annular part of the other being imperforate and the inner part of the other being slitted by substantially line-shaped cuts subdividing said inner part into a pair of front lobes and a back lobe.

2. An article as defined by claim 1 wherein said lobes are formed by a single slit transverse of said inner part and a single additional slit extending from said transverse slit longitudinally of said inner part in one direction only.

3. An article as defined by claim 2 wherein the transverse slit is wave-shaped to form a tab at the heel of the shoe covering.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,447,586 Zucker Mar. 6, 1923 1,794,850 Hatch Mar. 3, 1931 1,830,471 Le Dorf Nov. 3, 1931 2,041,505 Woerle May 19, 1936 2,479,006 Garth Aug. 16, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 129,014 Austria July 11, 1932 244,928 Germany Mar. 21, 1912