United States Patent Bertolet [4 1 June 13, 1972 FLOOR PRESERVING SHOE FOR PLATFORM ROCKERS AND THE LIKE [72] Inventor: Doris Y. Bertolet, RD. #1, Oley, Pa.

[22] Filed: Jan. 8, 1971 211 App]. No.: 105,029

[52] US. Cl ..297/272, 248/345.1 [51 Int. Cl ..A47c 3/02 [58] Field of Search ..297/272, 273, 274, 275; 248/345, 345.1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 793,946 7/1905 Miller ..297/272 1,915,249 6/1933 Jorgensen.

2,564,386 8/1951 Webb ..248/345.1HX

653,103 7/ 1900 Lindeman ..297/272 721,404 3/1903 Martin ....297/272 1,252,418 1/1918 Fitz ..297/272 1,878,850 9/1932 Hilgers ....248/345.l X 2,054,487 9/1936 Simpson .297/2 72 2,166,798 7/ 1939 Cote ..248/345.1 X

Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay Assistant Examiner-Glenn O. Finch Att0rney-William J. Ruano [5 7] ABSTRACT This invention relates to a floor preserving shoe of resilient material and of substantially channel-shape for closely fitting about the foot portion of a piece of furniture. such as a platform rocker. The bottom surface of the shoe is preferably con cave across the width so that the weight of the furniture will flatten the curvature and in so doing the sidewalls of the shoe will more firmly engage said foot portion.

5 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PA'TENTEDJIJH 13 I972 T we ML m mR E B v.. b R O 0 her ATTORNEY FLOOR PRESERVING SHOE FOR PLATFORM ROCKERS AND THE LIKE This invention relates to a floor preserving shoe for platform rockers and other furniture.

An outstanding disadvantage of devices used in the past for supporting the legs of furniture, such as cup-shaped rubber elements, has been the great tendency for such supports to become loosened when furniture is moved around. Moreover, such elements are not satisfactory for platform rockers or other furniture having elongated legs since they provide only point support.

Attempts have been made in the past to nail or screw rubber strips to the bottom of the legs or rockers to provide cushioning for preventing marring of the rug and floors, but this has not been met with success because such strips wear readily with use, particularly on rockers, requiring frequent replacement, which is exceedingly difficult to accomplish.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel cushioning shoe for platform rockers, ordinary rockers, and other fumiture, for the purpose of preventing deep impressions or marring of rugs, particularly foam-backed rugs, and hardwood floors.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a cushioning shoe which can be easily and quickly slid under the supporting legs of platform rockers, rockers and other fumiture.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a floor preserving shoe for furniture legs, in general, which shoe is of simple and inexpensive structure and of a construction as to be easily molded or extruded in long lengths and which may be cut to suit the particular lengths of the legs or supports for platform rockers and other furniture.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an elongated shoe according to the present invention used for supporting the base or rocking portion of an ordinary rocker, a fragmentary portion of which is shown;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, top perspective view of the floor preserving shoe;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line Ill-Ill ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of a modification of the shoe which will cling more firmly to the furniture base, such as the rocker portion shown in FIG. 5; and,

FIG. 5 is a side view showing how the shoe illustrated in FIG. 4, particularly, may be attached throughout its length to a rocker.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a fragmentary base or rocker portion of an ordinary rocker, which portion is adapted to rock longitudinally within the groove formed in the floor preserving shoe illustrated more clearly in FIG. 2. Such shoe is preferably made of rubber, such as that sold under the trademark Adiprine, which may be molded or extruded, since it is essentially channel-shaped. Of course, the shoe may be made of other cushioning material, or perhaps even hard material, such as plastic, for example, nylon.

The shoe comprises a somewhat channel-like element comprising a base portion 2, integral sidewall portions 3 defining a longitudinally extending rectangular groove having sidewall portions 4 and a bottom wall portion 5 on which the rocker l is supported. It should be particularly noted that the base portion 2 has a transverse curvature that is, it is concave along its width, as illustrated more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 4, so that when the weight of the rocker or other furniture bears down on the bottom wall portion 5, it will tend to flatten out the curvature of the bottom surface 6 to correspond to the flat floor, as illustrated in FIG. 3 so that the top extremities 7 of the sidewalls 3 will react and bend inwardly, coming into tight engagement with the sidewalls of the rocker l and thereby will not tend to be displaced therefrom as a consequence of either rocking means or perhaps sliding movements of furniture when changing its position on the floor.

The shoes such as illustrated in FIG. 2 may be cut into short lengths corresponding to the lengths of the floor contacting portions of a pair of platform rockers, perhaps of the order of 4 inches. That is to say, four shoes will be required, two on each of the platform rockers since ,each rocker has two supporting foot portions at the ends.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the shoe illustrated generally by numeral 8 and comprising sidewall portions 9 having a groove 10 therein with a bottom surface 11 and a curved or concave base surface 12. The sidewalls 9 terminate in integral protuberances 13 which are adapted to hook onto side edge portions of furniture bases, or perhaps more securely cling to the side surfaces thereof in the manner shown in FIG. 5. The modification shown in FIG. 4 is also suitable for platform rockers or, in fact, any other stationary legs of furniture.

An important advantage of the channel-like construction of the shoe is the great ease of slipping the shoe in place under the supporting legs of furniture without the necessity of lifting the furniture to any appreciable height, that is, merely the distance between the base surface 6 and the bottom surface 5.

Thus it will be seen that l have provided a novel floor preserving shoe for platform rockers, ordinary rockers and other furniture, which shoe is of inexpensive construction and which may be molded or extruded into any desirable lengths, such as a length of 36 inches which is subsequently cut to the desired size, such as 4 inch lengths, to fit under the feet of a platform rocker or under the stationary legs of furniture; furthennore, I have provided a shoe of rubber or other cushioning material having a concave base so that upon application of pressure by the weight of the furniture, the sidewalls will move inwardly and tend to cling more firmly to the sidewalls of the base of the platform rocker or of the supporting legs of other furniture; furthermore, I have provided a platform rocker shoe which is very inexpensive and which can be easily and quickly attached to or detached from platform rockers or legs of other furniture without the necessity of lifting the rocker or legs of other furniture to any appreciable height.

While I have illustrated and described several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only and that various changes may be made within the contemplation of my invention and the following claims.

I claim:

1. A shoe for supporting the foot portions of platform rockers and the like, comprising an elongated, substantially channel shaped resilient element having a base portion and integral sidewall portions which define a longitudinal, substantially rectangular groove for tightly fitting the sides of one of said foot portions, said shoe having a concave base in a transverse direction throughout the entire length so that as pressure is exerted by the weight of the furniture on the bottom of said groove, said concave surface becomes flattened to correspond to the flat surface of the floor and said integral sidewalls will be automatically. bent inwardly so as to more tightly grip the sidewall surfaces of said foot portion.

2. A shoe as recited in claim 1 together with integral protuberances at the top ends of said sidewalls of the shoe which are in confronting relationship and overhang the sides of said groove, so as to hook onto or more tightly engage sidewalls of said foot portion.

3. A shoe as recited in claim I which is unattached to said foot portions and is normally in a flat plane for resting on the floor.

4. A shoe as recited in claim 1 which is normally'arcuate and in frictional engagement throughout its entire length with said foot portion.

5. A shoe as recited in claim 1 made of rubber material.

l it i l