WO2004014164A1

WO2004014164A1 - Socks with big toe accommodation

Info

Publication number: WO2004014164A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001579
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jangho Choi; Jaeseok Chang
Original assignee: Jtl Co., Ltd
Priority date: 2002-08-09
Filing date: 2003-08-06
Publication date: 2004-02-19
Also published as: AU2003252545A1; KR200293342Y1

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a sock having a big toe receiving portion. The sock serves to allow the load of wearer’s body to be appropriately distributed so as to be separately applied onto the wearer’s big toe and onto the other toes, this sock being especially useful in cases of certain sports games requiring application of a certain amount of force to the big toe in order to improve activity ability of the big toe. The sock comprises a main body portion for receiving the majority of the wearer’s foot, and a toes receiving portion extending downwardly from the main body portion. The toes receiving portion is sewn at a certain portion to form at least one valley. On the basis of the valley, the toes receiving portion is adapted to separately receive the wearer’s big toe. According to the sock of the present invention, the force to be applied to the toes can be appropriately distributed in a desired manner through the separately formed big toe receiving portion. As a result, in case of certain sports games requiring concentration of the force on the wearer’s big toe, a required amount of the force can be accurately applied to the big toe, thereby considerably improving activity ability of the big toe, resulting in good results of the sports games.

Description

SOCKS WITH BIG TOE ACCOMMODATION

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a sock, and more particularly to a sock having a big toe receiving portion, the sock being configured to allow the load of a wearer's body to be appropriately divided into two parts so as to be applied onto the wearer's big toe and onto the other toes- respectively, this sock being especially useful in cases of certain spoils games requiring application of a certain amount offeree to a big toe in order to improve activity ability of the big toe.

Background Art

Generally, the human foot is a very complex organ, and, in fact, it is impossible to find two feet that are the same as each other in nature. According to studies by most scientists, the foot is an important factor for definitely discrirninating humans from other living organisms.

Humans have rapidly developed due to the fact that they walk upright, and such upright walking was made possible by virtue of the unique structure of the human foot. The human foot comprises a big toe, which serves to dominate other toes and their nervous systems. It is well known that the big toe takes part in mental thinking activities because it l as reflex points associated with cerebral nerves. For this reason, a big toe may be referred as "a thinking toe".

The utility of a big toe can be explained in relation to certain sports. As one example, in case of golf, a golfer normally balances himself/herself on the center portion of the foot sole. However, in order to take a long shot, the golfer has to move the balance points centered on the foot sole toward the big toe. As another example, in case of tennis, it is undesirable that a tennis player puts a brake on leg's movements by using the sole of the foot. The tennis player first has to balance himself/herself on his/her toes for braking, and then to concentrate the brake force on the big toe. In this state, the tennis player can effectively perform a volley.

As yet another example, in case of soccer, a soccer player frequently kicks a ball with his/her toes since such a toe-kick can be rapidly performed by swinging the legs in a range of a relatively short distance. In order to more efficiently perform the toe-kick, the soccer player has to kick the ball in a state wherein he/she spreads out the big toe. If the soccer player lacks the ball in a state wherein he/she spreads out all toes, he feels pain in the toenails and fails to accurately hit the center of the ball. However, by spreading out only the big toe, the soccer player can stabilize his/her body during the toe_^ kick, and more accurately and easily kick the center of the ball.

Conventionally, various shapes of socks have been used to satisfy general purposes and other specific purposes associated with the above sports and others, but so far most socks are only configured to accommodate all of toes together, as shown in Fig. 1, which illustrates a conventional sock 1. Due to the structural limitation of the conventional sock 1 accommodating all toes together, the conventional sock 1 has a problem in that a wearer cannot accurately apply a required amount of force to a desired toe, for example, a big toe, even if he/she tries to apply the force to the desired toe. That is, it is impossible to achieve accurate and delicate activity of a specific toe.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a sock having a big toe receiving portion, which can completely solve prior art problems, and enable a wearer to freely and effectively use a desired toe, such as a big toe, especially in cases of certain sports games requiring application of a certain amount of force to the desired toe in order to improve activity ability thereof.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a sock comprising: a main body portion for receiving the majority of a wearer's foot; and a toes receiving portion extending downwardly from the main body portion, the toes receiving portion being sewn at a certain position to form at least one valley, so as to separately receive the wearer's toes on the basis of the valley.

Preferably, the toes receiving portion may comprise a big toe receiving portion. Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description talcen in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illuslrating a sock of the prior art;

Fig.2 is a perspective view ifruslrating a sock having a big toe receiving portion in accordance with the present invention; and Fig.3 is a side sectional view of the sock shown in Fig. 1.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Figs. 2 and 3 are a perspective view and a side sectional view, respectively, iUustrating a sock having a big toe receiving portion in accordance with the present invention. Referring to Figs.2 and 3, the sock basically comprises a main body portion, designated as reference numeral 10, for receiving the majority of a wearer's foot, and a toes receiving portion 10b extending downwardly from the main body portion 10. The toes receiving portion 10b is sewn at a certain portion to form at least one valley 10a having a certain length substantially conesponding to the length of toes. On the basis of the valley 10a, the toes receiving portion 10b is adapted to separately receive the wearer's toes.

Considering the configuration of the sock as stated above in detail, the main body portion 10 is a tubular unit for receiving the majority of the wearer's foot. Such a shape of the main body portion 10 is the same as that of conventional known socks. The toes receiving portion 10b extends downwardly from the main body portion 10 by a certain length, and is sewn at the tip end thereof. The toes receiving portion 10b has the at least one valley 10a at a certain position. Preferably, the valley 10a is positioned between a big toe 12 and another adjacent toe 14, namely a second toe, as shown in Fig. 2. That is, the toes receiving portion 10b includes a big toe receiving portion 10c for separately receiving the big toe 12 only. The big toe receiving portion 10a is formed to be sectionalized from the remaining portion of the toes receiving portion 10b on the basis of the valley 10a The remaining portion of the toes receiving portion 10b receives the wearer's other toes 14 except for the big toe 12.

As the big toe 12 can be separately received in the big toe receiving portion 10c by the sewn valley 10a, which is a boundary between the big toe receiving portion 10a and the remaining portion of the toes receiving portion 10b, the sock of the present invention can secure free activity of the big toe 12.

It is veiy important to emphasize the role of the big toe receiving portion 10c. It is well understood that the big toe receiving portion 10c serves to space the big toe 12 from the adjacent another toe 14, namely, the second toe, so as not to come into contact with each other, thereby preventing the generation of friction between the big toe 12 and the adjacent anotiier toe 14 and thus effectively absorbing pain or shock due to the friction. Now, the role of the big toe receiving portion

10c is further explained in detail with reference to golf.

In order to successively perform putting or taking a golf shot even on a steep green, a golfer has to restrict any unnecessary gestures. For this, the golfer first takes a relatively wide stance, and then orients his/her big toes toward a golfball. In this way, the golfer can achieve a stable immovable stance.

That is, during putting or taking a golf shot, the golfer takes actions in a state wherein he/she always balances himself/herself on big toes. Therefore, it is easily understood that free movement of the big toes is an essential factor of good putting or taking a golf shot. As stated above in relation to the background section, since most conventional socks generally have a single body form, even if the wearer tries to individually move a big toe, other toes inevitably are moved along with the big toe. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the fact that the simultaneous movements of all toes disenable to accurately and effectively apply a required amount of force to the big toe. According to the present invention, on the other hand, the big toe receiving portion 10c formed in the sock enables a certain force to be uniformly distributed onto respective toes in a desired manner, especially in cases of certain sports games requiring accurate application of the force. The function and effect of the sock configured as stated above is explained in detail.

The sock of the present invention is configured to separately receive the wearer's big toe 12 in the big toe receiving portion 10c integrally extending from the main body portion 10 of the sock. When the wearer tries to move the center of his her weight while balancing himself/herself on one foot, generally a certain force is applied to the wearer's big toe 12 and then again the applied force is distributed to the other remaining toes 14. According to the sock of the present invention, thanks to the separately formed big toe receiving portion 10c, the wearer's big toe 12 can separately move regardless of the other toes 14, thereby securing the free movements of the big toe 12.

As can be seen from the above description, the wearer can freely select whether a constant force is always to be applied to the wearer's big toe 12 witliout any other interference, or the wearer's big toe 12 is free from the force. As a result, it is possible to improve activity ability of the big toe 12, thereby achieving good results in certain sports games using the big toe 12.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible. For example, the big toe receiving portion 10c may be formed to receive a second toe as well as a big toe, if desired. Further, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, it is possible to form the sock to separately receive only a pinky toe.

As stated above, according to the sock having the big toe receiving portion 10c of the present invention, a certain force to be applied to the toes can be appropriately distributed in a desired manner through the separately formed big toe receiving portion 10c. As a result, in case of certain sports requiring concentration of the force on the wearer's big toe, it is possible to accurately apply a required amount of force to the big toe 12, thereby considerably improving results of the sports games.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a sock having a big toe receiving portion separately defined therein, which enables a certain force caused by the load of a wearer's body to be appropriately applied onto the big toe receiving portion in a desired manner so as to allow the force to be concentrated on the wearer's big toe, especially, in cases of certain spoits games using the bog toe, thereby seeming improved activity ability of the big toe, resulting in good results of the spoils games using the big toe.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims:

1. A sock comprising: a main body portion for receiving the majority of a wearer's foot; and a toes receiving portion extending downwar-dly from the main body portion, the toes receiving portion being sewn at a certain position to form at least one valley, so as to define a big toe receiving portion on the basis of the valley.