Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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267~1-5
The present invention relates to a bootlace fastening
rneans and aims to allow tightening and loosening of the lace
quickly and with minimal exertion under any conditions and to
relieve any harmful pressure by the boot on the Eoot and ankle.
Conventionally, the lacing fastening portion in a boot
has straight side edges with a piurality of eyelets spaced evenly
on either side to run a lacing through.
While the lacing is being pulled in order to tighten for
fastening, the strength of pull applied has to be increased with
friction resistance in proportion to the number of eyelets;
besides, the power of pull on the lace through the upper eyelets
is not transmitted through the lacing to the lower eyelets.
Thus, when both ends of the lace are pulled only the
parts nearest to where the pulling is done are partially
tightened, while most of the other parts remain unaffected.
There-Eore, when the whole portion is fastened in the
conventional way the lacing has to be tightened step by step
through the eyelets from the lower part to the top by pulling on
each portion of the lacing between eyelets. To fasten boots this
way takes much ti~e and energy.
Conversely, to loosen the boot, each part of the lacing
has to be pulled with the fingers in turn moving ~own between the
e~yelets, which takes as much time as to Easten them.
Particularly at night it takes much more time to tighten
or loosen the fastening lace than in the daytime.
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In the military forces the inconvenience of fastening
and loosening a lace sometimes even results in an unhealthy
t:endency for military men no-t to take off their boots often
enough - sometimes causing athlete's foot or frostbite.
Moreover, on a lonq walk, or when climbiny, crouching or
squatting wearinq boots such as military boots or sports boots,
some parts in the fastening portion are folded and so create
pressures on the ankle and instep, thereby resulting in an earlier
onset of fatigue, swelling, irritation and blisters and giving the
~learer difficulty in walking.
The present invention is intended to reduce the above-
stated inconveniences and drawbacks of conventional boots.
The configuration of the invention is such that instead
of running in a straight line as in conventional boots, the side
edges with eyelets on either side form a serration at the level of
each eyelet, of which teeth, each comprising an eyelet, are
projected upward in the same direction as that in which the lace
runs, each lace end running diagonally crossways through eyelets
from one eyelet to the next upper one on the opposite side.
The teeth are also so arranged that each is rather
larger in size than the one immediately below it and there is
greater spacing between each eyelet from bottom to top,
so that the number of eyelets may be much reduced from those of
the prior art, which results in less friction on the lace.
Each end of the lace run through the eyelets is
knotted.
2 --
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The invention, a5 stated above, is such that only a
sliqht pull applied simultaneously to both ends of the lace may ~e
,1elivered at once all alona the lace to effect a ~uick, easy and
uniform fastening almost sirnultaneously between all eyelets.
The gradual increase of the spacing distance in turn
between adjacent eyelets is intended to eLfect a laryer angle of
running of the lace at each stage upward to give more power of
pull on the lower eyelet than on the upper one on either side.
~ rhus~ in accordance with the invention, there is provi-
ded a bootlace Eastening means, characterized in that two uprightside edges, provided at a cut-open portion of a boot to face each
other, are serrated all along in a form such as teeth and notches,
each tooth having an eyelet and projecting upward in the same
direction as that of a lace running diagonally from the eyelet to
the next-upper eyelet on the opposite side, each of said teeth and
notches gradually becoming greater in width and height step by
step upward equally on either side, and spacings between two eye-
lets adjacent to each other on either side also gradually becoming
greater at each step upward to effect a reduction in the number of
eyelets and less friction, the lowest spacings being the smallest
and the topmost ones the largest, and in that the lace is
i.nitially run outwards from the inner side through eyelets and run
diagonally crossways to the next-upper eyelets respectively on the
opposite sides to go on through the eyelets and from these on
again to the next-upper ones step by step in the same manner
continuing up to the top.
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Figure 1 shows a perspective view oE the lace fasteniny
portion in a boot in accordance w,ith the present invention.
Figure 2 shows an enlarged front view of part of the
lace fastening portion.
The present invention is described in reference to the
drawings as follows:
There is provided a known tongue 2 on the inner side of
the fastening portion of the boot 1, and the side edges for
fastening are cut in the form of a serration so that the projec-
ting teeth such as 3, 3', 5, 5' are directed upward in the samedirection as that of a bootlace 7 of synthetic fiber run crossways
through eyelets provided on the edges, also the teeth are arranged
to beco~e gradually larger in width and height one after another
with the effect of greatly reducing the number of eyelets from
that of a conventional boot.
The ends of the lacing are each knotted, as at 9, 9'~
Teeth 5, 5' are arranged to be greate-r in width and
height than teeth 3, 3', and in the same manner other teeth also
increase in size as they ascend step by step equally on either
side.
The same principle is applied to the notches between
teeth, as notches 6, 6' are arranged to be greater in width and
height than notches 4, 4'.
Therefore, the heights b, b' are greater than a, a', and
the spacings d, d' are greater than c, c'.
The bootlace 7 is put through eyelets 8, 8' with each
end coming out through the respective eyelet from the inner side
of the eyelet, and then the ends are run diagonally crossways to
each other to be put through the nèxt upper eyelet on the opposite
side one after the other, the ends always emerging through the
hole from the inner side and the lace portions, running from left
~o right or vice versa, always passing over the other portions
running in the opposite direction, as shown in Figure 1.
While both knots 9, 9' of the lacing, being held by a
hand on eithe~ side, are pulle~ in order to fasten a boot of the
lnvention, the stren~th of pull applied is concentrated and deli-
vered evenly along the line of the lace running diagonally througheyelets as between teeth 3, 5' and 3', 5, thanks to the harmony of
the directions of the lace running and the tooth projection, and
because there is much less friction resistance between the eyelets
and the tongue than in conventional boots, thus enabling the boot
to be fastened quickly, easily and uniformly by one simple pull on
the knots 9, 9'.
Taken the other way round for loosening, a slight
strength of pull is applied with the fingers to the teeth 3, 31
and 5, 5' to pull them open outward on either side and perform a
quick and easy loosening of the lace, thus saving much time.
The present invention may be applied to military boots,
ski-boots, skate boots, climbing boots, work-boots and other sport
footwear.
The number of teeth and the angle of running of the lace
and of projection of a tooth are not limited, and any adjustment
may be made to these within the scope of the invention as the case
requires.
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The principal object of the invention is to facilitate
the donning and removal of boots in a short period of time under
any conditions and even in darkness, by just pulling on the knots
9, ~' oE the lace.
A characteristic o-E the invention is that the lace is
tightened evenly all along the fastening portion from top to
bottom to make the foot comfortable, whereas the conventional way
of fastening has been to pull the lace at each pair of eyelets in
turn with the result that some portions are tightened more and
others less, which causes discomfort to the foot.
Another advantage of the invention is to relieve the
pressure of the boot cover on the ankle and instep parts of the
foot thanks to serrations formed at the side edges which keep the
foot comfortable while walking9 running and climbing.
A further advantage of the invention is to help shorten
some time records in sport and to maintain good circulation of the
blood without any harmful pressure on any part of the foot even
during a long walk.
Yet another advantage of the invention, when applied to
military boots where quick donning and removal of the boots can be
very important in an emergency, or in activities at night and in
cold weather, as well as in peacètime, is that the time required
by military men to fasten their boots is much shortened, so
speeding up military operations.
Thus, for example~ it takes about two minutes and ten
seconds to put on and fasten properly a pair of conventional
boots.
.; .;
However, in ~he present invention it takes at ~lost only
twenty seconds to complete the fastening operation. This means
that a soldier who can run 100 m in 20 seconds with full personal
armament will be able to run 600 m further, a rifle soldier can
fire 1,400 more rounds of ammunition with an M 16 (A1) rifle and
an artillery man can fire six more shells in the time oE two
~ninutes saved.
Another advantage of the invention is that in military
activities such as crawling, shooting and long marches where boots
are often forced to bend, the uncomfortable and harmful pressure
on the feet is eased r and that the convenient and easy means of
fastening encourages the wearer to take off his boots more often,
thereby helping to prevent such ailments as athlete's foot or
frostbite which ~night otherwise occur.
Furthermore, the configuration of the invention is such
that there is nothing to hinder mass production, or to make pro-
duction costs greater than in the prior art.
The bootlace 7 of the invention, that is assumed, as
stated above, to run outwards through eyelets 8, 8' from the inner
side, may alternatively pass in the other direction to run inwards
rom the outer side.
Also, in the case of longer boots such as military
boots, s~ating boots, climbing boots and work-boots, the teeth
portion on either side may be divided into two parts, each half
having dif~erent-sized but uniform teeth in its portion and the
teeth of the upper half being larger than those of the lower one,
so that the lower portion may be adjusted for boot tightness
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according to the wearer's foot size and the upper portion may have
Eewer teeth than in the lower portion to facilitate fastening of
the boots.
The heights a, al and b, b' may be arranged into
identical sizes.
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