Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITTR OF TT~r 1 hV~'--L1~
An anti-ski~l heel attachment.
FJ~T~n OF TT~F! 1 h~ L lU
The present invention pertains to an anti-skid
heel attachment for mounting to the heel of a user's
f oot .
"U~" OF TTTT~ NTION
Various anti-skid att~l - have been deviced
to be secured to shoes, boots, or the like to protect
people from acciden1:1y sliding on icy or 61ippery
surfaces . Such devices may be found described in U. S .
patent N~ 1,596,832 is~ued August 17, 1926 to T~oin~ nn~
U.S. patent N~ 3,314,850 issued November 2, 1965 to
MCNair and U.S. patent N~ 4,910,883 issued March 27, 1990
to Zock.
It has been found that most of these
attachments have draw back, one of which is that the
attachment often slides of~ or sideways to the sole of
20 the shoe or boot when in use. Another draw back is that
most of these att:~ l s extend over the entire area of
the sole of the boot or shoe such that their use o~ten
renders walking uncomfortable, ocro~1~lly on a non icy
surfaces. Also, it has been noted that the mounting of
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the attachments to the shoes or boots is often ` r -
and difficult, especiælly for older people.
Finally, it has been found that when the anti-
skid feature is not required, removing these atta~ ts
S causes storage problems in pockets, purses or bags as
they are bulky and their ground engaging pointed portions
may damage the stored area.
Also, their removal is essential in certain
locations in office blli lflin~c: or the like or on slippery
10 floor, thus resulting in possible slipping of the wearer
of these att~ -nts.
OBJECT~ T~rEMp~lT OF ~r~T~ TNVE~'TION
It is an ob~ect of the present invention to
uv~L~ - the above prol~lems associated with present anti-
15 ~kid attachments. This is achieved by providing anattachment which is secured only to the heel of the
wearer's foot and which is easily installed or removed.
Thig i8 also achieved by providing an anti-skid
at1 1 which can be easily folded and stored when not
2 O in used .
It is a further object of the present invention
to provide an anti-skid atta .~ which is provided with
a heel substitute so that the attachment can still be
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worn even if the anti-skid feature is not required in
certain locations.
The present invention therefore relates to an
anti-skid attachment 1~rhich comprises:
a horizontal plate having an underside and a
top side to rest agai~st a user ' s heel;
V-shaped projections extending peripherally and
downwardly from opposite sides of the underside of the
horizontal plate;
a back plat~ hingedly mounted to the horizontal
plate; the back plate being pivotable from a vertical
raised position to a ]lorizontal folded position;
pliable strap means engaging the horizontal
plate and the vertical plate and defining a heel
receiving arrangement; and
means for securing the strap means over the
instep of a user's foot when the back plate i8 in the
raised position and the strap means are in the heel
receiving arrangement;
the back plate being pivotable to rest on the top side of
tlhe horizontal plate and the strap means being pliable so
as to form a compact storage assembly during non-use.
The present invention also relates to an anti-
skid attachment which comprises:
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a horizontal plate havinq an underside and a
top side to rest against a user ' s heel;
a friction means extending downwardly from the
underside of the plate; the friction means defining
ground contacting edges;
a back plate extending vertically at the rear
of the horizontal plate to bear against the rear of the
user ' s heel;
pliable stra]? means engaging the horizontal and
back plates;
means securimg the strap means over the instep
of a user's foot; and
a removable heel substitute engaging the
underside of the horizontal plate; the substitute having
a ground engaging surface extending in a plane lower than
a plane including the ground contacting edges of the
friction means so as to allow a user to walk, when
desired, on the substitute rather than on the friction
means .
Other obj~.cts and further scope of
applicability of the present invention will become
apparent from the ~Dt~ilD~ description given hereinafter.
It should be underst~od, however, that this detailed
description, while indicating preferred Dmho~ ts of
the invention, is given by way of illustration only,
since various changes and modifications within the spirit
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and scope of the invenl:ion will become apparent to those
skilled in the art.
pDTRr nR~TPTION OF q~R I~T~
Figure 1 is an ~ lo~ view of anti-skid heel
5 a~ made in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view thereof showing
the rear plate of the attachment in the raised position;
Figure 3 is a perspective view thereof showing
the rear plate in the folded position;
Figure 4 i~ a side elevational view of the
attachment when used ~ith the friction means only;
Figure 5 i~ a side elevational view of the
attachment when used ~,Tith the heel substitute; and
Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along
15 lines 6-6 of figure 2..
n~r~TPTIO~ OF pp~lPR~I~Rn RMR~ IM~TTg
Referring to figure 1 of the drawings, there is
shown an anti-skid heel atta~ t, generally denoted 10,
which comprises three main components: a strap
20 arr~n~e t 12, an a~lti-skid metallic plate 14 and a
removable heel substitute 16.
The metallic plate 14 comprises a horizontal
plate portion 18 ada~?ted to lie under the heel of a
wearer's boot, shoe, or the like and a vertical plate
25 portion 20 adapted to bear against the rear portion of
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the shoe or boot. The horizontal plate 18 has a rear
extension 22 which, together with a pair of ears 24 and
26 at the lower edge of the rear plate 20, engage a pin
27 to define a hinge arrangement so that the rear plate
5 20 may be pivoted from a raised position, such as shown
in figure 2, to a horizontal folded position, such as
shown in figure 3. The horizontal plate portion 18
includes a top face 19 which is adapted to bear against
the heel 28 of a boot or shoe 30 (see figures 4 and 5)
10 and an underface 21 which ~displays peripherally, on
opposite sides thereof, downwardly extending V-shaped
projections 32 defining friction means to the attal~ ~.
The strap arrangement 12 of the present
~ho.ll- consists o~ a pair of straps 34 and 36 to
15 secure the atta~ to the wearer ' 8 shoe or boot .
Strap 34 extends hori zontally under the underface 21
and through a pair of slots 38 and 40 (see figure 2) of
the horizontal plate portion 18. Opposite side portions
34 ' and 34" of the strap have their upper ends fixedly
20 attached, for example sewn, to opposite sides of the
second strap 36. The latter strap extends through a pair
of slots 42 and 44 ill the rear plate 20 and has its
opposite sides terminating with front free ends 36 ' and
36" in overlapped fashion. These ends are detAeh~hle 50
25 that the ankle area of a wearer may be positioned within
the opened strap arrangement. Various means are
envisaged in order to secure the strap ends 36 ' and 36"
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together, such as a buckle, a Velcro-type material on one
or both faces, etc. The straps are made of pliable
tissue material so that, when use of the heel attachment
is not required and the owner wishes to store it in a
5 pocket or purse, the straps may be easily folded with the
rear plate 20 also folded in the horizontal position
shown in f igure 3 thereby def ining a compact unit that
may be stored.
An additional feature of the present invention
is that the heel att;~ ~ may be worn in certain areas
where the friction feature is not desired, t ~ Lly.
Therefore, the invention provides a heel substitute 16
which is formed of a rubber-like material and has a
contour adapted to fit against the underface 21 of the
15 horizontal plate 18. The top face of the heel substitute
has a rectangular ~ecessed area 50 in order to allow
passage of the horizontal portion 34a (see figure 6) of
the strap 34. The heel substitute 16 also includes one
or more magnets 52 (three being shown in figure 1) which
20 are fixedly inserted in the top face of the heel
substitute and which magnetically attach the heel
substitute to the metallic plate 18. As can be seen in
the figures of the drawing, the thickness of the heel
substitute is greater than the height of the projections
25 32 of the horizontal plate portion so as to nullify the
friction effect of the projections. Two front downward
projections 54 and 56 ~ombine with the side projections
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32 to confine the heel attachment under the horizontal
plate portion 18.
To facilitate the removal of the heel
substitute when the wt~arer wishes to use the anti-skid
5 feature of the att 1l 1 on an icy or slippery surface,
a front finger gripping projection 58 is integrally
formed to the material of the heel substitute. By
applying downward pressure on the extension 58,
disengagement of the ~agnets 52 to the plate 18 may be
10 easily accomplished.
Although the invention has been described above
in respect to one specific form, it will be evident to a
person skilled in the art that it may be modified and
15 refined in various ways. For example, instead of having
an arrangement of two straps 34 and 36, there may be
provided an arrangement of more straps, such as four,
each separately connected to the slots of the horizontal
and rear plates 18 ant~ 20. It i5 therefore wished to
20 have it understood that the present invention should not
be limited in scope, ex~ept by the terms of the following
claims .
