Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~ootv~rea~,CQxe~- )~Xing water absorberrt ch~racteristics_
and non slip. longwear soles
LD OF THE INVEN ON
5(001] The invention relates generally to footwear but more particularly to a
non-disposable footwear cover capable of absorbing moisture fnam
footwear while providing good floor adherence capability with its non slip
soles_
PRIOR ART t'.,,APABtLITY AND lY(OTNATIQN5. AS HELPING O SHOW
10PATENTABILITY NERE
(0021 There exists a variety of shoe and boot covers, generally of the
disposable kind which allow a user to walk into ceRain areas in which it
is important not to soil the floor surFace. This can be for dental or
medical clinics, hospitals, orfordean rooms such as used in the fields
15 of biology or microelectronics.
(003] For such specialized applications where extremely dean shoe covers
are needed, it is preferable to have disposable shoe covers which won't
carry contaminants from one area to another. But there are several
other types of environments where it is not so critical to be sanitized and
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use disposable covers but rather keep an environment unsoiled. For
example, in wintertime, if a tradesman or repairman has to enter a
dwelling, instead of having to remove his boots - which may be soiled
by mud, snow or dust -- putting on covers over the soiled footwear has
the advantage of not having to remove one's footwear and not having to
walk on one's socks, while at the same time not soiling the floor surFace
of the dwelGng. Fur such occasional use, it is not necessary to have
disposable footwear covers, just a pair of reusable and washable
covers.
10[004] Such reusable and washable covers are found in the prior art but may
not have the convenience of being put on very fast regardless of the
direction by which they are slipped over the footwear. Also, the footwear
covers of the prior art fail to provide matrials which is known to absorb
moisture as found in snow or mud which generally clings to the
footwear.
r.005] Even in hindsight considera#ion of the present invention to determine
its
inventive and novel nature, it is not only conceded but emphasized that
the prior art had many details usable in this invention, but only if the
prior art had had the guidance of the present invention, details of both
capability and motivation_
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{0061 That is, it is emphasized that the prior art had/or knew several
particulars which individually and accumulatively show the non-
obviousness of this combination invention. E.g-,
a) cost of fabric, elastic bands rubber soles;
5
b) The nature of an invention as being a "novel combination", in
spite of existenoe of details separately, is especially significant
here where the novelty is of the plurality of concepts, i.e., the use
of footwear covers having the durability for multiple use, water
i 0 and/or moisture absorbing qualities;
c) The addition of providing long lasting non slip soles;
d) The matter of particular practicality in having footwear covers
which are simpler and faster for a user to put on and take ofF at a
later time then it is for a user to remove his footwear and put them
on again at a later time;
e ) The ease of tooling for the present invention has surely given
manufacturers ample incentive to have made modifications for
commercial competitiveness, if the concepts had been obvious;
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f) The prior art has always had suff+cient skilf to make many types
of footwear covers, more than ample skill to have achieved the
present invention, but only if the concepts and their combinations
had been conceived;
g) Substantially all of the operational characteristics and
advantages of details of the present invention, when considered
separately from one another and when considered separately
from the present invention's details and accomplishment of the
details, are within the skill of persons of various arts, but only
when considered away from the integrated and novel combination
of concepts which by their cooperative combination achieve this
advantageous invention;
h) The details of the present invention, when considered solely
from the standpoint of construction, are exceedingly simple,
basically a strong fabric, a resilient elastic band, industrial type
sewing, water absorbent fabric, non slip material for the soles and
the matter of simplicity of construction has long been recognized
as indicative of inventive creativity;
i) Similarly, and a long-recognized indication of inventiveness of a
novel combination, is the realistic principle that a person of
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ordinary skiH in the art, as illustrated with respect to the claimed
combination as differing in the stated respects from the prior art
both as to construction and concept, is presumed to be one who
thinks along the line of conventional wisdom in the art and is not
5 one who undertakes to innovate; and
j) The predictable benefits from a novel footwear cover product
and usage having the features of this invention would seem
sufficiently high that others would have been working on this type
of product, but only if the concepts which it presents had been
conceived.
[007] Accordingly, although the pnorart has had capability and motivation,
amply sufficient to presumably give incenGve to the development of a
product according to the present invention, the fact remains that this
invention awaited the c:reativity and inventive discovery of the present
Inventor In spite of ample motivation, the prior art did not suggest this
invention.
to
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,!RIOR ART AS PARTICII R INSTANCES OF FAILU,~F- TQ PROViDE
MIS NOVEL. PRODU.CT AND-WT,HLLAT1ON METHOD
[008] In view of the general advantages of the present invention as an
improved embodiment of the prior art, it may be difficult to realize that
the prior art has not conceived of the combination purpose and
achievement of the present invention, even though the need for keeping
floor cleans is a known requested commodity for people nowadays who,
in the case of installation workers who require to enter dwellings and
have to check their footwears before entenng a dwelling or children who
constatly run in and out of the hose, often bringing in dirt. Surely the
need for easy to put on and take off footwear covers has been known for
decades and the technology to achieve such results has been known for
years and that the various combination provided in this invention would
have been desired and attempted long ago, but only if its factors and
combination-nature had been obvious.
[009] Other considerations, as herein mentioned, when realistically evaluated
show the inventive nature of the present invention, a change in concept
which the prior patent and other prior art did not achieve.
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SUMMAR dF THE PRIOR ARTS.LACGGESTf4NS GF T, I
CDNCEPTS OF THE INVENTIOL'S CQMBINATIQW
[0010] And the existence of such prior art knowledge and related ideas
embodying such various features is not only conceded, it is emphasized;
for as to the novelty here of the combination, of the invention as
considered as a whole, a contrast to the prior art helps also to remind of
needed improvement, and the advantages and the inventive significance
of the present concepts. Thus, as shown herein as a contrast to all the
prior art, the inventive significance of the present concepts as a
combination is emphasized, and the nature of the concepts and their
results can perhaps be easier seen as an invention.
(00111 Although varieties of prior art are conceded, and ample motivation is
shown, and full capability in the prior art is conceded, no prior art shows
or suggests details of the overall combination of the present invention,
as is the proper and accepted way of considering the inventiveness
nature of the concepts,
[00121 That is, although the prior art may show an apprnach to the overall
invention, it is determinatively significant that none of the prior art shows
the novel and advantageous concepts in combination, which provides
the merits of this invention, even though certain details are shown
separately from this accomplishment as a combination.
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[0013] And the pr7or art's lack of an inventeon of an ecvnomicai, easy to use
footwear having no left or right, instantly adjustable by way of an elastic
band, a non slip sole and resilient water absorbing characteristics
combined with washability so as to clean off the inside that is quickly
soiled with mud, dirty snow and such, which are goals only approached
by the prior art, must be recognized as being a long-felt need now
fulfilled.
(0014] Accordingly, the various concepts and components are conceded and
emphasized to have been widely known in the prior art as to various
30 installations; nevertheless, the prior art not having had the particular
combination of concepts and details as here presented and shown in
novel combination different from the prior art and its suggestions, even
only a fair amount of realistic humility, to avoid consideration of this
invention improperly by hindsight, requires the concepts and
achievements here to be realistically viewed as a novel combination,
inventive in nature. And especially is this a realistic consideration when
viewed from the position of a person af ordinary skill in this art at the
time of this invention, and without trying to reconstruct this invention
from the prior art without use of hindsight toward particulars not
suggested by the p-ior art.
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FEATURES AND ADVANiTAGES OF TNE_INVEN_T_IOU
r00151 In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known devices
now present in the prior art, the present invention, which will be
described subsequently in greater detail, is to provfde objects and
advantages which are:
[0016] To provide for a fnotwear cover that is instantly adjustable by way of
an
elastic band, has a non slip sole, is resilient, has water absorbing
characteristics combined with washability.
10[0017] To a#tain these ends, the present invention generally comprises a
footwear cover for covering footwear symmetric so as not to have a left
or a right side. The footwear cover has a Covering surface made of soft,
pliable, washable, and resilient material. A non slip sole is attached to
the underside of the covering surface. An elastic band around a point of
entry of a usees footwear tightens at the user's ankle when the footwear
is put in_ An absorbent padding material, located inside of the footwear
cover, is made of a material known to have excellent liquid or moisture
absorption characterfstics.
(00t8] In a variant of the preferred embodimenf, the footwear cover is
substantially elliptical in shape with the point of entry located at a central
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iocation so that the footwear cover does not have a predefined front or
back.
[00191 There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important
5 features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof
that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present
contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional
features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will
form the subject matter of the daims appended hereto.
[00201 In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the
invention in detaii, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited
in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements
of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in
the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of
being practiced and camed out in various ways_ Also, it is to be
understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are
for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
20[0021 ] As such, those skilled in the art -nriEl appreciate that the
conception, upon
which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the
designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the
several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that
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the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions
insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present
invention.
5[0022] These together with other objects of the invention, along with the
various
features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with
particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this
disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating
advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference
1.0 should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter
which contains illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESGRIPTIQN OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] Fig. 1a Side elevation of the footwear cover.
15[0024] Fpg. 1b Close up view of Fig. Ia.
[0025] Fig. 2 Front elevation of the footwear cover.
[0026] Fig, 3 Perspective view of the footwear cover empty.
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DETAILED DESCR}PTIbN
[0027) A footwear cover (10) has a covering surEace (12) made of soft,
pliable,
washable, and resilient material. Attached to the underside onto the soft,
pliable, washable, and resilient matedal is a non slip sole (14), The
manner by way the non slip sole (14) is attached can be taken from any
known or yet to be invented attachment technique or process and need
not be discussed herein. An elasfic band (16) around a point of entry
(18) of a user's footwear (20) tightens at the users ankle (22) when the
footwear (20) is put in. The interior of the footwear cover (10) is padded
1.0 with an absorbent padding material (24) made of a material known to
have excellent excellent liquid or moisture absorption characteristics
while being soft, pliable and easy to wash either by hand or by machine
so that the entire footwear cover (10) can be machine washed at once
without the need for removing parts. Also, the absorbent padding
material (24) dries rapidly. In fact, all parts are preferably fixedly
attached so as to provide long lasting characterisctics since these
footwear covers (10) are not of the "one use" type but rather long lasting
like slippers or other such footwear and as such are made of durable
matenal which will change over the years as better materials are found
that can irnporve teh product. 5owing and/or glueing of the individual
parts are the preferred methods of assembly and such methods of
assembly are well known in the art and need not be discussed herein.
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100281 Optionally, a loop (26), can be attached to the covering surface (12)
so
as to allow for hanging the footwear cover (10). Of course, this feature
is not essential and is not necessarily found on the footwear cover (10).
[0029] The footwear cover (10) is symmetric, that is there is no predefined
left
or right so a user does not have to figure out which is left and which is
right. In fact, a variation of the embodiment such as illustrated in fig. 3
could even forego of the front and back by having the footwear cover
(10) being substantially elliptical in shape with the point of entry (18) in
the middle. In such an embodiment, the footwear cover (10) will
] o reposition and stretch itself longitudinally in the direction of the front
of
the footwear (20).
[00301 As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the
present invention, the same should be apparent from the above
description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of
usage and operation will be provided.
[00311 With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that
the
optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to
include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of
operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious
to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those
illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are
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intended to be encompassed by the present invention. For example,
although size is not too criticai, it is obvious that various sizes such as
small, medium and large, for example could be provided for the footwear
cover (10) so that children, teenagers, men and women can find an
adequate size to fit over their footwear.
[0032] Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the
principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modificaiions and
changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to
limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and
described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents
may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention_
20
