US2236367A - Shoe - Google Patents

Description

March 25, 1941. J. GRUBER 2,236,367

SHOE

Filed April 4, 1959 mill/111! %7'AM INVENTOR TORNEY Patented Mar. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

John Grnber, New York, N. Y.

Application April 4, 1939, Serial No. 265,887

This invention relates to shoes and has for its main object the provision of a shoe construction in which the upper is removably attached to the sole portion so that the same can be readily exchanged for another upper, in order to enable the conversion of a house shoe, a beach shoe or a shoe worn in a factory into a shoe for street wear or the like, or into a shoe of a particular color to match the color of ones dress.

19 Such novel construction affords the advantage that one with limited means instead of purchasing several pairs of shoes for different use or occasions needs only a single pair with different uppers which he or she can readily exchange one for the other.

' Thus, for instance, a woman wearing a shoe which according to the modern fashion has its upper cut at diflerent parts, as at the toes and sides, when caught in rainor snow, if equipped with an extra pair of uncut uppers, will be able to apply the latter to completely cover her feet.

To accomplish my object I provide a shoe consisting of a permanent portion which includes the sole and heel, with or without a permanent upper, and an extra upper adapted to be removably fastened to said permanent portion. For the removable attachment of said upper the free lower edges thereof have suitably fastened thereto an open loop of steel wire or other resilient or elastic material which is adapted to-snap into a groove or channel provided in and extending around the circumferential edge of the outer sole of the shoe and to thereby retain said extra upper in position. This extra upper may be made to either cover the entire foot and thus extend all around the sole or to cover only part of the foot and thus extend only over the front part of the foot.

My invention also consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing, which constitutes part of this specification and in which similar reference characters denote corresponding parts,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe c0 structed according to my invention, showing the 5 removablezupper unattached;

55 form of a removable upper;

Figure 2 is a cross section on line 2-2 of Fig-- Figure 5 is an elevation of a" fragment of a shoe showing a modified construction: and

. Figure 6 is a longitudinal section on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

The permanent portion of the shoe may con- 5 sist of an outer sole ID, a heel l I suitably attached thereto, andan inner sole l2. In the example shown this permanent portion also includes straps l3 as used on sandals or beach shoes, and the upper heel portion l4. Instead of straps I3 10 the permanent portion may have an ordinary upper stitched or otherwise secured to the sole, as usual.

The novelty of my invention resides in the provision of an extra removable upper l5 which 15 may be made of leather or other suitable material and of any desired style, color, etc. and so admeasured so as to fit over the permanent upper, if any, over the straps l3 and heel portion or directly over the foot. This removable upper i5 has its lower edge folded or fluted to form a tubular channel I6 in which is embedded a loop I! of steel wire orother elastic or resilient material open at the rear. The rear part of this upper is split or parted in the middle throughout its 25 height, the edges IQ of the split being suitably seamed and, when applied to the sole, adapted to overlap and be suitably fastened to one another by press or snap buttons l8,- l9' or other suitable means. The loop "embedded in the channel 3 it of the upper has the tendency to normally contract the lower part of said upper. The outer sole ill of the shoe is provided with an annular groove or channel 20 extending either all around the same or only up to the upper heel portion Hi. 35 The loop contracted lower edge of the removable upper I5 is adapted when spread apart to engage said groove 20 and on contraction to effectively hold the upper 15 in position. After attaching said upper to the outer sole the free rear edges 18 thereof are folded over one another and fastened together by the press buttons, or the like.

The front part of the upper I5 may be' constructed in any desired manner according to the style. Instead of a full length upper, according to Figure 4, an upper l5 may be used which is adapted to extend only up to or slightly beyond the upper heel portion H. In such case while the loop contracted lower edge of the upper will ena e the groove 20 of the outersole, the free edges ll. of the upper may be fastened to the heel portion I 4 by snap buttons l9, l9 or other suitable means.

- Instead of providing an upper heel portion permanently attached to the sole as in Figure 1, each p of the rear parts of the removable upper may be stiffened as at 2|, so that when the loop contracted lower edge of said upper is snapped into engagement with the groove III or the outer sole l and the free edges ll are attached to one another by the snap buttons l8, It, the reinforced or stifiened parts 2| will themselves constitute the upper heel portion oi. the shoe.

By virtue of this novel construction a shoe may be made with several removable extra uppers as accessories, to be interchangeably slipped over the foot, either to cover the ordinary permanently attached upper or straps, or directly the foot, thus enabling the wearer to quickly convert a house shoe into a shoe for street wear or a shoe of one color or style into another suitable for a.

particular occasion. Not only will the wearer save much time in making the change, but also expense, since the cost of extra uppers will be considerably less than that of extra complete shoes. The uppers, like spats or gaiters, can be conveniently folded and will, therefore, take up less room than complete shoes. They can also be conveniently carried in one's bag or pocket to be available at a sudden change of weather.

Since other modifications may be made in the construction of the shoe without departing from the principle of my invention, I do not wish to restrict myself to the details described and shown.

What I claim is:

A shoe comprising a sole and heel, an annular groove extending all around the circumferential edge of said sole, a removable upper split at its rear, reinforcing means embedded in the rear portions 01' said upper, a channel formed at and all around the lower edge of said upper, a resilient open wire loop embedded in said channel and adapted to normally contract said edge and when snapped into said annular groove to tightly COD: nect said upper to said sole, the free ends of said split rear portions of said upper, being adapted to overlap one another when said upper is connected to said sole and fastening means on said free ends for detachably connecting the same to one another.

JOHN GRUBER.

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