US2972824A - Safety shoe with instep guard - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 28, 1961 F. H. SCHLECHT SAFETY SHOE WITH INSTEP GUARD Filed July 5, 1960 v z,97z,sz4 Y `SAFETY suon wrm msrnr GUARD Frederick H. Schlecht, Worcester, Mass., assiguor to H. H.

Brown Shoe Company, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed July 5, 1960, Ser. No. 40,850

3 Claims. (Cl. 36-72) This invention relates generally to footwear and more particularly to an improved safety shoe having a protective guard for the instep.

Workshoes having safety toe construction are widely used in industry for minimizing toe injuries. Recently there have been the development of improved and compact instep protective devices which are permanently attached to the safety shoe in position to overlie the instep portion thereof and cooperate with the reinforced safety toe to provide adequate protection for the instep portion of the shoe wearers foot. An instep protective device of this nature is disclosed in my Patent 2,915,837 issued nited .States Patent O December 8, 1959. In the protective device of that type l a relatively rigid guard member of suitable plastic or other similar material is suitably secured asI within 'a leather envelope and that envelope and guard memberis positioned over the instep ofthe shoe, with the envelope v 4 being welted together with the lining and upper `of the shoe by the conventional operation to secure the envelope and guard in place over the instep with the lower end of the relatively rigid guard member disposed above the safety toe so that the latter acts as a support therefor and functions to absorb` part of the force which results when an object falls on the instep guard, for example. In these constructions the inner envelope member extends downwardly over the toe but is not secured in thev welting operation as such a construction creates an excessive and unsightly bulge and, moreover, such an assembly is diiicult to accomplish on the presently available welting equipment. However, as Y the inner envelope member is not secured on its lower edges it has been found that in the course of Wearing the safety shoe and flexing the guard envelope the inner envelope member tends to ride up so that itno longer lies smoothly over the instep portion but rather forms a series of ridges or bulges, which are unsightly and not infrequently cause discomfort to the wearer of the shoe.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide in'a safety shoe an improved reinforced toe and instep guard construction.

Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved means of securing suitable instep guard over the reinforced toe portion of the safety shoe. .In accordance with the invention it is provided an instep protective member which comprises a relatively rigid guard member that is encased in an envelope which includes inner andouter portions. The outer member of this envelope is secured to the shoe by a welt with the guard in position over the instep portion of the shoe and its lower end positioned above the safety toe. Positioned between the safety toe and the inner envelope portion is a suitable flexible cloth member that has been impregnated with a plastic material such as polystyrene and formed over the toe while it is flexible. In this state the fabric member wtih its plastic material has adhesive characteristics such that it will adhere both to the safety toe and to the inner envelope member, thus securing the inner member in its proper position relative to the safety toe. As the impregnated fabric is moldable while in its adhesive condition this combination of elements is easily assembled over the safety toe so that it may be easily secured as an assembled unit in the welting operation. This invention thus provides a simple means for securing the several components of the toe and instep protective unit together on the shoe in a compact unit without producing unsightly bulges and which enables the use of rconventional shoe machinery equipment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be seen as the following description of a preferred embodiment progresses, in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the safety shoe construction in accordance with the present invention with certain parts thereof broken away to show its construction more clearly;

Pig. 2 is a .sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the toe of the shoe shown in Fig. 1 with several of the elements of the protective unit spread apart so that their relationship may be more clearly illustrated.

, With reference to the drawing there is shown a workshoe having a vamp 10 which is sewn to a quarter 12 by means of a seam 14. In addition to the vamp and '.the quarter the shoe upper includes gores 16 of elastic and serves to hold the toe cap in place. This guard unit comprises a relatively rigid member 32 which has a compound curvature and is shaped to conform generally to the shape of the instep of the human foot. Secured to the underside of member 32 is a layer of cushioning material 34. The instep guard member 32 may be aluminum or a plastic material such as a copolymer of poly# styrene, butadiene rubber and acrylonitrile; or it may be a' tough resilient plastic material such as a high impact polystyrene resin which combines strength with a substantial degree of shock absorption. This instep guard member is held between inner and outer leather invelope or casing members 36, 38 respectively. These casing members which, of course, may be of other suitable materials are sewn together in the illustrated embodiment by stitching 40 along their sides and upper edges and are shaped so that they lie over the upper 10 and generally conform to the contour ofthe instep. The outer casing member 38 extends down over the toe and is secured by means of the welt stitching 24 to the upper and soles. The inner casing member 36, while extending over the toe, does not extend down to the welt but rather terminates short of that area. This assembly positions the guard member above the toe cap 28 so that its lower end is supported thereby.

At the rearward or upper end of the instep guard envelope there are provided two spaced snap fasteners 42 which cooperate with snaps on a ilap 44 which is adapted to extend forward and over the upper edge of the instep guard. When the snap fasteners are undone the instep guard may be ilexed upwardly and a person may insert his foot into the shoe easily due to the expansible nature v grasas4 tion so far described is substantially as shown in my aforementioned patent.

Positioned between the upper inner member 36 andv the toe ycap 28 is a textile fabric member 46 which may` be flannel or similar material which is imygrregnatedV with a suitable plastic material that is deposited on` the fabric in a discontinuous manner. The plastic material may be polystyrene or a celluloid pyroxylin plastic for example. When this material is subjected to a proper solvent, for example a blend of toluene and methyl ethyl ketone in the case of the polystyrene impregnated fabric, the material becomes flexible and capable of being easily conformed to the shape of the toe cap. In this state the fabric material has excellent adhesive characteristics onV both sides, those adhesive layers being indicated by the dotted layers 4S, and is capable of adhering to both the metallic or plastic toe cap 28 and to the inner casing member 36 of leather or other suitable material. It is formed over the toe in contact with the toe cap and extends down into the welt area where it is'secured between the upper and the outer member of the instep guard casing. In this manner the instep guard envelope and more particularly the inner member ofy that envelope is securely positioned relatively tothe toe cap in a simple manner such that the toe cap and the instep guard envelope are secured together as a unit without impairing the requisite exibility of the instep guard member.

Thus it will be seen that the invention provides a simple and novel structure for securely positioning an instep guard member relative to the toe portion of a safety shoe without unduly enlarging the construction thereof andv without impairing the flexibility of the instep guard soV that it may be easily exed upwardly and outwardly to permit the safety shoe to be easily placed on or removed from the wearers foot.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described it is believed that variousrmodications therein will be obvious to those skilled in the art and therefore it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto or to details thereof and departures may` be made therefrom within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A safety shoe comprising an upper including a portion adapted to cover the instep of the foot of the wearer, a reinforced toe cap adapted to be positioned over the toe of the wearer, a sole, an instep guard overlying theinstep and toe portions of said upper, said instep guard being formed with a relatively rigid member having its forward end positioned above said reinforced toe cap, and being encased in an envelope having an inner member and an outer member, said outer member overlying said relatively rigid member and extending downwardly over the toe cap to be secured together with said upper to said sole by means of a welt and said inner member underlying said guard member and being joined to said outer member along the sides and upper end thereof, said inner member extending over said toe cap but` not being secured to said welt and a plastic impregnated member interposed between said inner member and said toe cap, said plastic impregnated member having adhesive characteristics which enables it to adhere both to said inner member and to said toe cap so that said inner member is positively secured relative to said toe cap, said envelope extending upwardly and rearwardly over said upper, and means todetachably secure said envelope to said upper. v

2. A safety shoe ,comprisingV an upper, a sole, a toe cap member positioned over the toe portion of, said upper and an instep guard member positioned over the instep portion of said.uppersaid instep guard member being formed from relatively rigid material into an article having a compound curvature which substantially conforms to the shape of a human instep, the -forward end of said instep guard member being positioned above said reinforced toe cap member and supported thereby, an

envelope for housing said instep guard member com-v prising an inner sheet memberv and an outer sheet mem? ber, said inner and outer members being joined along the sides yand upper ends thereof and the lower ends of each extending downwardly over the toe cap, a plastic impregnated member: interposed between said inner` mem, ber and said toe cap, both surfacesof said plasticimpregnated member having adhesive characteristics which enables it to adhere to both said inner member and said toe cap so that said inner member is positively secured` relative to .saidtoe cap, said outer, membertand said plastic impregnated member extending downwardly over said toe capv and being secured to said upper and tosaid sole by means of a welt.

3..In a safety shoe, the combination comprising an upper, said upper includingtoe and instep covering, portions, a rigid toe cap overlying saidtoerportion, a solev to which the upper is secured, a rigid instep guard overlying saidI instep portion. and apart of said toe portion and having its forward end supported by saidV toe cap, an envelope for'said guard, a portion of saidenvelope extending forwardly and downwardly over said toecap, andv a plastic impregnated member having adhesive characteristics on both sides interposed betweenu and adhered to both sides portion of said envelope and said cap to prevent relative movement therebetween.

References Cited in the le of this `patent` UNITED STATES PATENTS Mmmm.

UNITED STATES PATE-NT OFFICE CERTIFICATION OF CORRECTION Patent No.; 2,972,824 y February 28, 1961 Frederick H., Schlecht it ie hereby Certified/that erre? eppeere in the abe-ve numbered petent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 2, line 48, for "invelope" read n envelope column 4,- line 43, for "both sides portion" read -m both said portion Y Signed and sealed this 18th day of July 1961.

(SEAL) Attest;

ERNEST W.SWIDER Attesting Officer DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents

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