US2986824A - Overshoe having bellows tongue and slide fastener - Google Patents

Description

June 6, 1961 G. H. BINGHAM JR 2,986,824

OVERSHOE HAVING BELLOWS TONGUE AND SLIDE FASTENER Filed March 31, 1960 INVENTOR.

Gar 009E (771 U imdS a eS Pat w 2,986,824 OVERSI-IOE HAVING BELLOWS TONGUE AND SLIDE FASTENER I George H. Bingham, Jr., Westminster, Md., assignor to Cambridge Rubber Company, Taneytown, Md., a corporation of Maryland Filed Mar. 31, 1960, 'Ser. No. 18,978 1 Claim. (Cl. 36-73) This invention pertains to waterproof footwear, for example, to an overshoe including a bottom structure and an upper, and wherein the upper has a throat opening protected by a bellows tongue operative to permit the upper to be expanded to facilitate donning and dofiing, and wherein the bellows tongue comprises lateral wings which are joined to the upper proper at opposite edges, respectively, of the throat opening, and retaining means whereby the junctions of the wings with the upper proper may be held closely adjacent to each other when the shoe is in use.

Heretofore it has been customary to povide such a shoe with buckles or with buttons and loops for holding the throat opening properly closed when the shoe is in use, but such prior closure devices, at best, are effective at spaced points only along the throat opening, permitting the opening to gap apart between such fasteners, and such prior fasteners in most instances, necessitate the puncturing of the upper in attaching the fastener, and the fasteners form projections, often unsightly, which detract from the desired neat appearance of the shoe, and which in some instances are of a type capable of causing injury to other garments of the wearer.

Objects of the invention are to provide fastener means for a shoe of the above type which is operative to hold the throat opening closed uninterruptedly from its upper to its lower end.

A further object is to provide a shoe of the above type having fastener means for holding the throat opening closed, which does not necessitate the puncturing of the shoe upper, and which does not project outwardly beyond the outer surface of the upper.

A further object is to provide a shoe of the above type having fastener means which do not detract from the desired neat appearance of the shoe or constitute a possible cause of injury to other garments of the wearer.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a waterproof overshoe embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the shoe of FIG. 1, with the fastener device closed;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, diagrammatic section, to larger scale, substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section similar to FIG. 3, but showing the upper of the shoe expanded; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detail to larger scale than FIG. 4, showing the mode of attaching the fastener tape to the bellows tongue.

Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral designates an overshoe which, except as hereinafter described, may be of a conventional type and which, for example, may be of a kind made by ordinary rubber footwear procedure, or which may be of plastic and made by an appropriate method of procedure, for example, slush molding. This shoe has the bottom structure 11 and the upper 12, the latter, as illustrated (FIG. 3), having a throat opening T at its front extending downwardly from its upper edge 13 to a point 14 above the instep arch. The throat opening is protected by a bellows tongue B consisting of flexible waterproof material and, as here illustrated (FIG. 3),

.; comprising the lateral wings 15 and 16 which are joined,

at fold lines 17 and 18 to the upper proper at the opposite edges, respectively, of the throat opening. These wings are joined at their rear edges at the fold lines 19 and 20, respectively, to the opposite edges of the central panel 1 21 of the bellows tongue. It will be understood that, at the several fold lines, the united parts are joined in a leak-tight manner and that if the shoe is of plastic made by a molding process, the upper proper and the bellows tongue may be integrally joined.

In accordance with the present invention a slide fastener F (FIG. 2) is employed for holding the fold lines 17 and 18 adjacent to each other, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 when the shoe is in use. This slide fastener comprises the flexible tapes 22 and 23 which are usually of textile material, although if desired, of a suitable plastic, each tape carrying at its forward edge a row of fastener units U which are usually of metal, although they may be of other material, for example, plastic. The fastener also comprises the usual actuating slider S.

The respective tapes of the fastener are united to the wings 15 and 16 of the bellows tongue, desirably by the employment of a suitable cement, if the tape be of textile material, or by a fused plastic if the tape be of plastic material. As shown in FIG. 5, the tape 22 is attached to the wing 15 by cement C, but so as to leave the front marginal portion 25 of the tape free from connection to the wing 15, so that this forward margin of the tape which carries the slide fasteners U may be flexed relatively to the wing 15 to facilitate the operation of the fastener. As will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 5, the row of fastener units is normally approximately flush with the fold line 17.

In use, when the slider S is drawn upwardly, it pulls the fold lines 17 and 18 toward each other throughout the entire length of the throat opening so that these fold lines are closely adjacent to each other, leaving a space between them which is only approximately equal to the width of the united rows of fastener units. When the shoe is to be donned, the slider is moved downwardly to the lower end of the throat opening, thus permitting the shoe upper to be expanded, as shown in FIG. 4, and when the shoe has been drawn over the foot, the slider may they be moved upwardly, as above described, to close the throat opening.

With this arrangement, it is unnecessary to make any holes through the shoe upper for the reception of rivets, sewing thread or the like, and there are no elements projecting outwardly from the surface of the shoe upper, such as to detract from the appearance of the latter or to cause annoyance to the wearer, or injury to his person or to other garments. "Moreover, the throat opening is closed uniformly from top to bottom without the formation wrinkles, so that in side elevation, as shown in FIG. 1, the silhouette of the shoe is smooth and presents a neat and pleasing appearance.

While as here illustrated, the opening which is protected by the bellows tongue is at the front of the shoe, as is most usual, it is contemplated that the invention will be of equal utility if the opening be at some other location, for example, at the side of the upper, and that while a specific arrangement of parts has herein been illustrated and by way of example, the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the scope of the annexed claim.

I claim:

A waterproof shoe having a bottom structure and upper, the upper having a throat opening extending downwardly from its upper edge thereby to permit the upper to be expanded to facilitate donning and doffing, a bellows tongue comprising lateral wings whose forward edge are integrally joined to the upper proper at opposite Patented June 6, 19 61 edges, respectively, of the throat opening, and a central panel of flexible material which integrally unites the rear edges of said wings, said bellows tongue being integral withlthe outer. integument of said upper-so ts to, define a unitary single ply therewith, the junctions of said wings with the upper and with the central panel, respectively; being Waterproof and defining foldlines at which the bellows tongue is folded when the shoe is'in use, and a slide fasten r comprising a pair of textile tapes, each carrying a row of fastener units, one respectively of said tapes being joined to the outer, surface of a corresponding wing of the bellows tongue with an adhesive bond, each tape extending lengthwise of the respective wing througlv out the major portion of the width of the tape, but having that margin which carries the fastener units free from the 15 2,891,328

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 502,275 Bullard Aug. 1, 1893" 1,561,430 Glidden et a1 Nov. 10, 1925 1,777,137 Blair Sept. 30, 1930 2,108,650 Casey Feb. 15, 1938 2,753,635 Eade July 10, 1956 2,756,516 Teague July 31, 1956

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