WO2006133525A2

WO2006133525A2 - Shoe deforming prevention device and shoe deodorizing system

Info

Publication number: WO2006133525A2
Application number: PCT/BR2005/000108
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ricardo Achcar
Original assignee: Ricardo Achcar
Priority date: 2005-06-13
Filing date: 2005-06-13
Publication date: 2006-12-21
Also published as: WO2006133525A3

Abstract

The present invention refers to a shoe deforming prevention device, such as a shoe stretcher, and a shoe deodorizing system which is able to avoid malodorous impregnation in shoes.

Description

SHOE DEFORMING PREVENTION DEVICE AND SHOE DEODORIZING SYSTEM

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The shoe industry has a large scale production of several lines of shoes, boots, sandals, sport shoes, etc. Every year thousands and thousands pairs of shoes are produced worldwide and all this market is based in an article which everybody needs to use, therefore, profits are high. Shoe accessories comprise a well profitable complementary market which is bigger than a shoe market. Shoe care products are sold joined the principal product and are also associated to a sophisticated life style, so sophisticated people acquires sophisticated shoes and shoe care products.

Some kinds of shoes can reach a high final cost (US dollars) and it justifies a conservation attitude, but independently of the cost of the foot covering, some care is to be dedicated to sandals, boots, sneakers, • etc.

The continous use or ever the long term use of shoes cause a natural deformation due to the foot natural motion; people tend to exert walk deformation and it causes a loss of the original shoe shape. Also, the continous use tend to cause malodorous impregnation because the foot perspiration system is not ideal in most of the shoes; natural heat, fat • and skin residues are produced by the foot on walking providing a microbiological substrate based on fat oxidation ^■ to organic acids and therefore bad odours .

Sprays, creams, lotions, powders for foot are known in , the art and partially solve this problem. It is said partially due to the malodorous origin is not in the foot but inside the shoe; fat, perspiration humidity and skin residues are continuosly produced and compressed in the shoe material and the organic material (fat and skin residues) forms finely divided particules not retained in the socks (this is not a sock function) and accumulated inside the shoe.

Shoe care products are mostly directed to external shoe conservation, for example shoe wax, and even shoe trees known in the art (most of them) are provided just to perform external conservation. Referring to shoe trees, the known art shows different models and concepts, but all of them are shoe stretchers and not shoe deforming prevention ones. The discussion about shoe trees is outlined below:

The patent document US4577360 refers to a shoe tree which performs- a continous force- inside ^■ the shoe in- order to avoid the motion deforming. As seen in figure 1 of the referred patent document, the shoe tree provides a stretching force horizontally ,directed alongside an axis from the toe to the heel. As the time goes, the shoe tend to be deformed in such direction and therefore, the original shape will be lost. Similar examples can be seen in the US200346778; US6550088; EPO528308 and US4261071. This comprises a problem not solved in the art.

Several embodiments of shoe tree are known; in many cases the shoe tree has a complex configuration, i.e., hard to be assembled, cost liminting and hard to be produced in industrial scale. Other embodiments have a quite simple assembling feature, but their configuration make them shoe stretchers .

Other aspect related to a shoe care products comprises deodorization. Some solutions of the art are expensive and other are amazing. German patent document DE19905351 provides a shoe tree having a heating device coupled thereto; the DE19800984 provides a shoe tree having inserted a spray valve for containing a deodorizing product to be dispensed inside the shoe; the US5978996 provides a shoe tree having an UV light emitting electric device for shoe disinfection and the US3979786 also provides a shoe tree having a deodorizing device .

As stated above, some deodorizing solutions are cost expensive and other harzardous (UV solution) and others are simply amazing.

The patent document EPO332482 refers to a shoe tree having a regulating means wich permits that the shoe tree axis be adjusted to variable shoe sizes. Such document is good to introduce the technical discussion to be disclosed in the description of the invention section, but some previous comments are necessary.

In the prior discussion (shoe trees of the art are shoe stretchers and not shoe deforming prevention devices) many examples of patent limitations has been disclosed. All of such shoe tree embodiments fail just in the same point. The stretcher shoe tree provides restoring forces alongside a single axis, i.e., forces directed as follows:

A shoe is not a linear product, but a tridimensional one, so for a deformed shoe be restored to its original shape, tridimensional forces shall be applied. For all shoe trees of the art and also for the present invention one direction force is applied in the shoe width direction but two remaining forces application are not disclosed in the art.

The present invention aims to overcome all the above problems of the art. OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION One objective of the present invention is to provide a shoe deforming prevention device.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a deodorizing system for shoes. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figures IA-1C illustrate three embodiments of the present invention; Figures 2A-2E illustrate de shoe deforming prevention mechanism of the present invention;

Figures 3A-3C illustrate details the fragrance pad (9) insertion in the noose (2); and Figure 4 illustrates de fragrance pad (9) position and the triangle configuration of three orifices (5) . DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a shoe deforming prevention device and a deodozing system for shoes. For a better understanding of the inventio scope, two discussion section will be started below dividing the invention in two parts: the shoe deforming prevention device and the deodorizing system. This division is just to clarfiy the invention features but the scope to be presently protected comprise whole content.

1-The shoe deforming prevention device 1.1 - General description

In relation to the Figures IA - 1C, the device (1) comprises a first portion or noose (2) a spring means (3) and a rear portion or ball (4) wherein the noose (2) has a set of orifices (5), a plane region (6) and an engagement portion (7) as shown in Figure 4. The engagement portion (7) receives the spring means (3) in a click type engagement and the spring means (3) is also engaged in the ball (4) which is cilindrically shaped and having a round top. Many embodiments can be foreseen from the above description, for example, the spring means can be a coil or a shaft which can be partially deformed for permit the shoe insertion and provide the restoring force; the noose can have the same shape of the front part of the shoe; for women shoes the embodiment of Figure 1C is indicated.

Many variations of colors can be provided and many of such features are found in the art.

Obviously, the inventive step of the present invention does not comprise such features, but improvements made from this common configuration of the art, as follows: 1.2- Noose (Referring to Figures 2A-2E)

The noose (2) is crucial in this invention; as previous discussed, the shoe trees of the art are shoe stretchers and not shoe deforming prevention. Known shoe trees perform a horizontal stretching of the shoes making them slim and causing horizontal deformation, i.e., the toe region of the shoe is anormally extended and the same occurs in the heel region. The result is that glued and seaming parts tend to disruption and the shoe tend to be oversized.

Noose configuration shall distribute the restoring tension in the shoe front part keeping the foot covering (as in Figure 2A) in the original position and this is achieved if the noose (2) is designed under a specific range of configuration angle. The noose (2) of the present shoe deforming prevention device has a configuration angle {φ) from 30° to 45°. Lower than 30° values of angles lead to insuficient result and upper than 45° angles lead to disruption of the upper part of the shoe.

These angles were calculated from a simple vector diagram. As seen in Figure 2B two points of restoring forces application are indicated; in the point (Pl) the restoring force direction is alongside the shoe sole from the toe to the heel - defining the vector Pl and the point (P2) is alongside the spring means (3) from the heel to the toe defining the vector P2. The resulting force makes that the noose (2) tend to rotate clockwise and cause an elevating effect of the shoe chest (8) (Figures 2C-2E) . It will be noticed that the elevating effect does not inply forcing the shoe chest upwards but just to match the noose (2) position to the shoe chest original position.

The noose (2) dimensions shall be comprised into a sin/cos relation according to the angle φ varying from 30° to 45°. 1.3 - Spring means This elevating effect is not due to the noose (2) configuration only; part of such effect is due to the spring means (3) lenght. Tension studies of the present invention indicated that the spring means lenght is to be about to 2/3 of the shoe deforming prevention device total lenght. A spring means (3) having less than 2/3 of the total lenght the elevating effect does not occur and for lenghts greater than 2/3 the noose (2) will force the shoe chest (8) causing disruption.

1.4- Noose orifices (Referring to Figure 4)

Referring to the noose orifices (5) these are provided for enhance the contact surface of the noose (2) . This is a very inventive step of the present invention. As will set the following section, a deodorizing system is also provided in the present invention and the system comprise a deodorizing substance impregnation of the noose material (plastic) . A big contact surface makes de deodorizing action more effective. Also, the orifices (5) are distributed over the noose (2) according to a geometric arrangement in which three orifices are positioned in triangle corners. Such triangular distribution (Fig.4) is provided for receive another feature of the present invention to be further discussed.

2-Deodorizing system (Referring to Figures 3A-3C and Fig. 4) 2.1 — Fragrance and impregnation

Referring to the deodorizing substance, this comprises any suitable fragrance commercially found in the art. Particularly, the deodorizing substance of the present invention comprise fragrance granules as, for example, sold by the International Flavors and Fragrances-IFF. Such fragrance granules are to be joined to the plastic material at the moulding step and the percent content of granules in the injection mould is ranging from 0 to 5% w/w in relation to the total weight of injected material (plastic + granules) . More- than 5% w/w is ^' very cost expensive^' and the final product will not have a competitive price. The fragrance is also able to resist to the moulding temperature from 120⁰C to 220⁰C. 2.2 - Fragrance pad

Also referring to the deodorizing substance, the fragrance granules provide a deodorizing effect for 4 to 6 months, after which a fragrance pad (9) is to be inserted in the shoe tree noose. The fragrance pad (9) comprise a plastic pad made of a plastic polymer known in the art having a fragrance impregnation during from 4 to 6 months . The fragrance pad (9) permits, to the user, ^• at the end' of the original fragrance effect, change the fragrance of the deodorizing system for other preferred fragrance and it will occur from the end of the original fragrance effect onwards . If the user wants to enhance the deodorizing effect the fragrance pad (9) can be used even the original fragrance effect is not over.

The fragrance pad (9) (Figures 3A and 3B) comprises a triangle shape- having resilent conical tips (10) on its corners and such distribution matches the orifice (5) distribution (Figure 3C), therefore the fragrance pad (9) can be easily inserted under the noose (2) (Figure 3C) .

Selection of Materials For the noose (2) , the ball (4) and the fragrance pad (9) any suitable plastic polymer is accepted, for example, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) polymers are good for the ends of the present invention, but other suitable polymers are also accepted. An important feature of the plastic polymer is that such polymer is able to be fragrance impregnated.

For the spring means (3) any shape known in the art is acceptable, for example a coil, a flat bar, a plastic bar, etc. An important feature of the spring means is that the spring means lenght is to be up to 2/3 of the total lenght of the shoe deforming prevention device.

For the fragrance, any solid/liquid fragrances known in the art are accepted. An important feature of the fragrance is that the fragrance content is to range from 0% to 5% w/w of the total weight of injection material (plastic + fragrance) and being heat resistant to the moulding temperature (12O⁰C -220⁰C) .

Therefore, the present invention has been disclosed in detail, but some variations and/or modifications are considered obvious to a skilled person and included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1-Shoe deforming prevention device for restore the orginal shape of a shoe comprising a a first portion or noose

(2) a spring means (3) and a rear portion or ball (4) wherein the noose (2) has a set of orifices (5), a plane region (6) and an engagement portion (7).

2-Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 1, wherein the engagement portion (7) receives the spring means (3) in a click type engagement and the spring means (3) is also engaged in the ball (4) .

3-Shoe deforming prevention device according to claim 1, wherein the noose (2) comprise a configuration angle {φ) from 30° to 45°.

4-Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 3 wherein the configuration angle combined to a vector {Pi) and the vector {P2) provides a resulting force which makes that the noose (2) tend to rotate clockwise.

5-Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 4, wherein the resulting force cause an elevating effect of the shoe chest (8) .

6-Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 5 wherein the elevating effect matches the noose (2) position and the shoe chest original position.

7-Shoe deforming prevention device, according to any one of the preceeding claims wherein the noose (2) dimensions is comprised into a sin/cos relation according to an angle (φ) varying from 30° to 45°.

8- Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 1, wherein the spring means lenght comprises 2/3 of the shoe deforming prevention device (1) total lenght.

9- Shoe deforming prevention device, according to claim 1, wherein the noose orifices (5) comprise a geometric arrangement in which three orifices are positioned in triangle corners. 10-Shoe deforming device, according to claim 9, wherein the orifice (5) arrangement in which three orifices are positioned in triangle corners for receive the fragrance pad (9) tips (10) .

11-Deodorizing system comprising a fragrance mixed to the plastic material at the moulding step wherein the percent content of fragrance in the injection mould is ranging from 0 to 5% w/w in relation to the total weight of injected material .

12-Deodorizing system, according to claim 11, wherein the fragrance is able to resist to the moulding temperature varying from 12O⁰C to 22O⁰C.

13-Deodorizing system, according to claim 11, wherein the fragrance content provides a deodorizing effect from 4 to 6 months . 14-Deodorizing system, according to claim 11, wherein the fragrance pad (9) tips (10) are inserted in the shoe tree noose (2) orifices (5) after the deodorizing effect.

15-Deodorizing system, according to claim 11, wherein the fragrance pad (9) comprise a plastic pad made of a plastic polymer having a fragrance impregnation during from 4 to 6 months .

16-Deodorizing system, according to claim 11, wherein the fragrance pad (9) has a triangle shape having resilent conical tips (10) on its corners and the tips distribution corresponds to the triangle configuration orificie of the set of orifices (5) .

17-Shoe deforming prevention device wherein the noose (2) and the ball (4) is made of any suitable plastic polymer which is able to be fragrance impregnated.

18-Deodorizing system wherein the fragrance pad (9) is made of any suitable plastic polymer which is able to be fragrance impregnated.

19-Shoe deforming prevention device wherein the spring means (3) is made of any suitable shape having a lenght of 2/3 of the total lenght of the shoe deforming prevention device (1) .

20-Deodorizing system wherein the fragrance comprise any suitable solid/liquid fragrances in which the fragrance content ranges from 0% to 5% w/w of the total weight of injection material and fragrance resists to a moulding temperature from 120⁰C -22O⁰C.