US2803894A - Article of footwear - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 27, 1957 T. P. MORGAN 2,803,394

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Filed March 25, 1955 FIG.I.

. lfive nfar Thomas P. Morgan:

ATTYQI United States Patent ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Thomas P. Morgan, Washington, D. C. Application March 25, 1955, Serial No. 496,860 Z CIaims. c1. 36--11.5)

This invention relates and is directed footwear.

The invention particularly relates to new and novel casual or informal footwear in the nature of slippers or loose fitting foot covering-s analogous to sandals particularly designed for use by children though not restricted to such use.

Children quickly outgrow shoes and slippers. Accordingly, it is necessary to make frequent replacements of the same, even though they may not be worn to any appreciable extent. It is, accordingly, a particular object of the present invention to provide, in a manner as herenafter set forth, a foot covering of the slipper type which constructed in a new and novel manner whereby it may have a wide range of adjustability so that, when used for children particularly, it may be adjusted for size to fit the growing foot and, therefore, only three or four sizes of the article are all that may be required for use from the infant stage through the childhood and youth stages to the full size for an adult.

Footwear of the sandal type, or the style commonly known as scuffs, while easy to slip on, are not particularly easy to keep on or in place and, accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide a slipper, sandal or scuff type of footwear which is designed so that .it may be easily placed on the foot and which can be easily and quickly, firmly and comfortably secured thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an article of the character stated which is constructed in a new and novel manner whereby, in securing it to or on the foot, it automatically adjusts itself to the length of the foot.

Conventional shoes, slippers and scuifs are made .in rights and lefts and, therefore, cannot be worn comfortably if not put on the correct foot. A further object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide aself-adjusting article of footwear which is designed or constructed me new manner whereby a pair comprises two duplicate or identical members so that no attention has to be given toputting each on the correctfoot.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a slipper or similar article of footwear of new and novel construction having a toe end portion and a heel end portion wherein the heel end portion is adapted to be turned up to diifer'entheight's at the back-of the heel of a wearer as the foot of the wearer grows or increases in length so that the article is effectively adjustable for lengthand'such article in one size may be used for along period, as for'exampleafor a' child, starting at a very small age'and as the size of the childs foot increases in length.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an article of footwear of'the above described character which is relatively of simple construction, may be made of neat and attractive appea'rance and is comfortable-and entirely safe for usersof all ages.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description 'taken in congenerally to the class of apparel particularly to improvements in articles of nection with the accompanying drawing with the understanding that the invention is not confined to a strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified in minor details so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of an article of footwear constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing the same applied to an adult foot.

Fig. 2 is a rear end perspective view of the article shown in Fig. 1, showing the heel end portion flattened out.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the invention in slightly modified form as applied to a childs foot, showing the heel end portion turned up to maximum height.

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the article shown in Fig. 5 and illustrating its application to a foot of increased length wherein the height of the heel end portion of the article is materially reduced.

Fig. 7 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, two constructions of the article of footwear of the present in vention have been illustrated, which constructions re.- late to'the materials used, the broad or principal new and novel characteristics of the article being thesame in both instances. The description, in view of the foregoing, will first be directed to the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and in these figures, the numeral 10 generally designates the slipper or article of footwear of the present invention while the numerals l2 and 14 designate respectively the sole body and the toe enclosing or cover,- ing top which overlies the toe end portion of the article. As illustrated, the sole body is of substantial length and when the slipper is unapplied, it lies flat throughout as shown. in Figs. 3 and 4 and, in this construction, the sole body is made up preferably of a. bottom lamination 16 which may be of leather or other suitable wear resistant material, a top or insole lamination l8 and an intermediate padding lamination 20. The forward part of the sole body, or approximately the forward half thereof may be and is hereinafter referred to as the toe end portion and is generally designed a, while the rear half of the sole body will be hereinafter referred to as the heel end portion and is generally designated 11 and embodies the part which conventionally lies under the instep and the part which forms the back of the slipper when it is turned up in the manner hereinafter described. The toe end portion a has disposed thereover the top or cover 14 which in the construction illustrated comprises a double thickness of material, each thickness being designated 21 and the side and forward edge portions of this cover lie along the side and forward edges of the toe end portion a of the sole body and are secured thereto'by the binding tape 22 whichoutlines the entire sole body from one end to the other and extending across theforward end as shown. .1" his binding tape is, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, .turned over the top of the superimposed laminations making up the toe covering 14 and the sole body as indicated at 22a and ZZbandcovers the puter edges of all 'of these laminationsas indicated at 22c so that one or two lines of stitching 23 secure all of t he lamb nationsfirmly together.

The .toeaend. covering portion gi l has ,the -conventipnal arched rear edge which is secured in the binding 24 and slopes downwardly and forwardly to the front end of the sole body and also slopes laterally and downwardly to the side edges thereof in the conventional manner of slippers of this type and the laminations 21 are preferably secured together by transverse rows of stitching 21a as shown. 7 g The forward half of the sole body, that is, the toe end portion designated a, has the forward end preferably rounded as indicated at 25 and the side edge portions are bowed outwardly slightly as indicated at as and these merge into the straight substantially parallel side edges 27 of the heel end portion 1). The binding tape 22 is continuous along both sides and across the rounded forward end 25, and at the back or free end of the heel end portion the tape is extended to form ankle or tie straps 28.

The laminations f6, 18 and 21B of the sole body atthe back edges thereof are bound with the cross tape or cross binding strap 29 and the sole body is traversed throughout its length with the relatively closely spaced lines of stitching 30 which secure all of the laminations together so that there will be no relative movement between them and the padding 2% or the the insole 18 will not ruck or wrinkle These cross rows of stitching 30 also have the function of facilitating the transverse folding or bending of the heel end portion when the slipper is applied so as to provide an upstanding back for the slipper as shown in Fig. l.

in Figs. 5 to 7 the invention is illustrated as of slightly different construction from the slipper shown in Figs. 1 to 4. This slightly modified slipper is generally designated 10a and the numerals 12a and 14a generally designate respectively thesole body and the top or toe end portion covering part into which the forward end of the foot is received. In this modified construction, the sole body is made up merely of the bottom lamination or sole proper which is designated 31 and the insole lamination designated 32 and the top is made of a single thickness of material which is designated 33. The forward and side edges of this material 33 together with the forward and side edges of the laminations 31 and 32 are all bound together with the binding tape 34 which, like the tape 22, extends throughout the sides and across the toe end of the sole body and is continued for a substantial length beyond the back end of the sole body to provide the ankle or tie straps 35. In this construction, the sole forming lamination 31 may be of relatively stiff canvas or the like and the inner sole 32 may be of any desired soft material and these laminations may be cross stitched if desired or can only be connected together around the peripheries by the binding tape 34,.

As will be readily seen upon reference to Figs. 1, 5 and 6, the slipper in both of the described forms when in use has the heel end portion folded or bent across the back of the heel to provide an upwardly directed portion which lies against the rear surface of the heel. This, in effect, forms a heel or back for the slipper and, in the figures referred to, is designated by the reference character B. When this back is thus formed by pulling upon the tie straps 28 and 35, after placing the toes of the foot in the toe covering part 14 or 14a, the slipper automatically adjusts to the length of the foot. It will be readily apparent that if a person with a slightly larger foot uses the slipper it), the upturned back would not stand as high when the straps are tied or if the slipper is applied to a much smaller foot, then when the straps are tied together around the ankle, the upstanding back B will be higher than when the larger foot was in the slipper.

As previously stated, Fig. 5 represents the application of the slipper 10a to the foot of a child or an infant and, in this case, it will be seen that the slipper may be of such size that the back part B stands very high but as the childs foot increases in length, there is no necessity to change to a different size of slipper to accommodate the increased length because as the foot length increases the turned up back forming part will merely decrease in height or, in other words, the transverse folding of the heel end portion will be nearer to the back end and Fig. 6 illustrates an extreme condition where the continued increase in the size of the foot reduces the upturned back part to minimum height. It will be appreciated from this that the slipper can, therefore, be used over a long period of time for a child since the change in the length of the growing foot will not necessitate the changing from one slipper size to another as is necessary with conventional slippers but with the present invention the slipper adjusts itself to this changing foot length.

While Figs. 5 and 6 illustrates the use on a childs or infants foot of the embodiment of the invention wherein only two laminations of material make up the sole and a single thickness of material makes up the toe covering part, it is to be understood that the construction first described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 may be used if desired for infants and children and on the other hand, the simpler construction may be used in slippers intended for adult wear.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that there is provided a new and novel form of footwear which a child can use until it is fully worn out regardless of rapidity of growth of the child and it will also be apparent that the invention provides an unusually convenient, informal or casual footwear for an entire family which can be inexpensively produced. The method of adjustment and fastening is such as to assure a good fit and eliminate difficulty of keeping the article on the foot, which is so commonly a real problem, especially with childrens house slippers.

I claim:

1. A slipper type article of footwear comprising an elongate sole body of substantially constant width throughout its length, the sole body being of a soft foldable material, an upper forming a forwardly and downwardly inclined toe covering overlying one end portion of the sole body and forming a pocket therewith and said toe covering having side edges secured to adjacent side edges of the sole body and having a forwardly curving arcuate rear edge intersecting said side edges, the sole body from said pocket to the rear end thereof forming the heel end portion of the slipper, said heel end portion being approximately two-thirds the total length of the slipper, said heel end portion being transversely bendable anywhere along its length from the toe covering to said rear end of the sole, whereby it may be turned up against the back of the heel of a foot resting on the body and having the toes thereof within the pocket, and a pair of relatively long tie tapes joined to said sole longitudinally along said side edges and binding said edges and the edges of said toe covering and extending rearwardly from said rear end lengthwise of the sole body as extensions of the side edges and adapted to be drawn up on opposite sides of the ankle of a foot in the slipper to be tied around the ankle to bend the heel end portion upwardly and retain the article on the foot, and said tie'tapes when so drawn together around the ankle functioning to adjust the length of the slipper to the foot.

2. A slipper type article according to claim 1 wherein said sole body comprises at least two laminations of material having transverse lines of stitching therethrough, the lines of stitching being spaced apart longitudinally of the sole body and functioning to facilitate the said bending of the body and maintaining the laminations against relative displacement, and the tie and binding tapes extending'across the edges of said laminations and onto the top and bottom faces of the sole body, and the turned top and bottom face engaging portions'of the binding tape having stitching therethrough and through said laminations throughout the length of such portions.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Batten Oct. 20, 1914 Grayson Jan. 9, 1923 5 Guitfre Jan. 17, 1933 Koch Nov. 18, 1941 6 Sawyer ..L, Oct. 20, 1942 Ludwig Dec. 25, 1945 Hilton Nov. 10, 1953 Martin et a1. June 5, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain June 15, 1933

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