Self-opening shoe
AssigneeFoot Scientific, Inc.
InventorChristopher Robert Hughes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A shoe-opening spring includes a base with a medial edge and a lateral edge, a medial spring protruding upwardly from the medial edge of the base, and a lateral edge protruding upwardly from the lateral edge of the base. When the shoe-opening spring is present within a shoe and in a relaxed arrangement, the medial spring and the lateral spring may respectively exert medially and laterally outward forces against respective medial and lateral sides of the shoe. When the medial and lateral sides of the upper of the shoe are pulled together, for example, with a closure of the shoe, the shoe-opening spring may be placed in a tensed arrangement, in which state the shoe-opening spring may remain until the closure is released.
Claims13
A self-opening shoe, comprising:
- a shoe, including:
- a foot bed;
- an upper over the foot bed, the upper including:
- a medial side including an upper medial portion and an upper medial edge;
- a lateral side including an upper lateral portion and an upper lateral edge;
- and
- a collar defining an opening of the shoe;
- a tongue positioned beneath the upper medial edge and the upper lateral edge of the upper;
- and
- a closure associated with the upper medial edge and the upper lateral edge and positioned over a portion of the tongue;
- and
- a shoe-opening spring, including:
- a base extending across the foot bed at a location beneath the tongue, the base including a medial end and a lateral end;
- a medial spring extending upwardly from the medial end of the base, the medial spring forcing the upper medial portion of the medial side of the upper medially outward;
- and
- a lateral spring extending upwardly from the lateral end of the base, the lateral spring forcing the upper lateral portion of the lateral side of the upper laterally outward.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.