Lace tightening assembly

A lace tightening assembly adapted for use with a shoe body that has a front end, a rear end, a shoe opening adjacent to the rear end, a shoe tongue that extends along a reference line from the front end toward the shoe opening, a pair of eyelet tabs disposed on opposite lateral sides of the shoe tongue, and a shoe lace tied to the eyelet tabs, said lace tightening assembly comprising:

• a mounting seat adapted to be mounted on one of the eyelet tabs adjacent to the shoe opening, said mounting seat including a base wall and a top wall vertically spaced apart from said base wall, each of said base and top walls having proximate and distal edges respectively disposed proximate to and distal from the shoe opening when said mounting seat is mounted on said one of the eyelet tabs, said mounting seat further including a side wall that interconnects said distal edges of said base and top walls and that cooperates with said base and top walls to form a lace receiving space, said side wall having an inner wall surface that confronts said lace receiving space and that has first and second wall ends opposite to each other and respectively disposed distal from and proximate to the shoe opening when said mounting seat is mounted on said one of the eyelet tabs, said side wall further having a cord hole formed therethrough for access to said lace receiving space;
• a pivot axle extending between said base and top walls and disposed between said inner wall surface and the reference line when said mounting seat is mounted on said one of the eyelet tabs;
• a tightening member disposed in said lace receiving space and having a pivot portion mounted pivotally on said pivot axle, a clamping portion extending from said pivot portion, and an actuating portion extending from said pivot portion and distal from said clamping portion, said tightening member cooperating with said inner wall surface of said side wall to confine a lace passage within said lace receiving space, said lace passage being adapted to permit passage of a segment of the shoe lace therethrough, and having a first passage opening defined by said first wall end and said actuating portion, and a second passage opening defined by said second wall end and said clamping portion;
• and
• an operating member including an operating portion disposed outwardly of said mounting seat, and a pull cord connected to said operating portion, said pull cord extending through said cord hole in said side wall and being connected to said actuating portion of said tightening member;
• said tightening member being pivotable inside said lace receiving space between a shoe lace tightening position, in which said actuating portion is urged by the segment of the shoe lace to pivot toward the reference line to cause said clamping portion to move away from the reference line to thereby clamp the segment of the shoe lace at said second passage opening, and a shoe lace loosening position, in which said actuating portion is pulled to pivot away from the reference line upon application of a pulling force on said operating member to cause said clamping portion to move toward the reference line to thereby release the segment of the shoe lace from being clamped at said second passage opening.