Footwear with adjustable wheel assembly
OwnerAndreas C. Wegenerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Footwear has a sole for supporting a foot of a wearer, a first pair of wheels projecting from opposite sides of the sole adjacent the heel, and a second pair of wheels spaced in front of the first pair and projecting from opposite sides of the sole adjacent the arch portion of the sole. The footwear is convertible from a wheeled configuration to a non-wheeled configuration by opening a cover plate normally covering a downwardly facing, recessed region of the heel, removing the wheel axles from wheel axle mounting grooves in the recessed region, then re-closing the cover plate over the heel region.
Claims20
Footwear, comprising:
- a sole which supports a foot of a wearer, the sole having a heel portion having a rear end, an arch portion, and a forefoot portion having a forward end;
- a first pair of wheels projecting from opposite sides of the sale adjacent the rear end of the heel portion;
- a second pair of projecting from opposite sides of the sole in front of the first pair of wheels and adjacent the arch portion of the sole;
- and
- the heel portion having a recessed, downwardly facing heel region extending from the arch portion to the rear end of the sole, and a cover plate releasably secured over the recessed heel region, the cover plate having a downwardly facing outer surface matching the lower surface of the remainder of the sole, wherein the first and second pair of wheels are releasably mounted between the recessed heel region and cover plate.
A convertible wheeled shoe, comprising:
- a sole which supports a foot of a wearer, the sole having a heel, an arch, and a forefoot, and a lower, ground engaging surface, the heel having a rear end and extending from the rear end to the arch of the sole;
- the heel having a downwardly facing, recessed region, the recessed region having opposite sides and at least one axle mounting groove extending transversely between the opposite sides of the recessed region;
- a cover plate releasably engageable over the recessed region, the cover plate movable between a closed position extending over the recessed region and an open position exposing the axle mounting groove, the cover plate having a lower surface which forms a continuation of the lower, ground-engaging surface of the sole in the closed position;
- and
- at least one pair of wheels connected by an axle which is releasably engageable in the axle mounting groove with the wheels projecting from opposite sides of the heel, the cover plate holding the axle in the axle mounting groove in the closed position;
- the shoe being convertible between a first, wheeled configuration in which the pair of wheels are mounted in the heel of the sole with the wheel axle secured between the recessed region and cover plate, and a second, wheel-less configuration in which the cover plate is closed over the recessed region with the pair of wheels removed and no wheel axle engaged in the axle mounting groove.
A method of converting footwear between walking and rolling configurations, comprising:
- opening a cover plate at the undersurface of the sole of the footwear to reveal a recessed region at the heel;
- placing the axle of at least one pair of wheels in an axle receiving groove extending across the recessed region so that the wheels are positioned outside the axle receiving groove on opposite sides of the heel;
- closing the cover plate to hold the axle between the recessed region and cover plate in a first wheeled configuration of the footwear;
- re-opening the cover plate and removing the wheels from the axle receiving groove;
- and
- closing the cover plate over the recessed region to convert the footwear to a non-wheeled configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.