Appliance for protecting portions of a shoe during cleaning or polishing

Aug. 22, 1939. m. m brennan 2,170,652

APPLIANCE FOR PROTECTING PORTIONS OF A SHOE DURING CLEANING OR POLISHING

Filed Sept. 8, 1936

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Patented Aug. 22, 1939

2,170,652

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,170,652

APPLIANCE FOR PROTECTING PORTIONS OF A SHOE DURING CLEANING OR POLISHING

Martin M. Brennan, Chicago, Ill.

Application September 8, 1936, Serial No. 99,688

Claims. (Cl. 36—72)

This invention relates to an appliance or a device for protecting the edge of a shoe sole during treatment of the upper part so that this edge will not be soiled by the material being applied 5 to the shoe.

The difficulty of cleaning or polishing whitefinished shoes, or combination colored shoes, Is well known. It is undesirable to permit the cleaner or polish to smear the edges of the soles. 10 For the sake of appearance, the edges of the soles are preferably kept black or brown, depending upon the color of the leather trim.

This invention broadly provides a device that may be readily slipped over the edge of the sole 15 to protect it from being soiled by polish applied to the shoe. In its simplest form, this device may be made in the form of a groove strip that is shaped to the shoe and which can be placed about the edge so as to cover it sufficiently to prevent 20 its being soiled while the shoe is being cleaned, polished or treated.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of this type of a material that is readily washable so that it can be thereafter cleaned 25 without difficulty by merely applying water or a cloth thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this type that can be readily adapted to different shapes and sizes of shoes.

Specifically, these results can be advantageously obtained by forming the device of rubberized material or material of comparable characteristics. In one of its forms, the device may be continued about the heel portion of the shoe in 35 the form of a thin flat strap to protect the sides of the heel and to give sufficient stretch to the device as a whole to compensate for different lengths and even widths of shoes. This thin flat heel strap further serves to hold the device about 40 the edge of the sole.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this type that may be also used to protect different portions of the upper parts of the shoe during polishing or cleaning in cases 45 where the shoes are patterned in different colors. While patterned combinations have been used, they are generally unpopular because of the difficulty of cleaning. My device may be provided with parts that can be used to cover portions 50 Of the shoe to prevent these portions from being soiled by polish or cleaner while the latter is being applied to the rest of the shoe.

A still further object of the invention resides in forming this device so that it will overlie the up55 per face of the sole edge and extend securely inwardly toward the seam between the sole and the uppers so that the polish or cleaner being applied cannot possibly be daubed or run upon the face of the sole edge.

Other objects and advantages of the invention 5 will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of 10 the invention, showing how it is applied to the edge of the sole and about the face of the heel of a shoe;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1; 15

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3—3 of Fig, 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of device embodying the invention;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of a device embodying 20 the invention but of the form that permits protection of different parts of the uppers as well as the edge of the sole and heel; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 6—S of Fig· 1. 25

In order that the purposes of my invention will be readily comprehended, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a shoe in dotted lines with a device embodying the invention shown applied thereto. This device preferably comprises a strip I of ma- 30 terial that may be molded or otherwise formed to the shape of a shoe sole. If strip I is made of rubberized material, which is preferable so that it may be readily washed or cleaned after each use, this strip may be molded. It Will be under- 33 stood, however, that it is not essential to the invention that strip i be molded.

Strip 1 is grooved at 2 to permit the edge of the shoe sole to slip therein. A bead 3 is formed about the upper part and terminates in a sharply 43 pointed edge 4 adapted to lie in the crevice between the upper face 5 of the sole edge and the upper part of the shoe. If it is desired, bead 3 may reinforce or give sufficient rigidity or strength to pointed edge 4 to keep it in place in 45 this crevice or at least to hold it far enough inwardly at the seam between the sole edge and the upper part to prevent the polish or cleaner from being daubed upon or smeared along the upper face 5 of the sole edge. It is customary to ₅θ finish the sole edge, including the side face and the upper face 5, in black if the entire upper portion of the shoe is white. In the case of combination colors, it is customary to finish the sole edge in the color of the leather that forms 55

2,170,652 «3» the trim of the shoe. Consequently, if the shoe is being polished or cleaned, it is undesirable for the polish or cleaner to be applied to the upper face 5 or the vertical edge of the sole. Bead 3 may be of sufficient rigidity to keep pointed edge 4 in its place upon upper face 5 of the sole edge. It is desirable, however, to have some resiliency between pointed edge 4 and bead 3 so that the device may be easily slipped over the edge of the sole.

At the juncture of the heel and the edge of the sole, strip I is formed into a thin flat band 6 that extends vertically with respect to· strip i. The flat formation of band 6 allows it to rest firmly against the face of the shoe heel. Usually the upper face 5 of the sole edge is eliminated at the heel. The upper portion of the shoe at the heel is brought down, as illustrated at 12 in Fig. 6, so that the seam is substantially at the edge of the heel to eliminate any horizontal face between the heel and the upper portion of the shoe. It is not essential, therefore, that band 5 be provided with pointed edge 4 to protect the heel at this point. The vertical face of the heel is usually finished the same as the edge of the sole.

If the device is made of rubberized material, band 6 may be given sufficient resiliency to permit the device to compensate for different lengths and widths of shoe. Band 6 may be stretched, if need be, so that the device may be adapted to shoes of different sizes. On the other hand, the resiliency of band 6 will hold the device firmly upon the edge of the sole and the heel of the shoe. It will be understood, however, that the material out of which strip I is made may give sufficient resiliency or stretch to strip i so that it is not necessary to rely upon the resiliency of band S to adapt the device to different sizes of shoes.

In Fig. 1, I have illustrated the device more or less in slipper form by providing a flat webbing 7 across the bottom of strip ί at the front portion. In certain instances, webbing 7 may aid in placing the device about the edge of the sole and the heel. However, substantially the same result can be obtained by means of cross straps 8 shown in Fig. 4.

As previously mentioned, the device may be adapted to protect different parts of the upper portion of a shoe as well as the edges of the sole and the heel. To this end, I have illustrated my device in Fig. 5 provided with a toe portion 9 that may be carried by strip I. If the device is made of rubber, it is apparent that toe portion 9 may be molded as a part of strip ί. The device shown in Fig. 5 may be used in cases where the tip or toe of the shoe is a different color than the middle portion. If the heel part of the shoe is also a different color than the body of the shoe,, band S may continue upwardly to form a portion iO that will lie against the heel part of the shoe and protect it from being soiled by the polish or cleaner. Also, in this case, portion 10 may be molded as a part of band 6 if the device is made of rubber. I do not wish to be limited, however, to employing rubber as the material, because it is obvious that the device may be made of different materials and still accomplish the same results. Nor do I intend to be limited to a molding operation, because in its essential form the device may be made to lie over the edge of the sole and the edge of the heel without being in molded form and without necessarily forming groove 2 therein. Moreover, the shape or arrangement of parts like toe 9 and heel ID may be varied to meet different patterns of shoes.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that I have provided a very simple and inexpensive form of appliance that may be used 5 to protect the edges of the sole and heel of a shoe while all or part of the upper portion is being cleaned or polished. In the forms shown in the drawing, the device may be readily slipped over the edge of the sole and brought about the edge ₁₀of the heel so that it will be held as a unit tightly in position. Moreover, band 6 that protects the heel may be very advantageously used as a compensating means for different lengths and widths of shoes so as to allow the device to be readily ₁₅adapted to different sizes of shoes without requiring making the device in a multitude of sizes and shapes.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully explain the gist of my invention that others, by applying current knowledge, may readily adopt the same for use under varying conditions of service without eliminating certain features which may properly be said to constitute the essential items of novelty involved, which items are intended to be defined and secured to me by the following claims.