Slipper

April 8, 1958

2,829,448

S. A. MINERA

SLIPPER

Filed Nov. 8, 1954

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2,829,448

Patented Apr. 8, 1958

United States Patent Office

2,829,448 SLIPPER Salvador A. Miners, San Francisco, Calif. Application November 8,1954, Serial No. 467,318

Claims. (CI. 36—58.5)

This invention relates to a slipper for each foot of a person, and has for its main object the provision of a slipper that is adapted to automatically engage and to be held onto the foot of a person upon such person placing the foot on the sole of such slipper without the necessity for such person carefully slipping the foot into the slipper m order to prevent breaking down the heel engaging portion.

In sandals and the like that merely have a band, straps, or a toe receiving portion, the sandals many times accidentally fall from the feet due to the fact that there is virtually nothing to hold them on except the forward shuffling movement of the feet in walking, and in most instances, the wearer must lift the strap, band or toe portion in order to insert the foot therebelow. This is inconvenient, particularly where the flap or foot engaging portion has been flattened against the sole.

With the present invention, the sole of the slipper is exposed substantially from the toe to the heel when the slipper is off the foot, and there is no upstanding heel engaging member that is apt to be crushed down in the step of placing the foot on the sole. However, means are provided engaging the heel of the wearer and for extending over the instep portion of the wearer after the foot is on the sole and the weight of the wearer is placed on such sole, and thereafter the slipper will be securely held on the foot until the heel engaging means is pushed downwardly to permit retraction of the foot. At the same time, the downward movement of the heel engaging means will enable the arch engaging means to open up so that the foot need not be retracted from the slipper but can be lifted off the sole, and with the weight of the person off the sole, the heel and instep engaging means can again be releaseably held in open position until the person wishes to again use the slipper.

Persons awakened out of a sleep by the telephone, doorbell or for any other cause, usually are not as alert in their actions as when wide awake, hence they can easily and quickly fit the slippers of this invention onto their feet with the minimum amount of thinking. Also, where the slippers are of water proof material, the slippers can be quickly secured to the feet after taking a shower and without stooping over to arrange straps, vamps, etc. Furthermore, elderly persons or persons that cannot stoop over to arrange the slippers before placing them on the feet, have no difficulty in firmly securing the present slippers onto the feet, or in removing them, without stooping over.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a slipper in closed position, or in the position when on a foot.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the slipper of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the slipper of Fig. 1 partially broken away and with the upper spread to show internal structure the amount of the opening shown being ap- proximately the normal amount when the heel encircling portion is pushed down to a position about even with the top of the insole.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view, 5 partly in. section, showing details of construction.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 5—5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5, but with the mechanism operated to release the lock.

1° Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view of a slightly different structure than is shown in Figs. 3, 4.

In detail, the sole 1 of the slipper is a full sole adapted to extend below the foot of the wearer from heel to toe and when made of wood or relatively inflexible material, ¹³ the toe portion that extends below the ball of the foot or close to the juncture between the toes and foot at about the metatarsal arch, may be formed with cross grooves 2 (Fig. 2) to permit flexing of the sole when a flexible insole or top sole 3 is secured to the main sole. ²⁰ A U-shaped relatively rigid member 4, that may be covered with any suitable material, provides a pair of legs 5 and a closed end 6. The ends of said legs 5 that are opposite to said closed end are turned inwardly toward each other and pivotally extend through a pair of plates 8 (Fig. 4) that are secured to the opposite sides of the shank portion 9 of the sole.

An extension 10 of the member 4 may extend across the said shank section 9 in a transverse groove or recess made for it. This extension 10 thus lies below the level of the insole 3 and therefore is not felt by a foot on said sole.

Hingedly secured to each plate 8 is an elongated instep engaging element 11 that may be in the form of _or a flat or substantially flat strip. The elements 11 are ° substantially identical and have their flat sides in opposed relation when they extend upwardly from their hinged connections to said plates 8, but their upper end portions are curved toward each other to generally conform to the transverse curvature or contour of the upper side of the instep portion of a foot.

An elastic web 12 connects each element 11 with the leg 5 of member 4 that is adjacent thereto, and a flexible heel covering piece 13 may connect the closed end 6 of the member 4 with the heel end of the sole to limit the 45 upward movement of said member 4 if desired, although this limiting movement could be regulated by the tension of the web 12. When the member 4 is at its maximum height as seen in Fig. 2 and when elements 11 are over the instep of the foot, the webs 12 are preferably under 50 slight tension. As seen in Fig. 1, the upper ends of members 11 extend slightly toward each other from the pivots at their lower ends, therefore said upper ends must in their opening movement swing slightly upwardly upon moving apart before swinging downwardly again ³³ to open position, therefore there is a center of maximum tension on the webs 12 that is passed at substantially the highest point in the swing of each element 11. After these points of maximum tension are passed the webs 12 will automatically function to swing the elements 11 toward each other and into snug engagement with the instep of the foot, or will swing them away from each other, according to the direction in which the elements are being moved. Obviously elements 11 must be free to be swung apart in order to be moved toward the ⁶³ position shown in Fig. 3 as will later be explained.

Where the heel piece 13 is used, it will automatically fold outwardly when the member 4 is swung downwardly.

The forward ends of the legs 5 of member 4 are positioned, as seen in Fig. 4, to swing upwardly and 7θ over the outer sides of the portions 15 of elements 11, thus the tension of webs 12 that causes the member 4

2,829,448 to swing upwardly when the member 4 is released, will be transmitted to the outer sides of the portions 15 of elements 11 to cause the latter to swing past the points of maximum tension, mentioned above, so that elements 11 will be moved by webs 12 to closed position 5 over the instep of a foot on the sole of the slipper, and when said forward ends of the legs 5 extend over the portions 15 on the lower ends of 'the elements 11, the latter will be positively locked by said forward ends of legs 5 against swinging to open position. Only a 10 downward movement of the member 4 will release the elements 11 for moving to open position.

The downward movement of the member 4 may be easily accomplished by the User pushing downwardly on the closed end 6 of member 4 by the toe of the other 15 foot, and when such downward· pressure is applied, the tension of the webs 12 will build up until the forward ends of legs 5 are free from holding relation to the lower end portions 15 of elements 11, and at that time when the instep of the foot on the slipper is elevated in the 20 normal act of stepping out of the. slipper, the upper ends of elements 11 will be moved apart under the force of said instep thereagainst, and said upper ends will pass said points of maximum resistance, or centers, and the webs will then quickly swing the upper ends of elements 23 11 apart to open position.

In the present instance, the effect of legs '5 moving upwardly against portions 15 of elements 11, plus the slight inertia in elements 11 due to the sudden release of legs 5 from locked,'depressed position, is adequate to 30 move elements 11 past their centers or points of maximum resistance to the positions shown in Fig. 1, While the upward force of the instep of the foot in the normal act of -stepping out of the slipper is adequate to move the elements 11 past their centers or points of 35 maximum resistance from the position of Fig, 1 toward the open position indicated in Fig. 3. Obviously the member -4 must first be depressed to unlock the elements 11 to permit their movement toward the open position and this will build up a tension in webs 12. 40

The extension 10 of each member 4 is virtually a cross rod that is rigid with the legs 5 of member 4, and this cross 'rod has a lug 16 (Figs. 4 to 6) rigid therewith at a point intermediate the ends of cross rod 10, and which lug projects radially from said cross rod. '^;iA vertically swinging latch or leaf 17 is horizontally pivoted to a plate 18 that, in turn, is secured to the sole 1, said plate being countersunk in sole 1 below the insole 3 in order not to be felt by the foot. The outer edge of leaf 17 opposite touts pivot is adapted to engage the ^s0lug 16 when the member 4 is in its lowered position in order, to hold the cross rod 10 against rotation in a direction that will enable the member 4 to swing upwardly.

A spring 20 (Fig. 5) is positioned below the leaf 17 ^i;;)to yieldably hold the leaf elevated, and in a position locking the cross rod 10 against rotation in a direction permitting the member 4 to swing upwardly. However, upon pressing the leaf 17 downwardly upon insertion of the foot, the latter will move to a position (Fig. 6) ⁰⁰freeing lug 16 and then the tension of webs 12 will immediately cause the member 4 and elements 11 to swing to closed position.

Below the flexible insole 3 at the shank portion of the sole where the insole extends across the leaf 17 ⁶⁵(Fig. 5), is an upwardly bowed leaf spring 21 that carries, a button 22 on its lower side. This button 22 is engageable with the upper side of the leaf 17. One end . 23 of this spring 21 may be secured to the sole 1 to prevent the spring from shifting, but the opposite end of ⁷⁰the spring·is free (below insole 3) to permit a downward pressure oh the insole over said spring to move the spring and button 22 downwardly so that the leaf 16 will be . released merely by the pressure of the foot on the portion of the insole 3 that extends over the spring 21. ⁷⁵

When the weight of a foot is on the insole 3 after complete insertion thereof, the leaf 17 will be released to enable member 4 and elements 11 to move to positions securely holding the slipper onto the foot.

Toe covering portions 25 of any suitable flexible material may extend forwardly from the elements 11 to the toe end of the sole and to the side edges of said sole, but these portions 25 are separable along a central line extending longitudinally of the slipper to expose the sole substantially to the toe of the latter when the elements 11 are swung apart. It is pertinent to note that the covering 25 over the toe cap 26 (Fig. 3) that is at the toe end of the sole, is not absolutely essential to holding the slipper onto the foot, the split 27 (Fig. 1) could extend to the sole at toe end if desired, but it is preferable that a toe cap be used where the portions 25 are used so as to elevate the covering portions 25 at the toe end of the slipper for comfort of the toes.

It is also equally obvious that a so called “zipper” or hookless fastener could be used along the split 27 if desired.

If desired, a torsion spring 30 could be placed on the cross rod 10 (Fig. 7) instead of using stretchable elastic webs 12 to cause the member 4 to move to elevated position, although a connection similar to the webs 12 should preferably connect the member 4 with elements 11 to cause the latter to automatically move apart after member 4 is swiing downwardly and after the slight upward movement of the instep of the foot to move the upper ends of elements 11 slightly apart, as has heretofore been explained, Such a spring could be used in addition to a flexible connection between member 4 and elements 11, br the elements 11 could be leaf springs pretensioned to spread apart when the forward ends of legs 5 freed the said springs for such movement. Of course, the pivots between plates 8. and the elements 11 would be superfluous where the resiliency of elements 11 were relied upon tb cause them to move apart.

In referring to the “instep” of the foot, this is the portion from the toes to the ankle since it is obvious that the positions of members 11 can be varied, somewhat, and be closer to the toes than is shown.