Abstract: Standard bow knots—which are favored on lace-up shoes—are prone to come untied. The latter is both an inconvenience and a safety issue. But no bow knot can come untied until one end of the bow has passed back through the loosened knot. The present bow retainer clips are unitary, bent wire, spring clips which fit through the upper grommets of lace-up shoes. Such clips have recesses which are aligned with a row of grommets on either the left or right side of a shoe. While the bow knot is being tied, one or both halves of the bow on either side of the knot are inserted under the clip. The wire of the latter will indent and grip the shoelace so as to make it difficult or impossible for such to be pulled back through the knot. But by deliberately removing the bow portions from under the bow retaining clips, the bows can be untied in a conventional manner. These functional bow retainer clips are small and decorative, and can be used as attachment points for jewelry charms, if desired.

Abstract: A composite building unit comprising a pair of spaced brick-like elements, each having a plurality of recesses in an inwardly facing side thereof, and an intermediate insulating element having a plurality of projections extending outwardly from each of two opposed side faces thereof, the brick-like elements and the intermediate element being joined by a press fit with the projections of the intermediate element being received within the recesses of the brick-like elements to frictionally hold the elements together. The intermediate element is formed with a raised barrier portion extending along the top thereof and with an indentation extending along the bottom thereof to receive the barrier portion of another composite unit when stacked in mortar joint wall construction, the barrier portion acting as a dam to prevent the passage of water through the mortar joints and to channel the water to the ends of the unit for drainage to successively lower courses of masonry.