Smart tread boot covers

Abstract

A shoe or boot cover adapted to slip over a workman's shoes to protect floors and carpets from dirt and deleterious materials carried in from outside. The cover has an elasticized upper open seam and a flat combined sole and heel portion made of non-skid neoprene or rubber. The cover body can be made of canvas, nylon, denim, or cotton. The body and sole-heel portion are attached by either adhesive or stitching. The shoe or boot cover is washable and reusable countless times, yet is uncomplicated in construction, and thus very inexpensive to manufacture.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/281,795, filed Apr 6, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates generally to shoe/boot coverings. More specifically, the invention is a non-skid bootie adapted to slip over shoes, work boots, and snow boots to protect the user from slipping, and to protect floors and carpets from dirt, various deleterious materials and adverse weather conditions.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] The relevant art of interest describes various shoe/boot protecting covers, but none discloses the present invention. There is a need for a shoe/boot cover which can be easily worn before entering a clean floor and removed readily upon leaving. The relevant art will be discussed in the order of perceived relevance to the present invention.

[0006] U.S. Patent No. 3,648,109 issued on Mar. 7, 1972, to Jerry L. Tims et al. describes a sanitary shoe cover comprising halves of a material such as light canvas sewn together and having an opening with an elastic band, a sole with an elastic band, and a conducting tape sewn to the sole and extending a sufficient distance to allow its insertion into the sock of the wearer. The shoe cover is distinguishable for its required second elastic band in the sole and the conducting tape.

[0007] U.S. Patent No. 3,016,631 issued on Jan. 16, 1962, to Robert S. Servin describes a stretch-type slipper comprising a body of a knitted material backed by a foam cell material, a sole of foam rubber or plastic having knitted layers on both sides, and an elastic band for the opening. The slipper is distinguishable for its required foam cell side and foam rubber sole.

[0008] U.S. Patent No. 4,779,360 issued on Oct. 25, 1988, to George R. Bible describes a shoe attachment to reduce inner and outer skidding comprising a rubber cover having a sole portion impregnated with granular particles of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide and/or tungsten carbide. The shoe cover is distinguishable for its requirement for an abrasive sole portion.

[0009] U.S. Design Pat. No. 366,953 issued on Feb. 13, 1996, to Robert J. Tate describes a safety shoe comprising a solid sole with groups of suction cups in the sole and heel regions. The upper body is an open mesh material stitched to the sole and reinforced with a vertical strap at the rear. The safety shoe is distinguishable for its requirement for an open meshed body portion.

[0010] U.S. Patent No. 5,056,240 issued on Oct. 15, 1991, to William T. Sherrill describes overshoes for protecting clean floors from soiled shoes or boots comprising a sole with an upper portion for overlying the toe and includes a lip to retain mud or dirt inside the overshoe. The ribbed rubber or plastic overshoe is designed with front and rear tabs for the workman to step on for wearing without using one's hands. An adjustment strap involving an adjacent slot is provided. The overshoe is distinguishable for its requirement for toe and heel tabs, and an adjustment strap.

[0011] U.S. Patent No. 2,628,438 issued on Feb. 17, 1953, to Morton G. Luchs describes a one-piece fabric foot protector comprising a one-piece knitted fabric portion sewn to form a fish-tail-shaped toe portion and a cup-shaped heel portion with an elastic band around the periphery of the open top. The shoe protector is distinguishable for its construction from only fabric.

[0012] U.S. Patent No. 2,958,964 issued on Nov. 8, 1960, to Ursala E. Abel describes a foot covering comprising another one-piece fabric, flexible or resilient material having the opening made to form a tab and overlapping the tab to reinforce the heel portion. The opening is stitched for reinforcement. The foot covering is distinguishable for its entirely fabric construction.

[0013] U.S. Patent No. 4,847,934 issued on Jul. 18, 1989, to Robert Weber describes a method of manufacturing polyethylene resin containing 33° carbon black particles overshoes designed for hospitals or microbiology labs to prevent discharge of static electricity. The overshoes are made from three flat elastic strips reinforced with elastic strips for the opening and the joint between two strips. The overshoes are distinguishable for their required construction from polyethylene resin strips.

[0014] U.S. Patent No. 6,023,856 issued on Feb. 15, 2000, to Kevin K. Brunson et al. describes a disposable shoe or boot cover having a sole comprising a quadrilateral sheet of three or four panels of canvas, polyethylene-backed nonwoven fabric, polytecto-fluoralethylene, polypropylene, and fiberglass composites fabricated by heat welding to form covers for hospital personnel to eliminate sparking. The shoe or boot cover (up to knee high) are distinguishable for their required construction involving heat welding.

[0015] U.S. Patent No. 5,996,258 issued on Dec. 7, 1999, to Randy L. Simmons describes a flexible protective shoe cover comprising three distinct regions consisting of an upper member extending over the front top shoe portion, an intermediate stretchable portion forming a heel strap, and a lower sole portion extending from the front to the intermediate portion. The expandable strap and front top shoe portion are made from spandex. The lower sole portion is rubber. The shoe cover is distinguishable for its heel strap structure.

[0016] U.K. Patent Application No. GB 2 063 054 A published on Jun. 3, 1981, for Lucien Nininger describes a non-slip profiled sole for shoes comprising a molded elastomeric containing steel wool. The material is distinguishable for its limitation to a shoe sole.

[0017] German Patent Application No. DE 41 33 265 A1 published on Apr. 15, 1993, describes a protective overshoe for a climbing boot comprising elastic profiled rubber with grips at the front, sides and rear regions. The overshoe is distinguishable for its limitation to the grips required.

[0018] None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0019] The present invention is a shoe/boot covering adapted to slip over a workman's shoes/boots to protect floors and carpets from dirt and deleterious materials carried in on the shoes/boots. There is a need for a shoe/boot cover which can be easily put on and worn when entering a clean floor, and just as easily removed after use. The non-skid material of the sole allows climbing up and down carpeted stairs, ladders, et cetera. The “Boot Cover” comes in a variety of sizes with an elasticized seam around the opening to secure a tight fit. This show/boot cover is made of sturdy and durable materials that can be cleaned and reused over and over again. Canvas, nylon, denim, cotton and the like shoe/boot body materials are based on a non-skid sole material of neoprene, rubber and the like materials attached by adhesive and/or stitching.

[0020] Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a shoe/boot cover.

[0021] It is another object of the invention to provide a shoe/boot cover made of canvas, nylon, denim, cotton, and the like materials.

[0022] It is a further object of the invention to provide a shoe/boot cover having an opening with an elasticized seam.

[0023] Still another object of the invention is to provide a shoe/boot cover having a neoprene or rubber sole attached to the cover body by adhesive and/or stitching.

[0024] It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.

[0025] These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 is an environmental side view of a shoe/boot cover worn to prevent soiling of a carpet according to the present invention.

[0027] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the shoe/boot cover.

[0028] Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0029] The present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 to a shoe/boot covering device 10 for use by a workman 12 wearing soiled shoes 14 on a clean floor surface 16 such as carpets and the like.

[0030] The shoe/boot covering device 10 is a slip-on cover having a canvas body 18 based on a flexible rubber or neoprene flat sole 20 which has a non-skid surface. The sole 20 can be attached by sewing and/or by adhesive to the body 18. The body 18 has an opening 22 with an elasticized seam 24 enclosing an elastic cord 26 such as a bungee cord. The canvas, nylon, denim, cotton body 18 can be cut in one piece and sewed at the front portion at 28 and at the rear portion at 30. The shoe or boot covering device 10 can be made in a range of sizes to snugly fit the shoes 14 of any workman 12. The shoe/boot cover device 10 can be washed, and then reused over and over again. It is to be noted here that the present invention is sturdy enough to be reused countless times, rather than discarded after only one or two uses, yet it is uncomplicated in construction so as to be made very inexpensively.

[0031] It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A shoe/boot covering device comprising:

a fabric body portion having an upper opening, and commensurate in shape and size to adequately fit a shoe or a boot;

said upper opening having a substantially elasticized seam border; and

a flexible, non-skid sole and heel portion.

2. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, wherein the flexible non-skid sole and heel portion has a flat surface.

3. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, further comprising sewing means for attaching the sole and heel portion to the fabric body portion.

4. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, further comprising adhesive means for attaching the sole and heel portion to the fabric body portion.

5. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, wherein an elastic cord is included inside the elasticized seam border.

6. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, wherein the fabric body portion is made of durable material selected from the group consisting of canvas, nylon, denim, and cotton, and thus is capable of repeated washings.

7. The shoe covering device according to claim 1, wherein the fabric body portion is made from a single piece of canvas. 15