DEVICE FOR RETRACTABLE PISTON CLEATS
A retractable piston cleat system which includes at least one inverted ramp in contact with and positioned to transition at least one piston cleat between a retracted and an extended position when a lever arm, or similar device, is moved between a first and a second position. In another embodiment, multiple inverted ramps are used to simultaneously transition multiple piston cleats between retracted and extended positions.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/465,863, filed Mar. 2, 2017 entitled Gearless Device to Extend and Retract Ice Studs From Within the Sole of a Shoe which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to retractable spikes, cleats, studs, or similar protrusions (collectively referred to herein as piston cleats) which are configured to extend beyond the surface of an object or to be retracted into the object and “housed” within the body of the object.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAt times, both children and adults desire specialized footwear for specific activities. For example, individuals wishing to play soccer desire soccer cleats for better performance on soccer fields. Similarly, individuals wishing to play football, typically desire football cleats for better traction on the football field. Many other types of specialize footwear are available including ice cleats for running, cleats for ice fishing, and cleats for ice and snow. However, one of the problems with specialized footwear is that it is difficult to perform different activities while wearing specialized footwear. Driving while wearing football cleats or ice cleats is difficult and dangerous and may cause damage to the brake or gas pedal. Additionally, specialized footwear may cause damage to incompatible surfaces when someone wearing that specialized footwear walks on the incompatible surface. Walking on marble tiles with ice cleats may cause irreparable damage to the marble tiles and may cause the user to slip and fall. The use of specialized footwear in some environments may be downright dangerous. Walking down a wooden staircase with football or soccer cleats may cause the individual to slide on the wooden stairs and to fall down the stairs. Walking on a carpeted staircase with ice cleats may cause the person to fall down the stairs if a cleat gets caught in the carpet.
In light of the inherent difficulties in wearing specialized footwear for other activities, many people wear non-specialized footwear until they arrive at the location where the use of specialized footwear is desired. Many adults will drive to their soccer game while wearing “normal” shoes (i.e., shoes without cleats), and once they arrive at the soccer field for their game or practice they will replace their normal shoes with their soccer cleats. Once the soccer practice or game is over, they typically change out of the specialized footwear and back to their normal shoes for the drive home. Even the act of changing from normal shoes to specialized shoes (or vice versa) is inconvenient and, in some cases, hazardous. Many times, one is forced to change shoes in the car (difficult at best), find another place to sit outdoors to change shoes, or attempt to balance on one foot while they change the shoe from their normal shoe to their specialized shoe on the other foot. Finding a suitable place to sit down outside to change shoes is also inconvenient in the rain, the cold, or in other non-ideal weather environments.
As a second example, when someone wishes to drive somewhere in icy conditions, they are forced (by safety concerns) to walk to the vehicle with specialized “ice cleats”, and then replace these ice cleats with normal shoes for driving. Once the user arrives at his/her location, they are then forced (by safety concerns) to replace their normal shoes with their ice cleats to safely walk from their car to their destination in the icy conditions. A perfect example is a mailman (or women) who walks from house to house where some of the sidewalks are icy and others are passable without ice cleats. The result is often that a person would rather contend with a period of possibly slipping and falling while walking in icy conditions with non-specialized footwear than go through the hassle of changing their shoes to use specialized footwear.
Similarly, different types of tires may be desired for different types of road conditions. A driver may prefer to drive on tires with cleats in icy conditions or a different type of cleat in snowy conditions. Similarly, a driver of an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) may prefer to use cleats in icy conditions or different types of cleats in other conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA retractable piston cleat system comprising at least one inverted ramp wherein the at least one inverted ramp includes at least a first portion, a second portion and a third portion; at least one piston cleat is in contact with the inverted ramp, the piston cleat includes a spring positioned so that at least a portion of the spring is positioned around at least a portion of the longitudinal axis of the piston cleat; and a lever arm which when activated causes the inverted ramp to transition between the first portion through the second portion and to the third portion thereby causing the piston cleat to move from a first position to a second position.
A method of moving a piston cleat between an extended position and a retracted position, the method comprising the steps of: positioning at least one inverted ramp such that the head of the piston cleat is in contact with a portion of the inverted ramp; connecting a lever arm to the inverted ramp such that movement of the lever arm causes movement to the inverted ramp; positioning a spring around a longitudinal axis of the piston cleat; wherein movement of the lever arm in a first direction causes the inverted ramp to move such that a highest portion of the inverted ramp is positioned above the head of the piston cleat; wherein movement of the lever arm in a second direction causes the inverted ramp to move such that a lowest portion of the inverted ramp is positioned above the head of the piston cleat; compressing a spring positioned around the longitudinal axis of the piston cleat when the lever arm is moved in such a way that the lowest portion of the inverted ramp is positioned above the head of the piston cleat; extending a bottom of the piston cleat such that a portion of the piston cleat is exposed when the lowest portion of the inverted ramp is positioned above the head of the piston cleat; and retracting the piston cleat such that no portion of the piston cleat is exposed when the highest portion of the inverted ramp is positioned above the head of the piston cleat.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, rather emphasis is generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of various embodiments of the invention. The foregoing and other aspects of the invention will be better understood from the following description of embodiments of the invention, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the following detailed description, reference will be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof and show by way of illustration embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and that structural, and logical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The progression of processing steps described is exemplary of embodiments of the invention; however, the sequence of steps is not limited to that set forth herein and may be changed as is known in the art, with the exception of steps necessarily occurring in a certain order.
This invention relates to retractable spikes, cleats, studs, or similar protrusions (collectively referred to herein as piston cleats) which have at least a first and second position. In a first position (for example), the piston cleats are housed within the sole of the device such that no portion of the piston cleat is exposed. In a second position (for example), at least a portion of the piston cleat is extended outside the device such that it can make contact with a surface. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that additional positions are available. For example, and without limitation, an embodiment of the invention can include a third position in which a larger portion of the piston cleat is exposed or additional positions in which additional lengths of the piston cleats extend out of the surface. In addition, there are several embodiments of the present invention. In a first embodiment, the device may be attached to the bottom of other footwear owned by the user. When this first embodiment is used, the device containing the piston cleats may be imbedded in a sandal type of sole which is attached by the user to the underside of other shoes or boots. In a second embodiment, the device may be incorporated into the sole of the user's shoe, boot, or other footwear. When the piston cleats consist of “ice” spikes, the purpose of the device is to provide the user with additional traction when walking or running in icy conditions. In a third embodiment, the invention may be embedded into a tire of a car, an ATV, a bicycle, or other wheeled vehicles such that the piston cleats may be retracted into the tire or extended such that a portion of the piston cleats are extended out beyond the surface of the tire. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that other embodiments are possible and within the scope of this invention.
The current invention solves the problems described by permitting the user to extend or retract piston cleats easily and nearly instantaneously whenever extension of the piston cleats is advisable or desired.
In most embodiments the present invention does not use gears to retract or expose the piston cleats. Rather, the present invention employs a system of angled inverted ramps within channels to deploy the piston cleats. In a retracted position, the highest point of the ramp is positioned above the piston cleat such that the ramp is not causing a portion of the piston cleat to protrude outside the device. In this position a compression spring helps to ensure that no portion of the piston cleat protrudes outside the device. In an extended position, the lowest point of the ramp is positioned above the piston cleat such that the ramp is causing a portion of the piston cleat to protrude outside the device. In this position, the compression spring is compressed. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that other positions are possible, such as the piston cleats extending, for example, a quarter of an inch, three eights of an inch, a half inch, five eights of an inch, etc. These different positions could be implemented by including additional positions on the inverted ramp.
The bottom portion of
In other embodiments, the retractable piston cleats may be incorporated in other items such as, but not limited to, automobile tires, bicycle tires, and all terrain vehicle (ATV) tires. In these embodiments, the invention is incorporated similarly as described above with inverted ramps including a high portion and a low portion of the inverted ramp and a lever arm to transition the lever arm (or a similar device) between the high portion and the low portion being positioned over the piston cleat. In these embodiments, the level arm may be replaced with a screw (or similar device) such that when the screw is turned, the position of the inverted ramp is changed. In another embodiment, the lever arm may be replaced with an air bladder such that when air is introduced into the air bladder, the ends of the piston cleats are extended beyond the surface of the tire. In addition, in these embodiments, the piston cleats may be divided between several different lever arms such that a portion of the piston cleats may be extended (or retracted) at a time. For example, and without limitation, the piston cleats may be divided between four different lever arms in each tire so that the piston cleats on the portion of the tire that is not touching the ground (such as a driveway or a roadway) may be extended without affecting the piston cleats in the portion of the tire that is touching the ground. In this way, a portion of the piston cleats may be extended and then, once the car is moved a short distance, the other piston cleats on that tire may also be extended. Alternatively, the car, or a portion of the car, may be lifted up off of the ground, by way of a lift or a car jack, such that all of the piston cleats on the tire that is no longer touching the ground may be extended at one time.
In another embodiment of the invention, the piston cleats may be replaceable with another type of piston cleats. In this embodiment, one pair of shoes may be configured to use soccer cleats, or football cleats by replacing the soccer cleats with football cleats or vice versa. This embodiment would permit the user to own one pair of shoes which permit cleats and then to replace the cleats with cleats for specific activities such as football or soccer. In one “replaceable piston cleat” embodiment, the piston cleats are replaceable by removing the top cover plate and the disc beneath the top cover plate.
While the invention has been particularly shown with reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. The invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims.
Claims
1. A retractable piston cleat system comprising:
- at least one inverted ramp wherein said at least one inverted ramp includes at least a first portion, a second portion and a third portion;
- at least one piston cleat in contact with said inverted ramp, said piston cleat including a spring positioned so that at least a portion of said spring is positioned around at least a portion of the longitudinal axis of said piston cleat;
- and a lever arm which when activated causes said inverted ramp to transition between said first portion through said second portion and to said third portion thereby causing said piston cleat to move from a first position to a second position.
2. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1 wherein said piston cleat is retracted when said inverted ramp is in said first position.
3. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1 wherein said spring is compressed and said piston cleat is retracted when said inverted ramp is in said first position.
4. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1 wherein said retractable piston cleat system is contained within a removable device.
5. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1, wherein said retractable piston cleat system is contained within footwear.
6. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1, wherein said retractable piston cleat system is contained within a tire.
7. The retractable piston cleat system of claim 1, including a sole and wherein said first portion of said inverted ramp is closest to the sole.
8. The retractable position cleat system of claim 1, further including a coordinating device where said coordinating device is attached to at least two inverted ramps.
9. The retractable position cleat system of claim 1, further including at least one inverted ramp which includes at least a fourth portion and a fifth portion.
10. The retractable position cleat system of claim 9, wherein said fourth portion and fifth portion of said inverted ramp permit the piston cleat to be extended a different length than those association with said first position and said second position.
11. A method of moving a piston cleat between an extended position and a retracted position, said method comprising the steps of:
- positioning at least one inverted ramp such that the head of said piston cleat is in contact with a portion of said inverted ramp;
- connecting a lever arm to said inverted ramp such that movement of the lever arm causes movement to said inverted ramp;
- positioning a spring around a longitudinal axis of said piston cleat;
- wherein movement of said lever arm in a first direction causes said inverted ramp to move such that a highest portion of said inverted ramp is positioned above the head of said piston cleat;
- wherein movement of said lever arm in a second direction causes said inverted ramp to move such that a lowest portion of said inverted ramp is positioned above the head of said piston cleat;
- compressing a spring positioned around said longitudinal axis of said piston cleat when said lever arm is moved in such that said lowest portion of said inverted ramp is positioned above the head of said piston cleat;
- extending a bottom of said piston cleat such that a portion of said piston cleat is exposed when the lowest portion of said inverted ramp is positioned above the head of said piston cleat; and
- retracting said piston cleat such that no portion of said piston cleat is exposed when the highest portion of said inverted ramp is positioned above the head of said piston cleat.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein positioning said piston cleat over said inverted ramp in said first position results in the piston cleat being retracted.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein positioning said piston cleat over said inverted ramp in said first position results in said spring being compressed.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein said method of moving said piston cleat is contained within footwear.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein said method of moving said piston cleat is contained within a tire.
16. The method of claim 11, further including attaching said coordinating device to at least two inverted ramps.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 23, 2018
Publication Date: Sep 6, 2018
Inventor: Michael William HAUGHEY (Canton, MA)
Application Number: 15/904,302