Lace and method of forming knots
A lace is provided for lacing various objects such as footwear, clothing, bags, etc. The lace comprises an elastic cord having end segments for tying a knot and a stabilizing member on one of the end segments. The stabilizing member is different from the bits of the lace adjacent thereto in the shape and/or material thereof and arranged so that it appears held in place in the knot when the knot is finished. Also provided is a method of forming a knot out of the lace. The method comprises forming a desired knot until the knot is ready to be firmly tied and then pulling the end segments of the elastic cord until the stabilizing members appear held in place in the knot, which is thus finished.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laces for lacing various objects with at least one lace by passing the lace through eyelets provided in the objects or their parts as well as to the method of forming a knot out of free ends of such a lace and is useful in lacing shoes, clothes, bags and other similar objects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Well known in the art is a lace shown in
Various approaches were made to protect laces from coming undone by the use of specially constructed devices, such as a storage compartment incorporated in the footwear, wherein the knot is to be concealed, for example, the storage compartment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,696. However, such compartments are not applicable to the kind of footwear such as formal dress shoes or stylish shoes, or the footwear should be of a new design to incorporate such protective shoelace storage compartment, which is not always possible.
Also known in the art is a shoelace retention device for securing a tied knot, which retention device is adapted to be secured on the lace in the course of lacing the shoelace as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,177. The prior art retention device is intended to secure the loops and tails of a bow tie knot so as to prevent the knot from spontaneously coming undone. The patent teaches installation of the shoelace retention device while the shoe is being laced, which requires some additional effort and is not always convenient. Also, the prior-art shoelace retention device is not applicable to every type of shoes, for example, formal dress shoes or stylish shoes, for aesthetic reasons.
Some other devices for securing laces are also known in the art, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,028 and constructed as a plate having slots and holes through which the lace is threaded before tying. The knot is then tied and the free ends of the lace are secured in the slots in the plate. Such devices provide for securing the free ends of the elastic cord and ensure against knots spontaneously coming undone. However, the use of the plate in securing knots is open to the objection that with some types of footwear such plates may adversely affect the appearance of those types of footwear and the suitability for its intended use. Further, if the knot comes undone the plate can slide off the free ends of the elastic cord and be lost.
Furthermore, one of the known ways of securing tied laces against coming loose or untied is coating them to increase friction. This method is open to the objection that not all users do like the touch of such laces or perceive them as pleasing, and more, the coated elastic lace usually becomes less so. Also, coated laces do not resolve the problem of the tied laces spontaneously coming undone, they merely somewhat minimize the chances that the lace will come undone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has for its object the provision of a lace and a method of forming a knot out of such lace, wherein the above discussed difficulties could be eliminated with the resulting symmetrical and secure knot with tails of equal lengths and tied in a simple manner without conscious reasoning and wherein there is no need for any additional attachments and preparatory steps, and, simultaneously with the above statement, universal use of such lace on any object of lacing can be ensured.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a lace comprising an elastic cord having end segments for tying a knot and at least one stabilizing member on at least one of the end segments having bits thereof adjacent to the stabilizing member, wherein the stabilizing member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in the shape and/or material thereof so that it appears held in place in the knot when the knot is finished.
The difference in the shape of the stabilizing member in various preferred embodiments of the invention is attained by shaping the stabilizing member so that it has a smaller cross-sectional area than that of the elastic cord, while the difference in material by making a portion of the elastic cord from a material that is more capable of taking hold of the surface of the rest of the elastic cord than the rest of the elastic cord taking hold of itself. It makes sense to make the stabilizing member from a material that is more capable of undergoing deformation caused by lateral compression than that of the rest of the elastic cord.
In consideration of various applications, the number of the stabilizing members may be varied from one through four and more.
Where the stabilizing member forms part of an even number of stabilizing members, it is good practice to arrange the stabilizing members in pairs on and equidistantly from the ends of the elastic cord.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, with the aim of facilitating the forming of a bow knot with not only the tails of equal lengths, but the loops as well, the elastic cord is provided with at least one positioning member, which is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
In yet according to another embodiment of the invention, a method of forming a knot out of a lace constructed according to the invention is provided. The method comprises tying the end segments of the elastic cord in a starting knot, then forming a desired knot until the knot is ready to be firmly tied, and pulling the end segments of the elastic cord until the stabilizing members appear held in place in the knot when the knot is finished.
The stabilizing members, when held in place in the knot, prevent the knot from spontaneously coming undone.
The invention will be further explained in greater detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Now referring to
The stabilizing member 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in
It is to be understood that with consideration for various service conditions and objects of lacing, the lace of the invention can comprise an elastic cord with variously shaped cross-sections, including round, oval, flat, etc., and can be made of cotton, synthetic fibers, silk or other materials.
The method aspect of the present invention is concerned with the forming of a knot out of the lace constructed according to the invention, wherein the finishing steps of tying, e.g., the standard knot shown in
Where the lace has four stabilizing members (
In an embodiment of the invention where the lace is provided with a positioning member 5 (
At the beginning of a lacing procedure, the positioning member 5 is placed between the bottom or first eyelets with a proper use of the external features of the positioning member. Then follow the steps of positioning the lace and lacing the object of lacing and finally the method of forming a knot is performed in the same way as described above. It is to be understood that the positioning member makes it much easier to have the end segments of the lace of equal lengths both at the beginning and at the end of lacing, and therefore it is possible to tie a knot as nearly symmetrical as possible and having loops 4 (
Thus the present invention as embodied in the lace and the method of forming a knot out of such lace and as described above enables the user to tie a symmetrical and secure knot quickly in a simple manner without conscious reasoning in all uses and such that its spontaneous coming undone is unlikely. Also, the lace according to the invention is unique in that it can be put to limitless uses on any type of footwear, clothing, bags, etc. Moreover, the stabilizing members are further capable of being used as decorations.
While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, various modifications thereof will be apparent and the departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.
Claims
1. A lace comprising an elastic cord having end segments for tying a knot and at least one stabilizing member on at least one of the end segments having bits thereof adjacent to the stabilizing member, wherein the stabilizing member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in the shape and/or material thereof and arranged so that it appears held in place in the knot when the knot is finished.
2. A lace as in claim 1, wherein the stabilizing member has a smaller cross-sectional area than that of the elastic cord.
3. A lace as in claim 1, wherein the stabilizing member is a portion of the elastic cord, made from a material that is more capable of taking hold of the surface of the rest of the elastic cord than the rest of the elastic cord taking hold of itself.
4. A lace as in claim 3, wherein the stabilizing member is made from a material that is more capable of undergoing deformation caused by lateral compression than that of the rest of the elastic cord.
5. A lace as in claim 1, wherein the stabilizing member forms part of an even number of stabilizing members and the stabilizing members are arranged in pairs on both ends of the elastic cord.
6. A lace as in claim 5, wherein the stabilizing members in each pair are equidistant from the ends of the elastic cord.
7. A lace as in claim 1, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
8. A lace as in claim 2, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
9. A lace as in claim 3, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
10. A lace as in claim 4, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
11. A lace as in claim 5, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
12. A lace as in claim 6, further comprising at least one positioning member disposed on the elastic cord having bits thereof adjacent to the positioning member, wherein the positioning member is different from the bits adjacent thereto in appearance and/or in the sense of touch, and/or in material.
13. A method of forming a knot out of a lace comprising an elastic cord having end segments for tying a knot and at least one stabilizing member on at least one of the end segments having bits thereof adjacent to the stabilizing member, wherein the stabilizing member is different from the cord bits adjacent thereto in the shape and/or material thereof, the method comprising the steps of:
- tying the end segments of the elastic cord in a starting knot, then
- forming a desired knot until the knot is ready to be firmly tied, and
- pulling the end segments of the elastic cord until the stabilizing members appear held in place in the knot, whereby the knot is finished.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 7, 2006
Publication Date: Dec 27, 2007
Inventor: Vatalii I. Gnatenko (Kyiv)
Application Number: 11/517,528
International Classification: A43C 1/00 (20060101);