Shoe protector

Abstract

A protector is removably affixed to a portion of a footwear article. The protector may be placed in an area to cover and protect the rearward part of the footwear article or any other portion of the footwear article, including the interior. The protector may take any number of shapes, including oblong and rectangular. Adhesive material coats the inner side to attach the protector to the footwear article. The outer side, which may be subject to many environmental factors, may be clear, transparent, decorated, infused with a fragrance, embossed, debossed, infused with a tracking device, and/or customizable. The outer side may also be reflective, glow in the dark, and/or provide text. A card to which the protector is removably attached is also provided. The card may contain embellishment and may be infused with a fragrance, either infused directly on the card or in the ink used for the embellishments.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/151,314, filed 2009 Feb. 10 by the present inventors.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to protective devices for protecting portions of footwear articles.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Many people believe footwear is an investment and take great pride in and value their footwear. For example, some people purchase very expensive shoes or boots and try to keep the footwear in perfect condition. Many people feel their footwear is a reflection of them and take great pains to see that their shoes are well kept in like-new condition. Unfortunately, many portions of footwear articles such as the heel and back of boots and high-heeled shoes often receive damage, such as scuffs, scratches, and stains, in normal daily use, such as while driving a vehicle, or while walking on grass, gravel or wet or muddy surfaces. The damage can lead to premature discarding of otherwise perfectly usable footwear.

It would be a benefit therefore to have a device that could be attached to a footwear article that would protect the heel and back portion or any other area of the footwear article prone to damage from scuffs, scratches, and stains and also to provide a number of other functions, including, emanating a fragrance, providing tracking technology, displaying safety embellishments, displaying identifying embellishments, displaying customized or pre-made decorative embellishments, and providing embossed text for the visually impaired. It would also be a benefit to have a device that could be attached to a footwear article that would protect or serve as an embellishment to other portions of the footwear article.

Accordingly, a protective device for a portion of a footwear article is provided. The protective device is in the form of a flexible material, such as, but not limited to vinyl, plastic, or any flexible material that would work for the applications described and may be disposable or re-useable. In an embodiment, the protector is removably affixed to the back of a shoe in an area to protect the rearward part of the shoe. This rearward part of the shoe is the portion that makes contact with the floorboard of a vehicle while driving and is also the portion subject to damage from grass, gravel, wet, muddy, and other elements commonly encountered by the heel and back of a footwear article. The protector may also be removably affixed to the any portion of the shoe. The protector may take any number of shapes including oblong and rectangular. The protector has two sides—an inner side and an outer side. The inner side is coated in an adhesive which is capable of removably attaching to a footwear article. The outer side, which is subject to the environment, may be clear, decorated, infused with a fragrance, embossed, and/or infused with a tracking device. Also provided is a card containing the protector. The card may be infused with a fragrance. Alternatively, the card may contain ink infused with a fragrance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a side view of a shoe with the protector having been applied to the smooth surface on the heel of the shoe.

FIG. 1B is a rear view of the shoe shown in FIG. 1A, with the protector having been applied to the smooth surface on the heel of the shoe.

FIG. 2A is a side view of a shoe with the protector having been applied to the smooth surface on the heel of the shoe.

FIG. 2B is a rear view of the shoe shown in FIG. 2A, with the protector having been applied to the smooth surface on the heel of the shoe.

FIGS. 3A-3H are top plan views of the protectors according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and within which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1A is side view and FIG. 1B is a rear view of an embodiment of the protector shown applied to a woman's high-heeled shoe. The protector is positioned at the rear of the shoe and partially covers the heel thereof. The protector is positioned such that it is protects the rear of the shoe from a number of surfaces which the rear of the shoe may come in contact with, such as grass, grave, stones, concrete, and coarse carpet. The protector may be either disposable or re-usable.

FIG. 2A is side-view and FIG. 2B is a rear view of an embodiment of the protector shown applied to a child's shoe. The protector is positioned at the rear of the shoe and partially covers the heel thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 3A through 3F, the protector may be of any shape, including a rectangle (FIG. 3A), elongated octagon (FIG. 3B), elongated pentagon (FIG. 3C), oval (FIG. 3D), cloud (FIG. 3E), and heart (FIG. 3F).

The protector may be attached to any portion of the footwear article. The protector may be attached to the heel or rearward part of the shoe. This can be useful to protect that portion of the shoe while driving. The protector may also be attached to the other portions of the shoe depending on the conditions to which the shoe will be exposed. Further, the protector may be attached to the shoe for embellishment purposes, such as in the case of children's shoes. The protector may even be placed on the interior of the shoe, which would be useful for protectors infused with a fragrance.

The protector is made from a flexible material and comprises two sides—a inner side and an outer side. The inner side is coated in an adhesive, which is capable of removably attaching to the footwear article. The outer side, which is subject to the environment, may be transparent, translucent, opaque, solid in color, multicolored, textured, and/or decorated. For children, the protectors may be decorated with any number of embellishments, including flowers, swirls, butterflies, stick figures, and skulls.

In an embodiment, the protector is infused with a fragrance. In this manner, shoes can have a smell compatible with a wearers perfume or cologne. Further brand-name shoes may have a protector with an infused fragrance matching their brand name. For instance, Gucci® shoes may have a protector infused with a Gucci® fragrance.

In a further embodiment, the protector is removably affixed to a card. The card may be infused with a fragrance. Alternatively, the card may contain embellishments drawn in ink, wherein the ink may be infused with a fragrance. The card may be placed inside the box of shoes bearing the same name brand as the fragrance. For example, a box containing Coach® shoes would also contain a card bearing a Coach® fragrance.

In another embodiment, the outer side of the protector is embossed or de-bossed. In this manner, the protector may contain Braille describing the color and/or style of shoe to assist the visually impaired in selecting an appropriate pair of shoes.

In an additional embodiment, the protector contains a tracking device. This is especially useful when placed on and/or in children's shoes or on and/or in the shoes of an elderly person suffering from dementia.

In a further embodiment, the outer side of the protector is customizable. The protectors are provided on pre-printed, pre-die cut sheets. The customizable protectors can then be decorated by hand or by creating the decoration electronically and printing the decoration on a printer.

In another embodiment, the outer side of the protector is reflective or glows in the dark. Reflective or glow-in-the-dark protectors not only provide decoration, but also provide safety in low light conditions.

In an additional embodiment, the outer side of the protector may provide text. As shown in the examples in FIGS. 3G and 3H, the protector may indicate ‘left’ and ‘right’ to assist a User, such as a child or a mentally impaired person, in learning his or her left and right or to assist the user in determining which shoe belongs on which foot. The protector may also be in the shape of arrows to further assist the user.

It will be seen that the advantages set forth above, and those made apparent from the foregoing description, are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matters contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall there between.

Claims

1. A shoe protector which can be removably affixed to a shoe comprising:

an inner side having an adhesive to removably affix the protector to the shoe; and

an outer side.

2. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side has a fragrance infused therein and the fragrance is selected to be compatible with the perfume or cologne of the wearer.

3. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side has a fragrance infused therein and the brand of the fragrance is selected to be compatible with the brand of the shoe it is affixed to.

4. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side is embossed or de-bossed.

5. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side is contains a tracking device.

6. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side is customizable.

7. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side is reflective or glows in the dark.

8. The shoe protector of claim 1, wherein the outer side provides text.

9. The shoe protector of claim 1, further comprising a card, wherein the shoe protector is removably attached to the card.

10. The shoe protector of claim 9, wherein the card is infused with a fragrance.

11. The shoe protector of claim 9, wherein the card contains embellishments.

12. The shoe protector of claim 9, wherein the card contains ink infused with a fragrance.