Disposable Covering Device

Abstract

A disposable covering device is a one or two piece adhesive-backed, peel-and-stick plastic disposable cover for the soles of shoes, designed for temporary use in a variety of situations, to protect a user's shoes from dirt, grease and grime, germs and toxins, while also protecting floors and carpets from the same.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to and claims priority from prior provisional application Ser. No. 62/203,137, filed Aug. 10, 2015 which application is incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of disposable covering devices for soles of footwear and more specifically relates to a product line of form-fitting, disposable shoe-sole covers designed to protect the soles of shoes from dirt, germs, toxins, bacteria, grease, and grime for use at gas-stations, convenience-stores, movie-theaters, public restrooms, and other venues with dirty, objectionable walking surfaces. It is also a neat solution for keeping the floors and carpets of a household clean and germ-free, while allowing individuals to keep their shoes on.

2. Description of the Related Art

An easily affordable way of keeping one's shoe-soles from picking up and tracking grease, grime, toxins, and bacteria into car, house, or office—is the subject of this report. Consumers fill the gas tank of their vehicle relatively often at a gas-station island, and in the process, may inadvertently step in spilled gas, or oil that has leaked out of a previous vehicle, then stepped back into their own vehicle to find that their shoe-soles have soiled their car-mats. Or walking out of a movie-theater with shoe-soles made sticky by a soda-syrupy movie-theater floor, only to find that their shoe-soles are now acting like adhesive tape, picking up gravel and grime from the parking-lot outside. Therefore a need exists to eliminate, these common and annoying problems—neatly, efficiently, and affordably.

Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,881 to Edward M. Safdie; U.S. Pat. No. 2,134,196 to C. Miller; U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,620 to Gillet Lucien A.; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,872 to Raymond Anthony Pettis. This art is representative of disposable covering devices for soles of footwear. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.

Ideally, a shoe sole covering device should provide ease of installation and use, ease of disposal, low cost of use, and, yet would work effectively and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable disposable covering device designed to protect the soles of shoes from dirt, germs, toxins, bacteria, grease, and grime for use at gas-stations, convenience-stores, movie-theaters, public restrooms, and other venues with dirty, objectionable walking surfaces or floors, while providing a neat solution for keeping the floors and carpets of a household clean and germ-free, while allowing individuals to keep their shoes on, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known disposable covering devices for soles of footwear art, the present invention provides a novel disposable covering device The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail is to provide a product line of form-fitting, disposable shoe-sole covers designed to protect the soles of shoes from dirt, germs, toxins, bacteria, grease, and grime for use at gas-stations, convenience-stores, movie-theaters, public restrooms, and other venues with dirty, objectionable pavements or floors, while providing a neat solution for keeping the floors and carpets of a household clean and germ-free, while allowing individuals to keep their shoes on.

A disposable covering device is disclosed herein, in a preferred embodiment, comprising a sheet member including a layer of flexible material and a layer of adhesive material placed upon a top surface of a layer of flexible material. It further comprises a heel portion and a front portion sized and shaped to fit over and cover a heel and front portion of a sole of footwear. The disposable covering device is adapted to be attached upon a bottom surface of the sole of footwear via a layer of adhesive material and used to protect the bottom surface of the sole of footwear from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances, and can be peeled off and disposed of after use.

The disposable covering device further has a protection sheet adapted to hold the sheet member thereon, and the sheet member is attached to the protection sheet via a layer of adhesive material until the use thereof is no longer needed. The sheet member is formed from molded plastic material having a shape and size adapted such that it can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear without material extending beyond the sole of the footwear and creating a hazard to the user. The heel portion includes a high-heel portion in a middle area shaped and adapted to be placed over an end portion of a high-heeled shoe and is formed having an O-shape, with a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of the heel portion. The heel portion and front portion are detachable from one another, such that each can be placed on respective portions of different sized footwear.

A combination of footwear and a disposable covering device comprising footwear having a sole including a heel portion and a front portion, and a disposable covering device comprising a sheet member including a layer of flexible material and a layer of adhesive material placed upon a top surface of the layer of flexible material. It further has a heel portion and a front portion sized and shaped to fit over and cover the heel and front portion of the sole of footwear respectively. The disposable covering device is adapted to be attached upon the bottom surface of the sole of footwear via a layer of adhesive material and used to protect the bottom surface of the sole of footwear from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances, and can be peeled off and disposed of after use.

The disposable covering device further has a protection sheet adapted to hold the sheet member thereon, and the sheet member is attached to the protection sheet via a layer of adhesive material until the use thereof is no longer needed. The sheet member is formed from molded plastic material having a shape and size adapted such that it can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear without material extending beyond the sole of the footwear and creating a hazard to the user. The heel portion includes a high-heel portion in a middle area shaped and adapted to be placed over an end portion of a high-heeled shoe and is formed having an O-shape, with a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of the heel portion. The heel portion and front portion are detachable from one another, such that each can be placed on respective portions of different sized footwear.

The present invention holds significant improvements and serves as a disposable covering device. For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention, disposable covering device constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view illustrating a disposable covering device in an in-use condition according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a disposable covering device and how it attaches to a bottom surface of footwear according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view illustrating a variety of disposable covering devices according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a disposable covering device and how it attaches to a high-heeled shoe according to an embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1.

The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention relate to a covering device for soles of footwear and more particularly to a line of form-fitting, disposable shoe-sole covers designed to protect the soles of shoes from dirt, germs, toxins, bacteria, grease, and grime, and used to improve the ability of a user to not only protect their own shoes from grease and grime, but to also keep floors and carpets free from dirt, grease and grime, germs and bacteria, while allowing individuals to keep their shoes on.

Generally speaking, the disposable covering device is a one or two piece adhesive-backed, peel-and-stick plastic disposable cover for the soles of shoes, designed for temporary use in a variety of situations, to protect a user's shoes from dirt, grease and grime, germs and toxins, while also protecting floors and carpets from the same.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference there is shown in FIG. 1, a perspective view illustrating disposable covering device 100 in an in-use condition 102 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Disposable covering device 100 is disclosed herein, in a preferred embodiment, comprising sheet member 110 including layer of flexible material 114 and layer of adhesive material 118 placed upon top surface 122 of layer of flexible material 114. It further comprises heel portion 130 and front portion 140 sized and shaped to fit over and cover heel 150 and front portion 154 of sole of footwear 160. Disposable covering device 100 is adapted to be attached upon bottom surface 164 of sole of footwear 160 via layer of adhesive material 118 and used to protect bottom surface 164 of sole of footwear 160 from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances, and can be peeled off and disposed of after use.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a perspective view illustrating a disposable covering device 100 and how it attaches to a bottom surface 164 of footwear 204 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Disposable covering device 100 further has protection sheet 170 adapted to hold sheet member 110 thereon, and sheet member 110 is attached to protection sheet 170 via a layer of adhesive material 118 until the use thereof is no longer needed. Sheet member 110 is formed from molded plastic material 112 having a shape and size adapted such that it can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear without material extending beyond sole of footwear 160 and creating a hazard to user 104. Heel portion 130 includes high-heel portion 132 in a middle area 134 shaped and adapted to be placed over end portion 136 of a high-heeled shoe and is formed having O-shape 138, with a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of heel portion 130. Heel portion 130 and front portion 154 are detachable from one another, such that each can be placed on respective portions of different sized footwear 204.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a top view illustrating a variety of disposable covering devices 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Combination 200 of footwear 204 and disposable covering device 100 comprising footwear 204 having sole of footwear 160 including heel portion 130 and front portion 154, and disposable covering device 100 comprising sheet member 110 including layer of flexible material 114 and layer of adhesive material 118 placed upon top surface 122 of layer of flexible material 114. It further comprises heel portion 130 and front portion 140 sized and shaped to fit over and cover heel 150 and front portion 154 of sole of footwear 160. Disposable covering device 100 is adapted to be attached upon bottom surface 164 of sole of footwear 160 via layer of adhesive material 118 and used to protect bottom surface 164 of sole of footwear 160 from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances, and can be peeled off and disposed of after use.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a perspective view illustrating a disposable covering device 100 and how it attaches to a high-heeled shoe according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Disposable covering device 100 further has protection sheet 170 adapted to hold sheet member 110 thereon, and sheet member 110 is attached to protection sheet 170 via a layer of adhesive material 118 until the use thereof is no longer needed. Sheet member 110 is formed from molded plastic material 112 having a shape and size adapted such that it can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear 204 without material extending beyond sole of footwear 160 and creating a hazard to the user. Heel portion 130 includes high-heel portion 132 in a middle area 134 shaped and adapted to be placed over end portion 136 of a high-heeled shoe and is formed having O-shape 138, with a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of heel portion 130. Heel portion 130 and front portion 154 are detachable from one another, such that each can be placed on respective portions of different sized footwear.

Disposable covering device 100 may be manufactured and provided for sale in a wide variety of sizes and shapes for a wide assortment of applications. Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., such as, for example, including more or less components, customized parts, different color combinations, parts may be sold separately, etc., may be sufficient.

Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods of use arrangements such as, for example, different orders within above-mentioned list, elimination or addition of certain steps, including or excluding certain maintenance steps, etc., may be sufficient.

The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.

Claims

1. A disposable covering device for soles of footwear comprising:

a sheet member including; a layer of flexible material; and a layer of adhesive material placed upon a top surface of said layer of flexible material; a heel portion; wherein said heel portion is sized and shaped to fit over and cover a heel of said sole of said footwear; a front portion; wherein said front portion is sized and shaped to fit over and cover a front portion of said sole of said footwear;

wherein said disposable covering device is adapted to be removably attached upon a bottom surface of said sole of said footwear via said layer of adhesive material and used to protect the bottom surface of said sole of said footwear from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances; and can be peeled off therefrom and disposed of after use.

2. The disposable covering device of claim 1, further comprising a protection sheet adapted to hold said sheet member thereon until the use thereof is desire; wherein said sheet member is removably attached to said protection sheet via said layer of adhesive material.

3. The disposable covering device of claim 1, wherein said sheet member is formed having a shape and size adapted such that is can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear without material extending beyond said sole of said footwear and creating a hazard to said user.

4. The disposable covering device of claim 1, wherein said heel portion includes a high-heel portion in a middle area thereof shaped and adapted to be placed over an end portion of a high-heeled shoe.

5. The disposable covering device of claim 4, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having an O-shape.

6. The disposable covering device of claim 4, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having a D-shape.

7. The disposable covering device of claim 4, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of said heel portion.

8. The disposable covering device of claim 4, wherein said heel portion and said front portion are detachable from one another, such that each can be adjustably placed on respective portions of different sized footwear.

9. The disposable covering device of claim 1, wherein said sheet member is formed from molded plastic material.

10. A combination of footwear and a disposable covering device, said combination comprising:

footwear comprising: a sole including: a heel portion; and a front portion; and

a disposable covering device comprising: a sheet member including; a layer of flexible material; and a layer of adhesive material placed upon a top surface of said layer of flexible material; a heel portion; wherein said heel portion is sized and shaped to fit over and cover said heel of said sole of said footwear; a front portion; wherein said front portion is sized and shaped to fit over and cover said front portion of said sole of said footwear; wherein said disposable covering device is adapted to be removably attached upon a bottom surface of said sole of said footwear via said layer of adhesive material and used to protect the bottom surface of said sole of said footwear from dirt, germs, bacteria, toxins, grease, grime, and other like substances; and can be peeled off therefrom and disposed of after use.

11. The disposable covering device of claim 10, further comprising a protection sheet adapted to hold said sheet member thereon until the use thereof is desire; wherein said sheet member is removably attached to said protection sheet via said layer of adhesive material.

12. The disposable covering device of claim 10, wherein said sheet member is formed having a shape and size adapted such that is can be cut smaller to fit smaller sized footwear without material extending beyond said sole of said footwear and creating a hazard to said user.

13. The disposable covering device of claim 10, wherein said heel portion includes a high-heel portion in a middle area thereof shaped and adapted to be placed over an end portion of said footwear having a high heel.

14. The disposable covering device of claim 13, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having an O-shape.

15. The disposable covering device of claim 13, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having a D-shape.

16. The disposable covering device of claim 13, wherein said high-heel portion is formed having a thickness greater than the thickness of the rest of said heel portion.

17. The disposable covering device of claim 13, wherein said heel portion and said front portion are detachable from one another, such that each can be adjustably placed on respective portions of different sized footwear.

18. The disposable covering device of claim 10, wherein said sheet member is formed from molded plastic.