APPARATUS FOR SHOE JEWELRY

Abstract

A jewelry item including a bar, a first object, and a second object. The bar including a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion. The first object being coupled to the first longitudinal end portion. The second object being coupled to the second longitudinal end portion. The bar spanning between the first object and the second object. The bar extending through and spanning between the pair of opposing shoelace eyelets.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to co-pending U.S. Provisional Application having Ser. No. 62/782,955, filed Dec. 20, 2018, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to jewelry for shoes.

BACKGROUND

People have long enhanced their wardrobe by creating interesting clothing and adding accessories thereto. There is a desire for a technology for coupling a decorative device to a shoe. Often, shoes, such as summertime shoes meant for water, have included openings on the sides to allow for ornaments to be snapped therethrough. Other shoes with preconstructed designs to accommodate accessories to be snapped or otherwise attached have been made available to consumers. However, such shoe construction is expensive and limited in its functionality and appearance. Hence, there is a need for interesting and attractive accessories that are independent of specific shoe design.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a device includes a jewelry item including a bar, a first object, and a second object. The bar includes a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion. The first object is coupled to the first longitudinal end portion. The second object is coupled to the second longitudinal end portion. The bar spans between the first object and the second object such that a barbell shape is formed. The bar may be sized, at least at the ends, to be inserted within opposing shoelace eyelets of a shoe with the first object being on one side of a first eyelet and the second object being on an opposite side of a second eyelet such that the bar spans between the pair of opposing shoelace eyelets so as to remain attached to the shoe when the first and second objects are attached to the bar. The bar may be curved to extend in a curved manner over a tongue of the shoe.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-32 show various embodiments of decorative devices that can be coupled to a shoe via opposing eyelets for shoelaces in accordance with this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Generally, this disclosure discloses a decorative device that can be coupled to a shoe. For example, the decorative device may be a jewelry item. Note that this disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as necessarily being limited to various embodiments disclosed herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and fully conveys various concepts of this disclosure to skilled artisans.

As shown in FIGS. 1-32, a jewelry item includes a bar, a first object, and a second object. The bar includes a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion. The first object is coupled to the first longitudinal end portion. The second object is coupled to the second longitudinal end portion. As such, the bar spans between the first object and the second object such that a barbell shape is formed.

The bar can include metal, plastic, wood, rubber, glass, crystal, precious stones, fabric, or others. The metal can include gold, silver, bronze, or other precious metal or appearance of a precious metal. The bar can be rigid, flexible, resilient, flexible, or otherwise. The bar can be solid, hollow, perforated, or otherwise. The bar can be opaque, transparent, or translucent. The bar can be rectilinear, arcuate, sinusoidal, saw-tooth, or other geometric or non-geometric shape. The bar can include a longitudinal bend, which may be parabolic, circular, or otherwise, whether centrally or off-center. The bar can have a circular cross-section, a square cross-section, a triangular cross-section, an oval cross-section, a pentagonal cross-section, an octagonal cross-section, a polygonal cross-section, or other geometric, multi-geometric, or non-geometric cross-section shape. The bar can be coated with a non-stick coating to avoid dirt sticking thereto. The bar can be less than about 5 inches, 4 inches, 3 inches, 2 inches, or 1 inch long along a longitudinal plane. The bar can be less than about 1 inch in cross-sectional diameter.

At least one of the first object or the second object can assemble to the bar via screw threads, fastening, mating, interlocking, magnetizing, adhering, hook-and-looping, snapping, or other fastening technique. At least one of the first object or the second object can be unitary with the bar. At least one of the first object or the second object can include metal, plastic, wood, rubber, glass, crystal, precious stones, fabric, or otherwise. The metal can include gold, silver, bronze or other precious or precious metal appearance. At least one of the first object or the second object can be rigid, flexible, resilient, flexible, or others. At least one of the first object or the second object can be solid, hollow, perforated, or others. At least one of the first object or the second object can be opaque, transparent, or translucent. At least one of the first object or the second object can be spherical, conical, cuboid, ovoid, pyramidal, or other geometric or non-geometric shape. At least one of the first object or the second object can host an exterior design to provide an appearance of a soccer ball, a watermelon, a tomato, a cartoon character, or others. At least one of the first object or the second object can include at least one of a projection or a depression, whether inward or outward. At least one of the first object or the second object can be less than about 5 inches, 4 inches, 3 inches, 2 inches, or 1 inch long along a longitudinal plane. At least one of the first object or the second object can be less than about 3 inches in cross-sectional diameter.

At least one of the first object or the second object can include a battery and a light source, a sound source, a fluid source, or a vibration source. The battery can be rechargeable or single-use. The battery can be a coin cell, a cylindrical battery, or others. The light source can include a light emitting diode (LED). The sound source can include a speaker. The fluid source can include a pump to output at least one of a liquid or a gas. The vibration source can include at least one of a transducer, an electric motor, or an actuator. In an embodiment, at least one of the first object or second object may include at least a portion that is translucent, semi-translucent, or define an opening, such that a light source disposed therein can be seen via the translucent, semi-translucent, or opening, and such that a sound source can be better heard.

At least one of the first object or the second object can be configured for use in at least one of a moist environment, a wet environment, or otherwise. For example, at least one of the first object or the second object can be used outdoors, camping, or underwater. For example, at least one of the first object or the second object can be used with rain, snow, mud, sand, or others. At least one of the first object or the second object can be coated with a non-stick coating to avoid dirt sticking thereto.

The jewelry item can be worn with a shoe including a plurality of eyelets. The shoe may further include a tongue. The shoe can include at least one of a right shoe, a left shoe, a male shoe, a female shoe, a child shoe, an orthopedic shoe, a sneaker, a dress shoe, a slipper shoe, a boot, a heeled shoe, a flat shoe, a water shoe, a swim fin shoe, or others. The eyelets can include a plurality of opposing shoelace eyelets, which can contain or avoid containing a shoelace when the shoe jewelry is inserted through the opposing eyelets. Alternatively, the bar or first or second objects may be configured to couple to the eyelets without the bar extending through the eyelets. The eyelets can horizontally oppose each other or diagonally oppose each other. The eyelets can be of any closed-shape, such as at least one of an O-shape, a D-shape, or others. The tongue extends between the eyelets. In an embodiment, the shoe jewelry can be configured to extend between offset opposing eyelets (e.g., offset by one or more spaces vertically along the direction of the tongue of the shoe.

The jewelry item can be worn with the shoe based on the bar extending through the eyelets such that the tongue is positioned between the first object and the second object while the tongue faces the bar. The first object and the second object are external of the shoe. The jewelry item may be loosely held within the eyelets, thereby not applying pressure against the jewelry or the objects at the ends of the jewelry. Alternatively some modest pressure may be applied from the foot to cause some minimal tension on the jewelry. In yet another embodiment, the jewelry may be constructed to be able to absorb some force applied to the jewelry without deforming or otherwise altering the shape of the bar.

Note that various terminology used herein can imply direct or indirect, full or partial, temporary or permanent, action or inaction. For example, when an element is referred to as being “on,” “connected,” or “coupled” to another element, then the element can be directly on, connected, or coupled to another element or intervening elements can be present, including indirect or direct variants. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, then there are no intervening elements present.

As used herein, various singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include various plural forms as well, unless specific context clearly indicates otherwise.

As used herein, various presence verbs “comprises,” “includes” or “comprising,” “including” when used in this specification, specify a presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or groups thereof.

As used herein, a term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of a set of natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances.

As used herein, a term “or others,” “combination”, “combinatory,” or “combinations thereof” refers to all permutations and combinations of listed items preceding that term. For example, “A, B, C, or combinations thereof” is intended to include at least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is important in a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB. Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations that contain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AB, BBC, AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. Skilled artisans understand that typically there is no limit on number of items or terms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

As used herein, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in an art to which this disclosure belongs. Various terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with a meaning in a context of a relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

As used herein, relative terms such as “below,” “lower,” “above,” and “upper” can be used herein to describe one element's relationship to another element as illustrated in the set of accompanying illustrative drawings. Such relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of illustrated technologies in addition to an orientation depicted in the set of accompanying illustrative drawings. For example, if a device in the set of accompanying illustrative drawings were turned over, then various elements described as being on a “lower” side of other elements would then be oriented on “upper” sides of other elements. Similarly, if a device in one of illustrative figures were turned over, then various elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements would then be oriented “above” other elements. Therefore, various example terms “below” and “lower” can encompass both an orientation of above and below.

As used herein, a term “about” or “substantially” refers to a +/−10% variation from a nominal value/term. Such variation is always included in any given value/term provided herein, whether or not such variation is specifically referred thereto.

Features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in or with various other embodiments in any permutational or combinatory manner. Different aspects or elements of example embodiments, as disclosed herein, may be combined in a similar manner.

Although the terms first, second, can be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers, or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers, or sections should not necessarily be limited by such terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer, or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer, or section without departing from various teachings of this disclosure.

Features described with respect to certain example embodiments can be combined and sub-combined in or with various other example embodiments. Also, different aspects or elements of example embodiments, as disclosed herein, can be combined and sub-combined in a similar manner as well. Further, some example embodiments, whether individually or collectively, can be components of a larger system, wherein other procedures can take precedence over or otherwise modify their application. Additionally, a number of steps can be required before, after, or concurrently with example embodiments, as disclosed herein. Note that any or all methods or processes, at least as disclosed herein, can be at least partially performed via at least one entity in any manner.

Example embodiments of this disclosure are described herein with reference to illustrations of idealized embodiments (and intermediate structures) of this disclosure. As such, variations from various illustrated shapes as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, various example embodiments of this disclosure should not be construed as necessarily limited to various particular shapes of regions illustrated herein, but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing.

Any or all elements, as disclosed herein, can be formed from a same, structurally continuous piece, such as being unitary, or be separately manufactured or connected, such as being an assembly or modules. Any or all elements, as disclosed herein, can be manufactured via any manufacturing processes, whether additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, or other any other types of manufacturing. For example, some manufacturing processes include three dimensional (3D) printing, laser cutting, computer numerical control routing, milling, pressing, stamping, vacuum forming, hydroforming, injection molding, lithography, and so forth.

Various corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in various claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Various embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain various principles of this disclosure and various practical applications thereof, and to enable others of ordinary skill in a pertinent art to understand this disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to a particular use contemplated.

This detailed description has been presented for various purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be fully exhaustive or limited to this disclosure in various forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations in techniques and structures will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in an art without departing from a scope and spirit of this disclosure as set forth in various claims that follow. Accordingly, such modifications and variations are contemplated as being a part of this disclosure. A scope of this disclosure is defined by various claims, which include known equivalents and unforeseeable equivalents at a time of filing of this disclosure.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A jewelry item comprising:

a bar having a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion;

a first decorative object secured to the first longitudinal end portion; and

a second decorative object secured to the second longitudinal end portion, wherein the bar spans between the first decorative object and the second decorative object, wherein the bar is configured to extend over a shoe having a first opening and a second opening such that the first opening is positionally adjacent to the first decorative object and the second opening is positionally adjacent to the second decorative object when the first opening opposes the second opening.

3. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is rectilinear between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

4. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is rigid between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

5. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is flexible between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

6. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is resilient between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

7. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is internally solid between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

8. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is internally hollow between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

9. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is perforated between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

10. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar includes a bend between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

11. The jewelry item of claim 10, wherein the bend is positioned centrally between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

12. The jewelry item of claim 10, wherein the bend is positioned off-center positioned between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

13. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar has a polygonal cross-section between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

14. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar has a circular cross-section or an oval cross-section between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

15. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar is coated with a non-stick coating between the first decorative object and the second decorative object.

16. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the first object is secured to the first longitudinal end portion or the second object is secured to the second longitudinal end portion via fastening, mating, interlocking, magnetizing, adhering, hook-and-looping, or snapping.

17. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the first object is secured to the first longitudinal end portion or the second object is secured to the second longitudinal end portion via being unitary therewith.

18. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the first object or the second object includes a light source, a sound source, a fluid source, or a vibration source.

19. The jewelry item of claim 2, wherein the bar includes metal, plastic, wood, rubber, glass, crystal, precious stone, or fabric.

20. A method comprising:

receiving a bar having a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion;

securing a first decorative object to the first longitudinal end portion;

securing a second decorative object secured to the second longitudinal end portion, wherein the bar spans between the first decorative object and the second decorative object;

causing the bar to extend over a shoe having a first opening and a second opening such that the first opening is positionally adjacent to the first decorative object and the second opening is positionally adjacent to the second decorative object when the first opening opposes the second opening.

21. A method comprising:

causing a receipt of a jewelry item including a bar, a first decorative object, and a second decorative object, wherein the bar has a first longitudinal end portion and a second longitudinal end portion, wherein the first decorative object is secured to the first longitudinal end portion, wherein the second decorative object is secured to the second longitudinal end portion, wherein the bar spans between the first decorative object and the second decorative object; and

causing the bar to extend over a shoe having a first opening and a second opening such that the first opening is positionally adjacent to the first decorative object and the second opening is positionally adjacent to the second decorative object when the first opening opposes the second opening.