US2009330A - Shoe string - Google Patents

Description

Y my 23, .1935. J, E. TATE 2,009,330

SHOE STRING Filed Jan.- 9, 1954 nurntnr Patented July 23, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE STRING James E. Tate, Middleton, Ga. Application January 9, 1934, Serial No. '705,939

1 Claim.

The ends of a shoe string often become entangled with the loops or bows of the bow knot of the string, a hard knot resulting. The present invention aims to avoid this, specifically by providing a shoe string with detachably interengaged means for uniting the ends of the shoe string.

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a shoe to which the device has been applied, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the interengaged parts of the shoe string, Fig. 3 is a cross section of the sructure shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a cross section showing a modification.

The numeral I marks a shoe provided with eye lets 2 through which a shoe string 3 is laced at 4, the shoe string being knotted at 5 to form bows 6 having end portions 'I which generally are free and likely to become entangled in the bows 6.

In the present invention, a rst tip 8 of tubular form, and made of metal or any other suitable substance is placed on one end portion 'I of the shoe string, the tip terminating in a tubular socket 9 having an internal circumferential seat IIJ. A second tubular tip II is mounted on the other end portion 'I of the shoe string and terminates in a tapered plug I2 having an outstanding circumferential rib I4. The tips 8 and II are small enough so that they can be inserted through the shoe eyelets 2 in the usual way. The tips 8 and II are held on the end portions 'i of the shoe string 3 in any desired way, for instance by means of indentations I5. The socket 9 preferably is split longitudinally, as at I6, to enhance its resiliency.

The tapered plug I2 is inserted into the socket 9, the rib I4 on the plug engages in the seat I0 oic the socket, the ends of the shoe string are detachably united, and the said ends cannot become entangled with the bows B.

In Fig. 4, the socket is shown at I'I and the plug at I8, the socket being split longitudinally at 2l. The modification consists in replacing the circumferential rib I4 of Fig. 2 with a boss I9 adapted to engage in a correspondingly shaped seat 20 on the socket I1.

The indentations l5 havea double function. They engage the end portions 1 of the shoe string, and hold the end portions of the shoe string in the tips 8 and Il, respectively. 'I'he rindentations I5 have another function, in that they roughen the outer surface of each of the tips 8 and Il, and enable an operator to secure a firm hold thereon, whilst the plug I2 is being inserted into the socket 9. The internal circumferential groove I0 of the socket 9 has a double function, in that it cooperates with the projection or rib I4 of the plug I2 to hold the plug in' the socket 9, and in that the said groove forms an external circumferential rib on the socket 9, which cooperates with the indentations of the tip 8 to enhance the hold of the operator thereon. 15

I claim:

In a device of the class described, a first tubular tip terminating at its inner end in a resilient tubular socket, `a second tubular tip terminating at its inner end in a plug which is shaped to lit closely in the socket, and a shoe string having its ends inserted into the outer ends of the tips, the tips having indentations spaced longitudinally of the device, from the socket and from the plug and external thereto, the indentations havingr a 2D `double function, in that they engage the ends oi the shoe string and hold them in the tips, and in that the indentations roughen the outer surface of each tip and enable an operator to secure n a firm hold thereon, whilst the plug is being "0 inserted into the socket, the plug being provided with an external transverse projection, and the socket being provided with an internal circumferential groove receiving the projection, the groove having a double function, in that it cooperates with the projection, to hold the plug in the socket, and in that it forms an external circumferential rib on the socket, which cooperates with the said indentations of the first tip to enhance the hold of an operator thereon.

JAMES E. TATE.

Images