WO2004073440A1

WO2004073440A1 - Fixing device for shoe lace

Info

Publication number: WO2004073440A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001130
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyun-Soo Kim
Original assignee: Hyun-Soo Kim
Priority date: 2003-02-22
Filing date: 2003-06-09
Publication date: 2004-09-02
Also published as: KR200313808Y1; AU2003232678A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a fixing device for a shoe lace that can adjust and fix the lace at a desired position in an easy and convenient manner to fit a user's feet after he or she has worn his or her shoes, without having any tight knot of both end portions of the lace. A rotary plate 7 is supported upwardly on a body 4 fixed on an upper 3 of a shoe 2 by means of an elastic member 8 that is formed integrally with the body 4. Therefore, the fixing device 1 allows the shoe lace to be kept at the state of appropriate tightness or looseness in a simple manner, without having any knot of both ends of the lace.

Description

FIXING DEVICE FOR SHOE LACE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a fixing device for a shoe lace, and more particularly, to a fixing device for a shoe lace that can adjust and fix the lace at a desired position in an easy and convenient manner to fit a user' s feet after he or she has worn his or her shoes, without having any tight knot of both end portions of the lace.

Background Art

Most of shoes are provided with a plurality of eyelets through which the lace is threaded and adjusted, on the uppers thereof, such that the lace is appropriately tightened and tied to each other to provide a proper tightness to a user.

However, the shoe lace should be adjusted and tied whenever the user puts on his or her shoes. Moreover, there is a possibility that the lace may be untied when he or her walks or runs, which causes him or her to trip over the lace.

In order to remove the above-mentioned inconveniences, recently, there are provided some devices for fixing the shoe lace, but they are separately made from the shoes, so that they are likely to be lost. Also, the devices are made in a complicated manner, and it is also difficult to match their size to that of the shoes, which absolutely prevents them from being put into practice use.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fixing device for a shoe lace that is made in such a relatively small size that it is tightly fixed on the upper of the shoe, without any separation from the shoe, and is configured in a substantially simple manner.

To accomplish the above abject, according to a primary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fixing device for a lace of a shoe, comprising: a body being in a generally " shape, said body provided with a fixing projection adapted to be sewn on an upper of said shoe, on the outer periphery thereof, and with shaft holes formed on the side walls thereof, for inserting both side pins of a rotary plate therethrough; and said rotary plate provided on the rear portion with a protruded part that is inserted into an ascending hole formed on the rear portion of said body, provided on the lower portion with an elastic member that is formed integrally with said body for the purpose of supporting upwardly said rotary plate, and provided on the front portion with a fixing projection with which an inclined face on the upper portion of a lace entering hole of said body comes in contact, such that said lace inserted into said lace entering hole gets fixed between said fixing projection and said inclined face.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the fixing device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the use example of the fixing device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the fixing device in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 6.

Best mode for Carrying Out the Invention Now, an explanation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings .

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the fixing device in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the use example of the fixing device in FIG. 1.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, a fixing device 1 for the lace of a shoe 2 includes a body 4 that takes a generally " " shape, the body 4 provided with a fixing projection 5 adapted to be sewn on an upper 3 of the shoe 2, on the outer periphery thereof, and with shaft holes 4a formed on the side walls thereof, for inserting both pins 6 of a rotary plate 7 therethrough. The rotary plate 7 is provided on the rear portion with a protruded part 7a that is inserted into an ascending hole 4b formed on the rear portion of the body 4 and on the lower portion with an elastic member 8 that is formed integrally with the body 4 for the purpose of supporting upwardly the rotary plate 7. The fixing projection 5 is preferably provided with a sewing line 5a that is adapted for the purpose of achieving easiness of the sewing on the upper 3 of the shoe 2.

Furthermore, the rotary plate 7 is provided with a fixing projection 7b that has a generally arc-like end portion, with which the inclined face 10 on the upper portion of a lace entering hole 9 of the body 4 comes in contact, such that the lace 11 inserted into the lace entering hole 9 gets fixed between the fixed projection 7b and the inclined face 10.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the fixing device in FIG. 4. According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe 2 includes the body 4 that is provided on the rear portion with a fixing projection 5' having a coupling hole 5b fixed by means of a rivet 12 on the upper 3 of the shoe 2, and a rotary plate 1 ' that is made of a metal plate, assembled with the body 4, the rotary plate 7' having an elastic member 8' disposed between the lower portion of the rear side thereof and the body 4, the elastic member 8' bent in such a manner as to be integral with the rotary plate 7', with a result that the rotary plate 1 ' is supported upwardly by the elastic member 8' .

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a fixing device for a shoe lace according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 6. According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe 2 includes a reentrant groove 13 that is formed on the edge portions of both sides of the inclined face 10 on the top side of the lace entering hole 9, respectively, and guide protrusions 14 that are formed opposed to each other on the margins of the lower portion of the fixing projection 7b, such that the formation of the reentrant grooves 13 and the guide protrusions 14 prevents the lace 11 from being moved only toward the one side of the lace entering hole 9 of the body 4.

A reference numeral 15 denotes a plurality of eyelets that are formed on the upper 3 of the shoe 2.

Now, an explanation of an operation of the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe will be given. As shown in FIG. 3, the top side eyelet 15 on the upper 3 of the shoe 2 and the lace entering hole 9 on the body 4 are sewn or riveted to correspond with each other by using the fixing projection 5 or 5' that is formed on the body 4. In such a typical manner, then, the lace 11 is tightened, and the end portion of the lace 11 is finally coupled to the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe according to the present invention. After that, once the lace 11 is pulled, it is desirably fixed.

In more detail, the lace 11 that has been inserted through the lace entering hole 9 of the body 4 of the fixing device 1 is exposed between the front fixing projection 7b of the rotary plate 7 or 7' and the inclined face 10 of the body 4, and at that time, if the end portion of the exposed lace 11 is held to pull upwardly by the user's hand, the rotary plate 7 or 7' rotates around the pin 6. The moment the holding force with respect to the lace 11 is released, the rotary plate 7 or 7' rotates upwardly by means of the operation of the elastic member 8 or 8' . At that time, the fixing projection 7b supplies a substantially strong force to the inclined face 10, thereby allowing the lace 11 to be appropriately fixed.

If the lace 11 that has been once fixed is to be loosely untightened, the rear portion of the rotary plate 7 or 7' is just depressed. At that time, the fixing projection 7b is raised upwardly, with a consequence that the lace 11 that has been disposed between the fixing projection 7b and the inclined face 10 is freely moved, thereby allowing the lace 11 to be kept at the state of an appropriate looseness. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, on the other hand, the formation of the reentrant groove 13 on the edge portions of both sides of the inclined face 10 avoids the movement of the lace 11 toward the only one side of the lace entering hole 9, when the lace 11 is pulled, thereby preventing the fixing projection 7b from being raised upwardly. This enables the lace 11 to stay tightened. Furthermore, the formation of the guide protrusions 14 on the lower portion of the fixing projection 7b enables the lace 11 to be guided to the center position of the fixing projection 7b, thereby preventing the lace 11 from being deviated.

Industrial applicability

As set forth in the foregoing, the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention is configured in such a manner that the rotary plate 7 is supported upwardly on the body 4 fixed on the upper 3 of the shoe 2 by means of the elastic member 8 that is formed integrally with the body 4. Therefore, the fixing device 1 for the lace of the shoe is made in a substantially simple manner and at a relatively low cost. In addition, the fixing device 1 is capable of allowing the lace to be kept at the state of appropriate tightness/looseness in a simple manner, without having any knot of both ends of the lace 11. While the present invention has been described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. A fixing device (1) for a lace (11) of a shoe (2), comprising: a body (4) being in a generally " " shape, said body provided with a fixing projection (5) adapted to be sewn on an upper (3) of said shoe (2) , on the outer periphery thereof, and with shaft holes (4a) formed on the side walls thereof, for inserting both side pins (6) of a rotary plate (7) therethrough; and said rotary plate (7) provided on the rear portion with a protruded part (7a) that is inserted into an ascending hole (4b) formed on the rear portion of said body

(4), provided on the lower portion with an elastic member (8) that is formed integrally with said body (4) for the purpose of supporting upwardly said rotary plate (7), and provided on the front portion with a fixing projection 7b with which an inclined face (10) on the upper portion of a lace entering hole (9) of said body (4) comes in contact, such that said lace (11) inserted into said lace entering hole (9) gets fixed between said fixing projection (7b) and said inclined face (10) .

2. The fixing device for the lace of the shoe according to claim 1, wherein said shaft holes 4a of said body (4) are assembled with a metal rotary plate (7') that has said both side pins (6), and between the lower portion of the rear side of said rotary plate (7') and said body

(4) is provided an elastic member (8') that is bent integrally with said rotary plate (7'), such that said rotary plate (7') is supported upwardly.

3. The fixing device for the lace of the shoe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said body (4) is provided on the rear portion with a fixing projection (5') having a coupling hole (5b) fixed by means of a rivet (12) on said upper (3) of said shoe (2) .

4. The fixing device for the lace of the shoe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said inclined face (10) is provided with a generally arch-like reentrant groove (13) that is formed on the edge portions of both sides thereof, respectively, such that said fixing projection (7b) is not raised by means of said lace (11) when pulled.

5. The fixing device for the lace of the shoe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said fixing projection (7b) is provided with guide protrusions (14) that are formed opposed to each other on the margins of the lower portion thereof, such that said fixing projection (7b) is not raised by means of said lace (11) when pulled.