Lacing device for sports footwear

Abstract

An article of footwear provided to receive the user's foot and including a lacing device, the lacing device including a lace, at least two guides provided to enable a lace to slide relative thereto within a lacing zone, and a blocker capable of blocking relative movement of the lace, the blocker including a control member to unblock the lace. The article of footwear has an open position, facilitating insertion of the user's foot, and a tightened position firmly retaining the foot within the article of footwear. The switch from the open position to the tightened position is carried out via a traction on the lace, and the switch from the tightened position to the open position is carried out via a traction on the control member of the blocker.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of French Patent Application No. 05.01417, filed on Feb. 11, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The invention relates to sports footwear provided with a lacing device and including a lace blocker. [0004] 2. Description of Background and Relevant Information [0005] U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,928 discloses an article of footwear for an inline roller skate, including an upper provided with a lacing device which brings two panels of the lower portion of an upper closer to one another. Between the two panels is a tongue that extends from the front of the article of footwear up to the top of the footwear. Each of the two panels includes a plurality of keepers arranged in the lower portion only. The lacing device also includes a lace and a lace blocker. The lace blocker is fix...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] Advantageously, the footwear according to the invention includes means for removably fixing the blocker to the footwear, so that the footwear tightening and opening stages can be carried out with one hand, and so that the sub-assembly constituted by the lace and the blocker can be dismounted from the footwear without having to use a tool.

[0016] The object of the invention is also achieved with a footwear provided to receive the user's foot and including a lacing device that has at least two keepers provided to enable a lace to slide and a blocker capable of wedging the lace, the blocker including a blocking member that is movable inside a body, characterized in that the footwear includes means for removably fixing the blocker to the footwear, so that the footwear tightening and loosening stages can be carried out with one hand, and so that the lace / blocker sub-assembly can be dismounted of the footwear without using any tool.

Problems solved by technology

Fixing the lace blocker on the top of the tongue renders the device inefficient due to the distance that exists between the lace exit out of the lacing zone, in the area of the two panels of the lower portion of the upper, and the high position of the blocker.

A traction on the lace tends to bring the blocker closer to the guide, which results in bending the upper portion of the tongue.

If the tongue is stiffened to prevent bending, comfort is impaired.

However, they do affect the general extension of the lace, which is due to the elasticity inherent in the latter.

Furthermore, the permanent fixing of the blocker to the top of the tongue makes it very difficult to replace a broken lace, and even impossible to replace the blocker when it is damaged.

Moreover, the pressure that the user must exert on the button is not natural as it is substantially parallel to the tongue and directed upward of the tongue.

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