Leg protector with adjustable foot and toe guard

Abstract

A catcher's leg protector having an adjustable foot and toe guard includes a shin guard for covering a wearer's shin, a foot and toe guard for covering a portion of a wearer's foot, and an adjustment mechanism for moving the foot and toe guard relative to the shin guard and locking the foot and toe guard in a fixed position. Various embodiments of the leg protector and associated method are provided.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] None. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] 1. Field of the Invention [0004] The present invention relates to protective sports equipment, and more particularly to catcher's leg protectors used in baseball and softball. Specifically, the present invention relates to catcher's leg protectors having attached foot and toe guards. [0005] 2. Description of Related Art [0006] In the games of baseball and softball, the catcher typically wears articles of protective equipment, including a chest protector and leg protectors. Leg protectors usually include padded guard units for protecting the catcher's thighs, knees, shins, calves, and feet and toes. Each individual guard unit typically comprises a rigid shell portion to provide protection against strikes from stray balls, with the rigid shell portion attached to a resilient padding backing to absorb the impact f...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The present invention is directed to a leg protector having an adjustable foot and toe guard. The foot and toe guard portion of the leg protector is movable with respect to the shin guard portion so that a linear distance between the foot and toe guard and the shin guard may be varied by the wearer. The adjustability of the spacing between the foot and toe guard and the shin guard allows a wearer to locate the foot and toe guard over any desired portion of their foot.

[0014] A semi-rigid adjustment strap extends from a lower edge of the shin guard portion to a foot and toe guard, the foot and toe guard also comprising a rigid shell with a resilient pad backing. The adjustment strap extends upwardly on the back side of the shin guard and into an adjustment mechanism mounted along the back side of the shin guard. Raised protrusions on a surface of the adjustment strap engage with a spring-biased lever on the adjustment mechanism. When engaged with the adjustment strap, the lever secures the adjustment strap in place, thus holding the foot and toe guard in a fixed position. Using the lever, the wearer can disengage the lever from the adjustment strap and move the adjustment strap linearly along the shin guard. Moving the adjustment strap in turn moves the attached foot and toe guard towards or away from the shin guard, allowing the wearer to position the foot and toe guard anywhere along his or her foot.

[0015] Thus, the adjustment mechanism allows a wearer to position the foot and toe guard anywhere along the foot as desired, and allows as single leg protector to be quickly and easily adjusted to different wearers, or to the preference of a single wearer.

Problems solved by technology

In either of these configurations, the spacing or distance between the foot and toe guard and the shin guard is fixed, and cannot be adjusted by the user.

Catchers of different sizes, or average-sized catchers who want the distance between the foot and toe guard and the shin guard changed, are unable to vary the spacing in this fixed configuration.

This fixed configuration is particularly undesirable in cases where a player needs to protect a specific area of his or her foot that has been injured, or otherwise needs extra protection.

Images