Footwear Cover

Abstract

A footwear cover arranged to receive footwear article therein comprises a sole portion, a toe portion and a heel portion. Each of the toe and heel portions comprises a vertical wall portion in which the toe portion further comprises an upper resilient portion extending inwardly to receive the toe of the footwear article thereunder and the heel portion further comprises a plurality of horizontal ridges extending inwardly to engage the heel of the footwear article. The ridges terminate at respective inner free edges lying in a generally common vertical plane.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 038,258, filed Mar. 20, 2008.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a footwear cover which can be readily placed over or removed from a shoe or boot without the use of hands for covering footwear instead of removing them, for example when entering an indoor residence from an outdoor location.BACKGROUND[0003]In various instances persons may be required to remove footwear when entering a home or building. Various health and safety regulations indicate that if there is a hazard of foot injury in a working environment, appropriate safety footwear that meets regulations is expected to be worn. This typically means steel toed work boots or shoes must be worn by various workers including for example delivery persons, electricians, plumbers, etc. Customers of the services provided by such workers, however, commonly insist that dirty or wet footwear be removed be...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]The cover according to the present invention is designed for safe and easy use. When stepped into, toe first, the rear binding will lock the boot into place when the foot heel is pressed down. This will allow the person to simply slide their dirty boot, or shoe, or other type of footwear into the sole to walk safely and cleanly while indoors.

[0016]By providing a heel portion which is more rigid than the toe portion, a user can insert the toe of the article of footwear into the toe portion of the cover first, followed by the heel of the article of footwear such that the more rigid heel portion is unlikely to collapse beneath the article of footwear stepping into the footwear cover, thus overcoming some of the disadvantages of the prior art. Furthermore by arranging the heel portion to have a substantially vertical inner surface which is textured for gripping the article of footwear, the article of footwear is more readily inserted into the heel portion, also reducing the occurrence of the heel portion collapsing beneath the article of footwear stepping into the footwear cover.

Problems solved by technology

This is difficult and unsafe when holding something heavy, i.e. a sofa or a stove.

As well, the bootie and galosh are slippery and not custom fit to allow easy and safe movement indoors.

When a user attempts to step into the shoe cover without the use of hands, the flexible nature of both the heel and toe portions typically results in one or both of the heel and toe collapsing under the shoe rather than receiving the shoe therein to be suitably retained on the shoe.

Insertion of a shoe into the cover is accordingly awkward and difficult to manage.

In further embodiments, a complex length adjustment mechanism is provided, however the heel and toe portions remain flexible with an undercut area therein to receive the sole of the shoe such that it is awkward to insert the shoe into the undercut area without collapsing the walls of the cover beneath the shoe.

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