Bow retainer clips for shoes

Abstract

Standard bow knots—which are favored on lace-up shoes—are prone to come untied. The latter is both an inconvenience and a safety issue. But no bow knot can come untied until one end of the bow has passed back through the loosened knot. The present bow retainer clips are unitary, bent wire, spring clips which fit through the upper grommets of lace-up shoes. Such clips have recesses which are aligned with a row of grommets on either the left or right side of a shoe. While the bow knot is being tied, one or both halves of the bow on either side of the knot are inserted under the clip. The wire of the latter will indent and grip the shoelace so as to make it difficult or impossible for such to be pulled back through the knot. But by deliberately removing the bow portions from under the bow retaining clips, the bows can be untied in a conventional manner. These functional bow retainer clips are small and decorative, and can be used as attachment points for jewelry charms, if desired.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Lace-up shoes have the utility of providing adjustable fit, and a secure retention of the shoes on the feet, through the use of an easy-to-tie bow knot. The latter bow knot is easy to untie, as well, to facilitate removing the shoes. Unfortunately, conventional bow knots are prone to untying themselves—sometimes several times a day—during the stress cycles of normal walking. The most securely tied bow knots may cause the shoes to constrict blood circulation in the feet. Much of the desirable adjustability in the tightness of the fit of shoes is lost, simply to try to make the bow knots secure enough not to keep coming untied.[0002]The present invention is a simple wire clip, or clips, fitted through the top grommets of lace-up shoes to serve to grip and hold from one to three of the lace portions which extend from each side of a conventional bow knot. In order for a bow knot to be untied, or to untie itself, at least three of the six lace portions wh...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]The present disclosure describes two types of bow retainer clips. Both are made of either plated spring steel, or other springy wire; or made of vinyl coated wire in various colors. Retainer clip Type One has two side-by-side wire portions which are exposed to view when installed. There are two out-of-sight, looped end portions which are located between the tongue of the shoes and the adjacent sides of the shoes. During the installation of the clips, the shoe laces are threaded through one, or both, of those looped ends to help to maintain the exposed portion of the clips in a neat and straight alignment.

[0007]Bow retainer clips Type Two have just a single strand of bent wire exposed to view. But such has two bow retention areas—a lower and an upper. Either of those can retain three bow portions. But bows retained in a group are not as conventional looking nor attractive. Type Two bow retainer clips will function perfectly well with just one of the three bow portions retained. But by using both the upper and the lower clip areas, the fit of the clip on the bows is made much tighter and more secure. A single strand of wire will bite into the laces more tightly for better retention.

[0009]A final and important functional aspect of both clip types is that the laces are wedged more tightly in those grommets which have the wires threaded through. That extra tightness can reduce the tendency of the bow knots to come untied. But the clips themselves must be correctly utilized in order to have the most secure bows.

Problems solved by technology

But bows retained in a group are not as conventional looking nor attractive.

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