Shoelace decoration

Abstract

A shoelace ornament has an upper body, a lower body and a hinge that hingedly couples the upper body to the lower body at one respective end of each of said upper body and lower body. A lock across the hinge serves to lock the upper body to the lower body. The upper body and the lower body define therebetween, when the ornament is in a closed position, a shoelace opening for the passage therethrough of a shoelace threaded through a footwear article. The shoelace opening is configured to receive the shoelace therein with just enough force to hold onto it, without excessively pinching or squeezing the shoelace between the upper and lower bodies, regardless of whether the shoelace is round bodied or flat bodied.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention is generally directed to clothing accessories and, more particularly, to decorative elements that are shaped and configured to be freely attached and dis-attached from shoelaces.[0002]A large body of prior art is directed to accessories that are used for attaching decorative or ornaments to shoelaces or to devices that grasp the tied, free ends of the shoelaces to prevent them from becoming untied.[0003]In general, one objective of the present invention is to provide decorative or ornamental elements that are freely and easily attachable and dis-attachable to and from shoelaces, holding onto but avoiding excessively pinching, squeezing or otherwise possibly harming the shoelaces, while simultaneously attaining a good and stable attachment of the ornament to the shoelace.[0004]The prior art is exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,094; 5,022,127; 8,782,860; 5,649,342; and 7,559,127. The prior art is also exemplified by U.S. Patent ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides easy to use ornaments for laced shoes that can be easily attached and dis-attached from a shoelace. The ornament mounting structure can interchangeably accommodate a large and variable selection of ornaments to meet different fashion needs that can vary daily or even over shorter time periods. The mounting portion for the ornament is made of two interconnecting parts, allowing changing the ornamental portion without unlacing the shoe.

Problems solved by technology

To the present inventors' knowledge, the known prior art does not meet the objective of stably grasping onto a threaded portion of the shoelace without pinching it and while being able to hold onto the shoelace stably and attractively.

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