Snowboard Boot Lacing System with Segmented Instep and Upper Tightening Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional snowboarding boots require significant strength and time to tighten, often leading to loosening of the toe portion when tightening the shin portion, making it difficult to achieve a secure fit.
Innovation Solution
The design features separate tightening means for the instep and upper openings, with a shoelace configuration that allows for simultaneous tightening by pulling a medial portion of the shoelace, which is supported by multiple lace support parts to minimize friction and enable easy adjustment, and a tongue member for guiding the shoelace to eliminate crossing and reduce resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional shoelaces are used to tighten footwear from instep to ankle, then the footwear can be tightened, but great strength and considerable time are required, and tightening the shin portion loosens the toe portion
Solution Approach 1:
The footwear is divided into multiple tightening zones (instep opening and upper opening) with separate tightening means for each zone. This allows independent adjustment of each section without affecting others, eliminating the problem where tightening one area loosens another. The segmentation enables localized tightening control.
Solution Approach 2:
A tongue member is introduced as an intermediary component that guides the shoelace and reduces friction. The tongue member includes a guide part that directs the shoelace path and support parts that minimize resistance, making the tightening operation easier and requiring less strength.
2Ease of operation
If conventional shoelaces are used to tighten footwear from instep to ankle, then the footwear can be tightened, but considerable time is required to tighten from toes to shin
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the tightening system into independent zones (instep and upper openings with separate tightening means), each zone can be tightened independently and simultaneously. This eliminates the sequential tightening process required in conventional systems, significantly reducing the time needed to achieve proper fit.
Solution Approach 2:
The shoelace is pre-configured with a specific routing path through the tongue member and around support parts that facilitates easy tightening. The tongue member guide parts are positioned to naturally direct the lace, preparing the path ahead of time and reducing the effort and time required during the actual tightening operation.
3Reliability
If separate tightening configurations are disposed for instep and shin portions, then loosening is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tongue member serves multiple functions: it guides the shoelace, provides structural support, reduces friction, and maintains the staggered configuration. By making the tongue member multi-functional, the need for additional separate components is reduced, maintaining reliability while controlling complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple functions (guiding, supporting, friction reduction) are merged into the single tongue member structure. This consolidation maintains the stability benefits of separate tightening zones while avoiding the complexity increase that would result from adding multiple independent components for each function.
4Ease of operation
If shoelace is threaded through tongue member and supported by multiple lace support parts, then friction and resistance are minimized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tongue member is designed to provide multiple support functions simultaneously - guiding the lace through guide parts and providing additional support through integrated support parts. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate support components, minimizing friction while controlling structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Support parts are strategically positioned at specific locations where friction and resistance are most problematic. Rather than uniformly supporting the entire lace length, support is provided locally at critical points (through the tongue member structure), reducing overall resistance while maintaining a simple design.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides footwear that is very easy to tighten. One end of a shoelace (6) is threaded between left to right sides in a staggered state through an instep opening (3A) to constitute tightening means (4) for the instep opening (3A), and the other end of the shoelace (6) is threaded between left to right sides in a staggered state through an upper opening (3B) to constitute tightening means (4) for the upper opening (3B). A medial portion of the shoelace (6) between the tightening means (4) for the instep opening (3A) and the upper opening (3B) forms a pull part (11), and tightened-state-holding means (12) is provided for holding the pull part (11) in a pulled state.