US3041746A - Attachment means for shoe heels - Google Patents

Description

July 3, 1962 J. M. RAKUS 3,041,746

ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR SHOE HEELS FIG. 2

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ATTORNEYS July 3, 1962 J. M. RAKUS 3,041,746 ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR SHOE HEELS Filed April 1, 1960 3 SheetsSheet 2 llll FIG,

INVENTOR JOZEF M. RAKUS ATTCRNEYS July 3, 1962 J. M. RAKUS 3,041,746

ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR SHOE HEELS Filed April 1, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 JOZEF M. RAKUS ATTORNEYS United rates atent @fifice 3,041,746 Patented July 3, 1962 3,041,746 ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR SHOE HEELS Jozef M. Rakns, P.0. Box 1749, Washington 13, D.C. Filed Apr. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 19,342 6 Claims. (Cl. 36-36) This invention relates to shoes generally, and more specifically to heels for shoes and the attachment structure for securing the same to said shoes.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a simplified structure for removably attaching a wear lift to a heel base on a shoe.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide an improved attaching structure for shoe heels whereby wear lifts from a pair of shoesmay be readily interchanged without necessitating the efforts of a skilled shoe repair craftsman.

A further object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive structure for removably attaching a heel wear lift to a shoe whereby an unskilled person may readily remove the wear lift from One shoe for interchangeable attachment with another shoe.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a supporting structure for a shoe heel including a suction cup which in operative position acts to retain the wear lift in engaging proximity with the heel base of an ordinary shoe.

A more specific object of this invention is torprovide a releasable suction cup connecting means for securing a wear lift to a heel base on a shoe whereby the suction cup may be made effective or ineffective in holding the lift in fixed position on the shoe by means of a simple secondary attachment including a threaded screw member.

Another object of this invention in a modified form thereof is to provide an arrangement for connecting a wear lift to a heel base in which the base engaging surface of the wear lift is formed as a suction cup to be secured against the lift by a secondary attachment element.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention resides in the following specification and appended claims, certain embodiments and details of construction of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view of a shoe illustrating the invention in sectioned side elevation;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the heel base of the shoe of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a wear lift for attachment to the shoe of FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the heel of FIGURE 3 taken along the lines 44 of FIGURE 3 with the attachment screw removed;

FIGURE 5 is a detailed sectioned view of the suction cup utilized for attaching the wear lift of FIGURE 3 to the heel base of FIGURE 2 as illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a sectioned fragmentary view in side elevation of a modified form of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a sectioned View taken along the lines 77 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary sectioned view in side elevation of a further modified form of the invention;

FIGURE 9 is a sectioned view taken along the lines 9-9 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a detailed view of the modified form of the invention of FIGURE 8 with the wear lift of the shoe removed from the shoe;

FIGURE 11 is' a perspective view of the wear lift applied to the modified form of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary, partially sectioned view in elevation of a further attaching means for a wear lift of this invention which may be applied to the forms of the invention of FIGURES l, 6 and 8;

FIGURE 13 is a sectioned view taken along the lines 13-13 of FIGURE 12;

FIGURE 14 is a sectioned view in side elevation of another form of the invention;

FIGURE 15 is an exploded view of the form of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 14; and

FIGURE 16 is a perspective view of the wear lift used in the invention of FIGURE 14.

Now with reference to FIGURE 1 a shoe 1 is illustrated in fragmentary form with an insole 2 under which is usually mounted a layer of felt, cork or the like 3, a sole member of leather 4, and a heel, base 5 to which is attached a rubber wear lift 6. As illustrated in FIGURE 1 the sole member of the shoe is tapped at 7' and recessed at 8 to'receive the flange of a retaining tubular member 9 which extends through the sole and downwardly therefrom. The member 9 is interiorly and exteriorly threaded at It) and 11 respectively. A suction cup 12 having a tapped central opening 13 of somewhat smaller diameter than the external thread diameter of the member 9 is provided, whereby, upon screwing the suction cup 12 onto the exterior threads 11 of the member 9, a firm sealed connection will be had, and the suction cup may be screwed firmly against the bottom of the sole member 4 as is illustrated in FIGURE 1. The heel base 5 is provided with a stud 14 which is utilized for alignment purposes of the wear lift 6 on the lift. The stud 14 is received in a recess 15 in the wear lift, thereby preventing the lift 6 from rotating about the axis of the connecting member 9. With reference to FIGURES 3 and 4 it will be noted that the lift 6 is undercut at 16 to provide a locking cavity for the peripheral edge '17 of the suction cup 12.

In attaching the lift 6 to the base 5, the lift is placed firmly against the edge 17 of the suction cup :12 and is forced by hand pressure so that the suction cup will tend to spread into the cavity 16. At this point an attaching screw 18 having an extremely large head surface area 19 is directed through the opening 20 of the lift and into threaded engagement with the threads it} of the member 9. Lift 6 is provided with an arcuate recess 21 to accommodate the head 19 of screw 18. By utilizing a coin or a screw driver a few pounds additional pressure may be exerted by the screw 18 to prevent separation of the suction cup from the inner surface of the lift. The screw performs two functions. It primarily seals off the central area of the suction cup, since the screw diameter is greater than the diameter of lift opening 20, and secondarily provides an additional attachment element for the lift 6 to the base 5. The primary attachment member is the suction cup and not the screw member 18. In other words the suction cup 12 efiects a holding action over a substantial, recessed, interior area of the lift. That is, the suction cup 12. is not merely holding the wear lift at the central point where the screw is located. In other words the screw is primarily a sealing means for the suction cup device and secondarily is an attachment element for lift 6.

Now with reference to FIGURES 6 and 7 there is illustrated a modified form in which the prime difference over the form of FIGURE 1 is in the design of the suction cup member itself. It will be readily seen that the suction cup 22, instead of terminating in an upper planar surface as in FIGURE 5, is provided with a laterally extending lip area 23 which is super'imposed upon the inner surface of the sole member 24 and may be affixed thereto as by an adhesive or stitching or any other manner common in the shoe art. The insole 25 of the shoe 26 overlies the upper surface of the suction cup 22. The l wer extremity portion of the suction cup 22 is not unlike the suction cup of FIGURE 5 in that it has an outwardly extending lip area 27 which engages in a recessed portion 28 of a wear lift 29, whereby upon compression of the lift 29 against the suction cup the cup will be spread in the usual manner to interengage with the recess 28 of the lift 29 so that an effective suction cup holding arrangement is had over the entire inner surface of the lift 29.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 6 and 7 the suction cup 22 is provided with an internally molded or placed nut 30 which is internally threaded to receive an attachment and sealing screw 31 of a type similar to screw 18 of FIGURE 1. The form of FIGURES 6 and 7 is furtheir provided with an anchoring stud 32. The head 33 of the stud is illustrated as being molded into the formation of the heel base 34, while the pronged nose portion 35 thereof is forced into the material of the lift 29 upon assembly of the heel to the shoe. The purpose of the member 32 is identical with that of the member 14 in the embodiment of FIGURE 2. That is, the prime purpose of member 32 is to prevent the wear lift from rotating about the axis of attachment screw 31. The lift 29 is assembled to the heel base 34 of shoe 26 in the same manner as in the form of FIGURE 1. The secondary attachment screw Blextends through an opening at the base of a lift recess 36 to engage nut 30 and simultaneously functions to seal the suction area below cup 22.

With reference to the form of the invention in FIG- URES 8, 9 and it will be noted that a tubular attachment member 37 extends completely through a suction cup 38 and is provided with internal threads 39 to receive the threaded shank 40 of an attachment screw 41. The upper end 42 of the tube 37 is flared outwardly to engage and be secured to as by welding a plate member 43 having substantial area. The plate member 43 engages upon the upper surface of the sole member 44 whereby to retain the tubular member 37 from moving outwardly from the sole member. In this position therefore the suction cup 38 is afiixed to the bottom of the sole member 44 by the tubular member 37. The member 37 is provided with an enlarged head 45 to engage and hold the under surface of the cup 38. Then upon assembly the wear lift 46 is pressed against the suction cup 38 until the cup is substantially flattened against the surface of lift recess 47 at which point the screw member 41 is threaded into the tubular member 37 to retain the assembly in the set position. AlsO, as in the forms of the invention above, the screw member 41 acting with the surrounding rubber of the lift 46 at the tapped portion thereof prevents leakage or a vacuum break of the suction of the suction cup 38. Furthermore the wear lift 46 is provided with a recess 48 to accommodate the head of screw 41. Also, to preclude possible damage to the material of the heel with subsequent leakage about the threaded shank 40 of screw 41, a plate 49 is utilized whereby the pressures exerted on the heel material by the threaded connection are distributed over a substan tial area.

It is to be noted that the modification of FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 describes a somewhat different type of heel base 50 having a recess 51 adjacent its periphery to receive the upstanding rim 52 of the lift 46. Thus upon assembly the rim 52 seats in the recess 51 to provide a firm seating arrangement when the suction cup force is applied to the inner surface of the lift. The heel base 50 is provided with a central opening 53 so that the upper portion of suction cup 38 may be drawn into firm clamped engagement with the bottom of sole 44. A rubber seal 54 having a nipple 55 engaging with and sealing the upper end of member 37 is positioned between the insole 56 and the sole 44 of shoe 57. Any suction break along the threaded connection between the members 37 and 40 is thereby precluded.

Now with reference to FIGURE 11 there is illustrated an elliptical wear lift which is particularly adaptable to that form shown in FIGURES 8, 9 and 10. However, it is obvious that the elliptical lift 58 could be applied to any one of the forms of the invention. The advantage of the elliptical form is that any one of the four corners of the ellipse could be utilized by an individual when switching from a worn heel area to another lift area. Therefore, instead of a dual usage lift such as that of FIGURE 1, one may have a quadruple usage lift arrangement in his shoe. In other words a person could actually utilize four surface areas on one lift prior to having to throw the lift away, by merely releasing the suction cup connection and rotating the lift relative to a heel base to any one of three other positions. With a circular lift, infinite positions of adjustment are available.

Now with regard to FIGURES l2 and '13 the attachment means illustrated, namely that of the suction cup and the retaining screw in each of the forms illustrated, it may be desirable adjacent the peripheral edge of a lift to provide a releasable wire attachment clamping device. The clamping device may comprise a pair of substantially contacting wire members 59 and 59' running horizontally around in the lift member adjacent to the edge thereof and forced into contact with each other by the pressure of the rubber in the heel 60. The wear lift 60 in attachment to a heel base 61 would then be obtained by having a headed stud member 62 with an enlarged or knob type head member 63, engage, separate and clamp under the spread wires 59 and 59 as illustrated in FIGURE 12. The member 62 would be provided with a retaining head 64 to prevent removal from the heel base 61. Obviously this feature would normally be accomplished during the manufacture of the heel plate.

Referring now to the modified form of FIGURES 14, 15 and 16 a shoe 65 is illustrated as having a sole 66 and a heel base 67. The base 67 is recessed at 68 to receive the enlarged head 69 of threaded stud 70. The stud 70 projects through the base 67 and an opening 71 in a wear lift '72. The opening 71 is of slightly smaller diameter than the stud 70 so that material of the lift '72 is compressed about the stud to effect a seal during assembly of the lift on the base. In contrast to the other forms of the invention, no separate suction cup is utilized. Instead the lift 72 is formed as shown in FIGURE 15 with an inverted conical recess 73, and will provide a suction producing means. A cap 74 engages the threaded stud 70 and will perform the dual function of being a secondary attachment and a suction break preventative. Thus during assembly the recess 73 will be flattened against the base 67 with the peripheral edge 75 of the lift 72 engaging and sealing against the base surface. Placing the cap 74 on the stud 76 will prevent the possibility of suction break, and therefore the lift 72 will be held against lift 67 primarily by the depressed pressure condition between the base 67 and the lift 72. The recess 76 in lift 72 for cap 74 is vented by a passage 77 to prevent a suction cup effect between the lift and the ground surface. The lift 72 which may take any suitable geometrical form is prevented from rotation relative to the base 67 by pointed studs 78 imbedded in the base and projecting therefrom to protrude into the upper surface of the lift 72.

With a lift run down at the wear area, a persons walking is hampered to a degree, and of course it is desirable to keep the lift area in good condition. This invention permits a person to switch the lift of the right shoe to the heel base of the left shoe, or if he is able to rotate the device to a different wear area by utilizing the elliptical form of FIGURE 11, with one simple attachment means as illustrated by all of the forms. With the one attachment means a person would be more likely to attempt to repair a pair of shoes himself rather than take them to a shoemaker as is the present case. In other words the entire attachment by means of the suction cup and stud makes it possible fora person to repair or replace his own lifts, adjust their position, and save repair bills.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the shoe art that the invention may be subject to other structural modifications well within the purview of this invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a shoe heel construction for attachment to an upper shoe body the invention which comprises a wear lift, said lift having a recessed area in its upper surface with an inwardly extending lip extending around the opening to said recess, a heel base, a suction cup having a downwardly and outwardly flared lip portion for interengagement with the recess under the lip portion of the lift, means to secure the suction cup through the heel base to the shoe body, whereby said lift is secured to said heel base upon the creation of the decreased pressure zone between the suction cup and the interior of said wear lift, and releasable means extending through the lift and interengaging with the suction cup whereby to selectively retain or break the suction of said suction cup.

2. In a shoe heel construction for attachment to an upper shoe body portion, the invention which comprises a suction cup, said suction cup having an upper flanged portion interengaged with the shoe body portion for retention thereby and having a downwardly and an outwardly flared suction portion, a wear lift for securement to said shoe body, said heel having a recessed upper surface portion for interengagement with the suction cup member, and attachment means extending through the lift for interengagernent with the suction cup to selectively hold or break the vacuum in said suction cup.

3. In a shoe heel construction for attachment to an upper shoe body including a heel base, the invention which comprises a suction cup member, said suction cup member having an upper portion of a flanged character to interengage with the body of a shoe whereby to retain the suction member to the shoe, and said suction cup having a downwardly and outwardly flared suction portion, a wear lift having a recessed upper surface area for interengagement with the downwardly flared portion of the suction cup, a threaded nut attachment means embedded in the body of the suction cup member, and an attachment means extending through the wear lift and into the suction cup member for in-terengagement with the threaded nut whereby to selectively and effectively hold'or break the suction of the suction portion of the suction member, and respectively hold the wear lift against the heel base or release the lift from the base.

4. A shoe heel construction for attachment to an upper shoe body including a heel base, the invention which comprises a wear lift, said lift having a recessed upper surface to form a suction producing means, and means extending between the lift and the base to releasably hold the lift against the heel base so as to prevent a break of the suction produced upon deforming the lift into full surface engagement with the base.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein the releasable holding means comprises a pair of interconnecting threaded members.

6. A shoe heel construction for attachment to an upper shoe body, including a heel base, the invention which comprises a wear lift with a central opening, said lift having a recessed upper surface to form a suction producing means, a threaded stud extending downwardly through the heel base and through the opening of the wear lift, said stud being of sufficient diameter to compress the material of the lift about the opening and a sealing cap threaded upon the end of the stud below the lift to releasably hold the lift against the heel base so as to prevent a break of the suction produced upon deforming the lift into full surface engagement with the base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,387,976 Goodman Aug. 16, 1921 1,407,506 Winter Feb. 21, 1922 2,121,353 Hustad June 21, 1938 2,122,108 Modlin June 28, 1938 2,234,542 Anderson Mar. 11, 1941 2,421,792 Levine June 10, 1947 2,440,404 Johansson Apr. 27, 1948 2,441,828 McLennan May 18, 1948 2,738,599 Phillips Mar. 20, 1956

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