US2201746A - Packing support for shoes - Google Patents

Description

y 1940- T- SPENCER 2,201,746

PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES Filed July 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 21, 1940.. 'r. SPENCER 2,201,746

PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES Filed July 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 6. Fig 5.

Patented May 21, 1940 OFFICE 3" TENT PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES Thomas Spencer, Waterfoot, Rosscndale, England Application July 13, 1938, Serial No. 219,886 In Great Britain May 12, 1938 2 Claims.

With shoes, slippers, sandals, galoshes and the like footwear and in particular ladies shoes, slippers and sandals having comparatively flexible uppers it is desirable to support the shoe internally for packing purposes to prevent the uppers becoming creased or crushed out of shape and also to give a neat finished appearance for display purposes. The principal object of the present invention is to provide a new or improved simple and efficient collapsible supporting device for the interior of shoes which can be produced at a comparatively w cost.

According to the present invention removable and collapsible internal supports for shoes, slippers, sandals, galoshes and the like footwear, adapted to maintain the shape of the uppers for packing and display purposes and when the shoe or the like is not in use comprises a flat strip of flexible material such as paper, cardboard, millboard, fibre board, sheet celluloid or metal or the like of a shape such that the ends of the strip can be joined to form a continuous band of approximately the same shape as the shoe in plan and outline. The ends of the strip are adapted to overlap, the overlapping ends being provided with interengaging or interlocking parts to form the joint usually located at the front but which may be located at the back or other convenient point the configuration of the blank being shaped 3O accordingly.

The lower edge which is preferably shaped to conform to the periphery of the sole when in position and inasmuch as the inside edge of the waist and sole is of different conformature to the outside edge of the waist and the sole, particularly at the waist it would then necessitate a corresponding protuberance on the bottom edge to follow the conformature of the inside edge of the waist to obtain the desired support without distorting the shoe but it is found in practice that the same blank can be used for both. the right and left hand shoe or the like by folding it on opposite sides.

The blank may be shaped to leave an opening at the toe and/or other desired part according to the shape of the footwear to which it is to be applied or to facilitate insertion and tongues may be slit therein which can be pushed out to support loose straps and it is to be understood that such tongues or the like may be formed at any desired part of the blank to engage the underside of any openwork part of a shoe, sandal or the like. The invention will be more particularly described by the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference letters or characters refer to the same thing or part throughout the several views and in which:

Figure 1 is plan of a form of a shoe support constructed according to the invention in the collapsed state of which Figure 2 is an edge view while Figure 3 shows the support set up for use and Figure 4 shows the set up support applied to a ladies shoe. I

Figures 5 and 6 are views corresponding to Fig- 4 ure 1 and 2 respectively showing a form of support for use with sandals.

Figure 7 shows said support in the set up position and Figure 8 illustrates the same applied to a sandal.

In carrying the invention into eiiect according to one convenient manner as illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 and as adapted to form a packing medium for ladies shoes of the court type having a somewhat flexible top of fabric, leather or other material, a blank a of paper, millboard, leather board, fibre board, or the like flexible material is out out to a shape in plan to follow the internal contour of the shoes b that is to say with an arched centre portion a and the two ends, which overlap to form the toe, curved upwardly, one end a being formed with an interlocking tongue b or tongues to enter a slot 0 or slots arranged near the other end a The outline of the top and bottom edges a and a respectively are such that when the ends a a are joined as shown in Figure 3 the folded blank conforms exactly to the interior of the shoe, the midportion a being raised to correspond with the heel, the top edge a sloping to the front of the toe cap while the bottom edge a conforms to the shape of the inner edge of the'sole when in position.

As said shoe sole including the waist differ in shape on opposite sides the opposite sides of the blank are shaped accordingly, it usually being necessary to form a protuberance such as a to fit the waist of the sole on the straight side but inasmuch as the comparatively straight edge of each pair of shoes, right and left hand, are on opposite edges of the shoes comparing the same relatively to each other in position for use, then the same shaped blank can be used for both shoes of a pair by turning them about opposite sides.

With openworkshoes or shoes, sandals and the like of strap like formation tongues can be slotted out of the blank at the back, sides or other desired parts so that said tongues can be pressed out to support the strap or other relatively loose part of the shoe upper, such an arrangement being illustrated in Figures 5 to 8 which show a form of packing medium or support for use with sandals. The blank (1 is shaped to form an open toe g as seen in Figures 7 and 8 by removing the extremities to form approximately square ends e, e and shaping the top edge 1 to conform approximately to the open part of openwork sandals. The arch h formed by the blank a when set up or assembled as seen in Figure '7 supports the instep strip or strap 1' of the sandal is, leaving the toe open and a tongue 1 is formed in the middle of the blank by slitting the sheet material, which can be pressed out to support the heel strap m as clearly seen in Figure 8, the ankle strap n then being buckled over the raised sides of the support so that all the straps are firmly supported in the operative position for packing and display purposes and cannot be crushed or creased. The bottom edge of the blank is shaped to conform to the perimeter of the sandal sole in like manner to the shoe support described above.

It is to be understood that the contour of the upper edge of the blank may be varied to suit sandals having differently arranged straps or shoes of any openwork design and one or more supporting tongues provided at any desired point or points thereon. Furthermore such open toe formation facilitates the use of the same size support being used to support the uppers of diiferent sized shoes.

It is to be understood that the blanks may be formed not only of millboard or other fibre board but they may be formed of sheet Celluloid, sheet metal or the like and said blanks may be each formed with one or more slots 0 two being shown in Figure 1 to receive the tongues b or with other detachable connections to allow variation in size, within predetermined limits, of the set up support. When the supports are formed of comparatively stout material and particularly in the case of sheet Celluloid or metal the shape may be varied a portion of the blank may be removed on one or both edges, preferably the bottom edge to facilitate the insertion of the support or to adapt the same for use with a greater range of shapes and/or sizes.

By these means simple and inexpensive supports are provided for shoes and the like which can be used as packing to retain the shape of the shoe for transport and delivery to the customer or display, and which, if desired, may be retained by the customer for subsequent insertion in used shoes to restore or retain the shape of the same.

I claim:

1. A flexible sheet material support for shoes comprising a vertical transversely rounded heel, an upwardly pointing push-out tongue formed in said heel to position and support loose straps of footwear, and vertical longitudinally extending side walls connected to said heel, in combination with a toe portion having a transversely curved upper face all parts of which lie in straight lines longitudinally of the support.

2. An elongated flat flexible sheet material shoe-form blank of substantially uniform width undulatory band form, to be folded in either lateral direction to form either a right or a left shoe support form, and comprising a central portion upwardly arched edgewise of said blank between the planes coincident with the side faces thereof, upwardly pointing push-out tongues formed in said central portion to position and support loose straps of footwear, and interlocking means integral with the end portions of said blank for connecting said end portions in overlapping relationship.

THOMAS SPENCER.

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