Footwear hanger.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a footwear hanger. A hook for footwear or footwear hanger in accordance with the present invention is reversibly connected to the footwear, i.e. it is permanently attached to the upper of the shoe during use, and separable when desired .

The main purpose of the present invention is to propose a dismountable footwear hanger of very simple construction and use, that can be partially replaced in case of breakage or for aesthetic purposes or for functional reasons.

This result is reached, in accordance with the invention, by adopting the idea of making a hook for footwear having the characteristics indicated in claim 1. Other features of the present invention are the subject of dependent claims.

The present invention provides a hook for footwear reliable in any condition of use, consisting of a fixed part integral with the upper of the shoe and a removable part associable to the fixed part, thus reducing production costs and stocks and allowing a high level of customization of the shoe. Furthermore, with the present invention, it is possible to make a more thorough cleaning of the shoe and, when desired, it is possible to release the lacing very quickly in case of need or danger. Every technician who works in this field will better understand these advantages and further advantages and features of the present invention thanks to the following description and to the enclosed drawings which are provided for illustration purposes but should not be considered in a limitative sense, wherein :

- Fig.l shows a perspective view of a footwear hanger according to the present invention;

- Fig.2A is a plant view of the footwear hanger shown in Fig.l;

- Fig.2B is a section view along the line X-X of Fig.2A;

- Fig.3 is a bottom view of the footwear hanger shown in Fig.l;

- Fig. is a perspective side view of the footwear hanger shown in Fig.l with the upper removable part detached from the lower fixed part;

- Fig.5 is an exploded view of the footwear hanger shown in the preceding figures;

- Fig.6 is a perspective side view of the base of the footwear hanger shown in Fig.l;

- Fig.7 is a plant view of the base shown in Fig.6;

- Fig.8 is a section view along the line Y-Y of Fig.7;

- Fig.9 is a perspective side view of the detachable part of the footwear hanger shown in Fig.l;

- Fig.10 is a plant view of said detachable part ;

- Fig.11 is a section view along the line Z-Z of Fig.10;

- Fig.12 schematically shows the positioning of the upper part onto the lower part.

Reduced to its basic elements, a footwear hanger according to the present invention comprises an upper removable component (3) and a lower component or base (1) fixed to the upper of a shoe, said components being apt to be connected to each other. In the example shown in the attached drawings, both the upper removable component (3) and the base (1) are two single bodies, i.e. each of them is a single element that can be obtained, for example, by molding of plastic or metal materials of the type commonly used for the production of footwear hangers. The upper of the shoe is not shown in the drawings for the sake of clarity. One end of the removable component (3) is made by a tubular body (11) that is transversely oriented with respect to the main (longitudinal) direction of the same component (3), and is crossed by a hole (7), also named "channel" or "eyelet" in the following description, for inserting a lace therein. The lace is not shown in the drawings for the sake of clarity. The channel or eyelet (7) for the lace can also be of the open type to delimit a passage for the lace commonly said "open mouth" passage. The other end of the removable component (3) is made by a body (5) transversely oriented with respect to the same removable component (3), i.e. parallel to the channel or eyelet (7) . The body (5) has a cross section that is circular in part and has a radius less than the radius of the body (11), turned downwards and interrupted, at his upper part turned towards the inside of the removable component (3) , by a projection (51). The size and shape of said projection (51) are such to permit the locking onto the base (1) as further described in the following. The bodies (5) and (11) of the removable component (3) have their respective ends connected by two longitudinal ribs (13) and (14). The ribs (13) and (14) are identical and parallel to each other. Furthermore, the ribs (13) and (14) that join the bodies (5) and (11) have height increasing from the body (5) towards the body (11) . A substantially cylindrical body (6) is transversally positioned between the ribs (13) and (14) in the lower part - that is, the part turned towards the base (1) - of the removable component (3) . The axis of said body (6) is parallel to the channel or eyelet (7). The body (6) is positioned at a preset distance from the body (5) so as to delimit, in cooperation with the latter and with the ribs (13) and (14), an opening (12) whose shape and size are suitable for the anchorage of the removable component (3) onto the base ( 1 ) .

The base (1) comprises a self-piercing leg (8), internally crossed by a blind hole (81) accessible from its bottom side, by means of which the same base (1) is fixed to the upper of the shoe. Above the said leg (8) there is a body (100) having oval shape with a superimposed element (15) having a prevailing longitudinal orientation with respect to the body (100). The body (100) and the element (15) are connected to each other by vertical ribs (110) and (111) having a preset height. The body (100) has a projection (112) turned upwards, i.e. towards the element (15), that has a circular shape in plan as shown in Fig.7. As shown in Fig.8, laterally to the leg (8) , the element (15) and the body (100) protrude in such a way to form an indenture (9) together with the rib (110) . On the opposite side with respect to the leg (8), the element (15) protrude with respect to the rib (111) so as to form a tooth (41) . The external side of the rib (111) is aligned with the body (100) . The tooth (41) and the rib (111) exhibit mutually orthogonal sides and thus delimiting a seat (4). In correspondence of the indenture (9), the body (100) has a slot (10) that crosses it vertically and has a cross section substantially rectangular in plan. Inside the slot (10) there is inserted an elastic element (2) having the shape of a parallelepiped, i.e. a shape such that it can be firmly inserted inside the slot (10) of the body (100) and whose height is such that the same elastic element can contact the lower surface of the element (15). The element (2) is sufficiently elastic to perform the function described in the following. The element (2) can be made of elastomeric material or any other material having known elasticity characteristics.

During the operative phase, i.e. when the footwear hanger is assembled, as shown in Figs. 1-3, the base (1) is engaged inside the opening (12) of the removable component (3) by means of its vertical portion comprised between the element (15) and the body (100) . In practice, the projection (51) and the body (6) of the removable component (3) bear against the surface below the element (15) of the base (1), i.e. they are inside the seat (4 and respectively inside the indenture (9) of the same base (1) . The elastic element (2) keeps the removable element (3) onto the base (1): in fact, said elastic element pushes the body (6) so as to keep the projection (51) inside the seat (4). Laterally, the base (1) is kept into the seat (12) of the removable component

(3) thanks to the ribs (13) and (14).

The removable component (3) can be removed manually, by pushing it towards the base (1) along the direction (S) so as to compress the elastic element

(2)with the body (6), so as to move the body (5) until it is disengaged from the seat (4) of the base

(1) . Subsequently, the removable component (3) is moved away from the base (1) by rotating it about the axis of the body (6) and distancing the body (5) from the seat (4) of the base (1). The removable component (3) can be thus substituted with another one equally associable with the base (1) ma different in shape, material, color or external aspect .

This allows a high degree of customization of the shoe, the substitution of a damaged hook and an optimized management of the production as well as a better management of the stocks with respect to footwear hangers of the type in which the base and the upper part cannot be detached from each other. In order to position the removable component (3) onto the base (1) the operations are the opposite of those previously described: the upper component (3) is pushed along the direction (S) towards the lower component (1) so as to compress the elastic element

(2) and, as shown in Fig.12, the upper component (3) is rotated as indicated by the arrow "R" to position the body (5) in the seat (4).

The present footwear hanger is also suitable to be applied on safety shoes, given that it is possible to remove very quickly the action exerted by the lace passing inside the eyelets (7) since the removal of the upper component (3) from the base (1) is simple, quick and intuitive.

In practice, the construction details may equally vary as regards the single described and illustrated elements, without nevertheless departing from the adopted solution idea and within the limits of the protection granted by the present patent.