Field of the invention

The present invention belongs to the field of human needs, more precisely to the field of specially designed devices for easier putting on shoes. The invention relates to a device for hands-free shoeing.

The technical problem

Putting on shoes is a daily task for most people, and several different accessories have been developed to make putting on shoes easier, such as shoe horn. They can be different shapes and lengths, common to all these shoeing problems is that you need to use your hands to put on shoes. However, hands are not always available for putting on shoes, either due to holding a child, objects, luggage, doors, or due to injuries. As a result, in such cases, putting on shoes is difficult, anoying or another person has to help. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to design an accessory for put on shoes free of hands without the use of hands. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to design an accessory for the shoe horn, which made it possible to put on shoes without using hands and meanwhile not needing to bend down.

State of the art

Patent application JP2003070502 describes a solution in which the user does not need their hands to put on shoes, as it includes an accessory consisting of an upper shoe horn on a mechanical base, where the foot with shoe on sticks between the horn and the leg, which subsequently puts on the footwear via a mechanism of joints and levers. At the end, the horn automatically withdraws from the shoe.

A similar principle is also used by the solution known from patent application GB2517148A, which is still especially intended for the elderly, pregnant women, injured or people with mobility problems. The accessory has a heel protector and a plier, with the help of which the accessory is attached above the heel part of the shoe.

Patent application US2020245797A also describes a hands-free device of a similar type as described by the two solutions above. The device has a manual to guide the user's foot into the shoe. The handle protrudes vertically from the guide for easier insertion and installation. A clip-like element ensures that the accessory is placed over the heel part of the shoe.

The disadvantage of the described solutions is that they are placed on the footwear and must be removed, which again requires hands and to be a bending down. If they are not removed, they can limit movement or at least reduce the quality or comfort of movement.

Description of the invention

The present invention solves the problems of the above-described solutions for handsfree putting on various footwear, preferably shoes, sneakers, to the height of the ankle boots and the boots with the similar height. The technical problem is solved as defined in the independent claim, while preferred solutions are described in the dependent claims.

The essence of the present invention is that it is a self-contained standing device having a base stand on top of which a shoe horn is pivotally mounted, which can be pivoted to different positions by being joint in an angle or other suitable joint or hinge that allows the same rotational movement. The horn is then connected via at least one lever and a coupling, axis or hinge to the pedal, which is also equipped with a coupling, hinge or axis, which enables the movement of the pedal around the coupling, hinge or axis.

According to the preferred embodiment, the shoe horn device consists of:

- a rack consisting of a horizontal part and a vertical part, which are approximately perpendicular to each other and have a first and fourth attachment, axis, hinge or similar,

- a foot pedal, which is pivotably like a weighing scale mounted on the lower part of the stand with the help of the first and second attachment, axis, hinge or similar element,

- the connecting lever, which is at the lower end with the help of another attachment, axis, hinge or similar element is connected to the pedal, and the upper end it is connected to the support of the shoe horn device by means of a third attachment, axis, hinge or similar element,

- the horn holder, which is connected to the stand in the lower part by means of a fourth attachment, axis, hinge or similar element and is attached in the upper part to the narrower part of the proximal part of the horn,

- shoe horn, which is attached with its narrower part to the top of the horn holder. Preferably, said elements of the shoe horn device are connected to the axis. The additional flexible joint on the horn carrier is designed for optimal adaptation between the foot, horn and footwear and has final limits for optimizing the footwear. The fourth axis enables the movement of the horn with the carrier in the counterclockwise direction when putting on shoes, the third and second axes on the connecting lever transmit the movement of the horn with the carrier to the pedal, and the first axis allows the movement of the pedal.

The hands-free shoeing device may have some or all of the components such as the stand, pedal, connecting arm, spoon holder and spoon made of injection molded plastic. In this case, the spoon and the carrier can be designed as one piece, and the other components can be combined in a similar way. The accessory and its elements can of course be made of any material, such as wood, metal, plastic, etc. The whole accessory can be made of one material, or they can be combined as desired, so for example the stand and pedal are wooden, while the axles, horn and connecting lever must be made of metal.

When the device is in use, the basic position of the shoe horn is approximately parallel to the ground, and the pedal's front position is on the ground. The user then puts the shoe on the toes and approaches the spoon by stepping with the heel and pushing the spoon down. So the horn moves counterclockwise around the fourth axis, which in turn pushes the connecting lever down around the third axis, which in turn moves the second axis down, and the pedal moves over the first axis. At the same time, the front foot in the toe part of the leg is raised up and placed roughly parallel to the ground. The user presses his foot down towards the pedal, the horn is positioned more and more vertically, and the foot is practically completely inside the shoe. When the wearer's heel reaches the bottom of the shoe, the pedal is still roughly horizontal with the base. When the shoe is on, pressing with the fingers on the front part of the pedal initiates a reverse movement, which leads to the extraction of the spoon, and the user can move away from the device. Putting on shoes with the device according to the invention can be done in a sitting or a standing position.

The shape of the spoon is arbitrary, as are the materials for it. The accessory can have several axes or similar elements, and there can also be several connecting arms, which is not desirable, as it unnecessarily complicates the design of the accessory.

It is prefered that the shoe has a fixed tongue and laces, so that the tongue does not slip into the shoe whilst putting it on. Preferably is that footwear tongue equipped with a strap that holds part of the laces on the middle part of the tongue. But the laces can be elastic, which allows for more flexible footwear and easier usage. In the following, the invention will be described with more details, the help of an implementation example and pictures showing:

Figure 1 Possible implementation example of a device for hands-free shoeing

Figure 2a The device in use without being fixed to the base

Figure 2b Tongue fixations that prevent improper movement of the tongue when putting on shoes with the device according to the invention

Figure 3 Schematic illustration of the use of the accessory

Figure 1 shows a possible embodiment of a device for hands-free footwear, which isconsists of:

- a stand consisting of a horizontal part 1 and a vertical part T, which are perpendicular to each other, with the horizontal part having the approximate shape of a trapezoid, and having a first axis 6a approximately in the middle, and additionally it can be equipped with double-sided tape L for fixing the device to the base, and with the vertical part designed as a double profile of an inverted letter V placed in the intersection of the trapezoid and having a fourth axis 6d at the top,

- pedal 2, which is pivotably mounted on the lower part of the stand 1 with the help of the first axis 6a, with the second axis 6b at the end of the narrow part of the foot pedal, where the central part of the pedal is adapted to receive the back part of the shoe, and the longer front part to receive the front part of the shoe,

- the connecting lever 3 is designed as an approximate open rectangle, which is connected to the pedal at the lower end with the help of axis 6b, and is slightly bent at the upper end and is connected to the connecting lever 4 with the help of the third axis 6c, this lever leans in the bent part on the fourth axis 6d when in the starting position, and thus enables a fixed initial position of the horn,

- horn carrier 4, whereby an elastic joint 6e is added on top of the horn support 4, which enables adjustment of the angle between the spoon and the shoe, - horn 5 for shoeing, which is pivotably mounted on top of the horn holder.

Figure 2a shows the legs during shoeing, where the right foot holds the entire device by standing on the outer right part of trapezoid of the stand 1 , the legs on the base are left, right, rear, all of which stabilize the device. If the stand 1 ' is fixed to the base in one way or another, then stand 1 is not needed.

Figure 2b shows two options for attaching the tongue (of the shoe) to the rest of the footwear, so that the tongue does not slip inside the shoe while you're putting it on, which is a condition for the device to work properly. Attachment 7a is one option, namely one side of the tongue can be attached to the shoe to prevent the tongue from moving into the shoe whilst putting on the shoe. The connecting tape 7b is a classic equipment of the tongue (of the shoe), with which the tongue is kept in the right place. Of course, all footwear manufacturers come across different ways of attaching the tongue to the shoe casing, but all options are effective, so that with this solution the tongue stays in the right position and does not interfere meanwhile wearing the shoes.

Figure 3 shows a schematic illustration of use, with the basic position of the shoe horn approximately parallel to the ground, the pedal with its front part on the ground, and the user putting the shoe on the toes and approaching the horn (Figure 3a), so that it fully steps (Figure 3b) and pushes the horn down (Figure 3c). The horn therefore moves counterclockwise around the first axis, as a result, the connecting lever moves down around the third axis, which in turn moves the fourth axis down, and the pedal moves over the second axis. At the same time, the front foot in the toe part of the leg is raised and placed roughly parallel to the ground. The user pushes his foot down towards the pedal, with this movement the spoon gets stuck between the shoe and the heel, which consequently puts the shoe on. At this stage, spoons are more and more vertically positioned, and the foot is practically completely in the shoe (Figure 3d). When the wearer's heel reaches the bottom of the shoe, the foot is still approximately horizontal to the ground. When the shoe is on, pressing with the fingers on the front part of the pedal initiates a reverse movement, which leads to the extraction of the spoon, and the user can move away from the device (Figure 3e).

The illustrated embodiment is a strictly exemplary and non-limiting representation of a possible implementation of the invention. Within the scope of the invention as described here and defined in the claims, other embodiments of the hands-free shoe horn device accessory may be possible, which are clear to a person skilled in art, but does not limit the essence of the invention as described here and defined in the claims.