WO1995004512A1

WO1995004512A1 - Disposable toe band

Info

Publication number: WO1995004512A1
Application number: PCT/KR1994/000108
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chul Hwang
Original assignee: Chul Hwang
Priority date: 1993-08-09
Filing date: 1994-08-09
Publication date: 1995-02-16
Also published as: AU7351594A; KR950005662U

Abstract

A disposable toe band for separately banding two toes of a foot and isolating all the toes of the foot from each other. The toe band thus makes the toe skin be moistureless and soft and prevents the foot from having a bad smell, athlete's foot and chilblains. This toe band is also used as a band for curing the athlete's foot when added with a fungi inhibitor. The toe band comprises top and bottom strips made of absorptive material. The top strip is laid on top of the bottom strip and bonded to the bottom strip at their opposite side ends, thus to form a loop having predetermined width of opposite side ears. The top and bottom strips are bonded to each other at their centers, thus to form a pair of toe receiving holes isolated from each other.

Description

DISPOSABLE TOE BAND

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to a toe band for separately banding two toes of a foot and isolating all the toes of the foot from each other, thereby making the toe skin be moistureless and soft and preventing the foot from having a bad smell, athlete's foot and chilblains, which toe band is also used as means for curing the athlete's foot when added with a fungi inhibitor.

Description of the Prior Art From old times, varieties of footwears have been commonly used for prevention of foot injury such as a traumatic injury or a frostbite and for a hygienic object such as for prevention of foot pollution. Nowadays, two types of footwears, that is, external footwears such as shoes and internal footwears such as socks, have been used all over the world. When wearing a well-fitting footwear, the user will not only have good wearing feelings but also show good activity and good appearance. The footwears in use are generally tightened fast so as to make the wearers feel as if their feet were integrated with the footwears. Such tightness of the footwears will double the wearing feelings, the activities and the appearances. In order to provide the tightness for the footwears, the external footwears are generally fastened by shoelaces while the internal footwears are fastened by elastic yarns or rubber strings. The footwears are thus tightened fast and make the wearers feel as if their feet were integrated with the footwears. However, when wearing those footwears, the tight footwears inevitably seal up the feet and block the ventilation between the inside and the outside of the footwears, thus to cause a hygienic problem of the feet. That is, when wearing sneakers or waterproof boots, such as combat boots or work boots sealing up the feet as described above, for a long time such as due to the nature of wearer's calling, the foot should be heated by accumulated body heat and get humidified due to perspiration. Both the heating and the humidness of the foot are violent particularly at the thin and weak skins between toes and the sides of toe roots. The humidity caused by perspiration cooperates with the accumulated body heat so as to let both the skins between toes and the sides of toe roots become a hotbed of the propagation of dermatophyte such as fungi, so that the wearer may have athlete's foot.

The above hygienic problem may be overcome by removing the humidity, caused by perspiration of the toes, at the same time of insulating the five toes of the foot from each other. In an effort to achieve the above object, there have been proposed socks having isolated toe cells alike gloves. Unlike the typical sack-type socks, the socks having the above isolated toe cells isolate the toes of the foot from each other and prevent both the skins between the toes and the sides of toe roots from being humidified and heated. However, those socks have a problem caused by their toe cells. That is, the process for manufacturing the above socks should be complicated and attended with waste of time since the isolated toe cells should be woven independently. Those socks should be thus manufactured with high cost. In addition, such socks are inevitably shrunk and deformed by repeated washing and dehydration and exert inconvenience to the wearer when wearing them. Furthermore, such shrunk and deformed socks are apt to be seriously damaged when worn by force, and those damaged socks should be -discarded. Another problem of the above socks with the isolated toe cells is resided in that when wearing the socks, the appearance about the toes should be fat and the volume about the tiptoe part should be increased since the toes are received in their respective cells. Such a fat appearance of the toes looks bad and runs counter to a common aesthetic feeling accustomed to the appearances of typical sack-type socks having no toe cell. The socks with the isolated toe cells are scarcely suited to conventional shoes due to the fat volumes of their tiptoe parts. Therefore, the socks with isolated toe cells are not favorite with the users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a disposable toe band in which the above problems can be overcome and which isolates the toes of a foot from each other simultaneously with absorbing and removing the moisture about the toes so as to make the toe skin be moistureless and soft and to prevent and cure athlete's foot, and is used with conventional footwears such as shoes and socks, requiring no designing change of the footwears, and achieves desired economical efficiency, consults wearer's convenience and conforms with the common aesthetic feeling.

In order to accomplish the above object, a disposable toe band in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention comprises top and bottom strips made of absorptive material, the top strip being laid on top of the bottom strip and bonded to the bottom strip at their opposite side ends, thus to form a loop having predetermined width of opposite side ears, whereby the toe band in use tightly bands second and fourth toes of a foot while letting a third toe be placed on a middle portion of the top strip, thus to isolate the five toes of the foot from each other, the toe band in use being provided with upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward and rearward tensile forces by restoring motion of the third toe, thus to be prevented from undesired separation from the toes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a disposable toe band in accordance with a primary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a disposable toe band in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a foot in a sock, showing the toes in a disposable toe band of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a front view showing the disposable toe band of Fig. 1 worn on the toes in a first wearing step; and

Fig. 5 is a front view showing the disposable toe band of Fig. 1 worn on the toes in a second wearing step.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to Fig. 1, there is shown a disposable toe band in accordance with a primary embodiment of the present invention. The toe band comprises a pair of strips, that is, a top strip 1 and a bottom strip 2 partially sewn or bonded together. The top and bottom strips 1 and 2 are made of an absorptive cloth such as a woven cloth or a nonwoven cloth and integrated into the toe band by laying the top strip 1 on top of the bottom strip 2 and by sewing or bonding them together at the opposite ends and at the center. As a result of the above sewing or bonding, the toe band is provided with predetermined width of ears 3 at its opposite side ends and with a center bonding line 4 at its center. The opposite side ears 3 and the center bonding line 4 form a pair of toe receiving holes which are isolated from each other by the center bonding line 4.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a disposable toe band in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. In this second embodiment, the general shape of the toe band remains the same as in the primary embodiment, but the center bonding line 4 is removed to let the toe band become a loop having opposite side ears 3. The elements common to both the primary embodiment and the second embodiment thus carry the same reference numerals.

In the present invention, the absorptive cloth for the top and bottom strips 1 and 2 is preferably added with an appropriate amount of fungi inhibitor such as gentian violet during its production process. When using the absorptive cloth added with the fungi inhibitor, the resulting toe band will not only prevent possible athlete's foot but also cure athlete's foot already attacked.

In the drawings, the reference numerals 5 to 9 denote the big toe, the second toe, the third toe, the fourth toe and the little toe respectively and the numeral 10 denotes a sock. The operational effect of the toe band of the present invention will be described hereinbelow in conjunction with Figs. 3 to 5.

As shown in Fig. 3, the disposable toe band of this invention is worn on the toes of a foot in such a manner that its toe receiving holes receive therein the second toe 6 and the fourth toe 8 respectively while letting the third toe 7 be placed on the middle portion of the toe band. The toe band is worn on the toes through two steps, that is, first and second wearing steps. In the first wearing step, the fat ends of the second and fourth toes 6 and 8 are received in their respective toe receiving holes of the toe band. In the second wearing step, the toe band is placed about the thin midsections of the second and fourth toes 6 and 8. If described in detail, the fat end of second toe 6 is inserted in the first toe receiving hole of-the toe band with the opposite side ears 3 gripped by fingers in the first wearing step. Thereafter, the fat end of fourth toe 8 is inserted in the second toe. receiving hole of the toe band while lifting up the third toe 7 by force as shown in Fig. 4, thus to achieve a first balance of the toe band worn on the toes 6 and 8. The above first wearing step is followed by the second wearing step for positioning the toe band in its place about the thin midsections of the toes. In the second wearing step, the toe band which has been already placed about the fat ends of the toes 6 and 8 is pulled backward by force with balance while gripping the ears 3 until the band is temporarily placed about the inner joints of toes 6 and 8. After the above temporary placing of the toe band, all of the toes are folded and stretched at their joints several times, preferably, two or more times. The top and bottom strips 1 and 2 of the toe band thus slightly move forward and backward so as to be placed in its predetermined position about the inner joints of toes. At the same time of above placing of toe band, the third toe 7, which have been lifted up, stretches and returns to its original position between the second and fourth toes 6 and 8 as shown in Fig. 5. As the third toe 7 returns to its original position, it pushes the second and fourth toes 6 and 8 in opposed directions and stretches the toe band. In this case, the third toe 7 is laid on about the center bonding line 4 of the toe band. The toe band is thus provided with upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward and rearward tensile forces by the third toe 7, thus to be prevented from undesired separation from the toes. The user wears the sock 10 after wearing of the toe band, thus to reliably isolate the toes from each other. The disposable toe band according to the second embodiment of the present invention is worn on the toes in the same manner as described for the primary embodiment and further explanation is thus not deemed necessary.

As described above, the disposable toe band in accordance with the present invention is elastically tightly worn about the inner joints of toes near the toe roots, the inner joints and the roots of toes possibly becoming a hotbed of propagation of der atophyte such as fungi due to both perspiration and accumulated body heat. The toe band thus effectively isolates all the toes of the foot from each other and absorbs and removes the moisture about the toes, so that it prevents and/or cures athlete's foot. Furthermore, the disposable toe band can be used with conventional footwears such as shoes and socks while requiring no designing change of the footwears. Another advantage of the disposable toe band is resided in that the toe band achieves desired economical efficiency, consults wearer's convenience and conforms with the common aesthetic feeling.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A disposable toe band comprising: top and bottom strips 1 and 2 made of absorptive material, said top strip 1 being laid on top of said bottom strip 2 and bonded to said bottom strip 2 at their opposite side ends, thus to form a loop having predetermined width of opposite side ears 3, whereby the toe band in use tightly bands second and fourth toes 6 and 8 of a foot while letting a third toe 7 be placed on a middle portion of the top strip 1, thus to isolate the five toes of the foot from each other, said toe band being provided with upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward and rearward tensile forces by restoring motion of the third toe 7, thus to be prevented from undesired separation from the toes.

2. The disposable toe band according to claim 1, wherein said top and bottom strips 1 and 2 are bonded to each other at their centers, thus to form a pair of toe receiving holes isolated from each other.

3. The disposable toe band according to claim 1, wherein said top and bottom strips 1 and 2 are added with an appropriate amount of fungi inhibitor.