WO2010023215A2

WO2010023215A2 - Fastening device for footwear

Info

Publication number: WO2010023215A2
Application number: PCT/EP2009/060963
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paolo Gazzola; Silvano Bettiol
Original assignee: Design & Develop S.R.L.; Premec S.P.A.
Priority date: 2008-08-29
Filing date: 2009-08-26
Publication date: 2010-03-04
Also published as: WO2010023215A3; ITVE20080068A1

Abstract

A fastening device for footwear, characterised by comprising: a lever (24) rockable in both directions about the pin (22) on which it is hinged to a base (12) fixed to an article of footwear (2), a spool (28) mounted on said base (12) and carrying wound thereon a traction cable (8) associated with the footwear to be fastened, means for transforming the two-directional rocking movement of said lever into one-directional rotary movements of said spool (28), pawl means interposed between said lever (24) and said spool (28) and acting such as to enable this latter to rotate in the winding direction of said cable (8) but to prevent it from rotating in the opposite direction, means (44) for deactivating said pawl means during footwear loosening.

Description

FASTENING DEVICE FOR FOOTWEAR

The present invention relates to a fastening device for footwear.

Footwear fastening devices are known, comprising a cable associated with the footwear opening flaps and a traction .member operable by the user and acting on the cable to pull these flaps together and hence fasten the footwear. The traction member consists of a sort of spool generally applied to the rear of the footwear, for example to the leg portion of a ski boot, and is operable manually by the user.

This fastening system generally does not enable the necessary traction force to be applied unless a force magnifier is used, this substantially reducing the operating speed.

Fastening systems comprising a lever and rack are also known; these apply several levers provided with a pinion to one footwear opening flap and a corresponding number of toothed straps (racks) to the other opening flap to engage the lever pinions, A pawl system, applied to each rack, enables the two-directional rocking movements of the lever to be transformed into single- directional traction on the racks.

Because of the lever operation, this different fastening system enables traction forces to be exerted which are much higher than those applicable by rotating a spool, however several levers and hence multiple operations are required to completely fasten the footwear.

An object of the invention is to eliminate this drawback by providing a fastening device which uses a cable, hence requiring only a single operation, while at the same time using a lever traction device, hence ensuring the necessary traction force which a spool Is generally unable to develop. This and other objects which will be apparent from the ensuing description are attained, according to the invention, by a footwear fastening device as described in claim 1.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an overall perspective view of a device of the invention applied to footwear, Figure 2 is a partially sectional enlarged perspective view thereof with the lever in its working state, Figure 3 is a different partially sectional enlarged perspective view thereof with the lever in its rest state, Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view thereof, Figure 5 is a side view of the spool release system in the non-activated state, Figure 6 shows it in the activated state,

Figure 7 is an enlarged detailed view of the system for removing the device of the invention from the footwear connection plate, in the stage immediately preceding removal,

Figure δ shows it in the stage immediately following removal. As can be seen from the figures, the fastening device of the invention is applicable preferably to the outside of the vamp 2 of an article of footwear provided at its front with a longitudinal opening bounded laterally by two flaps 4. To these, open or closed eyelets 8 are applied, through which a cable 8 is passed which, when pulled, fastens the footwear, The device of the invention comprises a profiled plate 10 to be securely applied by any known means, for example by sewing, to the footwear varnp 2. A base, indicated overall by 12 and removably applicable to the plate 10, is formed from a lower portion 14, an intermediate portion 16 and an upper cover portion 18, fixed together by screws 20.

An operating lever 24 is hinged by a transverse pin 22 to the

5 intermediate portion 18 of the base 12 and is of concave round shape, open in its central section, such that when in its closed rest configuration (see Figure 1 ) it covers the base 12. to which it is constrained, while leaving the upper closure portion 18 of this latter visible through its centra! aperture.

A pin 28 emerges centrally from the lower portion 14 of the base 12, to to support a first spool 28 housed within a cavity bounded loweriy by said lower portion 14 of the base 12 and upperiy by the intermediate portion 18, The footwear fastening cable 8 is wound within the circumferential groove of the first spool 28, for which purpose two small cavities (not visible in the drawings) are provided in the groove of the first spool 28 to he engaged by the

\5 two enlarged ends 29 of the cable 8, which in this manner is securely fixed to the spool.

Two concentric facial bands, one inner 30 and one outer 32. are provided on the outside of the spool 28, both being provided with a toothing comprising identically directed sawteeth. A spring 34, extending about the pin

20 28 of the base 12, maintains the spool 28 engaged via its outer annular facial band in elastic appendices 38 provided in the intermediate portion 18 of the base 12.

With the first spool 28 a second spool 38 is associated, the lower flange of which is provided externally with a toothed annular facia! band 40

25 complementary to the inner toothed facial band 30 of the first spool 28. The second spool is housed within a cavity bounded ioweriy by the intermediate portion 18 of the base 2 and upperiy by its upper cover portion 18.

A spring 42 interposed between the second spool 38 and a release pushbutton 44, itself emerging from a central aperture in the upper portion of the cover 18 of the base 12 and retained in its seat by a circumferential flange 46, causes said second spool 38 to adhere to the intermediate portion 16 of the base 12, to ensure elastic engagement between the two toothed bands 30 and 40 (see Figure 4),

Secured to the lever 24, which in the absence of externa! stresses is maintained by a spring 48 in the rest state, adhering to the base 12 (see

Figure 1 ), there is a pair of small pulleys 50, coaxial to the hinge pin 22 of said lever. Each pulley 50 is provided with a notch 52 to engage an enlarged end

54 of an operating cable 58, which centrally presents an enlargement 58 engaging in a corresponding notch 80 provided in the upper flange of the second spool 38,

The two ends of the cable 56 are wound about the respective pulleys 50 of the lever 24 in opposite directions,

The profiled plate 10 is applied to the vamp 2 for example by sewing, the base 12 being removably secured to said plate 10 by inserting an appendix 62, provided in its lower portion 14, into a corresponding cavity 64 provided in the plaie 10, and successively snap-engaging teeth 88, also provided in said lower portion 14, into corresponding through cavities 68 provided in the plate 10.

The fastening device of the invention operates in the following manner: When in the assembled state the base 12 has both the appendix 82 and the teeth 88 of its lower portion 14 engaged in the plate 10, the spring 48 associated with the iever 24 then maintaining this in the closed state, adhering to the base 12 (see Figure 1). If the footwear is to be fastened, i.e. if traction is to be applied to the cable 8, the lever 24 is raised, overcoming the elastic reaction of the spring 48, and subjected to repeated rocking movements about the pin 22 by which it is hinged to the intermediate portion 16 of the base 12.

These repeated rocking movements, and the consequent alternating rotary movements in ^he two directions of the small pulleys 50 rigid with the lever 24, exert a series of alternating direction pulls on the cable, by virtue of the fact that the operating cable 58 is wound in opposite directions about the pulleys.

These alternating direction puiis cause the second spool, to which the cable 58 is fixed, to undergo rotary movements in alternating directions,

Because of the engagement between the annular sawtoothed band 40 of the second spool 38 and the annular sawtoothed band 30 of the first spool 28, the rotary movements of the second spool 38 in one direction (active stroke) induce the rotary movements of the first spool and hence the winding of the cable 8 thereon and the consequent fastening of the footwear, whereas the rotary movements in the opposite direction (recovery stroke) maintain the first spool 28 fixed, by virtue of the engagement of the elastic appendices 36 in the outer toothed facia! band 32 thereof, and the elastic yielding of the spring 42, which enables the teeth of the annular band 40 of the second spool 38 to jump over the teeth of the annular facial band 30 of the first spool 28. In practice, the system formed by the lever 24, the operating cable 58 and the - ø

particular frontal sawtoothed engagement between the two spools 28 and 38 form a linkage which transforms the alternating rocking movements of the lever 24 into unidirectional rotary movements of the first spool 28 and hence the fastening of the footwear. If the footwear is to be loosened, the release pushbutton 44 is pressed to overcome the elastic reaction of the spring 34 and disengage the first spool 28 from the second spool 38. This disengagement both mutually decouples the teeth of the two toothed annular facial bands 30 and 40 of the two spools, and also decouples the toothed annular band 32 of the first spool 28 from the elastic appendices 36 of the intermediate portion 18 of the base 12, In this manner the second spool 28 can evidently rotate in the sense of slackening the cable 8 and hence loosening the footwear, then on ceasing pressure on the release pushbutton 44 the spring 34 returns the first spool 28 into re- engagement with the second spool 38, to arrange the device for a new footwear fastening operation.

If for accidental reasons the device of the invention should break or require replacement by another, this can be easily done by acting on the teeth 66 of the lower portion of the base 12, to disengage them from their seats. This operation, which is preferably done with an appropriate tool 70 with two points which are simultaneously inserted into the through cavities 88 of the plate 10 (see Figures 6 and 7), enables the unit formed by the base 12 and lever 24 to be partially lifted from the plate 10, to then withdraw the appendix 68 forming part of the base 12 from the cavity 64 of the plate 10, with consequent separation between these two parts. A new unlϊ formed by the base 12 and lever 24 is then mounted in the reverse order. From the aforegoing it is apparent that the fastening device of the invention is highly advantageous compared with traditional devices, and in particular:

- it is of cable type while at the same time being lever-operable, - it enables high traction to be exerted on the fastening cable, to an extent which cannot be exerted by traditional spool traction members,

- it enables this traction to be exerted in a highly efficient manner, so making the footwear fastening action extremely rapid,

- it is of small dimensions and small overall size, so enabling it to be applied substantially to any point of the vamp of virtually any type of iaceabie footwear.

Claims

C L A ! M S

1. A fastening device for footwear, characterised by comprising:

- a lever (24) rockabie in both directions about the pin (22) on which it is hinged to a base (12) fixed to an article of footwear (2), - a spool (28) mounted on said base (12) and carrying wound thereon a traction cable (8) associated with the footwear to be fastened, ~ means for transforming the two-directional rocking movement of said lever into one-directiona! rotary movements of said spool (28),

- pawl means interposed between said lever (24) and said spool (28) and acting such as to enable this latter to rotate in the winding direction of said cable (8) but to prevent it from rotating in the opposite direction, ~ means (44) for deactivating said paw! means during footwear loosening.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 , characterised by comprising a plate (10) securely fixable to said footwear and provided with means for removably fixing said base (12) thereto.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that said means for removably fixing comprise elastic teeth (86) provided in said base (12) and complementary cavities (68) provided in said plate (10).

4. A device as claimed in claim 3_: characterised in that said complementary cavities (68) are of through type and can be traversed by tools acting from the outside directly onto said teeth (86) to disengage them from said cavities,

5. A device as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that said fixing means comprise at least one appendix (62) rigid with said base (12) and msertabte into a corresponding cavity (64) provided in said plate (10).

8. A device as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that said base comprises at least one lower portion (14) and at least one intermediate portion (16) which can be coupled together to define, when coupled, a cavity housing said spool (28).

5 7. A device as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that said upper portion (18) of the base (12) is provided with at least one elastic appendix (38) cooperating with the sawteeth of a toothed annular facial band (32) provided on a flange of said spool (28).

8. A device as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that said traction cableo (8) presents two enlarged ends (29) engaging in corresponding cavities provided in said spool (28),

9, A device as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the lower portion (14) of the base (12) is provided with a pin (28), about which the spool (28) is free to rotate, s 10. A device as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that a spring (34) is interposed between the lower portion (14) of the base and the spoof (28) to act in the sense of maintaining the toothed annular facial band (32) of the spool elasfically engaged in the elastic appendices (36) of the upper portion <16) of the base (12). o 11. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that a pair of pulleys (50) are secured to said lever (24) such that they are coaxial with its pin (22) by which it is hinged to the base (12), about said pulleys there being wound in opposite directions the two end portions of an operating cable (66) which is fixed by its central portion to the groove of a second spool (38), coaxial with5 the first spool (28) about which the traction cable (8) is wound, the two facing spools (28, 38) comprising mutually cooperating sawtoothed annular faciai bands (30, 40), of which that provided in the first spool (28) has its toothing in the same direction as the toothing (32) cooperating with said elastic appendices (38).

12, A device as claimed in claim 11 , characterised in that said operating cable (58) comprises in its centra! part an enlargement (58) engaging in a notch (60) provided in said second spool (38),

13, A device as claimed in claim 11 , characterised in that said base (12) comprises an upper closure portion (18) which together with the intermediate portion (16) defines a cavity housing said second spool (38). 14, A device as claimed in claim 13, characterised in that said upper closure portion (18) is provided centrally with a hole for passage of the active portion of a release pushbutton (44) which passes through said second spool (38) and acts on said first spool (28) in the sense of simultaneously disengaging its toothed band (30) from the toothed band (40) of the second spool (38) and its toothed band (32) from the elastic appendices (36).

15, A device as claimed in claim 14, characterised in that a spring (42) is interposed between said release pushbutton (44) and said second spool (38) to act in the sense of maintaining the toothed band (40) of the second spool (38) eiasticaily engaged in the toothed band (30) of the first spool (28). 16, A device as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that a spring (48) is associated with the lever (24) to act in the sense of eiasticaily maintaining said lever in its closed configuration.