Patent ID: 6467194
Filing Date: 2002-10-22
Classification: A43C

Abstract:
An automated tightening shoe, comprising:a. a shoe having a sole and an upper connected to said sole, said upper including a toe, a heel, a tongue having a fixed end adjacent to said toe and a free end spaced rearwardly from said toe, and a lacing pad straddling said tongue and having lace eyelets spaced along opposite sides thereof from adjacent to said fixed end of said tongue to adjacent to said free end of said tongue; b. a chamber in said sole adjacent to said heel, said chamber communicating with a passageway in said heel which extends from said sole to near the top of said heel; c. a tightening mechanism incorporated at the rear of said shoe, said tightening mechanism including an engagement lace which resides partly within said chamber in said sole and partly within said passageway in said heel, said engagement lace being movable in a tightening direction along said chamber in said sole and along said passageway in said heel; and, d. a pair of laces, each lace being anchored at one end to a respective lace eyelet nearest said fixed end of said tongue, then extending through alternate ones of said lace eyelets in crisscross fashion over said tongue, then passing through the material of said upper to within said chamber in said sole, and finally being operatively associated with said engagement lace within said chamber in said sole such that movement of said engagement lace in the tightening direction causes said laces to tighten about said tongue and thereby tighten said shoe.