Shoe holder

A shoe holder is disclosed, adapted to serve as display means in stores and more especially supermarkets, hypermarkets or specialized stores, with a view to facilitating sale of this type of article. The shoe holder comprises a central rod terminated by a hook for suspension and two lateral support elements on which the shoes are fitted. According to the invention, the shoes being joined by a supple tie of the fine steel cable or polyamide thread type, the shoe holder comprises means for connecting, via said tie, the central rod to the assembly constituted by the shoes and the supple tie. These so-called connection means are constituted in particular by at least one piece fast or integral with the central rod and comprising an opening whose periphery is closed and through which the supple tie passes. The invention mainly concerns shoe manufacturers and retailers and manufacturers of accessories made by injected plastic moulding.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a shoe holder intended to serve as display 
means in stores, more particularly in supermarkets, hypermarkets or 
specialized stores selling these articles. It concerns mainly shoe 
manufacturers and retailers and manufacturers of accessories of injected 
plastics material. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In a supermarket, shoes are generally placed on shelves without being 
packaged and the customer chooses from the articles displayed. For current 
articles, they may even be selected directly from tubs where the goods are 
placed in bulk. This sales technique is not suitable for shoes since the 
customer must be able to examine the different styles offered for sale, 
then check that the style chosen is available in his/her size, find two 
matching shoes and, finally, try them on to make sure that they fit. 
Due to the customers' lack of discipline, there is very rapidly disorder in 
the shelves and it is necessary to check, shoe by shoe, to find the sizes. 
To facilitate the search, it has become current to use a supple tie such 
as for example a fine steel cable or a polyamide thread to join the two 
shoes going together. 
Furthermore, to facilitate storage of shoes, accessory manufacturers have 
developed shoe holders which enable the pair of shoes to be arranged by 
order of size on a bar fixed in the shelves. This type of shoe holder, 
described in particular in document GB-A-2 103 081, comprises a central 
rod terminated by a hook for suspension and two lateral support elements 
on which a pair of shoes may be fitted. The advantage is the saving of 
space since the shoes are disposed vertically; furthermore, the styles are 
largely displayed, which enhances the product in the eyes of the public 
and this helps the customer to make his/her choice. 
Unfortunately, experience has shown that, when the customer has tried on a 
pair of shoes which does not suit him, he does not put it back on its shoe 
holder. Therefore, not only the shoes, but also the shoe holders are in 
disorder. Similarly, experience has shown that the shoe holders are 
abandoned in the aisles after the customer has taken the chosen shoes. 
It is an object of the invention to propose a shoe holder which overcomes 
the drawbacks set forth hereinabove, in that it is fast with the pair of 
shoes that it supports, is difficult to disconnect therefrom, whilst 
allowing the shoes to be easily tried on. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This object is perfectly attained by the shoe holder according to the 
invention which is constituted, in known manner, by a central rod 
terminated by a hook for suspension, and by two lateral support elements 
on which the shoes are fitted, and which is characterized in that the 
shoes are joined by a supple tie and the shoe holder comprises means for 
connecting, via the supple tie, the central rod to the assembly 
constituted by the shoes and the supple tie. 
The supple tie which is of the fine steel cable or polyamide thread type, 
is difficult to break. If it is question of a polyamide thread, it may be 
envisaged that the connection means consist of a heatwelding spot applied 
to the supple tie and to the central rod. However, this type of embodiment 
is fairly fragile. 
Consequently, in a first embodiment, the connection means are 
advantageously constituted by at least one piece fast or integral with the 
central rod, and comprising an opening whose periphery is closed and 
through which passes the supple tie. The dimensions of the opening may be 
identical to the section of the supple tie, in which case the latter is 
fixed with respect to the shoe holder. However, in order to make it easier 
to try the shoes on, the dimensions of the opening are generally larger 
than the section of the supple tie which may thus slide. 
In the majority of cases, the dimensions of this opening does not allow 
passage of a shoe. Consequently, in the first embodiment, the periphery of 
the opening being closed, the passage of the supple tie through the 
opening is possible only if at least one of the ends of said tie is not 
yet fixed to a shoe. This means that the operation consisting in matching 
the shoes by means of the supple tie is effected at the same time as the 
operation of connection with the shoe holder. 
For reasons of economy and versatility of use, it is important that the two 
operations mentioned be carried out consecutively; matching is for example 
firstly effected at the place of production of the shoes and connection 
with the shoe holder is then effected at the place of distribution. For 
this reason, the embodiments which are described at the present time and 
which avoid the servitude mentioned above are preferred. 
In an embodiment which is an improvement of the first embodiment mentioned 
above, the piece fast or integral with the central rod is a supple 
fastening, particularly made of plastics material, of which one end is 
fixed to the central rod and comprising means for locking the other free 
end so as to form a closed loop. This closed loop defines the opening for 
the passage of the supple tie. 
In a second embodiment, the connection means are constituted by at least 
one connection piece, fast or integral with the central rod and comprising 
an opening provided with a notch in which the supple tie is introduced 
during its placing through the opening, and by at least one closure piece, 
juxtaposed with respect to the connection piece at the level of the notch, 
so as to oppose exit via the notch of the supple tie traversing the 
opening, without opposing the introduction of said supple tie in said 
notch. 
In a first variant embodiment, the connection and closure pieces are 
attached, the notch of the connection piece thus being completely closed. 
In that case, at least one of the two pieces is sufficiently flexible to 
allow introduction via the notch of the supple tie in the opening of the 
connection piece. 
According to a second variant embodiment, the closure piece also comprises 
an opening and a notch and is juxtaposed with respect to the first piece, 
with the result that the two openings partially face each other, whilst 
the two notches are offset with respect to each other. 
If the supple tie tends to leave one of the two pieces via the notch, the 
other piece forms an obstacle as the notches are not in register. In this 
variant, if the closure and connection pieces are not flexible, they are 
juxtaposed at a short distance, of the order of the section of the supple 
tie. The word "section" is used interchangeably with the word 
"cross-section". 
The two variants mentioned above may advantageously be combined. 
Whatever the embodiment of the connection means, the latter are 
advantageously mounted to pivot with respect to the longitudinal axis of 
the central rod. This characteristic enables the connection means to be 
folded down along said rod, which leads to a saving in space. 
In all the embodiments mentioned above, the shoe holder is preferably made 
in one piece by plastic injection moulding. This allows resistant shoe 
holders to be mass produced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 2 and 3 show a particular shoe holder 
1, seen respectively in front and side view. 
It comprises a central rod 5 terminated in its upper part by the hook 3 for 
suspension and two lateral support elements 6 and 7 on which the shoes 2 
are fitted. The shoes 2 are joined by a supple tie 8 which may for example 
be in the form of a fine metal cable or a polyamide thread. The purpose of 
this supple tie is to join two matching shoes and to prevent them from 
being separated. 
The shoe holder 1 also comprises connection means 14 constituted by two 
pieces 14a, 14b integral perpendicularly to the central rod 5 and each 
comprising an opening 11 whose periphery is closed. These two pieces are 
substantially rectangular, and their larger side is parallel to the 
longitudinal axis 12 of the central rod 5, piece 14a being located above 
piece 14b. Each opening 11 is capable of being traversed by a supple tie 
8; the choice of one or the other of the two openings 11 for passage of 
the tie depends on the position of the supple tie with respect to said 
openings, when the shoes that they connect are fitted on the support 
elements 6, 7. 
The operation for making an assembly as shown in FIG. 1, i.e. constituted 
on the one hand by the shoes 2 joined by a supple tie 8, and on the other 
hand, by the shoe holder 1, is as follows: One end of the supple tie is 
fixed to a first shoe 2. The latter may then be fitted on the support 
element 6. The free end of the supple tie is then passed through the 
closest opening 11. Then the free end is fixed to the second shoe, which 
may then be fitted on the other support element 7. 
Openings 11 do not allow passage of a shoe. Thus, once the above-mentioned 
operation is terminated, the only way of separating the assembly 
constituted by the two shoes 2 joined by the supple tie 8 and the shoe 
holder 1, consists in cutting the supple tie. In this way, when a customer 
has tried on a pair of shoes which suits him, he takes the pair of shoes, 
together with the shoe holder, to the cash point, the shoe holder 
therefore not remaining on the shelves. Moreover, as it is easy and quick 
to hang the shoe holder up, the customer will tend to replace the shoe 
holder on the bar 4 after having tried on shoes which do not suit. 
As the shoe holder 1 is difficult to separate from the shoes 2 which it 
supports, the size and price of the shoes can advantageously be directly 
marked on the shoe holder, without it being necessary to label the shoes. 
To that end, the shoe holder is equipped with a label support 9 adapted to 
receive indications on price, code bar or other characteristics, and with 
a location 10 where the size of the shoes can be marked. 
The dimensions of openings 11 are clearly greater than the section of the 
supple tie 8, which may thus advantageously slide, this facilitating 
handling of the shoes when they are being tried on. 
The shoe holder 1 is made in one piece by plastic injection moulding, this 
technique being known to the man skilled in the art. The central rod being 
made of plastic material, it is, in addition, preferably rigidified by the 
presence of a rear rib 13 as illustrated in FIG. 3. 
FIG. 4 shows a piece 15 which is another embodiment of piece 14a. It is 
characterized by a join 15a between the central rod and the corresponding 
larger side of piece 15, which acts as hinge. The piece 15 may pivot about 
the longitudinal axis 12 of the central rod. This particular arrangement 
makes it possible to save space, particularly when transporting the shoes 
2 and the shoe holder 1, by folding piece 15 down against the central rod 
5. 
In the case of plastic injection moulding, the mould is dimensioned so that 
the side of piece 15 corresponding to join 15a has a small thickness 
compared with the thickness of the central rod 5 and of piece 15. The 
material used for the join 15a must have characteristics of flexibility 
whilst being resistant. The join 15a may for example be made of 
polypropylene. 
FIG. 5 shows another particular embodiment of piece 14a. It consists of a 
supple fastening 16 comprising a hollow body 16a fixed to the central rod 
5 and joined to a supple rod 16c provided with catches. The free end 16b 
of the supple rod 16c may pass through the opening 17 which is made in the 
hollow body 16a, and which extends in the central rod 5. This enables a 
closed loop defining an opening 11 to be made. The catches of the supple 
rod 16c cooperate with the particular profile of the opening 17 so that it 
is not possible to undo said loop once the free end 16b has passed through 
opening 17; the loop is then locked. This embodiment presents the 
advantage of allowing a connection of the assembly constituted by the 
shoes joined by a supple tie and by the shoe holder, once the shoes are 
matched in pairs by means of said supple tie. To that end, the loop 
defining the opening 11 is closed around the supple tie, the shoes joined 
by said tie being for example previously fitted on support elements 6, 7. 
FIG. 6 shows another particular embodiment of the connection means 14. They 
are constituted by a first connection piece 18, differing from the piece 
14a shown in FIG. 3 in that it further comprises in its upper part a notch 
18a for the passage of the supple tie in opening 11. The upper part of the 
piece 18 penetrates in the inner recess of a second piece 19, called 
closure piece, having the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped and 
integral with the central rod 5 of the shoe holder 1. The space between 
the two pieces 18, 19 must be sufficient to allow passage of the supple 
tie, when it passes in the opening 11 via 18a. The function of piece 19 is 
to prevent the supple tie from exiting via the notch, particularly during 
handling of the shoe holder when trying on the shoes. 
The notch 18a is preferably made in the upper part of the connection piece 
18. In fact, if, during handling of the shoe holder, the shoes are no 
longer supported by the support elements 6, 7, the weight thereof will 
tend to pull the supple tie towards the lower part of piece 18. 
However, connection means 14 shown in FIG. 7 may be imagined, constituted 
by two pieces 20 and 21, performing the same respective functions as the 
connection and closure pieces 18 and 19 of FIG. 6. Piece 20 differs from 
piece 18 in that its notch 20a is located in the lower part of the opening 
11. This notch further presents a bevelled edge 20b which facilitates 
introduction of the supple tie in the opening 11 by guiding it. 
FIG. 8 shows another particular embodiment of the connection means 14, in 
which the closure piece 19 of FIG. 3 is replaced by piece 22. This piece 
22 is similar to piece 18 but differs therefrom by its notch 22a which is 
not located in the upper part. The two pieces are juxtaposed parallel to 
each other. The respective openings of pieces 18, 22 face one another, 
thus defining a passage 23 for the supple tie 8, and the notches 18a, 22a 
are not in register. When the two pieces are made of a rigid material and 
are not flexible, the space 24 separating them must have a width (e) 
greater than the section of the supple tie, thus allowing introduction of 
the supple tie in the passage 23 via the two notches 18a, 22a. If at least 
one of the two pieces is made of a flexible material, the two pieces may 
be attached. However, the flexible piece must be sufficiently so, to allow 
a sufficient spacing apart for the passage of the supple tie. 
Once the supple tie is introduced in the passage 23, the function of piece 
22 is to oppose exit of said tie via the notch 18a of piece 18 and vice 
versa. In the case of two non-flexible pieces, it is therefore preferable 
to choose a space 24 of minimum width (e), i.e. substantially equal to the 
section of the supple connection. 
FIG. 9 shows another particular embodiment of the connection means 14. They 
are constituted by two pieces 25, 26 attached fast with each other, piece 
25 being fixed to the central rod 5 and the end 27 of piece 26 not being 
so. Piece 25, made of plastics material, comprises an opening 11 provided 
with a notch 25a which in the present case is located in its upper part; 
the inner wall 29 of the piece 26 is applied, at the level of the free end 
27, against the wall 28 of the piece 25, thus completely closing the notch 
25a. 
The supple tie 8 is introduced in opening 11 via notch 25a by sliding the 
supple tie positioned transversely to the opening, along the edge of the 
free end 27 of piece 26 in the direction of arrow I shown schematically in 
FIG. 9; the edge of the end 27 has a rounded shape allowing guiding of the 
supple tie. Piece 25 being slightly flexible at the level of its notch 
25a, during said introduction of the supple tie 8, the wall 29 moves away 
from the wall 28 under the action of said tie, so as to allow passage 
thereof. In order to introduce the supple tie in the opening 11 via the 
notch 25a, the walls 28 and 29 may also previously be slightly spaced 
apart by exerting a slight pressure in the direction of arrow F on the 
assembly constituted by pieces 25 and 26. 
When the supple tie is introduced, the wall 29 resumes its initial 
position; walls 28, 29 are again 
10 attached The supple tie 8 can therefore no longer leave the opening 11 
via the notch 25a, which is closed by the end 27 of the piece 26. 
The invention is not limited to the embodiments described hereinabove but 
covers all the variants thereof. Whatever the embodiment of the connection 
means 14, they may be mounted to pivot about the longitudinal axis 12 of 
the central rod 5; the shoe holder, including said connection means 14, 
may be made in one piece by plastic injection moulding. A shoe holder may 
also be envisaged, comprising a larger number of connection means, each of 
these connection means being able to be designed in accordance with a 
different particular embodiment.