An improved shoelace knot retainer has a protective shoulder surrounding a bell which prevents the bell from becoming detached by the application of an external force, such as that caused by a child's crawling on the floor, by a child's chewing on the bell, or by the heel of a kicking shoe.

BACKGROUND ART 
Shoelace knot retainers are known in the art, and are of two general types. 
The first type comprises a cylinder having an axis transverse to the 
shoelace having a knot. This type of shoelace knot retainer is, for 
example, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,003 to Herdman, U.S. Pat. No. 
3,229,340 to Herdman and in U.S. Pat. No. De. 200,394 to Hakim. 
The second type of shoelace knot retainer comprises a generally cylindrical 
element where the shoelace having the knot to be retained lies in a 
direction which is generally parallel to the axis of the cylindrical 
element. A shoelace knot retainer such as this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,321,815 to Herdman. 
A shoelace knot retainer of either type mentioned above commonly has a bell 
fixed to it. In the first type of shoelace knot retainer, the bell is 
fixed to an end of a cylindrical element. Thus, as shown in the U.S. Pat. 
No. 3,229,340 to Herdman and in the design patent to Hakim, a bell may be 
centrally located on the cylindrical cap of a shoelace knot retainer of 
the first type. In the shoelace knot retainer shown in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,229,340, the bell rests in a cylindrical recess in the cylindrical cap, 
which is for the sole purpose of providing a circular groove in the 
interior of the cap for securing the two parts of the knot retainer 
together. 
It is also known to provide a bell on the shoelace knot retainer of the 
second type. The bell on this type of shoelace knot retainer, such as that 
shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,815 to Herdman, is fixed to a central portion 
of the side wall of the cylinder which forms the shoelace knot retainer. 
STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION 
In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of the safety of 
consumer items. In particular, there has been an increasing scrutiny of 
articles which are used by small children to insure that pieces of the 
articles which are small enough to be swallowed do not become detached 
from the article. In many instances, the federal agency charged with 
regulation of consumer products has required products associated with 
children to be removed from the market because small pieces of the product 
could become detached and swallowed by a child. 
It has been determined that the shoelace knot retainer of the second type 
described above, and shown by the U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,815, is susceptible 
to having the bell become dislodged by the application of an external 
force such as that caused by a child's crawling on the floor or by the 
kicking heel of the shoe of a child wearing the shoelace knot retainer. 
This problem arises because the bell is located along the cylindrical side 
wall of the knot retainer and protrudes from the retainer in a direction 
transverse to the cylindrical axis of the retainer. While the bell is 
secured to the retainer with a strong rivet, the possibility does 
nevertheless exist that the heel of a child's shoe, or another object can 
hit the knot retainer in the wedge-shaped space between the bottom of the 
bell and the outside surface of the knot retainer and dislodge the bell. 
This problem does not present itself in the knot retainer of the first type 
because there the bell is placed on the flat end of the cylinder and the 
wedge-shaped space is less prominent. 
Another problem is that a child might put the bell in his mouth when the 
knot retainer isn't in use. If the bell is not attached by a strong rivet 
the child might detach the bell by chewing. This problem may exist for 
either type of knot retainer because even if the bell is attached to a 
flat surface, a small wedge-shaped space still exists. 
Thus, the prior art shoelace knot retainer presents a safety problem which 
in the past has been met by the use of a very strong rivet and a sturdy 
plastic mounting area for the bell and rivet, and by the maintenance of 
high quality control in manufacturing. These measures are expensive, and 
cannot be merely intensified to achieve greater safety. Furthermore, the 
present degree of safety cannot be achieved at reduced cost since the use 
of a less expensive means of attaching the bell risks the detachment of 
the bell. 
The present invention includes a protective shoulder which surrounds the 
bell and protects it from being dislodged by a child, and thus insures 
more safety than could be economically attained by previous structure. The 
protective shoulder is generally cylindrical and extends around the bell 
and transverse to the axis of the cylindrical knot retainer. In the 
preferred embodiment, the protective shoulder extends to at least the 
height of the broadest part of the bell. By extending to at least the 
broadest part of the bell, the protective shoulder insures that there is 
no wedge-like space in which an object such as the heel of a child's shoe 
or the teeth of a child can catch, so that the bell is prevented from 
being dislodged. 
It is an object of this invention to provide a safety feature for a 
shoelace knot retainer to insure that the bell does not become dislodged 
from the retainer. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a shoulder which extends 
from the shoelace knot retainer and at least partially surrounds the bell 
to prevent the bell from being accidentally dislodged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
As shown in FIG. 1, the shoelace knot retainer comprises a generally 
cylindrical element 2 which fits over the knot in a child's shoelace to 
keep it from becoming untied. The generally cylindrical element 2 is 
closed at one end and open at its opposite end. The opposite end is shown 
closed by means of a cap 4 which contains threads which mate with threads 
on the generally cylindrical element. The cap 4 is prevented from becoming 
completely detached from the generally cylindrical element by means of a 
safety strap 6 which is fixed at one end to the cap 4 and to the generally 
cylindrical element 2 at its other end. A bell 8 extends from the 
mid-portion of the generally cylindrical element. A protective shoulder 10 
at least partially surrounds the bell 8 and is in the form of a cylinder 
having an axis which is transverse to the axis of the generally 
cylindrical element 2. 
FIG. 2 shows an end view of the shoelace knot retainer and illustrates the 
slot 12 in the protective shoulder 10 which allows for the safety strap to 
pass through the protective shoulder. 
As seen in FIG. 3, the structure of the improved shoelace knot retainer may 
be described with respect to the cylindrical axes 16 and 18. The generally 
cylindrical element 2 can be said to have a cylindrical axis 16 which is 
in the direction of the slot 20 located in the wall of the generally 
cylindrical element. The slot 20 allows the shoelace knot to be inserted 
into the interior of the cylinder. The protective shoulder 10 is also 
generally cylindrical and has an axis 18 which is transverse to the axis 
16. In the preferred embodiment, axis 18 is normal to the axis 16. 
FIG. 3 illustrates how the bell 8 is fixed to the generally cylindrical 
element 2 by means of a rivet 14. The rivet 14 extends through the bottom 
of the bell 8, the side wall of the generally cylindrical element 2, and 
the safety strap 6, and thus secures these three elements together. As 
seen in FIG. 3, the protective shoulder 10 extends to a point which is 
generally adjacent the broadest part of the bell, that is, the part of the 
bell having the largest cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the axis 
18. This insures there is no wedge-shaped space for the heel of a child's 
shoe to become lodged. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the safety strap 6 is fixed to the cap 4 by means of a 
second rivet 22, and the cap 4 contains threads 24. 
An improved shoelace knot retainer has been described which provides for 
increased safety. A protective shoulder at least partially surrounds the 
bell to protect the bell from being dislodged by an object such as the 
heel of a kicking shoe. The protective shoulder extends in a direction 
transverse to the shoelace knot retainer for one type of retainer. When 
the top of the protective shoulder, for either type of retainer, is at 
least approximately adjacent the broadest part of the bell no significant 
wedge-shaped space exists which can receive the heel of a shoe or the 
teeth of a child. Since the bell walls above the protective wall converge, 
any force on the bell wall is deflected. 
While the protective shoulder has been shown in the drawings as continuous 
except for the slot 12, it is to be understood that the shoulder may be 
designed in other forms. For example, other slots may be in the protective 
shoulder, but each of these slots must be narrow enough so that the heel 
of a shoe cannot pass through it.