Enhancing shoe visibility in darkness

A jogging shoe includes a shoelace of folded-over retroflective fabric or tape terminated at each end with a firm tip of diameter less than that of the lace openings in the shoe.

The present invention relates in general to improving the safety of runners 
and walkers and more particularly concerns novel apparatus and techniques 
for enhancing the safety of those who jog or walk at night while facing 
oncoming vehicular traffic in a manner that effects a significant increase 
in safety at slight cost and without inconveniencing the jogger. The 
invention may be readily adapted to existing shoes. 
Jogging is recognized as a source of healthful exercise. Many joggers who 
work during the day prefer to jog at night. A frequent path for night 
joggers is the edge of a road carrying vehicular traffic. It has long been 
recognized for safety reasons that a pedestrian should face oncoming 
traffic. Still a person jogging at night is difficult to see, and it has 
been suggested to enhance visibility by using reflective material on the 
jogger's shoes. However, various attempts to put reflective material on 
the shoe sole or upper have not been regarded as effective. It is 
important that the reflective material provide significant enhancement 
when a vehicle driver approaches an oncoming jogger at the side of the 
road. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,233,544 discloses a reflector attachment for shoes 
comprising a harness having a front elastic band that supports a front 
reflector over the shoelace and a rear elastic band that supports a rear 
reflector behind the heal with an inelastic band joining the elastic bands 
for seating under the instep to help keep the harness in position. A 
disadvantage with this arrangement is that it requires extra components 
being added to the jogging shoe that may be disconcerting to the jogger 
and make jogging uncomfortable. 
It is also known to wear a reflective band or bands across the torso, such 
as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,416. While reflective material on the 
torso does enhance visibility, the relatively little movement of the torso 
does not provide nearly as noticeable an indication of a jogger as 
reflective material on the rapidly moving feet of the jogger. Flashing 
light sources have long been recognized as more attention-getting than 
nonflashing sources. 
Other examples of the prior art uncovered during the course of a search in 
subclass 143 of class 24, subclass 462 of class 250, subclasses 290 and 
298 of class 350, subclasses 84, 103, 105 and 108 of class 362 and 
subclasses 157 and 158 of class 427 include the following other U.S. Pat. 
Nos.: 2,681,449, 2,341,583, 291,033, 2,473,877, 2,333,641, 2,342,005, 
2,607,130 and 4,022,709. 
It is an important object of this invention to provide improved visibility 
for joggers and walkers facing oncoming traffic at night. 
It is another object of the invention to achieve the preceding object with 
a relatively inexpensive modification to a component of existing shoes so 
that the jogger or walker may continue to jog or walk without distraction. 
It is a further object of the invention to achieve one or more of the 
preceding objects with no additional power from the runner or walker and 
negligible additional weight. 
It is a further object of the invention to achieve one or more of the 
preceding objects with structure that may be economically and conveniently 
used to retrofit existing shoes. 
According to the invention, a running or jogging shoe has a shoelace of 
reflective material. According to a specific form of the invention, an 
exemplary lace comprises commercially available 3M retroreflective fabric 
or tape formed with a longitudinal fold with the adhesive faces of the 
fabric or tape facing each other on the inside and adhered together with 
the tips wrapped with masking tape to form a firm tip of diameter less 
than the diameter of the lace openings in the shoe to facilitate lacing 
the reflective lace thus formed in the shoe.

With reference now to the drawing, and more particularly FIG. 1 thereof, 
there is shown a perspective view of a conventional jogging shoe 11 having 
a lace 12 of reflective material therein threaded through lace openings in 
the top of the shoe upper behind the tip. 
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown lace 12 to illustrate its construction 
in an exemplary form. Lace 12 may comprise reflective fabric or tape such 
as commercially available 3M SCOTCHLITE reflective trim that typically is 
obtainable in 3/4-inch widths having a reflective surface 12R on one side, 
and an adhesive 12A may be applied on the other side. The fabric or tape 
may be cut to the length of a typical shoelace, such as 26 inches, this 
length folded along its longitudinal axis with reflective surfaces 12R 
outside and adhesive surfaces 12A facing each other, and the two halves 
pressed together so that the adhesive surfaces adhere to one another to 
form lace 12. Alternatively, adhesive 12A may be omitted and the two 
halves stitched together at least along the longitudinal edge opposite the 
fold, but preferably double-stitched along both longitudinal edges with a 
double needle for greater strength and more pleasing appearance as shown 
in FIG. 3. The ends 13 may then be wrapped with material, such as masking 
tape, or other suitable material, to form firm tips of diameter less than 
that of the diameter of the lace openings in the shoe. 
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a perspective view of a portion of a 
preferred lace according to the invention with a portion of the stitches 
removed to expose the reinforcing strip of cotton or other suitable 
material 21 located inside the folded-over retroreflective material 
between the rows of stitches 22 and 23. Preferably the reinforcing member 
is cotton tape that is strong and flexible. 
The reflective material is preferably enclosed lens or exposed lens 
material as shown in the magnified views of FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively, 
that produces retroreflection; that is, the reflective material returns a 
significant amount of the incoming light directly back to the source of 
the light whereby the retroreflective material appears brightest to an 
observer located near the light source. Thus, a driver in an automobile 
facing an oncoming jogger along the right side of the road looking over 
his right headlight sees the bright moving pattern of the moving shoelaces 
as the jogger runs toward him, thereby enabling the driver to remain clear 
of the jogger. FIG. 5 is a magnified sectional view through a portion of 
enclosed lens material having a protective liner 31, precoated adhesive 
32, metallic reflector coat 33 and glass beads such as 34 enclosed in 
durable transparent plastic 35. FIG. 6 shows a sectional view of exposed 
lens reflective fabric having a flexible cloth backing 36, a plastic resin 
37 and partially exposed glass beads such as 38, partially embedded in the 
plastic resin. 
The invention has a number of advantages. Enhanced visibility is provided 
at relatively low cost and negligible inconvenience to the jogger. There 
is no harness assembly to be slipped over the shoe that might jiggle while 
running or otherwise distract the runner, add undesired weight to the 
shoe, perhaps interfering with the desirable running characteristics of 
the shoe, or add other problems. The invention may be readily and 
inexpensively fitted to existing running and walking shoes. Furthermore, 
the sturdy material functions as a lace having a relatively long life 
while adequately helping to secure the shoe to the foot of the wearer. 
It is evident that those skilled in the art may now make numerous uses and 
modifications of and departures from the specific apparatus and techniques 
described herein without departing from the inventive concepts. 
Consequently, the invention is to be construed as embracing each and every 
novel feature and novel combination of features present in or possessed by 
the apparatus and techniques herein disclosed and limited solely by the 
spirit and scope of the appended claims.