Abstract:
A tool for rotating athletic shoe cleats having an annular body with gripping projections extending from one side thereof, a threaded shank extending from an opposing side thereof, and torquing openings adapted to receive prongs of a conventional cleat tool. The turning tool is able to thread the cleats into and out from internally threaded openings of an athletic shoe to provide fast cleat change-out operations. The tool includes an elongate sleeve having a cylindrical inner surface for mating over the annular cleat body, the sleeve having proximate and distal ends and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween; a plurality of pins individually mounted in dense, parallel disposition within the sleeve, the pins having a circular cross-sectional shape with a predetermined diameter that is sized for fitting in the torquing openings of the cleat body; and biasing mechanisms associated with respective ones of the plurality of pins for urging the associated pins along the longitudinal axis to an extended position and allowing the pins to be independently shifted so that, with the sleeve distal end mated over the cleat body, pins aligned with the torquing openings are biased therein and pins adjacent the cleat gripping projections securely engage thereagainst as the tool is rotated, thereby increasing torquing surface beyond what is provided merely by the pins in the torquing openings. The increased torquing surface provides improved gripping action between the tool and the cleat, thereby minimizing the risk of having the tool slip off the cleat during cleat change-out operations.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In recent years the golf world has seen a radical change with regard to acceptable and preferred footwear on golf courses. While metal-spiked shoes used to be preferred nearly unanimously, and were sometimes even required, such shoes are now frequently forbidden. It is currently considered that cleats having one or more plastic, rubberized, synthetic, or composite projections are better for maintaining golf courses in playable condition, and, as such, a wide variety of cleated golf shoes are now available. 
     Cleats help provide sound footing for the golfer during his swing, as well as when he traverses the course. The particular cleat preferred by a golfer for a round of golf may depend upon, among other things, the type of terrain on the particular course and the weather among other factors. Additionally, a wide variety of cleats are being called for in sports other than golf Football players, for example, may wish to use different cleats depending upon whether they are playing on grass or artificial turf, whether the playing surface is wet or dry, or even depending upon what position they are playing at the time. For example, sometimes having many small projections is preferable while, other times, having fewer, longer projections is better. Obviously, to have access to optimal cleats for all situations would be very costly as it would be necessary to own and keep available a myriad of athletic shoes. 
     To enhance flexibility, therefore, many athletic shoes are now made with changeable cleats. Examples of such athletic shoes are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,033,211; 5,533,282; and 5,727,340. Such shoes often have internally threaded apertures on their bottoms for receiving external threads from individual cleats. Alternatively, such shoes may have unthreaded recesses nevertheless configured for rotatingly receiving correspondingly shaped insertable cleats such as by way of various cooperating cam or wedge surfaces. For ease of reference, these types of cleats will also be referenced as being threaded into or out from receiving recesses in the bottom of the shoe. In this manner, individual cleats can be rotated into or out of such apertures so that they are replaceable. In order to securely attach the removable cleats so they do not work their way loose from the shoe, however, such cleats generally need to be rotated tightly into their corresponding apertures so that they are not prone to rotate back out of position. To provide for higher torque rotation with golf cleats, for instance, cleats conventionally include two torquing openings, and a two-pronged tool is commonly used for engaging the torquing openings and rotating the cleats into and out of the apertures. 
     Such conventional two-pronged cleat changing tools have shortcomings. First, not all cleats have torquing openings compatible with all such tools. Second, even when compatible torquing openings are present, such as with most golf cleats, they typically get obstructed by dirt, mud and/or other debris which limit the ability of a user to properly register one or both of the prongs of the conventional tool in the torque openings in the cleat so that secure engagement between the tool and cleat is not achieved. As is apparent, this makes it very difficult to obtain the proper amount of torquing action for removing tightly installed cleats from the shoe. 
     Torquing openings can be less than fully accessible for a variety of reasons. As stated, it is very common for there to be dirt, sand, sod or other earthly material wedged into the torquing openings. Other times, the walls of the torquing openings have been partially or fully eroded away, either from normal usage wear or from wear attributable to prior uses of a conventional two-pronged tool. Thus, conventional two-pronged tools are often unable to effectively change such cleats. 
     With respect to golf cleats particularly, due to the switch to modem cleats which tend to wear more quickly than their all-metal predecessors, the need for golf cleat change-outs has increased dramatically in recent years. Typically, a clubhouse employee is performing these change-out operations for multiple pairs of golf shoes. Also, there are golfers who request such cleat change-outs when they arrive at the course so that the employee only has a short time in which to accomplish this task, such as the time it takes a golfer to check in and pay for his round until the time the golfer gets in a golf cart to go to the first tee or driving range. Thus, the change-out operations need to be done in a time efficient manner. 
     The person attempting to do the cleat change-outs quickly often loses sight of the need to have the prongs of the tool inserted as close to full depth in the torque openings as possible to insure that the tool does not slip off the cleat as the tool is rotated. This slip off problem is exacerbated due to the aforedescribed problem of fouling of the torque openings. Because the person typically directs a downward force on the tool toward the bottom of the shoe while rotating/torquing the tool, if one or both prongs slip out from the torquing opening(s), his hand is likely to engage the cleats in place on the shoe with some force, causing injury and slowing down the entire cleat change-out operation. On the other hand, requiring a worker to clean out the torquing openings on all the cleats and to carefully make sure the prongs are fully registered therein is not practical from a speed of change-out standpoint, and, as a result, does not usually occur. 
     Accordingly, there is a need for a tool that can perform change-out operations on removable cleats of an athletic shoe in a fast and safe manner. More particularly, a tool that allows a golf cleat to be rapidly replaced despite fouling of the torquing openings thereof would be desirable. 
     SUMMARY OF TH INVENTION 
     In accordance with the invention, a tool is provided for rapidly changing-out cleats on athletic shoes while maintaining a secure grip therebetween as torque is applied to the cleat during change-out operations. In this manner, the present tool avoids the problem of having the tool slip off the cleat which slows the entire change-out process and can potentially cause injury to the person changing the cleats over to a new or different type of cleat. In this regard, the tool is particularly well-suited for use with golf cleats which are the subject of frequent change-out operations, either to go from metal to plastic cleats or to replace worn plastic cleats. The present tool does not depend solely, as do prior tools, on substantially full depth registering of prongs in torque openings on the cleat. This way, the cleats can be changed out quickly and safely without sacrificing the amount of torque that can be placed on the cleat by the tool user. To this end, the tool uses specially sized pins that are biased in a sleeve having a cylindrical inner diameter adapted to mate about the annular body of the cleat. The pins are sized to be received in the torque openings; however, if the holes are obstructed by foreign matter the pins adjacent the cleat projections will still act to efficiently transmit the applied torque to the cleat. And since they are engaged with the cleat projections along their length, there is no danger of slipping in an axial direction relative thereto, as there is with prongs not properly or fully registered in the torque openings, so that the present tool stays in secure engagement with the cleat irrespective of blockages present in the torquing openings. In addition, the pins are preferably recessed in the sleeve to provide a space at the end thereof in which the cleat body can be received prior to encountering the ends of the pins. The recess allows a user to easily and readily locate the sleeve over the body prior to applying torque to the cleat to further improve speed of change-out operations with the present tool over prior pronged tools where the user has to carefully align the prongs with the corresponding cleat torquing openings for fitting therein. 
     In one form of the invention, the cleats have an annular body with gripping projections extending from one side of the body, an insertable portion extending from an opposing side of the body, and torquing openings adapted to receive prongs of a conventional cleat tool. The turning tool is able to thread the cleats into and out from internally threaded openings of an athletic shoe to provide fast cleat change-out operations. The tool includes an elongate sleeve having a cylindrical inner surface for mating over the annular cleat body. The sleeve has proximate and distal ends and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween. The tool includes a plurality of pins mounted in close proximity to adjacent pins within the sleeve. The pins have a circular cross-sectional shape with a predetermined diameter that is sized for fitting in the torquing openings of the cleat body. A biasing mechanism is provided to urge the pins along the longitudinal axis to an extended position. The biasing mechanism allows the pins to be independently shifted so that, with the sleeve distal end mated over the cleat body, pins aligned with the torquing openings can be urged therein and pins adjacent the cleat gripping projections securely engage thereagainst as the tool is rotated. Thus, increased torquing surface is provided, beyond what is provided merely by the pins in the torquing openings. The increased torquing surface provides improved gripping action between the tool and the cleat, thereby minimizing the risk of having the tool slip off the cleat during cleat change-out operations. 
     In another form, the tool includes a head portion for engaging individual cleats. The head portion includes a sleeve and a plurality of independently spring-biased pins disposed within and generally parallel to the sleeve. The spring-biased pins are for engaging surface projections on the individual cleats. The tool also includes a handle attached to the head portion for facilitating the application of torque to the head portion relative to the individual cleats. 
     Another aspect of the invention is a method of changing a cleat on an athletic shoe in a fast and safe manner. The method includes providing a sleeve with a plurality of pins sized to fit torquing openings in a body of the cleat, placing the sleeve over the cleat body such that the pins aligned with the torquing openings are urged into the torquing openings where the torquing openings are not obstructed or damaged, the pins aligned with the gripping projections retract/shift within the sleeve upon contacting the gripping projections, and the pins adjacent the retracted pins securely engage the gripping projections laterally, and rotating the sleeve so that the pins adjacent the retracted pins apply a torquing force on the gripping projections sufficient to relatively insert the cleat into the athletic shoe aperture irrespective of whether the pins aligned with the torquing openings are disposed therein. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cleat changing tool in accordance with the invention showing the tool in alignment with a cleat for installation on an athletic shoe. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tool showing a head portion including a sleeve having a cylindrical surface with a dense array of pins disposed inside the sleeve. 
     FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the head portion of FIG. 2 wherein a portion of the sleeve is broken away showing the pins urged to their extended position with distal ends of the pins recessed in the sleeve. 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation view of the head portion in FIG. 3 wherein the tool is applied to a cleat having torquing openings. 
     FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the tool applied to a cleat lacking torquing openings. 
     FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a prior art tool having a pair of prongs received in torquing openings of a cleat for applying and removing golf cleats from an athletic shoe. 
     FIG. 6A is a view taken along line  6 A— 6 A of FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a ratchet actuator handle for the tool of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a power actuator for the tool of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An athletic shoe cleat tool  10  in accordance with a preferred form of the invention is shown in FIG.  1 . The tool  10  which includes head portion  12 , handle portion  14 , and head-handle linkage  15  is depicted in axial alignment with a generally annular cleat  33  and an aperture  32  in an athletic shoe  11 . The handle  14  is T-shaped for facilitating manually grasping the handle to apply the tool  10  to a cleat  33  needing to be applied or removed from an athletic shoe  11 . The sleeve  13  of the head portion  12  (shown in greater detail in FIGS.  2 - 5 ), preferably fits along the periphery  39  of the annular cleat  33  when the tool  10  is applied to the cleat  33 . 
     The cleat  33  (shown in cross-sectional detail in FIG. 4) can include a shank  38  having external threads  40  helically disposed thereon such that the shank  38  is insertable into an aperture  32  in the athletic shoe  11 . The aperture  32  is thus preferably internally threaded in corresponding fashion with the external threading  40  on the shank  38 . It should be noted that threaded cleats such as cleat  33  as well as cleats using other types of rotating fastening mechanisms (e.g., cam or wedge surfaces) can be installed or removed with the present tool  10 . 
     The shank  38  extends from an upper surface  36  of the annular base or body portion  35  of the cleat  33 . In this form, the upper surface  36  generally comes flush with the surface of the shoe  11  when the shank  38  of cleat  33  is fully received into the aperture  32 . The lower surface  37  of the annular base portion  35  of the cleat  33  has surface projections  34  which depend therefrom, for gripping into the surface on which the cleats  33  are designed for use. The surface gripping projections  34  may include any non-flat surface features on the lower surface  37  of the cleat base  35 . In an alternative form and as stated above, the cleat may include a cam or wedge or other insertable portion rather than the shank  38 . Of course, the apertures of the shoe would be configured to rotatively engage with the alternative cleat. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2-5, the head portion  12  of the cleat tool  10  includes a generally cylindrical sleeve  13  having a longitudinal central axis  13   a.  The sleeve  13  preferably is cylindrical on its inner surface  13   b,  for reasons to be discussed hereinafter. Disposed within the sleeve  13  is a biasing mechanism, generally designated  100 , which urges the distal pin contacts  20  to their extended position in the sleeve  13 . The biasing mechanism  100  can take several forms and as shown includes a generally fixed and rigid spacer  22  having a number of apertures therein for retaining distinct, generally parallel axial members. In particular, the spacer  22  retains a number of pins  16  each having a pin shaft  24  defining its length, a pin contact  20  at a distal end of the pin shaft  24  and a pin retainer  26  at the opposite proximate end of the pin shaft  24 . The pins are all preferably of equal length and are disposed densely and in parallel configuration to the axis of the cylindrical sleeve  13 . The pins  16  are preferably retained in the sleeve  13  by having their pin retainers  26  disposed behind rigid pin spacer  22  while pin contact  20  is disposed in front of spacer  22 . In this manner, the pin shafts  24  may slide through a particular corresponding aperture in pin spacer  22 , but the pin  16  cannot slide out of such aperture because neither pin contact  20  nor pin retainer  26  fits through the aperture. Preferably, however, pin contacts  20  cannot slide so far as to contact the spacer  22  because the pin retainers  26  would contact the rear wall  17  at the proximate end of the head portion  12  before the contacts  20  met the spacer  22 . 
     The biasing mechanism  100  employs helical pin springs  18  snaked about the shaft  24  of the pins  18 . The pin spring  18  can extend from the shoulder  20   a  between the pin contact  20  and the pin shaft  24  to the pin spacer  22 . The pin spring  18  thus has a maximum extension greater than the length of the shaft  24  between the spacer  22  and pin contact  20  so that the spring is prestressed in compression so as to push the pin contact  20  as far as possible from pin spacer  22 . Thus, when the tool is not in use, the pin retainer  26  is flush with the rear side of pin spacer  22  and the pins are extended fully forward (toward the open/distal end of the head portion  12 ). 
     As the head portion  12  is shown in its unapplied state in FIG. 3, the pins  16  are extended uniformly fully forward within the sleeve  13  such that their contacts  20  define an engagement threshold for engaging surface projections  34  from the cleat  33 . The engagement threshold, as shown in FIG. 3, is preferably recessed within the sleeve to permit the sleeve  13  to mate about the annular periphery  39  of the cleat  33  while the individual pin contacts  20  engage the surface projections  34  on the cleat  33 , leaving some clearance for the thickness of the cleat base  35  via space  13   c  at the distal end of the sleeve  13 . This allows the tool  10  to be readily located and fit over the annular cleat  33  prior to engagement of the pins therewith. Further, this present tool  10  does not require that pins  16  be specifically aligned with and located in torquing openings  42  of the cleat. This saves significant time during change-out operations with the tool  10  herein over the prior art tool  60 , described more fully hereinafter. 
     The head portion  12  also can include a centrally disposed alignment member  27  axially oriented akin to the pins  16 . Like the pins  16 , the alignment member  27  preferably includes a contact  29  and a retainer  30  attached to opposite ends of a shaft  28 . The alignment member  27  has a more robust construction than the pins  16  in that its shaft  28  and contact and retainer portions  29  and  30  at either end thereof are of a larger diameter than corresponding portions of the pins. Like the pins, the alignment member  27  is also disposed in an aperture in the spacer  22 , and includes a helical spring  31  snaked around its shaft  28  and prestressed in compression between the contact  29  and the spacer  22 . Although the alignment member  27  may be employed in the same manner as the pins  16 , i.e. to engage surface projections  34  on the cleat  33 , it may also function to align the central axis of the head portion with a center line of the annular cleat  33 . Having aligned centers facilitates subsequently torquing the cleat  33  into or out from the aperture  32  in the athletic shoe  11 , especially because lower torquing forces are typically required when the corresponding threads of the shank  38  and aperture  32  are properly aligned. 
     As the head portion  12  of the tool  10  is placed over the lower surface  37  and periphery  39  of a cleat  33 , surface projections  34  engage one or more pin contacts  20  from respective pins  16 , thereby pressing the pin contacts  20  toward the spacer  22  against their bias by varying degrees according to the profile of the lower surface  37  including the projections  34  extending therefrom. The pins  16  independently retract against the biases supplied by their respective pin springs  18  between their individual contacts  20  and the common spacer  22 . While some of the pin contacts  20  may contact surface projections  34  that, at the point of contact, are generally parallel to the lower surface  37  of the cleat  33 , other such contacts will likely contact surfaces which are obliquely angled, or even perpendicular to lower surface  37 . These contacts are the ones through which direct, nonfrictional torque about the central axis can be applied to cleat via the projections  34  thereof 
     The general configuration of engagement between the tool  10  and a cleat  33  immediately after the cleat has been torqued into an athletic shoe aperture or immediately before removal of the cleat  33  from such an aperture is about to begin is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 4 the cleat includes conventional torquing openings  42  while in FIG. 5 the cleat lacks these openings. FIG. 4 shows that the pin contacts  20  are sized appropriately to fit into and engage the torquing openings  42  on cleats  33  that have such openings, especially when such openings are unobstructed and are well defined by uneroded surrounding structure. Most torquing openings for golf cleats are appropriately 2 mm in diameter. Accordingly, the pin contacts  20  are sized to be slightly smaller than 2 mm in diameter for fitting in the openings  42  such as on the order of approximately 1.75-1.8 mm in diameter. Other surface projections  34  on cleats having torquing openings  42  are also engaged by one or more pin contacts  20 . 
     In the position described, the sleeve  13  preferably comes flush with the bottom (shown face up in FIGS. 4 and 5) of the athletic shoe  11  while simultaneously coming flush with the periphery  39  of the annular base portion  35  of the cleat  33 . As most golf cleats are approximately 21-23 mm in diameter, the diameter of the sleeve inner cylindrical surface  13   b  is preferably about 24 mm to provide a mating fit about the annular cleat body. 
     The pins  16  and the alignment member  30  are engaged with whatever surface projections  34  (including torquing openings  42  when possible) they encounter from the cleat  33 , biasing these members against their respective springs ( 18  and  31 , respectively). Depending upon the amount of recess of the engagement threshold within the sleeve  13 , any pin contacts  20  that do not encounter surface projections may or may not reach the cleat, as shown in FIG. 4, for example. 
     As is apparent, during cleat change at operations, the distal ends  20   a  of the pin contacts  20  can be disposed at a wide variety of spacings or levels relative to the distal end of the sleeve  13  due to the changing profile of the cleat  33 . For instance, the pin ends  20   a  are disposed at three different levels during torquing of the cleat  33  in FIG. 5 with pin  16   a  retracted furthest as it sits on the bottom of the cleat projection  34   a,  whereas pin  16   b  is retracted less than pin  16   a  as it is engaged with the side of the projection  34   a,  and pin  16   c  is not retracted as its end  20   a  is adjacent the lower surface  37  of the cleat body  35 . Accordingly, it has been found that the use of independently biased pins  16  in the tool  10  herein is advantageously utilized with cleats  33  since their profile changes often in a radical fashion between relatively closely adjacent points thereon. The tool  10  does not apply direct torque to the body  35  of the cleat  33  but instead uses its pins  16  against projections  34  of the cleat  33  supplemented by pins  16  in the torquing openings  42  to apply torque to the cleat  33 . Thus, the advantage conferred by the tool  10  is not in its ability to handle differently shaped cleat bodies such as those that may have other than annular configurations, but instead is in the ability to handle cleats  33  with projections  34  generally since it does not matter how the tool  10  addresses the cleat  33  once mated thereover, and to handle cleats  33  having different arrangements and sizes of projections  34  thereon. It is noted that the pin engagement with the projections  34  will generally provide a much greater surface contact area across which torque can be applied than the pins in the openings afford. To this end, the present tool  10  operates effectively irrespective of whether the pins  16  are fully or even partially received in the openings, such as when these openings are fouled due to use of the cleat. 
     With some of the pins  16  obliquely contacting surface projections  34 , and preferably the head portion  12  and cleat  33  in axial alignment, the tool is ready to be torqued to rotate the threaded cleat  33  within the aperture  32  of the athletic shoe  11 . Torque may be applied to the head portion  12  in a variety of ways. FIG. 1 shows a T-shaped actuator handle  14  axially connected to the head portion  12  by a socket type head-handle linkage  15 . With the T-shaped handle, the user can manually grip the crossbar portion  21  of the handle  14  with his fingers and, once the tool is engaged with the cleat, turn his wrist to rotate the handle  14  about the common axis of the cleat, head portion  12 , and stem portion  23  of the handle portion  14 . The torque applied to the handle  14  is transmitted to the head portion and cleat via linkage  15 . 
     Preferably, the pins  16  are densely arranged so that they can encounter more surface projections  34  on the cleat  33 , but preferably there is a small amount of transverse play at the contacts  20  such that when the head portion  12  is torqued, the pins  16  can skew slightly with respect to the central axis of the sleeve  13  (oppositely to the direction of torquing) before transferring maximum torque to the cleat  33 . The transverse play of the pin contacts  20  permits the contacts  20  to generally get firmer engagement with the oblique and perpendicular surface projections and permit more torque to be applied to such projections without the tool  10  slipping off the cleat  33 . 
     Other means for torquing the head portion  12  and cleat  33  are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, which show a ratchet handle actuator tool  50  and a power actuator tool  56 , respectively. The ratchet handle tool  50  of FIG. 7 includes a lever arm  52  radial to the central axis of the head portion  12  whereby torque can be applied to the linkage  15  and the head portion  12  by tangentially directed force applied to the lever arm  52 . The ratchet portion  54  of the tool permits the lever arm  52  to be rotated backwardly into a position easily accessible to the user without substantially torquing the linkage  15  in the backward direction for either application or removal of the cleat  33 . 
     The power tool  56  of FIG. 8 has a power actuator  57  for rotating the head portion  12  via socket connection  15  and can include an electrically driven motor  59  within a casing  58 . As shown, the motor  59  can be axially aligned with linkage  15 . Preferably the tool  56  has an on/off switch and/or a forward/reverse switch for the motor. The tool  56  may draw AC power from a standard wall outlet (cord shown in FIG. 8) or may alternatively employ one or more battery cells for power. 
     FIGS. 6 and 6A show a conventional prior art tool  60  that is commonly used to apply and remove cleats  33  from a golf shoe  11 . The tool  60  includes a pair of prongs  62  for engaging in torquing openings  42  on the cleats  33 . The tool can then be rotated manually to apply or remove the cleat  33 . As previously described, these tools  60  limit the ability of a person to quickly and safely perform cleat change-out operations. First, both of the prongs  62  of the tool  60  have to be carefully aligned over the openings  42  prior to insertion therein. Second, even after alignment, the prongs  62  may not be received to sufficient depth in the openings  42  due to fouling thereof If the openings  42  are tightly and fully packed with mud or dirt, they have to be cleaned out. If partially filled, the prongs  62  may not stay securely received therein once torquing begins in a change-out operation. 
     An advantage of the inventive tool  10  over such conventional tools  60  is that the tool  10  has spring-biased pins  16  that can engage a wide variety of surface projections that might exist on a given cleat. Thus, if a cleat lacks conventional torquing openings  42 , or if those openings are obstructed, damaged or otherwise inaccessible, the tool  10  can still engage the cleat in a manner to permit sufficient gripping action and torque to be applied to the cleat in order to apply it to or remove it from an athletic shoe. 
     While there have been illustrated and described particular embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated that numerous changes and modifications will occur to those skilled in the art, and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all those changes and modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.