Patent Publication Number: US-2011072557-A1

Title: Protective foot and footwear covering

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive concept is directed to protecting the feet of the wearer who has experienced an operation or other open sores. It is imperative that any open injuries of the feet have to be protected against any possible egress of bacteria and other contaminations. Such protective coverings are known an hands by surgeons, for example, and they are termed to be surgical gloves. But such protective coverings are not known to be used on feet and on footwear. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,503 discloses a sanitary foot and shoe cover which is formed of single sheet of flexible material. The cover includes a seamless bottom sole portion having a forward toe and rear heel seam extending upwardly from the sole portion. The cover is formed of any flexible and foldable material and can conveniently be formed from of a suitable paper or cloth material which can be sewed. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,106 teaches the use of a laminate foot covering which is impermeable to liquids. This patent teaches the use of an elastic necked-stretched laminate which may include an elastic layer captured between two neck-stretched spun bound layers. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive concept is directed toward a foot or a footwear covering which is of a unitary molded construction and at the same time it is stretchable so that the protective device can be placed over a foot and at the same time over footwear such as a shoe. The idea of the protective device is to form a barrier between a foot that has open sores which were created because of an accident or because of a surgery. The protective cover acts as barrier to prevent any bacteria or other contaminants from reaching the sore. The barrier can also be used by health care workers to protect the health care worker from pathogenic agents, particularly those present in blood or other body fluids. If placed over a footwear, the protective covering will protect surgical personnel from picking up contaminants present on the floor in the operating room and to prevent that person from taking the contaminants out into the general environment. The protective covering can also be used by workers entering a home for repair work to protect floors and carpeting from the worker&#39;s shoes. Of course, the protective cover can be destroyed after each use. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  shows the unitary construction of the foot covering; 
         FIG. 2  Shows the protective covering as applied to a shoe; 
         FIG. 3  shows the covering applied to a foot including the toes. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows the protective covering  10  as it is applied to a foot. The material is highly stretchable and is made of a unitary construction or a molding. The protective covering snugly fits the foot including the ankle portion  11  and the heel portion  13 . The covering extends upwardly from the heel  13  and the ankle portion  11  into the lower leg area and an elastic band  12  is formed at this location. The elastic band portion may by formed of the same basic material as the covering but may be doubled to increase its elasticity. The sole or bottom foot portion  14  fits snugly against the foot bottom including the metatarsal portion of the foot. The foot covering surrounds the toe portion  15 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the protective covering  20  placed over a shoe having a snug configuration. The ankle portion of the leg can be seen at  21  and the heel portion of the shoe at  23  and  24  is shoe bottom portion. 
       FIG. 3  shows a protective foot protector  30  that is more form conforming in that the protector has the toe area  35  is formed into toe stalls of the protective covering  30 . By having separate toe compartments  35 , the protector will eliminate sore toes from contacting each other. This may prove to be beneficial in many instances where there is a fungus present on a foot. 
     There are many ways the foot and or shoe protector can be manufactured. One is by molding and another is by dipping whereby a prepared form may be repeatedly dipped into a plastic composition and after a predetermined thickness has accumulated on the form, the accumulated material may be stripped from the form. 
     Another known process is a melt-blowing process where the material is blown onto a form until the proper thickness has been obtained and again the finished material may be stripped from the form. 
     The material or the composition used in this protector may be derived from many thermoplastic materials such a polyvinyl chloride, fluorocarbons, polyformaldehyde including thermosetting polyesters, silicones and urethanes.