Abstract:
A shoe cover for a court shoe. The shoe cover has an upper region with a toe cap, a mid-shoe region, and a heel cup. The upper region has sidewalls with expansible zones formed therein. The expansible zones are either generally thin and flexible areas that allow deformation of the upper to accommodate a court shoe to be engaged therewith, or are accordion-like. The shoe cover further includes a sole with an expansion zone formed therein.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/413,369, filed Nov. 12, 2010, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Shoes for use on court surfaces, such as for use on tennis courts, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, volleyball courts, racquetball and handball courts and the like, have generally flat outsoles and often have narrow slits and opening formed thereon to enhance their friction and slip resistance with ground surfaces. This is key since the relatively flat outsoles of court shoes allow a court shoe wearer to quickly start and stop, jump, and change directions without slipping and while maintaining good control. 
         [0003]    It is therefore important to keep the outsole clean, debris-free, and also to preserve the condition of the outsole from undue wear and tear that can occur from walking on the streets. While some athletes only wear their court shoes when on a court and remove them when they leave the court, if the athlete forgets to bring another pair of shoes or is in a rush to begin a game or a workout, this can be problematic. 
         [0004]    Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a shoe cover for court shoes that can be quickly and easily donned and removed from the court shoes, that is lightweight, that accommodates a wide variety of court shoe styles and sizes, and which is comfortable to wear. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The invention provides a shoe cover that is designed to be quickly and easily donned and removed from the court shoes, is lightweight and accommodates a wide variety of court shoe styles and sizes, and which is comfortable to wear and is stylish. 
         [0006]    The shoe cover is formed from resilient stretchable material, such plastic, natural rubber, and/or silicone rubber, and combinations thereof. In order to fit a wide variety of court shoe styles and sizes, the shoe cover includes zones where the materials is thinner, is contoured to permits greater flexibility and stretchability, or includes accordion-like expansion areas. One such region is a midsole region in the generally vicinity of the arch region of the shoe, which region permits the court shoe cover to stretch longitudinally in order to accommodate different shoe lengths. During the wearing of the shoe cover over a court shoe, there is less floor contact in the mid-shoe cover region than in the ball portion or the heel portion of the shoe cover, and therefore less need for wear resistance in the mid-shoe cover region. Hence, the arch region of the midsole region in particular can be made thinner and more flexible than the ball portion or the heel portion of the shoe cover. Court shoes tend to have greater variation in their widths in their forefoot ball area than compared to, for example, the midfoot region or heel region. In order to better fit a variety of different court shoe widths, the forefoot ball region of the court shoe cover preferably includes width adjustment features, such as sides, interface regions in the sole, and/or the sole and sides having accordion-like bellows, and/or one or more areas of thinned and/or more stretchable material compared to the other material of the forefoot ball region. This/these features will allow the sides of the court shoe cover in the ball portion of the court shoe cover to shift outwardly and expand away from each other and widen in response to court shoes having different widths slipped into the court shoe cover. None of, some of, or all of these features can be included in the heel portion and the mid-shoe region of the court shoe cover as desired. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a side view of an exemplary embodiment of a court shoe cover of the invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the exemplary embodiment of the court shoe cover of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the exemplary shoe cover through view lines  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the exemplary shoe cover through view lines  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a top view of the forefoot portion of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1  in its unexpanded state. 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is a bottom view of the forefoot portion of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1  in its unexpanded state. 
           [0014]      FIG. 8  is a top view of the forefoot portion of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1  in an expanded state with sidewalls bowed out. 
           [0015]      FIG. 9  is a bottom view of the forefoot portion of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1  in an expanded state with sidewalls bowed out. 
           [0016]      FIG. 10  is a cross sectional view of the exemplary shoe cover through view lines  10 - 10  of  FIG. 8  in its widened state. 
           [0017]      FIG. 11  is a side view of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover of  FIG. 1  with an exemplary court shoe engaged therewith. 
           [0018]      FIG. 12  is a side view of a prior art basketball shoe with protrusions extending laterally outwardly from its soles. 
           [0019]      FIG. 13  is a diagrammatic side view showing another exemplary embodiment of a shoe cover of the invention with the outline of a shoe fitted therein. 
           [0020]      FIG. 14  is a bottom plan view of the sole of the exemplary shoe cover of  FIG. 13 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 15  is a diagrammatic view showing a lateral cross-sectional view of the sole of the shoe cover of  FIG. 13  before it is expanded. 
           [0022]      FIG. 16  is a diagrammatic view showing a lateral cross-sectional view of the sole of the shoe cover of  FIG. 13  while being expanded. 
           [0023]      FIG. 17  is a diagrammatic view showing a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a section of the sidewall of the shoe cover of  FIG. 13  with a shoe inserted in the shoe cover, but without exerting sufficient pressure on the sidewall to cause the sidewall to be substantially moved outwardly. 
           [0024]      FIG. 18  is a diagrammatic view showing a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a section of the sidewall of the shoe cover of  FIG. 13  with a shoe inserted in the shoe cover, with the shoe exerting sufficient pressure on the sidewall to cause the sidewall to be moved outwardly. 
           [0025]      FIG. 19  is a diagrammatic side view showing yet another embodiment of an exemplary shoe cover of the invention with the outline of a shoe fitted therein. 
           [0026]      FIG. 20  is a diagrammatic view showing the accordion-like pattern of the material forming the sidewalls, toe cap and heel cup of the shoe cover of the invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 21  is a diagrammatic view showing how interaction between a shoe fit in the shoe cover causes the accordion-like material to stretch to accommodate the shoe. 
           [0028]      FIG. 22  is another diagrammatic view showing how interaction between a shoe fit in the shoe cover causes the accordion-like material to stretch to accommodate the shoe. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0029]      FIGS. 1-3  are a side view, a top view, and a bottom view, respectively, of an exemplary embodiment of a shoe cover  10  of the invention.  FIG. 4  is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the exemplary shoe cover of  FIG. 1  through view lines  4 - 4 .  FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the exemplary shoe cover through view lines  5 - 5  of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0030]    The shoe cover  10  has an upper opening  12  through which a shoe  90  (shown in  FIG. 11 ) can be engaged with the shoe cover  10 . A toe cap  14  is provided at a front  16  of the forefoot portion  18  of the shoe cover  10  and a heel cup  20  is provided at the rear of a heel portion  22  of the shoe cover  10 . In a mid-cover region  24  of the shoe cover  10 , which generally coincides with an arch area of the shoe to be fitted in the shoe cover  10 , the mid-cover region  24  arches up above a bottom level  26  of the forefoot portion  18  and a bottom level  28  of the heel portion  22 . The material forming the mid-cover region  24  is preferably made thinner and more flexible than in the forefoot portion  18  and the heel portion  22 . Thus, when a shoe is placed in the shoe cover, the combination of pushing down on the arched up mid-cover region  24  and the provision of thinner and more flexible material in the mid-cover region provides for enhanced longitudinal stretchability of the cover in order to accommodate different lengths of shoes and to permit easy donning and removal of shoes from the shoe cover  10 . The shoe cover  10  has side walls  30  that extend between the front  16  of the shoe cover  10  to the heel cup  20  on both a medial side M and a lateral side L of the shoe cover  10 . The sidewalls  30  can, if desired, also made thinner and more flexible in the mid-cover region  24  of the shoe cover  10  for added stretchability of the shoe cover  10 . To provide for additional flexibility of the sidewalls  30 , one or more flex relief grooves  32  can be formed on the sidewalls  30 . Such flex relief grooves  32 , can for example, comprise grooves on the sidewalls  30  where the sidewall material is thinner to allow the sidewall  30  to more easily flex outwardly in response to force placed inwardly the sidewalls, such as the placement of a wide forefoot portion of a shoe in the shoe cover  10 . 
         [0031]    As best shown in  FIG. 4 , which is a cross-sectional view of the shoe cover  10  through view lines  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1 , the toe cap  14  can also be made of thinner material so that there is greater stretchability in the toe cap  14 . On the inside of the shoe cover  10 , a grip pattern  40  may preferably be formed on an top surface  42  of the forefoot portion  18  of the shoe cover, and likewise, a grip pattern  44  may preferably be formed on an top surface  46  of the heel portion  28  of the shoe cover  10 . This grip pattern  40  and  44  can help maintain the shoe in position inside the shoe cover  10  without sliding around, and may also aid in rubbing and cleaning the bottom of the sole of shoes fitting into the shoe cover  10 . As can best be seen, the material forming the shoe cover  10  is thinner, and thus more flexible, in the toe cap  14  and the mid-cover region  24  compared to that in the forefoot portion  18 , the heel portion  22 , and/or the heel cup  20 . This thinner material permits the shoe cover  10  to a bigger variety of different shoes to be fit therein. 
         [0032]    Turning back to  FIG. 3 , a bottom  50  of the shoe cover  10  is shown. It has, on the bottom of its forefoot portion  18 , a patterned region  52  is formed thereon. The bottom of the heel portion  22  likewise has a patterned region  54  formed thereon. The patterned regions  52  and  54  can, for example, comprise repeating herringbone patterns of ridges and valleys, and provide good grip with a floor surface and also good durability. However, other patterns can be employed. In the forefoot region  18 , the patterned region  52  is surrounded by a groove  56 . In the heel portion  22 , the patterned region  54  can likewise surrounded by a groove  58 . In the case of the groove  56  around the patterned region  52 , it provides more stretchable area to allow the forefoot region of expand outwardly to accommodate a greater variety of shoe shapes and sizes, as will be explained further below. 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view through view lines  5 - 5  of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 1 , and shows the shoe cover  10  in its unexpanded state. The bottom  50  of the forefoot portion  18  has a patterned region  52  surrounded by the groove  56 . Outlying the patterned region  52  is a sole rim  60  which extends laterally outwardly from the groove  56  and extends up and merges into the sidewall  32 . For extra scuff protection, etc., a pattern can be formed on the outside of the sole rim  60 . The sole rim  60  is also shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 6  is a top view of the forefoot portion  18  of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 1  in an unexpanded state without its sidewalls  30  bowed out, and  FIG. 7  is a bottom view of the forefoot portion  18  of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 7 . As can be seen, the groove  56  remains undistorted. The patterned region  52  and sole rim  60  are separated by the groove  56  with the sole rim extending onto the sidewall  30 . 
         [0035]      FIG. 8  is a top view of the forefoot portion of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 1  in an expanded state with its sidewalls  30  bowed out, and  FIG. 9  is a bottom view of the forefoot portion  18  of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 7 . As can be seen, the groove  56 , which has thinner material, permits the sole rim  60  and sidewall  30  to stretch and pivot in order to provide for a widening effect of the forefoot portion  18 . 
         [0036]      FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional view through view lines  10 - 10  of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 8  and show the shoe cover  10  in its expanded state. The forefoot portion  18  has the patterned region  52  surrounded by the groove  56 . Outlying the patterned region  52  is the sole rim  60  which extends laterally outwardly from the groove  56  and extends up and merges into the sidewall  30 . For extra scuff protection, etc., a pattern can be formed on the outside of the sole rim  60 . As can be seen, the groove  56 , which has thinner material, allows the sole rim  60  and sidewalls  30  to stretch and pivot outwardly to provide for a widening effect to fit shoes of different widths. The more flex relief grooves  32  also allow portions of the sidewall  30  to flex and better accommodate the shoe. 
         [0037]      FIG. 11  is a side view of the exemplary embodiment of the shoe cover  10  of  FIG. 1  with a shoe  90  engaged therewith. The toe cap  14 , heel cup  20 , and sidewalls  30  will stretch and hold around the shoe  90  to retain the shoe cover  10  in place and permit shoes of various lengths and widths to be fit together with the shoe cover  10 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 12  is a side view of an prior art basketball shoe  92  with protrusions  94  extending laterally outwardly from its sole  96 . 
         [0039]      FIG. 13  is a diagrammatic side view showing another embodiment of an exemplary shoe cover  100  of the invention with the outline of a shoe  92  fitted therein. The shoe cover  100  has expansible sidewalls  102  that preferably extend around the medial and lateral sides of the shoe cover and have adjacent ridges  104  and cut ins  106  formed therein. If desired, the adjacent ridges  104  and cut ins  106  can be provided partially on the heel cup  108  portion of the shoe cover  100 . The shoe cover  100  has a toe cap  110 . The shoe cover  100  can preferably be made from resilient material such as stretchable plastic, rubber, silicone, etc. that will return to its pre-stretched shape after it is no longer under tension. The side wall  102  dips down lower in a mid-sole region  122  of the shoe cover  110 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 14  is a bottom plan view of the sole  112  of the exemplary shoe cover  100  of  FIG. 13 . Two grooves  114  are formed on the bottom of the sole  112  and extend from the toe cap  110  back to the heel cup  108  of the shoe cover  100 . The grooves  114  generally enclose a patterned outsole region  116 , and outside the grooves lie the spaced apart ridges  104  and cut ins  106 . The sole  112  preferably has areas  118  in the mid-shoe cover region  120  that are thinner and more stretchable than other portions of the sole  112 . This, plus having the sidewall  122  being lower in the mid-shoe cover region  120  (as best shown in  FIG. 13 ), allows the shoe cover  100  to stretch lengthwise, particularly in the mid-shoe cover region  120 . 
         [0041]    Turning next to  FIGS. 15 and 16 , there are shown diagrammatic lateral cross-sectional views of the sole  112  the shoe cover of  FIG. 13  before and after it is expanded, respectively. As can be seen in  FIG. 15 , before the shoe cover  100  expands widthwise, the grooves  114  have a first narrower width W 1 . If a shoe with a wide width is placed in the shoe cover  100 , the sidewalls  102  are forced apart and this causes the thinner material in the grooves  114  to stretch to width W 2  as shown in  FIG. 16 , to accommodate shoes of various widths. 
         [0042]      FIG. 17  is a diagrammatic view showing a longitudinal cross-sectional of the sidewall  102  of the shoe cover  100  of  FIG. 13  with a shoe  92  inserted in the shoe cover, but without its outer edges or protrusions  94  exerting sufficient pressure on the side walls  102  (e.g., the cut ins  106  or ridges  104 ) to cause the sidewalls  102  to be substantially stretch outwardly.  FIG. 18  is a similar view as  FIG. 18 , but with protrusions  94  of the shoe  92  exerting substantial force on the sidewall  102  such as to causes it cut ins  106  and ridges  108  to flatten and stretch out, which thereby creates more room in the shoe cover  100  to fit the shoe  92 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 19  is a diagrammatic side view showing yet another embodiment of an exemplary shoe cover  150  of the invention with the outline of a shoe  92  fitted therein. The shoe cover  150  has expansible sidewalls  152  that preferably extend around the medial and lateral sides of the shoe cover  150  and also extends around a heel cup  154 , and the front of the shoe  156  including the toe cap  158 . The expansible sidewalls  152  preferably dips down  162  in a mid-shoe cover region  160  of the shoe cover  150 . The material of the expansible sidewalls  152  can be formed with a series of generally parallel ridges and valleys in an accordion-like manner, as shown in  FIG. 20 , which is an exemplary cross-sectional view perpendicular to the direction of the ridges and valleys. The shoe cover  150  is made from resilient material such as stretchable plastic, rubber, silicone, etc. that will return to its pre-stretched shape when it is not under tension. The sole  112  can be formed in the same manner as the shoe cover  100  of  FIG. 14  and have the same features, e.g., including the longitudinal stretchability of the stretchable areas  118  and have the grooves  114  formed therein for width stretchable of the shoe cover. However, instead of having the spaced apart ridges  104  and cut ins  106  that extend above the sole  112 , the sidewalls  152  are as shown in  FIG. 19 . 
         [0044]      FIGS. 21 and 22  are diagrammatic views showing how interaction between a shoe  92  fit in the shoe cover  150  causes the accordion-like side wall material  152  to stretch to accommodate the shoe  92 . In  FIG. 21 , a protrusion  94  on a shoe  92  has yet to push on the inside of the sidewall  152 . In  FIG. 22 , the protrusion  94  has pushed the sidewall  152  out, and the accordion-like sidewall  152  expands outwardly and upwardly to accommodate the shoe  92 . Also, while the groove  114  foamed in the bottom of the sole  112  is not shown as being expanded in  FIG. 22 , depending on how tight the shoe  92  fits in the shoe cover  150 , the groove  114  can expand as diagrammatically shown in  FIGS. 15 and 16 . 
         [0045]    Although the sidewalls in the embodiments described herein are shown with a more of less uniform pattern of parallel ridges and valleys, they can be irregular in distribution, can vary in size and placement, e.g., with more stretchability provided in areas where there is greater need for stretchability, etc. Moreover, the openable or stretchable accordion-like system of sidewall can be oriented vertical, horizontal or at an angle to the sole. In addition to the accordion-pattern, it is also contemplated to include one or more opening in the sidewalls to provide for air flow in the shoe covers and also to provide for greater stretchability where it is desired. 
         [0046]    The material of the show covers, besides being formed uniformly of the same material, can be formed with different materials and/or materials having different properties, e.g., different hardness, stretchability ratings, etc. 
         [0047]    Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications may be made to the described embodiments. Moreover, to those skilled in the various arts, the invention itself herein will suggest solutions to other tasks and adaptations for other applications. It is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrated and not restrictive.