SHOE DONNER STAFF

Abstract

The invention enables a mobility-challenged user to don shoes on the floor, already adequately tied for the day, whether the user is seated or standing and without having to reach down to them. A staff has two sidearms reaching over the shoe opening with a heel guide on the rear one and tongue grab on the forward one. The guide and grab, close together at rest, are inserted down into the shoe opening. Pressing down on the staff then forces the sidearms longitudinally apart, pushing guide and grab which stretches the shoe opening lengthwise to ease foot entry, while a slippery flap hanging from the tongue grab moves under the tongue to reduce resistance to the forward sliding of the bridge of the foot. The foot heel pressed down on the heel guide pushes forward on the heel guide's downward sloping ramp and then slides down a shoehorn-like lower part of the heel guide, and the shoe is donned. Lifting the staff easily pulls guide, grab and flap out of the shoe. The donner stick is light and compact for travel.

Claims

1. An apparatus for enabling a user to don a shoe even if unable to reach down to the shoe and the shoe is already adequately fastened for wearing, and with no need to set up shoe in apparatus in advance, the apparatus comprising: a staff of such length that a seated or standing user can readily grasp its upper part while its base is on the floor, the staff including a tubular sleeve slidingly enclosing its upper portion; a first arm having a shoulder-like end rigidly attached to the staff from where the arm extends sideways farther than shoe width and just above shoe heel height from the floor; a heel guide rigidly attached to the free end of the first arm, the heel guide having a top portion slanting downward and forward to shoe heel height and then down to form a shoehorn-like bottom portion; a track rigidly attached to the staff just above the first arm and positioned at right angles to the first arm, the track extending forward and preferably upward farther ahead than the shoe toe and to an elevation above shoe tongue height; a second arm having a shoulder-like end slidingly mounted on the track so that the second arm extends sideways at right angles to the track, parallel to the first arm and of similar length; a claw-like tongue grab, C-shaped in side elevation, having a lower rear portion shaped to reach down and then forward inside the shoe to a point well under the exposed end of the shoe's tongue, while the upper portion of the tongue grab is formed to reach forward over the top of the shoe tongue to hinged attachment to the outer portion of the second arm; a flexible, slippery flap hingedly attached to the lower part of the tongue grab whereby the flap can hang loosely down inside the shoe; a driver strut having its upper end hingedly attached near the low end of the tubular sleeve and its bottom end hingedly attached atop the shoulder of the second arm; preferably a spring or elastic cord affixed to pull the tubular sleeve upward on the staff, pulling the driver strut upward and therewith pulling the second arm to its closest proximity to the first arm, bringing the heel guide and tongue grab close together so that the user can insert them into the shoe opening, returning the staff bottom to the floor alongside the shoe; whereupon pressing downward on the tubular sleeve drives the bottom of the driver strut forward and thereby the tongue grab forward, the tongue grab forcing the exposed end of shoe tongue forward and upward while the heel guide holds the shoe heel back so that the shoe opening is lengthened, enabling the user to insert foot toe area well into the shoe and press foot heel down on the upper part of the heel guide so that the foot heel slides forward and down along the heel guide while the bridge of the foot slides forward under the slippery flap under the shoe tongue until the shoe, already adequately tied, is donned, and the user pulling up on the staff pulls heel guide, tongue grab and slippery flap clear of the donned shoe.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] FIG. 1 is a plan view of the shoe donner staff.

[0009] FIG. 2 is a side elevational view.

[0010] FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective sketches looking down on the shoe donner staff.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, best viewed together, show the essentials of our handmade shoe donner staff test piece. It's most readily described as if alongside a shoe, facing right, with heel end at left. A staff 1 supports a heel guide 2 by means of a crossarm 3, which is rigidly attached to the staff just above shoe height. (While not illustrated, the staff preferably stands about 70 cm. high to allow portabilityfitting into luggagewhile still readily usable from a sitting or standing position. If a higher staff is desirable it can be made foldable for travel.) The crossarm 3 reaches crosswise the width of the shoe; this is better shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The heel guide 2 has a top portion slanting downward and forward as seen in FIG. 2, and a bottom portion ready to reach well down into the shoe heel. A lengthwise arm 4 is rigidly attached to the staff 1 and extends forward to about shoe length. A second crossarm 5 is slidingly mounted on the lengthwise arm 4 by means of a sleeve-like mounting 5a (not fully shown) that wraps loosely around the lengthwise track 4, enabling the crossarm 5 to slide lengthwise along the track 4 while adequately maintaining its right-angle orientation across the width of the shoe. A claw-like tongue grab 6 is hingedly attached at 6a to the far end of the crossarm 5 and extends back toward the heel, curling downward and then forward as shown in FIG. 2, to be positionable under the tongue within the shoe. A flexible and slippery under-tongue flap 7 hangs down from the tongue grab. A tubular sleeve 1a is mounted over the staff 1, with a spring or elastic cord (not shown) holding the tubular sleeve up from the floor. The lower end of the sleeve 1a is attached to a driver strut 8 through a hinge 8a; the other end of driver strut 8 is attached through a hinge 8b to the crossarm 5. The sleeve 1a, in its normal position as shown in FIG. 2, has pulled the driver strut 8 upward and therewith pulled the tongue grab 6 and under-tongue flap 7 back close to the heel guide 2, so that both heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 with its under-tongue flap 7 can be placed within the shoe opening simply by lifting the staff 1 and maneuvering its lower end close to the shoe and back down on the floor. The shoe can now be made ready for donningeven though already adequately tied.

[0012] In FIG. 3, the heel guide 2 and the tongue grab 6 are shown placed within the shoe S, the user having inserted them with the staff 1 which accordingly rests at the ready beside the shoe S. (An actual shadow of the strut 8 is sketched here, SS, to help make it clear in this perspective view that the strut 8 is in its most upright position, pulling the tongue grab 6 close to the heel guide 2 to enable their insertion.) The under-tongue flap 7 simply hangs down into the shoe S. The shoe donner staff is ready to do its job.

[0013] FIG. 4 shows the first job done: The user has pushed down the sleeve 1a; that has pushed down the hinge 8a to force the strut 8 to push the crossarm 5 forward, therewith forcing the tongue grab 6 forward and upward to substantially lengthen the opening in the shoe S. (Both the heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 are wide enough to prevent too much narrowing of the shoe opening as it is lengthened.) Now the user can insert toe into the longer opening and under the shoe's tongue, which action also pushes the under-tongue flap 7 ahead where it lies between foot and tongue. The user presses foot heel downward on the forward-sloping upper part of the heel guide 2, driving the foot forward, the top of foot instep slipping easily under the under-tongue flap 7, until the heel slides straight down along the lower part of the heel guide and the shoe is fully shod ready for the dayalready tied adequately, not too tightly.

[0014] Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims. Testing has already taught simple method and equipment pointers: Users may need to have the shoe steadied on the floor, say by pushing its toe forward or heel back into a ferry dock formed by small blocks suction-cupped to the floor. Following insertion and activation of heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 to enlarge the shoe opening, tilting the staff 1 backward slants the shoe upward at the toe, making it easier to place foot in opening. (A rocker box akin to that mentioned aboveKatz and Platts pat. app.could help in steadying and tilting; it would preferably be just a third length, single shoe, portable.) The staff 1 can be operated by left or right hand, for either shoe. As was also noted in the above pat. app., a wall mirror down to the floor can crucially help guide a seated user. Those with poor leg control can use forearm on knee to help press the foot down. While not shown, rather than having a range of sizes of this shoe donner staff to suit small to large shoes, preferably just two or three models could be made to fit practically all, each model featuring more than one hinge point 8a, fixable above each other on the staff sleeve 1a, the driver strut 8 preferably being telescopingly adjustable as well, so that each model is suitable for a range of shoe openings. While simplicity and manufacturability favours the strut 8 mechanism, it could be replaced with a belt or chain drive. The shoe donner staff can also be used to move a shoe, just pushing it or, if needed, picking it upfirst inserting heel guide and tongue grab, forcing them apart as usual and preferably having a lock on the staff to hold them apart while lifting it.