DECORATIVE EYELET COVER FOR FOOTWEAR, GARMENTS, AND THE LIKE

• US 20140259295A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Crowns Xl, LLC
• Original Assignee: Crowns Xl, LLC
• Inventors: Guglielmo, Dominick Daniel, Kraai, Jeffrey Todd
• Application Number:
  US13/837,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20140259295A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 2/245
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 1/0027 made at least partially from a material having special colours
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 23/24 Ornamental buckles; Other ornaments for shoes without fastening function
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/0078 provided with logos, letters, signatures or the like decoration A43B23/24 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A43C 5/00 Eyelets machines for setting eyelets A43D100/00

Abstract

A snap-fit eyelet cover configured for insertion through an eyelet opening to decorate an eyelet on footwear, garments, and the like. The eyelet cover includes a neck formed of a material sufficiently resilient to fit through an eyelet opening and thereafter expand to bear against the eyelet and retain the eyelet cover in position. The eyelet cover further includes a crown extending radially outward from the neck, the crown having a top surface that may be decorated with any number of patterns, shapes, colors, or other decorative features as desired. A bore extends in an axial direction through the neck and the crown to provide an interior passage for threading a shoe lace or other material.

Claims

1. A snap-fit eyelet cover for decorating an eyelet on footwear, garments, and the like, the eyelet cover comprising:

a neck having an exterior surface extending radially outward from a throat region to an insertion region of the neck, wherein the throat region has a maximum outer diameter that is less than a maximum outer diameter of the insertion region, and wherein the neck is formed of a material sufficiently resilient to fit through an eyelet opening and to thereafter expand to bear against the eyelet and retain the eyelet cover in the eyelet;

a crown extending radially outward from the neck, the crown having a top surface and an opposite bottom surface; and

a bore extending in an axial direction through the neck and the crown, the bore defining an interior passage extending through the eyelet cover.

2. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the neck includes a pair of notches, each notch extending in the axial direction from a bottom surface of the neck and through the insertion region.

3. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the insertion region includes an annular ridge formed around at least a portion of the neck, the annular ridge having a maximum outer diameter larger than the throat region of the neck.

4. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 3, wherein the insertion region further includes a chamfered edge defining a lead-in section, the lead-in section tapering inwardly from the annular ridge to a bottom surface of the neck.

5. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the top and bottom surfaces of the crown extend to an outer peripheral edge, the outer peripheral edge having a planar surface and the bottom surface having a curved surface extending from the outer peripheral edge to the neck.

6. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 5, wherein the bottom surface links to the exterior surface of the neck and defines a continuous curve extending from the outer peripheral edge to the insertion region of the neck.

7. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the neck further includes an interior surface facing the bore, the interior surface linked to the top surface of the crown via a curved transition section to provide strain relief for a material inserted through the interior passage of the eyelet cover.

8. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 7, where the interior surface of the neck is linked to a bottom surface of the neck via a second curved transition section to provide strain relief for a material inserted through the interior passage of the eyelet cover

9. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the neck and the crown are formed as a single, monolithic structure.

10. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 9, wherein the eyelet cover is molded from a plastic material.

11. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the neck deforms inwardly toward the axial direction when the neck is inserted into the eyelet.

12. The snap-fit eyelet cover of claim 1, wherein the top surface is rounded in the shape of a torroidal section.