Footwear with flashing lights
First Claim
1. Footwear for improving visibility of a wearer thereof, said footwear including an upper portion for contacting an upper surface of a wearer'"'"'s foot and a sole portion for underlying a lower surface of the wearer'"'"'s foot and supporting the wearer'"'"'s foot against the ground, the improvement comprising:
- a cavity formed in said sole portion, said cavity having an upper surface and a lower surface;
a plug-in module, slidably insertable into and removable from said cavity, said plug-in module including;
a light source disposed in said plug-in module such that light emitted from said light source is visible exteriorly of said plug-in module;
a power source for energizing said light source; and
,switch means, operatively responsive to close when the wearer'"'"'s foot is removed from the ground, for selectively connecting said power source to said light source to cause illumination of said light source, said switch means being operatively responsive to open when the wearer'"'"'s foot is applied to the ground, thereby extinguishing the illumination of said light.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Footwear for improving the visibility of the wearer uses a circuit including a mechanically operated pressure switching mechanism, disposed in the footwear, to turn a lighting system off and on. The switch is responsive to pressure from the foot of the wearer. When a wearer raises a foot from the ground, the lighting system is activated. When the foot is returned to the ground, the lighting system is deactivated. The system may be disabled by removing a source of power from the circuit, or through the provision of a mechanically operable deactivation mechanism.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. Footwear for improving visibility of a wearer thereof, said footwear including an upper portion for contacting an upper surface of a wearer'"'"'s foot and a sole portion for underlying a lower surface of the wearer'"'"'s foot and supporting the wearer'"'"'s foot against the ground, the improvement comprising:
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a cavity formed in said sole portion, said cavity having an upper surface and a lower surface; a plug-in module, slidably insertable into and removable from said cavity, said plug-in module including; a light source disposed in said plug-in module such that light emitted from said light source is visible exteriorly of said plug-in module; a power source for energizing said light source; and
,switch means, operatively responsive to close when the wearer'"'"'s foot is removed from the ground, for selectively connecting said power source to said light source to cause illumination of said light source, said switch means being operatively responsive to open when the wearer'"'"'s foot is applied to the ground, thereby extinguishing the illumination of said light. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. Footwear with means for increasing visibility of a wearer thereof, comprising:
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an upper section formed of a flexible material for enclosing an upper portion of a wearer'"'"'s foot; a sole portion for underlying a lower surface of the wearer'"'"'s foot and supporting the wearer'"'"'s foot against the ground, said sole portion being attached to said upper section and having an upper surface defining a footbed for supporting the lower surface of the wearer'"'"'s foot, and an outsole surface for contacting the ground; a removable light mechanism, insertable into and removable from a cavity formed in said sole portion, said light mechanism including; an electric light source mounted in said removable light mechanism such that light emitted from said source is visible exteriorly of said footwear; a battery, selectably connectable to said light source, for energizing said light source; switch means for selectively connecting and disconnecting said light source to and from said battery, said switch means being in a normally closed state such that said light source is connected to said battery in the absence of pressure on said switch means; and disabling means, operable by the wearer, for disabling said light mechanism such that said switch means is prevented from connecting and disconnecting said light source to and from said battery. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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Specification