Girth adjustable shoe

Abstract

An automatically girth-adjustable shoe construction for a foot with a normal or a higher than normal instep wherein the effective girth of the shoe is controlled by a means at the ball of the foot connected to a second means at the instep of the foot by a slidably movable girth-adjusting plate located below the midportion of the shoe.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An automatically girth-adjustable shoe construction for feet with a normal or a higher than normal instep which comprises: (1) a first girth-adjustment control means at about the ball of a shoe and a foot therein; (2) a second girth-adjustment control means at about the longitudinal mid-portion of the shoe, rearward of the first girth-adjustment means and acting at about the instep of the shoe and a foot therein; (3) a slidably movable girth-adjusting plate located below the longitudinal midportion of the foot of a wearer, said plate including a pair of eyelet slots each of which is angled to an opposite side of the shoe at less than 45° from the centerline of the shoe; (4) a loose insole located below the foot of the wearer and having (a) a centerline eyelet slot and (b) two angled eyelet slots each angled at about 90° to the slots in the slidable girth-adjusting plate; (5) a third girth-adjusting control means to move the slidable girth-adjusting plate means in response to changes in the first girth-adjustment control means; and (6) a longitudinally elastic means to move the girth-adjusting plate in response to the control means, whereby the first girth-adjustment control means measures the girth of the ball of a foot to automatically set the girth adjustment of the shoe to fit the instep and waist of the shoe to fit a foot with either a normal or a higher than normal instep. 
     
     
         2 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein the first girth-adjusting control means is non-elastic and the second girth-adjusting control mean is elastic. 
     
     
         3 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein both upper and lower side portions of the shoe provide a close or contacting comfortable girthwise fit to the foot of the wearer throughout girth changes of the foot of the wearer over each day of wearing use. 
     
     
         4 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein the automatic adjustment of the effective girth of a shoe is controlled by an elastically-tensioned adjustment means in about the longitudinal mid-portion of the shoe connected to both the first girth-adjustment control means and the slidably movable girth-adjusting plate. 
     
     
         5 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein the foot is held substantially transversely centered in the shoe at all girth-adjustments of the shoe. 
     
     
         6 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein heel-slip of the shoe relative to the heel of a foot therein during a stride is minimized. 
     
     
         7 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein an elastic girth-adjustment control means is at about the instep of the shoe. 
     
     
         8 . The shoe construction of  claim 7 , wherein there are two elastic girth adjustment control means at about the instep of the shoe, one on each side of the shoe, and control means includes an eyelet which extends into a slot in the slidable girth-adjusting plate. 
     
     
         9 . The shoe construction of  claim 1 , wherein the slidable girth-adjusting plate includes a pair of eyelet slots each of which is angled at about 30° away from the centerline of the shoe.