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.

We claim: 
     
         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.