SLIP-RESISTANT SHOELACE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a slip-resistant shoelace which can prevent knot slipping.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A conventional shoelace after being knotted is easy to slip when being torn by external force. A slipped shoelace brings about danger and inconvenience. To prevent the shoelaces from slipping easily, a plurality of slip-resistant shoelaces are disclosed in the prior arts such as TW M479474, TW M240854, TW 253245, and TW M337982. A solid shoelace is arranged with thick sections and thin sections (or flat sections) at intervals. If the shoelace is tied and knotted at the thin sections, the shoelace will not slip because it is blocked by the thick sections when being torn by external force. A more specific form disclosed in TW M339939 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,779 defines that the thin sections have greater density than the thick sections do.

However, the structures mentioned above have following problems. First, the shoelace has a ragged appearance due to the thick and the thin sections arranged at intervals. Moreover, to obtain the thick sections, material needed for weaving is more than common uniform shoelaces. Besides, manufacturing the shoelace with various diameters is difficult and time-consuming. Manufacture of shoelace with sections of different density is even more difficult. Besides, because the thick sections and the thin sections are manufactured with the same amount of textiles but in different densities, the thick sections are easier to be compressed. Even if a knot is tied on one of the thin sections, the knot may still slip since the thick sections are easily-compressed.

On the other hand, a structure with no difference in thickness in appearance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,945. A hollow external tube is filled with a core, wherein a plurality of protrusions is disposed on the core. For example, the protrusions can be formed by knotting the core directly. This kind of shoelace can achieve the effect of slip-resistance of the above-mentioned patents. However, knotting the core one by one to form the protrusions is a complex procedure which is time-consuming and energy-consuming, and the size of the protrusions is limited by the size of the core; therefore, the size of the protrusions cannot be changed in accordance with users' needs.

The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a slip-resistant shoelace to prevent knot slipping. Also, the slip-resistant shoelace has a smooth appearance.

To achieve the above and other objects, a slip-resistant shoelace of the present invention includes an external tube and a core.

The external tube is woven with textiles and formed with a cavity. The external tube has a substantially constant outer diameter, and the core is disposed in the cavity of the external tube. The core is woven with a plurality of textile threads, wherein the textile threads include at least one first textile thread and a plurality of second textile threads. The at least one first textile thread includes a plurality of combining sections and a plurality of interval sections arranged axially at intervals, and the second textile threads are woven and entangled with each combining section of the at least one first textile thread to form an enlarged portion, wherein an outer diameter of each enlarged portion is larger than that of each interval section, and the outer diameter of each enlarged portion is smaller than an inner diameter of the external tube.

Thereby, the interval sections have a smaller outer diameter due to not being woven and entangled with the second textile threads; therefore, the distance between the interval sections and an inner wall of the external tube is greater than the distance between the enlarged portions and the inner wall of the external tube to provide spaces for inward compression. When tying a knot, users can take the interval sections as knotting positions so as to prevent the knots from slipping via the help of the enlarged portions with larger diameter. In addition, the core of the present invention is directly woven with textiles; hence, there is no need to knot the core or dispose protrusions on the core, and it is easy to be manufactured. The slip-resistant shoelace of the present invention has a smooth appearance like common shoelaces, and it is aesthetic and convenient to tie.

The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective breakdown drawing of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a cross-section view of the present invention from another perspective;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing the present invention in use;

FIG. 3A is a partially-enlarged view of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A. The present invention provides a slip-resistant shoelace 10 including an external tube 11 and a core 12.

The external tube 11 is woven with textiles and formed with a cavity 111, and the external tube 11 has an axially constant outer diameter. The core 12 is disposed in the cavity 111 of the external tube 11, the core 12 is woven with a plurality of textile threads, wherein the textile threads include at least one first textile thread 121 and a plurality of textile threads 122. The at least one first textile thread 121 includes a plurality of combining sections and a plurality of interval sections arranged axially at intervals, and the second textile threads 122 are woven and entangled with each combining section of the at least one first textile thread 121 to form an enlarged portion 123, wherein an outer diameter of each enlarged portion 123 is larger than that of each interval section, and the outer diameter of each enlarged portion 123 is smaller than an inner diameter of the external tube 11. Preferably, the textile threads include a plurality of the first textile threads 121 and a plurality of the second textile threads 122, wherein the first textile threads 121 are firstly woven and entangled with each other and then with the second textile threads 122.

In the main embodiment of the present invention, each enlarged portion 123 has end portions 1231 on two axially corresponding ends, and a central portion 1232 is disposed between the two end portions 1231. The at least one first textile thread 121 is entangled outside the second textile threads 122 at each end portion 1231, and the at least one first textile thread 121 is capsulated in and entangled by the second textile threads 122 at the central portion 1232, so tighter structures are formed at the end portions 1231 while wider and looser structures are formed at the central portions 1232. Besides, different ways of weaving and entanglement may create better slip-resistant effect.

To achieve better slip-resistant effect, when the first textile threads are woven along the axis, the second textile threads can be woven and entangled with the first textile threads for a predetermined distance before being cut. Then, the first textile threads are continuously woven (the interval sections are formed), and after a predetermined distance, the first textile threads will again be woven with the second textile threads to form the enlarged portions. After the first and the second textile threads are woven together for a predetermined distance, the second textile threads will be cut again, and so on. The weaving procedures can be done quickly and precisely by machine.

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A along with FIGS. 3 and 3A for actual practice. When a user is stretching and tying the shoelace on a shoe body 20, he/she can allocate the parts without the enlarged portions 123 of the slip-resistant shoelace 10 (the interval sections of the first textile threads 121) to a shoelace hole and a knotting position 101. Then, when the parts without the enlarged portions 123 of the slip-resistant shoelace 10 are torn by the shoelace holes or pressed by the knotting position, they would be compressed and flattened to achieve the effect of tight knot. Push and pull of external force would be limited by the enlarged portions 123 to prevent the slip-resistant shoelace 10 from slipping and loosing.

Thereby, the slip-resistant shoelace of the present invention can prevent the shoelace from knot slipping which may cause safety risks of users, and it also has smooth appearance like common shoelaces, so it won't get stuck in the knotting process. What's more important, because the core is woven completely by textiles, it is softer. On the other hand, when manufacturing the present invention, people don't have to spend too much time and energy tying knots on the textile threads to form the protrusions or disposing protrusive blocks in the internal of the external tube; instead, the core of the present invention is completed by weaving and entanglement without extra work. The length and interval of the enlarged portions can even be set by computer, so it is convenient to be manufactured by automatic machines which cost less and have better productive efficiency.