Sanitary Sandals

The sanitary sandals are made of paper produced by cutting the paper into the shape comprising a main body and sandal fastener, which are formed on a single plane, so that the sandal can be easily formed by folding the fastener so that its belt is inserted into a groove in a sole of the main body.

FIG. 1 shows a roll of synthetic material from which sandals can be made.

FIG. 2 shows a formed sandal having a fastener provided with pleats.

FIG. 3 is a top view and a side view of the formed sandal.

FIG. 4 is a top view and a side view of a sandal having a main body and a fastener molded in a single plane.

FIG. 5 illustrates additional embodiments of sandals.

Sandals are our daily necessities of various kinds such as plastic slippers, rubber sandals, and cloth-made slippers. Sandals can be classified into household and outdoor types. Generally speaking, a slipper which is made of molded material is usually made in a mold or die with its various parts subjected to heavy pressure into forms which are assembled together to provide a finished product.

This invention is concerned with sandals suitable for room use, easily made and economical in cost. If they are used in a hotel, its sanitary problem can be solved. Once the sandals are used and thrown away, there are no infectious problems. Now, a comparison is made with ordinary sandals on their similarities and dissimilarities as follows:

(1) This invention is directed to a thin piece of material that is pressed into a product by a heavy press machine while ordinary sandals are made of plastics in a mold or rubber molded into a product, or their main parts and fasteners are respectively pressed in a mold and then assembled together as a finished product.

(2) The main part of a sandal body 11 and a fastener 12 are molded into an inseparable product. A front portion 12d of the fastener 12 is the extension of the front part of the sandal body 11. A rear portion 12e of the fastener 12 has ends linked by a belt 12c straddling the two ends. The mid-portion of the slipper body 11 has crevices 11a connecting with holes 11b, so that the rear portion 12d of the fastener can be inserted into the crevices 11a for assembly. The belt 12c can be placed underneath the sandal body 11 to link the sandal body 11 with the fastener 12.

(3) The fastener 12 has its rear portion 12d provided with folded pleats which provide more resilience in addition to its own elasticity to broaden its scope of applications. Ordinary sandals have no such device. Only a few kinds of expensive slippers have elastic bands at the location of the fastener to provide a similar function.

(4 ) As described above in (2), the linking of the belt 12c with the fastener 12 forms an integral part, their resilience depending upon the size of the cross-section of the fastener and their flexibility, which must be within a certain range as a result of limitation by the inlaid surface for the link of the conventional sandals. For that reason, the material to be used can be of lesser hardness. According to the experiments made by the inventor, the selected material shall be strengthened fibrous papers, nonwovens, porous PP PE plastics or a porous plastic material serving as a soft layer 2 to be covered by one layer of highly flexible fibrous material layer. Thus formed, the sandal can be one of the most soft and pliable indoor sandals available. The composition of the material in this invention is a belt-shaped material (as shown in FIG. 1) which turns into a product under press. The material may be paper, non-weaving cloth, PP&PE porous material or the soft layer 1 as mentioned previously. FIG. 1 shows an imprinted form of slippers made before the material is subjected to the press in a mold. The user can assemble the components into sandals by means of its simple coupling method. The horizontal form (as shown in FIG. 4) includes the sandal body 11, and the two portions 12b and 12d of the fastener 12. The crevice 11a ends in a round component hole 11b. The shape of the crevice and the hole avoid concentrated breaking force in the material and thus increase the material strength at the crevice end. The crevices 11a are oblique inward and forward and are symmetrical to each other. The length of each crevice 11a is the width of a strap forming the rear portion 12b. The width of the component hole 11b is smaller than the thickness of the material of the strap so that the straps can be clamped firmly. The belt 12c is pressed firmly into a groove 11c, the width of which is the same as that of the belt. The area of the sandal body overlying the groove 11c is only half that of its original material thickness due to the fact that it was pressed out and thus left a coupling space in its half thickness for the belt.

As PP&PE FIG. 4, the extension in the front part of sandal body 11 is the fastener 12. The front portion 12d ends at the front part of the sandal body 11. At the coupling site between 12d and 11, there are arc grooves 12a which have been pressed and formed. The function of each arc groove 12a is to provide a clearance between the fastener and the sandal body 11. Because of the groove 12a, the thick material can be pressed into a thinner shape without the reduction of its strength, and it is easier to fold back the material at that point. The rear portion 12e has two ends ending in the belt 12c straddling on both ends which are made of the belt material and are located between arc rear cords 12g and outer fringe 12h. The arc groove 12a of the front portion 12d is a fold line which is to be bent upwardly and then backwardly to make a fastener insertion into the crevice 11a. The belt 12c is inlaid in the groove 11c (sole of the sandal body). The connecting part between the belt 12c and the rear portion 12e is inserted into the component hole 11b through the crevice 11a. Due to the fact that the width of the component hole 11b is smaller than the material thickness of the rear portion 12e, the rear portion can be clamped firmly without the loosening of the belt 12c that would fall out of the groove 11c.

The rear portion 12b will be in contact with the user's foot. On the rear portion 12b, there are provided pleats (See FIG. 4). During its press in the mold, the material is pressed into convex and concave shapes. The convex side of the pleats is on the same surface with the concave side of the rear portion 12b, and, therefore, during the fastener being folded back, the projected pleats are shown on the outer part of the fastener to avoid the incompatibility in content between the user's foot and the fastener. The pleats enhance the resilience to accommodate various sizes of feet. It can also increase the softness at the location between the rear portion 12e and arc fringe 12g to make the user comfortable in wearing it. That is one of the features of this invention. The pressed parts consist of roundish arc groove 12a, pleats, belt 12c and the groove 11c. The molding and pressing operations are made at the same time. If the location of their performance is arranged in proper order, the work can be simplified. The belt 12c can be made from material of lesser hardness to allow the pleats and to provide more resilience for various sizes of feet. The softness in wearing the slipper described in this invention is one of the features of the new product.