THREE-POCKET TOE-SEPARATING SOCKS

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application 63/722,073, filed on Nov. 19, 2024. The disclosure of this prior application is considered part of the disclosure of this application and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

This invention relates to footwear hosiery, specifically to socks designed to provide individual and semi-individual compartments for toes, enhancing comfort and functionality.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information for the disclosure presented herein without being necessarily prior art. This section further illustrates the inventive entity's observations mixed with the inventive entity's novel and inventive functional steps that precedes the detailed description of the invention.

Traditional socks often cause discomfort by compressing toes together, leading to issues such as blisters, poor circulation, and discomfort. There is a need for a sock that allows for better toe separation and comfort, but yet convenient and without requiring cumbersome and unnecessary repetitive work.

Conventional socks typically enclose all five toes of a human foot within a single undivided toe portion. This design forces the toes into close proximity, often resulting in compression of the toes against one another. Such compression can lead to a variety of discomforts and foot health issues, including inter-toe friction (causing blisters and hotspots), restricted toe splay, reduced circulation, moisture buildup between toes, fungal infections, and exacerbation of conditions such as bunions (hallux valgus), hammertoes, or overlapping toes.

Full toe socks (also known as five-finger or glove-style socks) provide individual compartments for each of the five toes, allowing complete toe separation and natural splay. While effective for maximizing toe independence and reducing skin-on-skin friction, full toe socks can be difficult and time-consuming to put on, may feel unfamiliar or restrictive to some wearers, and can wear out faster at the multiple separation points due toedividers.

Split-toe socks (commonly known as tabi socks) provide only two compartments: one for the big toe (hallux) and one shared compartment for the remaining four lesser toes. This design is traditionally used with thong-style footwear but offers limited separation, as the second through fifth toes remain compressed together, providing incomplete relief from friction between the second toe and its neighbors.

SUMMARY

The present invention addresses the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a sock having exactly three distinct toe compartments: a first compartment for the big toe (hallux), a second compartment for the second toe, and a third compartment sized to accommodate the third, fourth, and fifth toes together.

This partial toe separation design isolates the big toe to reduce hallux valgus pressure and isolates the second toe (often the longest or most pressured toe) to minimize rubbing against both the big toe and the third toe, while allowing the three smallest toes to remain together in a larger compartment for ease of use and comfort.

In preferred embodiments, the sock is formed from a stretchable, moisture-wicking, breathable fabric. The dividers (separations) between the three compartments may be reinforced with stitching, thicker or stronger fabric, stronger or thicker yarn, or elastic material to enhance durability and maintain separation during wear.

Alternative embodiments include variations where the grouped toes are adjusted (e.g., big toe alone, second and third toes together, fourth and fifth together) or extended to four compartments (e.g., big toe alone, second toe alone, third and fourth together, fifth toe alone) for specific therapeutic or comfort needs.

The sock may be provided in various lengths (e.g., no-show, ankle, crew, knee-high) and may include additional features such as cushioning, arch support, or anti-slip soles.

The present invention more specifically provides a sock with three separate openings or pockets for toes. The first opening may accommodate the big toe, the second opening may accommodate the second toe, and the third opening may accommodate the remaining three toes. This design aims to improve comfort, reduce cross-toe friction, and enhance overall foot health without the need to individually align and fit every single toe into its own individual opening.

Furthermore, socks behave differently from hard footwear, such as shoes or sneakers, comprising an exterior attachment, wherein the exterior attachment may be a shock-absorbing and energy-returning midsole. Socks are meant for increasing comfort and reducing friction between toes or against shoes. Shoes may be easier to put on and remove, since their shape is preset and harder to change. However, socks may roll onto the foot and roll off of the foot in a different manner, and their exterior looks may be similar to shoes, but have different functionality as compared to shoes and serve a different purpose.

The present invention solves a need for a sock that provides an intermediate level of toe separation, separating the big toe and the second toe individually, where much of the problematic pressure and rubbing occurs, particularly in bunions and narrow footwear, while grouping the remaining three lesser toes together for easier donning, familiarity, and durability, thereby balancing comfort, foot health benefits, and practicality.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description of the drawings herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. Not all possible implementations are described or shown, but only a select few embodiments are provided herein for illustrative purposes.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a sock incorporating a toe pocket arrangement in accordance with the principles and features of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The exemplary embodiments that are going to be described within the detailed description are provided for the purpose of a thorough conveyance of the scope of the disclosure to ordinarily skilled individuals in the art. Various specific details regarding the various embodiments in view of specific methods, components and devices are provided for thoroughly and fully enable an ordinarily skilled person in the art with understanding of the present disclosure. The present disclosure entails specific details that do not need to be employed or applied, and that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may take form in various other embodiments that are different from the disclosed embodiments, where the disclosed embodiments may merely be exemplary and are not to limit the scope of the enabling disclosure in any possible way. The ordinarily skilled person in the art will be enabled by the present disclosure to fully and thoroughly understand the exemplary embodiments and their enabled scope without the present disclosure's need to describe details regarding well-known methods, well-known processes, well-known structures and well-known technologies.

For the purpose of describing certain exemplary embodiments, the present disclosure employs select terminology which is not intended to be limiting but merely descriptive and inclusive of other terminology that may have not been used, unless specifically stated to exclude certain terminology. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may actually be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless explicitly stated not to do so. Inclusive terms “comprising,” “comprises,” “including,” and “having,” specify the presence of functional steps, features, elements, numbers, integers, steps, processes, operations, components or a combination thereof, but do not necessarily exclude the presence or addition of one or more other functional steps, features, elements, numbers, integers, steps, processes, operations, components or a combination thereof. The method steps, processes and operations explained and presented in the present disclosure are not to be understood to necessarily require their execution or performance in the particular order as disclosed or shown in the present disclosure or drawings, unless specifically disclosed or illustrated to be performed in a certain order to achieve an effective result. In any figure, any element disclosed or illustrated in a drawing is not meant to be necessarily drawn to scale or possess relative proportionality to other elements of the drawing and is merely presented to convey a general understanding of the various embodiments of the disclosure. An ordinarily skilled person in the art is enabled by the present disclosure to understand that additional or alternative functional steps may be used or implemented to arrive at the present disclosure's method steps, processes, and operations.

In a case where a component, element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” “coupled to” or “disposed in” another component, element or layer, it is understood that it may be directly on, engaged to, connected to, coupled to or disposed in the other component, element or layer, or intervening one or more components, elements or layers. On the other hand, when a component, element or layer is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” “directly couple to” or “directly disposed within” another component, element or layer, there may be no intervening components, elements or layers present. Similar words may be used to describe a relationship between items, components, elements and/or layers should be interpreted in a similar fashion, e.g. “between” as compared to “directly between,” “adjacent” as compared to “directly adjacent,” and etcetera. Whenever presented herein, the term “and/or” includes at least one or more of all possible combinations of the one or more associated presented items.

Even though the terms first, second, third, fourth and/or etc. may be used throughout the disclosure to describe various components, elements, layers, regions, areas, sections and/or subsections, these components, elements, layers, regions, areas, sections and/or subsections are not to be limited by these terms, unless specifically disclosed otherwise. These aforementioned terms may merely be utilized to differentiate and distinguish one component, element, layer, region, area, section or subsection from another component, element, layer, region, area, section or subsection. Numerical terms “first,” “second,” “third,” etc. and other indications of numbering terms “a),” “b),” “c)” and etc. when used herein are not indicative of a sequence or order, unless specifically indicated and described by the context. Dependent of the context to which it relates, a first component, element, layer, region, area, section or subsection as will be presented within the present disclosure could be termed a second component, element, layer, region, area, section or subsection without departing from the present disclosure's enablement. These numerical terms “first,” “second,” “third” and etc. are relative to the embodiment or paragraph in which they are presented and may not necessarily carry the same assignment of numerical terms in another embodiment or paragraph without departing from the disclosure of the exemplary embodiments.

Terms that may be relative in space, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “above,” “under,” “lower,” “upper,” “within,” “inside,” “between,” “adjacent,” “close to,” “near,” “proximate,” “around” and other spatially relative terms are used within the present disclosure for ease of description and conveyance of the disclosure to describe a relationship between one or more elements or features with another set of one or more elements or features of the exemplary embodiments, which may also refer to the presented illustrations of the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to further encompass different orientations of a device being utilized or an operation in addition to the orientation of the device being utilized or the operation as shown in the figures. As an example, if the device being utilized is turned upside down, then the elements described “below,” “beneath,” “under” or etc. other elements or features then those elements or features would then be located “above,” “on top,” “over” or etc. the other elements or features of the device being utilized. Within reasonable interpretation, the example term “under” may also be depicted as “under” or “over” depending on a point of view, and thus may encompass one or more orientations. Other orientations would accordingly prompt for other spatially relative terms accordingly and descriptive of the orientation of the elements and features of the device being utilized. Furthermore, features or functional steps being described with spatially relative terms such as “under,” “over” or etc., a particular “device,” “area,” or etc., merely describes those features or functional steps to be disposed at least partially under, over, or etc., the particular device, area or etc., unless explicitly disclosed otherwise.

For the purpose of describing certain exemplary embodiments, the present disclosure employs select terminology which may be used interchangeably throughout the specification. As an example, an “opening” may also be referred to as a “compartment” or “pocket”, where furthermore as exemplary illustration, a “first opening” may also be used interchangeably as a “first pocket”, “first compartment” or “first opening or compartment or pocket”.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding structure throughout the views, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a sock 10 having a leg portion 19, a heel portion 20, a foot portion 21, and a toe portion 18.

The toe portion 18 is divided into exactly three separate toe compartments (also referred to as pockets, openings or sleeves): a first compartment 11, a second compartment 12, and a third compartment 13.

The first compartment 11 is positioned medially and is sized and shaped to individually receive the big toe (hallux) of a wearer. The first compartment 11 is separated from the second compartment 12 by a first divider 22.

The second compartment 12 is positioned adjacent the first compartment 11 and is sized and shaped to individually receive only the second toe of the wearer. The second compartment 12 is separated from the third compartment 13 by a second divider 23.

The first divider 22 and the second divider 23 extending from a toe end of the sock rearward in a direction toward the heel portion 20 of the sock 10. The toe end being an anterior area of the toe portion 18 and farthest away from the heel portion 20. A posterior area of the toe portion 18 being closer to the heel portion 20 than the anterior area of the toe portion 18.

The third compartment 13 is positioned laterally and is larger than the first and second compartments, being sized and shaped to receive the remaining three toes (third, fourth, and fifth toes) together.

The toe portion 18 comprising the first compartment 11, the second compartment 12, the third compartment 13, the first divider 22 and the second divider 23.

The dividers 22, 23 are preferably formed integrally during knitting, forming, creating or sewing of the sock and may be reinforced with additional stitching, elastic banding, or thicker fabric panels to prevent tearing and to maintain effective separation during repeated use and stretching.

The sock 10 is preferably constructed from a stretchable, breathable, moisture-wicking fabric such as a blend of cotton, polyester, nylon, spandex (elastane), bamboo fiber, or merino wool. Antimicrobial treatments may be applied to further promote foot health.

In use, the partial separation provided by the three-compartment design allows natural toe splay of the big toe and second toe, which may help with reducing bunion pressure and interdigital friction in high-stress areas, while the grouped third through fifth toes simplify donning the sock and provide a more familiar feel compared to full five-toes-separated designs, where each toe is housed separately.

The present invention provides a sock with three separate openings for toes. A first opening 11 may accommodate a big or great toe 11a, also known as hallux, a second opening 12 may accommodate a second toe 12a, and a third opening 13 may accommodate the remaining three toes 13a, 13b and 13c. The remaining three toes, 13a, 13b and 13c, include the pinky toe 13c, also known as the little toe, fifth toe, digitus minimus pedis or digitus quintus pedis. The remaining three toes further include the fourth toe 13b and the middle toe or third toe 13a. The great toe 11a being the most medial toe. The sock may be constructed from a stretchable, breathable fabric that conforms to the shape of the foot. The first compartment may be configured to accommodate the great toe 11a, providing separation and ample space in between the neighboring toe and reducing pressure against the second toe 12a. The second pocket, opening or compartment 12 may be slightly smaller and/or may be tailored for housing the second toe 12a. The third compartment or opening or pocket 13 may be the largest, which may accommodate the remaining three toes comfortably. The separations between the compartments may be reinforced to prevent tearing and ensure durability.

In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a sock with three separate openings for toes. A first compartment may be configured to accommodate the big or great toe 11a, providing separation and ample space from the second toe 12a and reducing pressure against the second toe 12a. A second compartment may be tailored to house the second toe 12a and the third toe 13a. A third compartment may be configured to accommodate the remaining two toes, including the fourth toe 13b and the fifth toe 13c. The smallest toe being the most lateral toe.

Herein, the compartment grouping is adjusted such that the first compartment receives the big toe, the second compartment receives the second and third toes together, and the third compartment receives the fourth and fifth toes together.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a sock with four separate openings for toes. A first opening may accommodate a great toe 11a, a second opening may accommodate a second toe 12a, a third opening may accommodate a third toe 13a and a fourth toe 13b, and the fourth opening may accommodate the smallest toe 13c. The great toe 11a being the most medial toe, and the smallest toe 13c being the most lateral toe.

Herein, the sock includes four toe compartments: a first for the big toe, a second for the second toe, a third for the third and fourth toes together, and a fourth for the fifth toe.