ELECTRICITY GENERATING SHOE ASSEMBLY

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT Not Applicable

(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM.

Not Applicable

(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention.

The disclosure relates to electricity generating devices and more particularly pertains to a new electricity generating device for harnessing the energy of walking for charging an electronic device. The device includes an article of footwear and a pair of piezoelectric generators that are integrated into a sole of the article of footwear such that the piezoelectric generators produce an electrical charge from being compressed during walking. The device includes a power supply that is charged by the piezoelectric generators, a charge port recessed into the shoe and a charge cord that can be plugged into the charge port.

(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

The prior art relates to electricity generating devices including an article of footwear with an pneumatic generator for producing electricity by way of compression of a sole of the article of footwear. The prior art discloses a piezoelectric generator with is disposed in a chamber within a sole of an article of footwear that includes an armature with is compressed with the sole is stepped upon. The prior art discloses a shoe generator which includes a series of gears that are disposed within an article of footwear, a rack gear which is driven upwardly and downwardly to drive the gears and a generator that is driven by the gears. The prior art discloses a shoe generator which includes an ankle brace, a pulley and belt driven by the ankle brace and a generator driven by the belt. The prior art discloses an article of footwear which has a well extending laterally into a sole of the article of footwear, a cartridge that is insertable into the well and a piezoelectric generator integrated into the cartridge.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an article of footwear that is wearable for walking. A pocket is integrated into the article of footwear at a strategic location to facilitate a user to access the pocket while wearing the article of footwear. A pair of generators is each of the generators is integrated into the article of footwear. Each of the generators produce an electrical charge when the generators are alternatively compressed and decompressed as a result of being stepped upon when the article of footwear is worn during walking. A charge unit is integrated into the article of footwear and the generators charge the charge unit when the user is walking. A charge port is integrated into the article of footwear and a charge cord is stored in the pocket in the article of footwear to charge an electronic device.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a top perspective view of electricity generating shoe assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 3 is a phantom in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 4 is a bottom phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 5 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to Figures 1 through 5 thereof, a new electricity generating device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in Figures 1 through 5, the electricity generating shoe assembly 10 generally comprises an article of footwear 12 that is wearable for walking. A pocket 14 is integrated into the article of footwear 12 at a strategic location to facilitate the pocket 14 to be accessed while the article of footwear 12 is being worn. The article of footwear 12 has a sole 16, a midsole 18, a heel wedge 20, an insole 22, an upper 24 and a tongue 26. The pocket 14 is integrated into the tongue 26 and the pocket 14 has an entrance 28 extending through an exterior surface of the tongue 26 for accessing an interior of the pocket 14. The article of footwear 12 may comprise a tennis shoe or other similar type of footwear.

A pair of generators 30 is provided and each of the generators 30 is integrated into the article of footwear 12. Each of the generators 30 produces an electrical charge when the generators 30 are alternatively compressed and decompressed. Furthermore, each of the generators 30 is stepped upon when the article of footwear 12 is worn during walking. The pair of generators 30 may comprise a piezoelectric switch which harnesses the piezoelectric effect of producing an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress.

The pair of generators 30 includes a first generator 32 and a second generator 34. The first generator 32 is integrated into a top surface 36 of the heel wedge 20. In this way the first generator 32 is alternatively compressed and decompressed by a user’s heel 38 when the user walks while wearing the article of footwear 12. The second generator 34 is integrated into an upper 24 surface of the midsole 18 and the second generator 34 is positioned proximate a toe 40 of the midsole 18. In this way the second generator 34 is alternatively compressed and decompressed by the user’s toes 42 when the user walks while wearing the article of footwear 12. A charge unit 44 is provided and the charge unit 44 is integrated into the article of footwear 12. The charge unit 44 is in communication with each of the generators 30 thereby facilitating each of the generators 30 to charge the charge unit 44 when the generators 30 are compressed. In this way the charge unit 44 is charged when the user is walking. The charge unit 44 comprises a control circuit 46 that is integrated into the midsole 18. Each of the first generator 32 and the second generator 34 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 46. The control circuit 46 may include circuitry that is common to battery charging circuits.

The charge unit 44 includes a power supply 48 that is integrated into the midsole 18. The power supply 48 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 46 and the control circuit 46 senses a charge level of the power supply 48. The control circuit 46 directs electrical current from the first generator 32 and the second generator 34 into the power supply 48 when the control circuit 46 senses a charge level of the power supply 48 that is less than a trigger charge level. Conversely, the control circuit 46 inhibits electrical current from the first generator 32 and the second generator 34 from being directed into the power supply 48 when the control circuit 46 senses that the charge level of the power supply 48 is at or above a maximum charge level. Furthermore, the power supply 48 comprises a rechargeable battery.

A charge port 50 is integrated into the article of footwear 12 and the charge port 50 is in communication with the charge unit 44. The charge port 50 is recessed into an outside surface 52 of the upper 24 of the article of footwear 12 and the charge port 50 is electrically coupled to the power supply 48. The charge port 50 may comprise a universal serial bus port or other similar type of female charge port. A charge cord 54 is provided and the charge cord 54 is stored in the pocket 14 in the article of footwear 12. The charge cord 54 is pluggable into the charge port 50 such that the charge cord 54 is in communication with the charge unit 44 for charging an electronic device 56.

The charge cord 54 has a first end 58 and a second end 60; a first plug 62 is electrically coupled to the first end 58 and a second plug 64 is electrically coupled to the second end 60. The first plug 62 is matable to the charge port 50 such that the first plug 62 is electrically coupled to the charge port 50 and the second plug 64 is matablc to the electronic device. Each of the first plug 62 and the second plug 64 may comprise a universal serial bus port plug or other type of electronic plug common to charging cords for personal electronic devices such as smart phones and the like.

In use, the article of footwear 12 is worn for the conventional purposes of wearing articles of footwear 12. Each of the first generator 32 and the second generator 34 produces an electrical charge while the user walks in the article of footwear 12 to continually charge the power supply 48. The charge cord 54 can be plugged into the charge port 50 at any time for charging an electronic device 56. In this way the electronic device 56 can be charged in any location, regardless of whether electrical power is available. Furthermore, the power supply 48 is continually charged from walking in the article of footwear 12 thereby facilitating a nearly endless supply of electrical power for charging electronic devices.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.