Ankle support designed to maintain proper integral boot fit

Abstract

A bunker style pull-on boot comprises a special ankle support designed to conform to the natural curvature of the human foot. The support wraps around the entire back half of the ankle area. As an integral part of the boot, it provides a grasp of the entire ankle area to securely anchor the foot into the boot to prevent heel lift when walking or running.

1 . A bunker pull-on type boot comprising a boot body adapted to be pull-on over a wearer's foot, a self-fastening system operative to securely anchor the foot into the boot to substantially prevent heel lift when walking or running, said self-fastening system including an ankle clip biased towards a closed position to snugly grasp the wearer's ankle.  
   
   
       2 . A bunker pull-on type boot as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said ankle clip includes a C-shaped clip member having a pair of spring-loaded ankle gripping arms biased towards each other from opposed sides of said boot body.  
   
   
       3 . A bunker pull-on type boot as defined in  claim 2 , wherein the C-shaped clip member extends around the entire back half of the ankle area of the boot body with said gripping arms positioned on opposed sides of the boot body.  
   
   
       4 . A bunker pull-on type boot as defined in  claim 3 , wherein the boot body has a counter area and a calf area, and wherein the C-shaped clip member is placed above said counter area and extends upward to the bottom of said calf area.  
   
   
       5 . A bunker pull-on type boot as defined in  claim 3 , wherein said spring-loaded gripping arms are connected together through a back web portion, and wherein relief cut-outs are provided in said back web portion.  
   
   
       6 . A bunker pull-on type boot as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said ankle clip has a C-shaped clip body including a pair of spring-loaded gripping arms extending on opposed inner and outer sides of the boot body, and a back web portion interconnecting said spring-loaded gripping arms, said back web portion covering a back area of the boot body.  
   
   
       7 . A boot comprising an upper body for receiving a wearer's foot, an ankle clip mounted to said upper body for clipping about the wearer's ankle to securely maintain the foot in position in said upper body, said ankle clip comprising a pair of gripping arms extending on opposed sides of said upper body in an ankle area thereof, a web extending at the back of said upper body and interconnecting said gripping arms, said gripping arms being biased towards each other to a close position, the gripping arms opening up under the pressure exerted thereon by the wearer's foot when the wearer pulls-on the boot over his/her foot and automatically closing down against the wearer's ankle once the wearer's foot has been fully inserted in the boot pass the ankle clip.  
   
   
       8 . A boot as defined in  claim 7 , wherein the upper body has a counter area and a calf area, and wherein the ankle clip is placed above said counter area and extends upward to the bottom of said calf area.  
   
   
       9 . A boot as defined in  claim 8 , wherein relief cut-outs are provided in said web.