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So, I've stepped in dog doo again. Don't tell me to look where I'm going, it's too late now. I usually do, I remember reading once that the worry that occupies the average punter's thoughts the most on a day-to-day basis is the risk of stepping in dog doo. Sometimes you're too busy stopping your child
walking into the road, or into another dog doo.
Now, the problem comes with cleaning it off. It gets into all the little nooks and crannies, you can never clean it off properly. What a pain. Raaaaghhhh!
Ok, so why not make the shoe-sole flat, maybe out of teflon? Well, it wouldn't grip. Well, out of teflon with a grip texture? Still lots of nooks and crannies to catch in. Hmmm. So, Imagine a two part shoe sole. The two parts interlock to make, for example, a chequerboard pattern. They are separately movable, so that one set can be recessed and the other extended to create a grippy pattern. Upon stepping in mud, or dog doo, or chewing gum, or anything else sticky, a lever/pump can be actuated to extend the recessed section and recede the extended section until the sole is flat - and can be cleaned easily, by wiping on grass or whatever. Once clean, release the mechanism, grippy clean shoes viola!
I would recommend a mixed ptfe coating for added durability, or on second thoughts it could be made of the stuff roller blade wheels are made of (I should know what it is, but can't remember at the moment). I believe they add grit to pan coatings these days to make the ptfe lasts longer. To ensure that the wear is even and the sole remains flat when recessed for cleaning, the two parts alternate being extended or recessed according to, say, every time the shoes are taken off (you could make it that the lever has to be pressed to remove the shoes for example, working it into the fastening mech). That way, they will be worn very similarly, helping them to maintain the same profile.
A search reveals the link below, an anno is similar to this idea...
Peel Away Soles
Peel-away_20Soles
Peel away soles [TheLightsAreOnBut, Feb 27 2007]
[link]
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Hey, I like this. I imagine the sole constructed as a sort of bag that is normally flat; inflated, its tread is stretched and flattened somewhat, and hopefully the offending material pops off. Inflate it with water that can escape through tiny bleed holes in the tread and it becomes self rinsing. |
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For the record, I don't like dogs specifically because of their propensity to poo where I walk. I haven't shot at the ones that wander through my yard...yet. |
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With a second setting to make the pins on the back plate protrude beyond the bottom of the sole you can convert them into golf shoes. |
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This leads directly to using golf courses as dog walks, an idea I wholeheartedly endorse. |
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[wakeup]: I don't want to dish wash anything with dog doo on it - besides anything else my wife would kill me. I'll just give it a quick swipe with a wipe or even (as I said) wipe it off on a handy piece of grass. No need for dish washer proof shoes, this is just a "wipe-assist" technology. |
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Bone. You'll need shoes that never wear down, or which miraculously disobey the laws of physics by wearing down precisely the same distance everywhere on the sole. Otherwise, when the doo-removing mesh pops out, it'll extend past the tread in some parts, and just barely touch the tread in others. The result is doo that gets shifted back and forth from tread to mesh to mesh to tread to back again, and eventually works it's way into the machinery. With gum, the problem would be even more extreme. |
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Right: The old version, before I changed it to take into account [ye]'s very good point in the anno above: |
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"Ok, so why not make the shoe-sole flat, maybe out of teflon? Well, it wouldn't grip. Well, out of teflon with a grip texture? Still lots of nooks and crannies to catch in. Hmmm. So, Imagine a two part shoe sole. Teflon covered blocks on a supportive back-plate fit through a closely fitting teflon covered grid. The separation of the back-plate and the grid is controlled by a small lever or pump arrangement. In normal walk mode, the separation is minimal so that the blocks extend beyond the grid to form a gripping pattern. Upon stepping in mud, or dog doo, or chewing gum, or anything else sticky, the lever/pump can be actuated to separate the back-plate and grid, withdrawing the blocks until they are flush with the grid and the sole is flat - and can be cleaned easily, by wiping on grass or whatever. Once clean, release the mechanism, grippy clean shoes viola!" |
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