Safety shoe with instep guard

Claim 1

A SAFETY SHOE COMPRISING, (A) A BASE OR SOLE ASSEMBLY, (B) A RELATIVELY FLEXIBLE UPPER CARRIED BY SAID BASE ASSEMBLY AND DEFINING A TOE PORTION AND A METATARSALINSTEP PORTION, (C) A RIGID FORWARDLY CONVERGING CAP CLOSELY OVERLYING SAID TOE PORTION AND SUPPORTED ALONG ITS LOWER EDGE BY SAID BASE ASSEMBLY, (D) A RELATIVELY NARROW FLEXIBLE BAND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS THE REAR END ONLY OF SAID TOE PORTION AND HAVING ITS OPPOSITE ENDS SECURED TO SAID BASE ASSEMBLY, (E) THE REAR EDGE OF SAID BAND BEING STITCHED TO SAID TOE PORTION IN CLOSELY SPACED RELATION TO THE REAR EDGE OF SAID CAP, (F) THE FORWARD PORTION OF SAID BAND BEING STRETCHED TAUT OVER THE REAR PORTION ONLY OF SAID FORWARDLY CONVERGING CAP AND RESTRICTING MOVEMENTS OF SAID CAP WITH RESPECT TO SAID TOE PORTION AND BASE ASSEMBLY, (G) A FLEXIBLE COVER ELEMENT OVERLYING SAID CAP AND TOE PORTION AND SECURED ALONG ITS LOWER EDGE TO SAID BASE ASSEMBLY, (H) THE REAR EDGE OF SAID COVER ELEMENT LOOSELY OVERLYING SAID BAND, (I) AND A RIGID METATARSAL-INSTEP SHIELD OVERLYING THE METATARSAL-INSTEP PORTION OF SAID UPPER AND CONFORMING SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE CONTOUR THEREOF. (J) THE FORWARD END PORTION OF SAID SHIELD BEING INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID BAND AND THE REAR END PORTION OF SAID COVER ELEMENT AND SECURED TO SAID REAR END PORTION OF SAID COVER ELEMENT, SAID FORWARD END PORTION OF SAID SHIELD OVERLYING AND BEING SUPPORTED BY THE INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF SAID CAP.