Apart from the hand-crank, which folds away discretely around the heel when not in use, these look like your standard issue winter boots.
When you're trudging through snow, often your toes are the first to feel frostbite, while the rest of your body is in comparatively working order. But if you find yourself in a freezing tundra while wearing Wind-up Boots you needn't worry. The crank powers a small heating coil in the boot, so all you have to do is kick out the handle and wind a few times to take the edge off the cold and potentially save your toes.
Once you have recovered sufficiently, Wind-up Boots will even help you build a fire. A ring-pull specially designed for gloved hands exposes a tiny nichrome wire and switches the current to dump all of your winding into it, bringing it to a yellow glow, and hopefully causing your kindling to catch.-- mitxela, Oct 18 2015 Wind-up Skirt http://www.arts-ste...Seven-Year-Itch.jpgBetter looking than the Wind-up boots I wager. [AusCan531, Oct 19 2015] //wind a few times// Since it's on your boot, and therefore hard for some to reach easily, instead of a windy-handle, make it a foot-powered ratchet crank. Kick it out (on the "instep" of the boot, obviously), pump it with the other foot, kick it back into place.-- neutrinos_shadow, Oct 18 2015 Can't the //foot-powered ratchet crank// put a little power into the heater with every step you take?-- pocmloc, Oct 18 2015 Small windmill on each boot?-- not_morrison_rm, Oct 20 2015 Why not use a super insulator like space shuttle ceramic to keep your toes 60 degrees F regardless of weather? It does not use power and works all the time and helps in hot or cold places.-- travbm, Oct 29 2015 random, halfbakery