The present invention relates to athletic shoes, and particularly to outsoles for bowling shoes.
In many sports or athletic games, the player wears specialized shoes having a construction, especially an outsole, which is adapted to support the player in the particular movement characteristic of that sport or game. For bowling, the slide and braking characteristics of the shoe are important, especially for professionals and serious amateurs. Various techniques and outsole configurations have been proposed for enabling the bowler to personalize these characteristics.
Some of these techniques involve interchangeable slide pads on the foresole, with or without interchangeable heel pads. Each pad has a different surface characteristic, whereby the frictional interaction between shoe and lane can be altered to suit the individual bowler's style and idiosyncrasies. Most of these techniques rely on a hook and loop engagement between the pads and the tread.
One problem presented by interchangeable slide pads connected to the foresole tread by hook and loop fabric, has been the tendency of the front edge of the slide pad to begin peeling away, especially for bowlers who exhibit a relatively steep toe angle of attack on the lane. Another has been optimizing the tradeoff between providing sufficient total contact area between the pad and the lane, which some believe requires complete coverage of the pad over the foresole tread, while permitting different coefficients of friction under different regions of the tread.
The present invention not only greatly reduces the risk of slide pad peeling, but also provides the additional advantages of increased options for optimizing slide pad interaction with the lane, and greater responsiveness of the shoe to the natural flexing of the foot.
The bowling outsole according to the present disclosure has a plurality of rimmed pockets separated by flex grooves, with a distinct interchangeable slide pad element in each pocket.
Preferably at least three distinct pockets are defined by rims which protrude below the hook and pile layers and extend to the partial thickness of the slide pad elements, thereby providing fixed lateral boundaries for the slide pads.
The base of each pocket and the upper side of each slide pad element can be interengaged by hook and loop fabric, for easy manual replacement of one or more slide pad elements.
When combined with an interchangeable heel pad, preferably also attachable via hook and loop, the overall combination of a bowling shoe having the novel outsole with multiple interchangeable slide pad elements and heel pads, achieves a high degree of personal adjustability for the frictional interaction with the lane.
A specially located longitudinal groove can optionally be provided to improve stability and comfort. As viewed looking downwardly at the exterior surface of the outsole, the longitudinal groove can extend in the foresole from near the toe to near the arch, and two spaced apart cross grooves can extend between lateral and medial edges of the foresole.
A normal foot has a heel, a medial arch, a lateral arch, two medial phalanges (#1 and #2), a center phalange (#3), and two lateral phalanges (#4 and #5). The outsole comprises a substantially planar outer foresole region, a substantially planar outer heel region, and an outer arch region recessed from the foresole and heel regions, each of these regions having medial and lateral sides. A plurality of lateral and medial pockets are spaced apart longitudinally adjacent the perimeter on each of the lateral and medial sides of the outer foresole region, respectively. Slide pad elements attached in the pockets project from the plane of the foresole region. The optional flex groove runs longitudinally through the outer foresole region between medial and lateral pockets, in a substantially vertical registry with a region of the foot defined by the center phalange (#3) and the medial and lateral phalanges (#2 and #4) adjacent the center phalange.
The longitudinal groove is in substantially vertical registry with a region of the foot defined between the medial phalange (#2) and the closer lateral phalange (#4), from the toes to the lateral arch of the foot. Preferably, the groove is in substantially vertical registry with a region of the foot defined by the center phalange (#3) and the #4 lateral phalange, from the toes to the arch of the foot.
Ideally, the foresole of the bowler's front (slide) shoe contacts the lane approach at a flat, shallow angle to horizontal (less than 25 deg.), thus nearly parallel to the lane. If the bowler has an unconventional approach whereby the foot is angled to the left or right, an undesirable lever action is initially produced. The natural bend line of the foot associated with such angulation extends longitudinally from the junction of the medial and lateral arch, forwardly between the medial phalange (#2) and the closer lateral phalange (#4). A corresponding longitudinal groove in the outsole reduces the lever angle effect and promotes a substantially flatter contact with the approach.
In a further preference, another, transverse groove extends between the lateral and medial sides of the outer foresole region, having an inverted “V” shape with the apex of the “V” directed forwardly and intersecting the longitudinal groove. The transverse groove should ideally lie in substantially vertical registry with all of the five phalange joints that lie midway between the toes and the arches of the foot, at the natural flex points of the foot (i.e., the metatarsal heads).
This V groove provides improved front/back flexure, in a synergistic combination with the lateral bend line provided by the longitudinal groove.
Various embodiments will be described in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
In
In
In
According to one feature of the present disclosure, the longitudinal groove 28, 104 as shown in
Preferably, the groove such as 28, 104 is in substantially vertical registry with a region of the foot defined by the center phalange 208 and the adjacent lateral phalange 212, i.e., substantially vertically aligned with the anatomical bend line B1.
Transverse groove 108 extends between the lateral and medial sides of the outer foresole region. The transverse groove should ideally lie in substantially vertical registry with all of the five phalange joints such as 220′, 220″ lying midway between the toes 216 and the intersection 218 with the arch. This groove provides improved front/back flexure, in a synergistic combination with the lateral bend line provided by the longitudinal groove.
In the main aspect of the present invention, a plurality of pockets 110-116, are formed in the foresole region 102, each pocket having a base and a rigid rim rising above the plane of the foresole region. In
In
With reference again to
As is known in the art, the outer surface of the slide pad for contacting the approach to the bowling lane, can be made of buckskin, rubber of varying hardnesses such as 60, 80, or 95 durometer, leather, or the like.
In
Notwithstanding the absence of a rim at the toe and side edges of the front foresole portion of the outsole, there is little danger that the slide pad will separate from the tread 156, even if the bowler steps on the approach at a severe angle, because the slide pad 142, hook and loop attachment (Velcro) 152 and tread 156 flex together without giving rise to differential strain. This is a consequence of the relatively small area occupied by each slide pad element as compared with the entire foresole, and the presence of the cross-grooves 106 and 108 (
Additional internal cross-grooves 164 can be provided in the foot bed of the EVA layer, to improve wearer comfort.
As also shown in
The replaceable portion 166 can readily be removed with the thumb or finger placed near the forward edge 178 which abuts stop 180 and pulled downwardly, thereby opening the recess into which a variety of interchangeable friction surfaces can be inserted. The hook and loop provides sufficient attachment between the replaceable pad 166 and the base, but as a further precaution, the projection 174 serves as lock and the front edge 182 of the fixed rear portion 168 of the heel provides further resistance to movement of the heel as it touches down on the approach while sliding and breaking.
Other embodiments 300, 400, 500 and 600 are shown in
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