Patent Application
20170354204
This application is based upon French Patent Application No. FR 16/00920, filed Jun. 8, 2016, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety, and the priority of which is claimed under 35 U.S.C. ยง119.
The invention relates to footwear, such as a shoe, and to the use of such footwear.
In particular, the invention relates to a shoe adapted to receive one of the user's feet to practice physical activity.
The invention is particularly applicable to physical activity practiced by a user in mountains, such as hiking or running.
To engage in physical activity of the aforementioned type, it is known to use shoes, each having suitable sole assembly and flexible upper. The shoe also comprises a suitable tightening device for adjustably tightening the upper on the foot of the user. The tightening device conventionally comprises keepers, a lace threaded through the keepers along a lacing path, and a blocking element. The blocking element, for example, is formed by the end portions of the lace itself. The blocking element has has:
The user may need to improve his/her supports and sensations along his/her moving path, or to vary the physical activity, as is the case, for example, when the user switches from hiking or running to rock climbing. The user then needs to be able to increase the tightening intensity.
To carry this out, the user has to switch the blocking element from the active state to the inactive state by loosening the laces in the preceding example, pull on the laces, and return the blocking element to the active state.
Such tightening adjustment takes a long time to carry out. Furthermore, it generally occurs in the area of the instep and does not make it possible to evenly tighten the upper on the foot, including in the area of the toes. The user, whose foot is not evenly held, does not have the supports and sensations to enable control of his/her movements.
The invention overcomes the drawbacks mentioned above.
To this end, according to a first aspect of the invention, the invention includes a shoe extending along a direction of its length the following:
Thus, the invention makes it possible to simply and quickly lengthen the path of the lace with the same tightening portion so as to evenly increase the intensity of the tightening, even in the area of the toes. The user can thus more easily exert support forces and more easily receive sensations from the ground to enable him/her to better control his/her movements.
The tension member can be positioned on the vamp.
The tension member can be a hook arranged at a distance from the tightening axis and can have an opening oriented in a direction opposite the tightening axis.
The tension member can be provided on one of the vamp keepers.
The vamp keeper may include a body comprising an opening configured to receive a portion of the lace, and the tension member.
The upper can extend along its length between a toe cap and a heel counter, and along a transverse direction between a medial side portion and a lateral side portion, and the at least one vamp keeper can include two end keepers arranged at respective lower ends of the rows of keepers, the end keepers being arranged on the respective medial and lateral side portions of the upper, the end keeper arranged on the medial side portion being offset along the lengthwise direction towards the tip of the upper in relation to the end keeper arranged on the lateral side portion. These arrangements make it possible to obtain tightening that is more suited to the anatomy of the foot. Indeed, the big toe has an articulation of the first phalanx located substantially in the area of one end of the little toe. Because the end keeper located in the area of the big toe is offset forward in relation to the end keeper located in the area of the little toe, tightening can be achieved on all of the toes.
The upper may comprise at least one slit provided on the vamp, and the tightening device can include at least one strap having a first end fixed to either one of an inner surface of the sole assembly or an inner surface of the upper, and a free second end extending through the slit, the vamp keeper being provided at the second end of the strap. These arrangements make it possible to apply the tightening directly on the toes of the foot.
The lace may have a central section and two end sections on either side of the central section, the central section having a transverse cross section with a perimeter less than a perimeter of a transverse cross section of each of the end sections. These arrangements make it possible to limit friction between the lace and the upper, and to define a location in the area of the toes at which the increase in tightening intensity is more significant.
The upper can comprise a tongue for covering at least a portion of the instep of the user and along which the tightening axis extends, and the vamp can comprise a throat adjoining the tongue, the at least one vamp keeper being provided on the throat.
According to a second aspect, the invention is also directed to a method of using a shoe as defined above, providing:
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention given by way of non-limiting example, the description being made with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:
The same reference numerals designate identical or similar elements in the drawing figures.
The shoe 1 is structured to receive one of the user's feet and extends generally along a lengthwise direction E. It comprises a sole assembly 3, that is, an outer sole assembly, having an inner surface on which the user's foot is supported, and an upper 6 configured to cover the foot of the user.
The sole assembly 3, which can be deformable to allow a bending or rolling movement of the sole assembly and, likewise, bending and rolling of the foot, extends along the lengthwise direction E between a tip 4 and a heel 5. Such bending or rolling refers to a longitudinal bending, such as during alternate raising and lowering of the heel in relation to a forward portion of the sole assembly, and such as a flexing in a zone corresponding to a user's metatarso-phalangeal joint.
In the exemplary illustrated non-limiting embodiment, the flexible upper 6 comprises only a lower portion 7 adjoining the sole assembly 3, that is, it does not include an upper portion that extends above the user's ankle. The upper 6 extends along the lengthwise direction E between a toe cap 8 and a heel counter 9, and along a transverse direction T, perpendicular to the lengthwise direction E, between a medial portion 10, or side, inward of the foot, and a lateral portion 11, or side, outward of the foot. Opposite the heel 5 of the sole assembly 3, the upper 6 has an upper edge 12 demarcating an opening 13 along a vertical direction V, perpendicular to the lengthwise direction E and transverse direction T, through which the user can insert his/her foot into the shoe 1. To make it easier to insert the foot, the upper edge 12 can extend over a portion of the upper 6 corresponding to the instep of the user's foot between two opposite edges 14. The upper 6 also comprises a tongue 15 extending between the edges 14 so as to cover at least a portion of the instep of the user. Alternatively, the edges 14 extending the upper edge 12 could extend on a medial wall 16 of the medial portion 10 or on a lateral wall 17 of the lateral portion 11. According to another alternative, the upper 6 could be devoid of edges 14 that extend the upper edge 12, the tongue 15 being made integral or unitary with the medial 16 and lateral 17 walls of the upper 6. The upper 6 further comprises a vamp 18 adjoining the tip 4 of the sole assembly 3 and configured to cover the toes, and possibly a portion of the instep of the user. The vamp 18 includes a throat 19 adjoining the tongue 15 and the toe cap 8 of the upper 6.
In
The shoe 1 also comprises a tightening device 25 for tightening the upper on the foot of the user. The upper tightening device 25 comprises keepers 26 arranged on the upper in two rows of keepers arranged on either respective side of a tightening axis S, each of the two rows extending forwardly toward the tip of the shoe E. In the illustrated embodiment, the tightening axis S extends along the tongue 15. The two rows of keepers extend along the respective edges 14 that extend the upper edge 12 between respective upper ends, in the vicinity of the upper edge 12, and respective lower ends, in the vicinity of the toe cap 8 of the upper 6.
The upper tightening device 25 comprises straps 28, portions of which are outlined by broken lines, that project through the upper 6 in
Some of the keepers 26 provided on the straps are made in the form of a loop at the second end 28b of the strap 28.
In
On each of the rows of keepers, keepers 26 provided on the vamp 18 of the upper 6 form vamp keepers 33. In the illustrated embodiment, the vamp keepers 33 are provided at the second ends 28b of the straps 28 extending through the slits 20 of the second and third pairs of slits provided on the throat 19. The vamp keepers 33 on the straps 28 extending through the slits 20 of the third pair of slits in the vicinity of the toe cap 8 of the upper constitute end keepers 34 arranged at the respective lower ends of the rows of keepers. Due to the arrangement of the slits 20 of the third pair of slits, one of the end keepers 34, arranged on the medial portion 10, is offset along the lengthwise direction E toward the toe cap 8 of the upper 6 in relation to the other end keeper 34, arranged on the lateral portion 11. Alternatively, one or any other suitable number of vamp keepers arranged on the vamp of the upper could be provided according to any other suitable arrangement.
In the illustrated embodiment, the tightening device 25 comprises a single lace 40. In the embodiment shown, the lace 40 has a central section 41 and two end sections 42 on either side of the central section 41. In the central section 41 the lace has a transverse cross section, for example circular, with a perimeter less than a perimeter of a transverse cross section, for example oblong, of each of the end sections 42. The lace 40 is threaded into the keepers 26 of each row of keepers, including the opening 31 of the body 30 of the vamp keeper 33, along a lacing path. The lacing path is then defined by the keepers in which the lace is threaded, namely, in the illustrated embodiment, the vamp keepers 33 and at least a portion of the eyelets 29. The portion of the lace 40 located in the tightening path defines a tightening portion 43. On either side of this tightening portion 43, the lace 40 has two end portions 44 forming a blocking element having:
Alternatively, any other type of blocking element having the aforementioned inactive and active states could be provided according to the invention. For example, the blocking element could comprise a body provided with a through bore in which a user-actuable pin is displaceably mounted in translation between:
A use of the shoe 1 is now described with reference to
As the blocking element is in the inactive state, namely the lace 40 is loosened and the end portions 44 are free, the user slips his/her foot into the shoe 1. The foot rests on the inner surface of the sole assembly 3 and is covered by the upper 6. In particular, the user's toes are covered by the vamp 18. The strap 28 carrying the end keeper 34 on the medial portion 10 of the upper 6 is arranged in correspondence with the big toe, and the strap 28 carrying the end keeper 34 on the lateral portion 11 of the upper 6 is arranged in correspondence with the little toe.
The tightening of the upper 6 of the shoe 1 on the foot of the user is adjusted by pulling on the end portions 44 so as to modify the length of the tightening portion 43 of the lace 40. In doing so, the rows of keepers are brought closer to one another, reducing the fitting volume of the shoe, including in the area of the toes, due to the vamp keepers 33.
The end portions 44 of the lace 40 can then be tied to place the blocking element in the active state and thus fix the length of the tightening portion 43 of the lace 40 in the lacing path.
In order to increase the tightening intensity while keeping the blocking element in the active state, that is to say, by keeping the lace 40 tied, a strand of the tightening portion 43 of the lace 40 can be stretched and then placed in the hook 32 of the body 30 of the vamp keeper 33 as shown in
The hook 32 forms a tension member arranged on the upper 6 so as to define a tightening path including the lacing path and having a length greater than the lacing path. The tension member makes it possible to reversibly pass the tightening portion 43 of the lace 40 between the lacing path and the tightening path when the blocking element is in the active state. By lengthening the path of the lace with the same tightening portion 43, the tightening intensity can be increased evenly, if necessary for a predetermined duration, including in the area of the toes.
The invention described in connection with a tension member in the form of a hook arranged on the vamp and, in particular, provided on one of the vamp keepers is in no way limited to this embodiment. Alternatively, any other configuration and arrangement of one or more tension members making it possible to define one or more tightening paths could be provided.
Further, at least because the invention is disclosed herein in a manner that enables one to make and use it, by virtue of the disclosure of a particular exemplary embodiment, such as for simplicity or efficiency, for example, the invention can be practiced in the absence of any additional element or additional structure that is not specifically disclosed herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16/00920 | Jun 2016 | FR | national |
