Patent Application
20050198865
There are no related applications.
The invention disclosed and claimed herein was not made under any federally sponsored research and development program.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to footwear and more specifically to footwear having an improved insole.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to produce footwear by the lasting process. In one type of lasting, referred to in the industry as flat lasting, an upper is placed on a last and the end portion of the upper is tightened around the periphery of the insole and cemented to the bottom of the insole. The insole provides a platform during this lasting process and it must be of sufficient thickness, rigidity and strength to withstand the force of the upper end portion as it is tightened around the periphery of the insole and cemented to the insole bottom. At the same time, it is desirable that the insole be light and flexible. There have been various approaches to providing improved insoles for use in such footwear lasting including, for example, the insoles disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,144,340; 2,809,450; and 5,105,564.
After the upper and insole are lasted, an outsole is attached to the insole by molding the outsole to the insole, or by other means, and the last is removed from the completed shoe. Other intermediate steps that may occur during the lasting process include softening the upper in a heat chamber, forming a box toe, and trimming excess cement from the bottom of the insole.
It is also known in the prior art to include a cushioned insert on an insole to provide cushioning for the wearer of the footwear. In one such prior art footwear sold by Georgia Boot Inc., (the predecessor of the assignee of the present invention) under the name “Comfort Core Welt”, a bottom extension on a cushioned insert was inserted into an opening in the insole. This footwear was produced by a lasting method known as the welt lasting method and the footwear included an outsole which was cemented to the footwear.
In the past, footwear outsoles were formed of light weight blown polyurethane material. However, no such footwear which included an insole having an opening therein included a polyurethane outsole. It is believed that the reason such otherwise desirable light weight polyurethane outsoles were not used with insoles having openings therein, was because an objectionable amount of polyurethane would enter the footwear through the openings in the insole when the polyurethane formed the outsole.
An insole having one or more openings is provided for use with an outsole formed of blown material such as polyurethane. To prevent an objectionable amount of blown material from entering the footwear, the openings in the insole are covered with expandable material. The expandable material covering the openings expands to receive the bottom extension of a cushioned insert. For purposes of illustration, a cushioned insert such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,464 (see, insole 15) is described herein. It is expressly noted, however, that cushioned inserts having different bottom extensions than that disclosed in the aforementioned patent are within the scope of the present invention.
The insole of the present invention is of sufficient thickness, rigidity and strength to enable it to be used in the lasting process. The insole of the present invention is not, however, limited to its use in the lasting process and it may be used in footwear produced by processes other than by the lasting process.
In order to receive the bottom extension of a cushioned insert such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,464, a forepart section of the insole includes an inner portion of expandable material covering an opening in the forepart section. The expandable material is attached to a relatively rigid peripheral outer portion of the forepart section. Similarly, the backpart section of the insole also includes an inner portion of expandable material covering an opening. The expandable material of the backpart section is attached to a relatively rigid peripheral outer portion of the backpart section. The expandable material of the forepart section and the expandable material of the backpart section limit the amount of blown material that will enter the footwear during the outsole forming process to an acceptable level.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide footwear with an improved insole; and
It is a further object of this invention to provide footwear with an improved insole having at least one covered opening therein to limit the amount of blown material utilized to form the outsole from entering the footwear.
Other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes more clearly understood by references to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and in which similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawing.
With reference to
The backpart portion 6, includes a shaped bottom 7 (see
The manner in which the insole 2 of the present invention is utilized in a footwear lasting process is next described. With reference to
Last 22, including insole 2, is inserted into upper 24 so that insole 2 extends through the opening at the bottom of upper 24. If the boot is to include a box toe, upper 24 may be placed in a steamer to first soften the leather. Then the box toe may be inserted between the vamp and upper, and a toe box machine may apply heat and pressure to the toe box in known manner.
In the lasting process, the lasting allowance 26 of upper 24 is tightened around and beneath the periphery of insole 2 and is cemented into engagement thereto in known manner. A protective piece of foam, sponge type material may be placed on top of the upper to prevent scraping, scarring or discoloration of the leather when an upper clamp is pressed against the leather during the lasting process. Further, as is well known in the art, the sides of the lasting allowance 26 may be hand lasted to the sides of the insole 2. Any excess glue remaining on the bottom of insole 2 after the lasting process is scraped off so that the wearer of the footwear does not feel any uncomfortable bulges when wearing the footwear.
Last 22 is then removed from the upper 22 and upper 22 with the insole lasted thereto is placed over a second last 30 shown in
In
The forepart extension 31 of last 30 creates the corresponding forepart depression 35 in outsole 34 and the heel extension 32 of last 30 creates the heel opening 33 in outsole 34. It will be appreciated that expandable material 12 and expandable material 16 will limit the amount of injected polyurethane that may seep into footwear 40. When the outsole 34 is formed, the formed footwear 40 is removed from sole frame 36 and is removed from the last 30. Expandable material 12 and expandable material 16 will remain fixed in their expanded state.
Footwear 40 includes cushioned insert 42 shown in
In
This invention has been described above with reference to presently preferred embodiments of the invention; such description has not been presented as a catalog exhaustive of all forms which this invention may take. Accordingly, workers skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will readily appreciate that variations, alterations or modifications in the structures, procedures, and arrangements described above may be practiced without departing from the scope of this invention. Thus, the foregoing description should not be read as limiting the scope of this invention to less than the fair scope of the invention.
