1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to footwear in general and to a method and apparatus for providing footwear with selectively extendable spikes in particular.
2. Description of Related Art
Traction is necessary for proper performance in many sports. For example, in the sport of golf, proper traction is required during full swing shots such as the tee shot and many fairway shots. Due to the grass covered surfaces on which golf is played, however, proper traction may be difficult. It is well known that the addition of spikes to the bottom of footwear for golf shoes helps to provide the necessary traction on such a surface. Such spikes were traditionally made of sharpened elongate metal projections.
Traditional metal spikes, however, suffered from the disadvantage of being damaging to some surfaces. In particular, the putting greens surfaces which have a significantly shorter grass length have been found to be damaged by metal spikes. Such metal spikes have been known to cause significant damage to putting greens by leaving holes and ridges in the ground as well as damaging the more delicate putting green grasses.
One solution to the above disadvantages of metal spikes has been to replace the traditional metal spikes with a spike insert comprising a plurality of plastic or rubber protrusions which are also known as the “soft spike”. Soft spikes have resulted in less damage to the putting greens surfaces. Accordingly, many golf courses have enacted rules prohibiting traditional metal spikes in favor of soft spikes. However, soft spikes have also reduced the traction provided to the golfer during full swing shots such as the tee shot. Therefore, while most recreational golfers now use soft spikes, many professional players continue to use metal spikes. The use of metal spikes for professional golf tournaments results in a significant amount of damage to the putting greens which is both costly to repair as well as obstructive to the play of later players.
Soft spikes have also not completely eliminated the damage occurring to golf course greens. As developers of soft spikes have attempted to increase the traction provided by soft spikes, the amount of damage these spikes inflicts on putting greens increases. In particular, it is known that metal spikes and newer designs of soft spikes results in damage to the structure of the grass making these grasses more susceptible to disease and other difficulties. Putting greens therefore require more fungicides, pesticides and water to ameliorate the damage caused to the grass from metal and soft spikes.
Previous attempts have been made to provide shoes with selectively extendable and retractable spikes. Examples of such shoes may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,434 to Chein, U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,627 to Violette et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,729 to Buchanen, III. However, such devices have not been suitable for use in a golf shoe as there are separated controls to extend or retract the spikes. Several of these controls are located in the toe of the sole where they may be prone to actuation during the follow-through of a golf swing.
Other attempts have required the user to activate the extension or retraction of the spikes from the sole of the shoe by manipulating a tab lever, screw or other device on the sole of the shoe itself. Examples of such devices may be found at U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,092 to Yarnell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,565 to Balgin, U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,714 to Mack, U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,870 to Grossman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,907 to Jordan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,482 to Remington et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,838 to Khayat and U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,080 to Davis. Such devices have not been acceptable due to the need to bend down to extend or retract the spikes which may be difficult for some users and time consuming.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed an apparatus for selectively extending spikes from the bottom of a footwear article. The footwear article has a sole which has a longitudinal direction and a plurality of spike apertures. The apparatus comprises a plurality of spike assemblies, each locatable within one of the spike apertures and an elongate member extendable substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the footwear article and being movable between first and second positions. The elongate member is operable to extend the spikes from the footwear article at the first position and to retract the spikes within the footwear article at the second position. The apparatus further comprises a cyclically alternating positioner for moving the elongate member between the first and second positions wherein the positioner has an actuating button. Depressing the actuating button a first time causes the positioner to move the elongate member to the first position. Depressing the actuating button a second time causes the positioner to move the elongate member to the second position.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed a shoe having an upper and a sole portion and a longitudinal direction. The sole having a plurality of spike apertures and a selective spike extending assembly for extending a plurality of spikes from the sole through the plurality of spike apertures. The spike extending assembly comprises a plurality of spike assemblies, each being locatable within one of the spike apertures and an elongate member extendable substantially parallel to the longitudinal member of the shoe and being movable between first and second positions. The elongate member is operable to extend the spikes from the shoe at the first position and to retract the spikes within the shoe at the second position. The spike extending assembly further comprises a cyclically alternating positioner for extending the member between the first and second positions wherein the positioner has an actuating button. Depressing the actuating button a first time causes the positioner to move the elongate member to the first position. Depressing the actuating button a second time causes the positioner to move the elongate member to the second position.
The actuating button may be a single button. The actuating button may comprise a plunger button acting against a return biasing spring. The plunger button may be cantilevered from a heal portion of the sole in a substantially horizontal plane.
A portion of the sole may cover the actuating button. The actuating button may be contained within the sole. The actuating button may project from the sole.
The apparatus may further comprise at least one rod extending transversely across the sole for transmitting the movement of the elongate member to the spike assemblies. The at least one rod may be supported within a slot in the elongate member, wherein the slot may be orthogonal to the elongate member and the at least one rod. The spike assemblies may further comprise a sleeve receivable within the apertures, a spike slidably supported within the sleeve, a first link extending from a bottom portion of the sleeve to the at least one rod and a second link extending from a top portion of the spike to the at least one rod.
The at least one rod may be secured to the elongate member. The spike assemblies may further comprise a sleeve receivable within the apertures, a spike slidably supported within the sleeve and a wedge secured to the spike wherein a portion of the at least one rod engages the wedge. The rod causes the spike to be extended as the elongate member is moved to the first position.
The rod may be pivotally secured to the sole and include a pinion gear engagable with a rack gear of the elongate member. The rod further includes a cam corresponding to each of the plurality of spike assemblies for extending the spikes. The spike assemblies may further include a sleeve receivable within the apertures and a spike slidably supported within the sleeve wherein the cams engage a top portion of the spikes.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention wherein similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in each view,
a-b are cross sectional views of the footwear article of
a-c are cross sectional views of the actuating button of the footwear article of
Referring to
The sole 14 includes a bottom surface 18 and has a plurality of spike apertures 20 located therein for projecting spikes 52 therethrough. The sole 14 is bound by a peripheral edge surface 22 and includes a rearmost portion 24. The rearmost portion 24 of the sole 14 includes an actuating button 26 for selectively extending or retracting the spikes 52.
Turning now to
A positioner 36 having opposite first and second ends 38 and 40 respectively is mounted in the rear of the sole 14. Positioner 36 is operably connected to the elongate member 30 at first end 38 adjacent to the rearmost portion 24 of the sole 14. The positioner 36 includes the actuating button 26 at second end 40. The positioner 36 is adapted to cyclically and alternately move the elongate member 30 so as to reciprocate between first and second positions along the longitudinal direction 16 of the shoe 10 in response to corresponding depressions of the actuating button 26. At the first position of the elongate member 30, the spikes 52 are extended from the sole 14 of the shoe 10 as further described below. At the second position of the elongate member 30, the spikes 52 are retracted into the sole 14 of the shoe 10. As illustrated and described below, the first position is oriented forward within the shoe 10 relative to the second position. It will be appreciated, however, that the first position may be rearward within the shoe 10 of the second position with corresponding alterations to the spike assemblies 32. For greater certainty, a first actuation or depression of the actuating button 26 by a user will cause the positioner 36 to move the elongate member 30 to the first position. Thereafter, a second actuation or depression of the actuation button 26 by a user will cause the positioner to retract the elongate member 30 to the second position. It will be appreciated that subsequent actuations or depressions of the actuating button will cause corresponding cyclical reciprocating motions of the elongate member.
The elongate member 30 is constructed of a material selected to have sufficient compressive strength permitting the elongate member to adequately actuate the spike assemblies 32 as will be appreciated from the description below. In addition, the elongate member 30 may be constructed of a material selected to be flexible about a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the shoe 10 so as to permit bending of the sole 14 as the wearer walks. Non limiting examples of such material may include thin sheets of steel, aluminium, or certain types of plastics, such as for example polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and polyurethane.
The positioner 36 may be of a conventional type, such as, for example in accordance with designs found in retractable pens or the like as are known. It will also be appreciated that other cyclical alternating mechanisms will also be useful. The actuating button 26 may be depressed or actuated by a user or wearer of the shoe by depressing the actuating button 26 with a finger or thumb. Alternately the user may impact or pressing the actuating button 26 against another shoe or object by manipulation of the shoe 10.
As illustrated in
a and 3b illustrate two alternative embodiments by way of example of a cross-sectional view of the sole 14 of the shoe 10 is illustrated along the line 3-3 of
The rods 34 and the elongate member 30 may therefore be freely movable in a vertical direction within the sole 14 of the shoe 10. The vertical movement of the elongate member 30 may be accommodated by a vertically slidable connection between the elongate member 30 and the positioner 36 according to known techniques.
In the alternative embodiment of
As illustrated, the sole may include at least one securing plate 55 within the bottom portion of the sole for threadably receiving the sleeves 50. The securing plates 55 may be formed of a single member locatable within the forefoot 10a of the shoe and a single member locatable within the heel 10b of the shoe 10. Optionally, each spike aperture 20 may include a separate securing plate 55 or pairs of spike apertures may share a securing plate. The securing plate 55 may be constructed of a metal such as, for example, steel, stainless steel, aluminium or plastic selected to have a high pull out strength of the sleeves 50 to resist the pulling out from sole 14. The spike assembly 32 may also include seals 53 for sealing between the spike 52 and sleeve 50 as well as a biasing spike 57 for biasing the spike to a retracted position as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Turning now to the alternative embodiments of
In the alternative embodiment of
Turning now to
As the elongate member 30 and therefore the rods 34 are moved from a second to a first position as described above, bearing portions 72 of the rods will frictionally bear against and press down on the wedges 70. The wedges will thereby press the spikes in a downward direction thereby extending the spikes from the sole 14. Springs or other suitable means may also be incorporated between the spikes 52 and the sleeves 50 to urge the spikes into their retracted positions when the elongate member 30 is in its second position as described above.
Turning now to
As the elongate member 30 is moved from a second to a first position as described above, the rack gear 92 engages with and rotates the pinion gear 90 and the rod 34 in a direction generally indicated at 91. As the rod is rotated within the rod supports 86, the cams 82 on the ends of the rod 34 are rotated in a direction generally indicated at 93 such that the cam lobes 84 engage upon the cam followers 80 of the spikes 52. The cam lobes 84 thereafter urge the cam followers 80 and the spikes 52 to an extended position as generally indicated at 95.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/CA2007/001990 | 11/7/2007 | WO | 00 | 5/7/2010 |