Patent Application
20190289956
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Individuals engaged in sports activities involving actions such as running, walking, kicking, or other uses of the feet can be subject to harm through impact of the feet with sports equipment, sports fields, other individuals, or wear and tear from over-training. In many activities, some items of equipment have some coefficient of yield when the foot of an athlete comes into contact with the item, but there is still some element of contact that impacts the foot of the individual especially when the equipment item is moving quickly when coming into contact with the foot. Consequently, considerable impact forces may be imposed on the feet of an individual as they come into contact with the game equipment. Additionally, the feet of an individual may come into contact with unyielding items such as an athletic field or another individual, which further increases the damage that may be sustained by the feet of an individual.
In the game of football for example, a common injury known as “turf toe” causes an inability to participate in the game of football and may be caused by forceful impact with the hard surface of the field. Turf Toe is a debilitating injury that is caused by a hyperextension of the toe ligaments, most commonly as a result of slipping or high impact with a hard, flat surface such as a football field. Turf Toe requires a one to three-week recovery time depending on the degree of hyperextension of the ligaments.
In the game of basketball, similar injuries can be caused by impact with the hard surface of the playing floor. Additionally, high velocity impacts with the court or being stepped on by other players can result in toe fractures. A toe fracture may cause an athlete to miss four to eight weeks of playing time. In the game of soccer, in addition to the possibilities for the incidence of both Turf Toe and toe fractures, repetitive impact injuries with a soccer ball may cause foot injuries over time that may cause missed time by a player due to such repetitive impact foot injuries. Less common are injuries suffered by martial artists and other fields or disciplines that are not necessarily sports related.
Certain illustrative embodiments illustrating organization and method of operation, together with objects and advantages may be best understood by reference to the detailed description that follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term “plurality”, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term “another”, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having”, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term “coupled”, as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment”, “certain embodiments”, “an embodiment” or similar terms means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation.
Unless otherwise stated, the words “up”, “down”, “top”, “bottom”, “upper”, and “lower” should be interpreted within a gravitational framework. “Down” is the direction that gravity would pull an object. “Up” is the opposite of “down”. “Bottom” is the part of an object that is down farther than any other part of the object. “Top” is the part of an object that is up farther than any other part of the object. “Upper” refers to top and “lower” refers to the bottom. As a non-limiting example, the upper end of a vertical shaft is the top end of the vertical shaft.
As used in this disclosure, “abrasion” refers to the rubbing of a first object against a second object in a manner that generates friction.
As used in this disclosure, a “band” is a flat loop of material.
As used in this disclosure, “Bluetooth” is a standardized communication protocol that is used to wirelessly interconnect electronic devices. Bluetooth® is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG.
As used herein, the words “data” and “information” are used interchangeably to refer to raw, unprocessed facts and to facts that have been processed, structured, organized, or present in a context that makes the facts useful.
As used herein, the word “desired” refers to a specific value within a range of supported values. A “desired” value indicates that a range of values is enabled by the invention and that a user of the invention may select a specific value within the supported range of values based upon their own personal preference. As a non-limiting example, for a fan that supports operational speed settings of low, medium, or high, a user may select a desired fan speed, meaning that the user may select low, medium, or high speed based upon their needs and preferences at the time of the selection.
As used in this disclosure, “elastic” refers to a material or object that deforms when a force is applied to it and that is able to return to its relaxed shape after the force is removed. A material that exhibits these qualities is also referred to as an elastomeric material.
As used in this disclosure, the word “exterior” is used as a relational term that implies that an object is not located or contained within the boundary of a structure or a space.
As used in this disclosure, the “foot” refers to the portion of the leg that is below the ankle. Within this disclosure, the foot is further defined with a forefoot, a midfoot and a hindfoot. The forefoot is the region of the foot is the anterior portion of the foot within which the phalanges and the metatarsals bones are located. The midfoot is the region of the foot within which the navicular, cuboid, and cuneiform bones are located. The hindfoot is the region of the foot that is posterior to the midfoot.
As used herein, “front” indicates the side of an object that is closest to a forward direction of travel under normal use of the object or the side or part of an object that normally presents itself to view or that is normally used first. “Rear” or “back” refers to the side that is opposite the front.
As used in this disclosure, the “heel” is the portion of the sole or the outsole that is underneath the ankle and behind the arch of the foot of the wearer.
As used in this disclosure, the word “interior” is used as a relational term that implies that an object is located or contained within the boundary of a structure or a space.
As used in this disclosure, “near field communication” commonly referred to as NFC, is an RFID technology and communication protocol that is commonly implemented on personal data devices.
As used in this disclosure, “RFID” refers to Radio Frequency IDentification technology. RFID is a wireless technology that uses electromagnetic field to identify and retrieve data from tracking tags that are placed on an object.
As used in this disclosure, “tape” refers to a flexible and narrow strip of textile or sheeting that fastens, secures, augments, decorates, or strengthens an object. Tape may be coated with an adhesive on one or both sides.
As used in this direction, the “velocity” is a scalar value or a vector that describes the rate of change of position of an object with respect to time (often called speed) and/or the direction of the change of position of the object.
As used in this disclosure, “vertical” refers to a direction that is parallel to the local force of gravity. Unless specifically noted in this disclosure, the vertical direction is always perpendicular to horizontal.
In a non-limiting embodiment, foot injuries may be caused by a foot slipping on a hard surface or by the foot, especially the toes, coming into high-energy contact with an unyielding surface or object. Toe injuries, as well as ankle injuries, can be debilitating and cause the individual suffering the injury to miss work or sports activities for weeks, or even months while recuperating. There is a need to provide an object of footwear that is capable of protecting the feet and preventing many common injuries to the toes, ankles or other portions of a foot as well as improving athletic performance while the footwear object is being worn.
The footwear object may be designed to fit snugly and provide compressive support to the toes, ankle, and bottom of the foot. Protection of the toes is of paramount importance to prevent any toe from moving beyond its normal range of motion. This may be accomplished by providing a toe strap and toe partition, isolating the toe the wearer may wish to protect, as the toe protection mechanism. An additional aspect of the footwear object is to disperse the weight of the foot evenly over the entire foot, helping to reduce the amount of strain on the toes that may be due to the weight of the foot concentrating on any particular toe or toes. The footwear object may also have an increased grip between the footwear object and any shoe that is worn over the footwear object. This increased grip prevents slippage of the foot within the shoe and minimizes the chance that the weight of the entire foot will be placed on the toes as the toes impact the front inside surface of a shoe. The footwear object may also have an ankle guard that is implemented as a cross-ankle strap that assists in stabilizing the ankle of the wearer. In this example, the footwear object provides protection for the toes through the toe protection mechanism, protection against slippage of the foot within a shoe being worn, and protects the ankle through the ankle strap mechanism.
The constituent material of which the footwear object is constructed may be, for example, a woven or knitted fabric composed of any of a plurality of yarns, threads, or unwoven materials. The fabric may be air permeable, thereby enabling each layer of the apparatus to “breathe”, or to dissipate perspiration from the skin of a user through layers of the apparatus to ambient air. The fabric layers of the apparatus may comprise artificial fibers such as nylon, rayon, polyester, and others, or natural fibers such as cotton, wool, linen, or still other types of natural and synthetic fibers, and fabrics that are blends and combinations of these fibers. The selected fibers may be resistant to deterioration by exposure to perspiration, or sweat resistant.
When referring to a compression base layer of the footwear object, this may refer to increased tension, a tension creating design, additional elastic, increased materials in a given area or even a reduction of materials. This compression can also include thermal reactive yarns that contain antimicrobial properties and infrared reflective technology to create one or more layers of compression base layer materials. These yarns and the compression action of these materials when woven into cloth-like coverings help stabilize toe ligaments, increase circulation, wick sweat, prevent microbial growth, increase grip strength, and return energy back to the cells of the user's skin. The compression base layer material and/or stabilizing material can add additional support to the toe ligaments to help stabilize them and reduce the likelihood of an injury. When formed into a material layer, the compression base layer may be seamless so there are no weak or uneven areas.
The footwear object may have an exterior surface grip property to preempt slipping of the foot of the wearer within a shoe. The surface trip property may be a result of the manner, knitted, woven, and/or adhered, in which the material of which the footwear object is composed. In an alternative embodiment, a treatment may be applied to the fabric of which the footwear object is constructed to provide for greater grip or adhesion characteristics for the footwear object when the footwear object comes into contact with a shoe or flat surface exterior to the footwear object. Equally desirable, the grip or adhesion property of the footwear object may foster increased grip between the foot of a wearer and the footwear object to maintain contact and position of the foot within the footwear object.
In an additional embodiment, the footwear object may have a toe support mechanism that may be built into the footwear object that is composed of a toe strap and a toe partition. This toe support mechanism provides for support of the toe ligaments, prevents the full weight of the foot from concentrating on the toes, and provides for proper positioning of the toes to maintain function and prevent injury. In an alternative embodiment, the toe support mechanism may be a separate attachment that may be connected to the footwear object and provide the same or very similar functions as the toe support mechanism that is an integral portion of the construction of the footwear object.
In an embodiment, the footwear object may also contain an ankle support mechanism that serves the function of an ankle guard. This ankle support mechanism may provide the same support and protective function as is provided by utilizing several portions of tape that may be supplied by an athletic trainer. The ankle support mechanism may be integral to the footwear object as well, providing toe, ankle, and general foot support in a single footwear object.
In an embodiment, the footwear object may also have an integrated set of sensors, an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip, or additional sensors that are capable of recording and transmitting data to an external site. The information collected from the sensors and/or RFID chip may contain location information, performance information such as, but not limited to, stretch, wear, moisture levels, shift, slip, position of the footwear object in relation to the wearer's foot, and other data that may be related to the use and performance of the footwear object. The collected data may be used to create a database of metrics from which performance characteristics may be derived and displayed to interested parties.
A footwear object, such as an athletic sock, stocking, or specialty sock, having a toe support mechanism and an ankle support mechanism, with the toe support mechanism further comprising a toe strap configured to protect at least one toe where said toe strap extends beneath the arch of said footwear object to provide connected toe and arch support. The footwear object is adapted to prevent or reduce the severity of turf toe injuries and arch injuries to a foot. The footwear object having a toe support mechanism comprises a toe partition and a toe strap, where the toe support mechanism is adapted to support toe ligaments, prevent the full weight of the foot from concentrating on the toes, and position the toes to maintain function and prevent injury. Additionally, the support and protective portions of the footwear object may be incorporated as knitted portions, or layered portions applied over the knitted structure, or may be incorporated as multiple knitted layers with or without the inclusion of layered portions to form a footwear object having a complex structure permitting grip, compression, and impact protection for the foot and ankle of a user.
The footwear object where the toe partition is adapted to isolate one or more toes using an interior toe divider of the sock. In a non-limiting example, a big toe may be separated from the rest of the toes to isolate the big toe and provide greater protection for the isolated toe or toes. The interior toe divider of the sock is oriented in a vertical direction and is adapted to provide an unobstructed passage from the top of the foot to the bottom of the foot between the big toe and all other toes. The toe strap is a continuous band of material that is knitted into the base layer material comprising the footwear object. The toe strap starts on the bottom of the footwear object at a position in front of the heel and runs towards the front of the footwear object, passing across an arch and from one side to the other, curving up the front, and ending at a position on top of the big toe. In this configuration, the toe strap is adapted to prevent hyperextension of the big toe by limiting the range of motion of the big toe. Additionally, the toe strap limits the range of motion due to the woven pattern of the toe strap, due to the choice of fibers woven into the toe strap, or a combination these structural elements.
The footwear object may have an ankle support mechanism that comprises an ankle guard. The ankle guard is a portion of the sock located is such a manner to cover the ankle extending from below the ankle to the top of the footwear object or any portion of the ankle within this range of cover. The ankle guard is designed to encircle the ankle portion of the user's foot potentially from below the ankle proper to high on the user's leg so as to protect the entirety of a user's ankle and guard against conditions such as high ankle sprains and other leg injuries associated with the ankle. The ankle support mechanism may encircle the ankle as a cylindrical structure, a cross-shaped structure, or any other structure that encircles the ankle and provides the protection and support required of this portion of the user's leg. The ankle support mechanism may comprise a compressive material woven into the footwear object or applied over the fabric of the footwear object. In a non-limiting example, the compressive material may be neoprene or any other material having sufficient compressive properties. A material comprising the footwear object is a knitted or woven fabric comprising any of a plurality of yarns, threads, or unwoven materials, and may consist of natural fibers, synthetic fibers, or combinations of any of these materials, where the material is air permeable, allowing the material to breathe or wick away and dissipate perspiration. Additionally, the material may be composed of antimicrobial fibers, where the antimicrobial fibers prevent or reduce the growth of bacteria and/or fungus.
The footwear object may have one or more grip pads that may consist of a non-slip, gripping, friction causing material on the underside of said footwear object. The grip pads may be composed of additional yarns of different composition and/or thicknesses to permit the grip pads to perform the gripping function where the compressive material is composed of modified knitting structures. In a non-limiting example, the one or more grip pads are areas of the footwear object that provide greater friction when compared to other areas of the footwear object. The one or more grip pads are adapted to prevent slippage of the foot within the footwear object and/or within the shoe. The one or more grip pads are formed from the woven pattern used, from a non-slip material applied to the footwear object, or from a combination thereof. In a non-limiting example, one of the one or more grip pads are located at the rear of the footwear object, covering a heel of the foot, and one of the one or more grip pads are located at the front of the footwear object, covering the ball of the foot and toe padding. Although other configurations for the one or more grip pads may be contemplated to provide a footwear object with support for different portions of the footwear object for differing user activities. In a non-limiting example, the footwear object may be knitted, sewn, or constructed as a layered product having a grip pad forming a gripping bottom surface.
The footwear object may be constructed having one or more microchips, where the one or more microchips are woven into the material of the footwear object or are applied as a separate layer covering the footwear object. In this embodiment, the one or more microchips identify the footwear object, collect usage metrics, transfer collected usage metrics, or combinations thereof. In this embodiment, the collected usage metrics may include information regarding pressure, impact, velocity, acceleration, temperature, humidity, location, or combinations of such measurements.
Turning now to
In a non-limiting example, an ankle guard 155 may be seen encircling the lower leg just above the ankle, although this should not be considered as limiting. In alternative embodiments, the ankle guard 155 may extend from well below the ankle to a point at the top of the footwear object. In addition, a padded zone 190 can be seen at the very back of the sock 110, covering the area of the Achilles tendon.
In an exemplary embodiment, the footwear object 100 is designed to protect the feet of the wearer while providing support for the toes, arches and ankles of the wearer. The footwear object 100 will meet the criteria established for toe flexibility, compression, breathability, wicking factor, grip, hand feel/comfort, and abrasion as set forth in the deflection, Martindale abrasion test, and GATS test, as well as the look and feel that is important to a wearer.
In an embodiment, the footwear object 100 may protect against foot injuries such as Turf Toe and toe fractures, as well as hyperextension of the ligaments in the arch of the foot and ankle. Materials used in the manufacture of the footwear object 100 may include Nylon, Wool, Cashmere, Teflon, Polyester, Cotton, Silicone, and Spandex, as well as any other material that is conducive to be incorporated into the manufacture of the footwear object 100 to meet the criteria of the completed object as previously described.
In an embodiment, the footwear object 100 improves on the performance of existing technologies such as toe braces, diabetic socks, and grip socks by incorporating multiple functions into a single footwear object and operating to prevent injuries by providing additional functions such as a heel pad and toe spacer support. In design, the footwear object 100 comprises a covering for the entire foot and ankle of a wearer. The footwear object 100 may have an inner surface grip that maintains contact with the skin of the foot and ankle of the wearer. Additionally, the interior toe divider 135 provides for separation between any one or all toes to reduce impact injuries and provide greater support for the wearer. In a non-limiting example, the big toe may be separated from the rest of the toes to reduce impact injuries to the big toe, which may suffer from a greater incidence of injury based upon the relative size of the big toe and its importance in maintaining balance and use of the foot in sports activities.
A plurality of materials may be utilized to form various portions of the footwear object 100 based upon the characteristics desired for each portion of the footwear object 100.
Turning now to
The toe strap 125 can be seen continuing its path from the big toe (not visible in this view since it is located on the far side of the foot) by emerging from under the big toe and crossing the bottom of the foot, pressing against the arch of the foot, and terminating just in front of the heel.
Two of the one or more grip pads 180 can be seen on the underside of the sock 110, one located at the back of the foot under the heel and the other located at the front of the foot in front of the toe strap 125.
In an embodiment, the footwear object 100 provides preventative support elements to keep a wearer from harm to the ankle or foot. Support elements may take the form of a ribbed ankle structure, the padded zone 190 which is a densely knitted portion at the back of the ankle above the heel to prevent blisters, the one or more grip pads 180 on the heel pad, formed from compression fabric, a knitted silicone grip on the outside surface of the bottom of the footwear object 100, and the one or more grip pads 180 under the toes to provide support and protection for the toes of the wearer. In an exemplary embodiment, the footwear object 100 may provide a complete cover for the foot and ankle of the wearer to provide support and protection against injury to the wearer's foot and ankle. The foot portion of the footwear object 100 may have a compressive spandex knitted fabric on the top dorsal portion of a wearer's foot. The foot portion may also have a compressive spandex inlaid in the knit of the fabric that forms the bottom portion and that covers the bottom of the wearer's foot.
In an embodiment, the footwear object 100 may also have a spacer fabric ankle pad that comprises the ankle portion of the footwear object 100. Each portion of the footwear object 100 may be composed of multiple layers of fabric types. In a non-limiting example, the inside layer of the footwear object 100, the portion that comes into contact with the skin of the wearer's foot and ankle, may be composed of polyester, a middle layer may be composed of wool, and the outside portion may be composed of cotton fabric.
In an embodiment, the footwear object 100 may have communications capability through use of one or more microchips 165. As non-limiting examples, the one or more microchips 165 may utilize Radio Frequency IDs (RFIDs), Electromagnetic Fields generation, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication, Strain Gage, and/or Accelerometer technology embedded into the apparel apparatus. These technological capabilities may be embedded as an additional performance layer or may be integrated into the compression layer or any other layer of the fabric used in manufacture of the footwear object 100. This technological capability permits the footwear object 100 to collect data to track a wearer's performance and transmit the collected data to servers and processors to permit digital storage and data analysis of all collected data. In a non-limiting embodiment, each wearer would wear the technologically enhanced footwear object containing one or more of the one or more microchips 165, RFIDs, Electromagnetic Field generators, Bluetooth chip, NFC chip, Strain Gages, or Accelerometers. This data collection capability could permit the technologically enhanced footwear object to perform as the primary source of data collection or data distribution in a plurality of activities, such as, but not limited to, sports activities and recreational activities.
Turning now to
While certain illustrative embodiments have been described, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, permutations and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description.
This Non-Provisional application claims under 35 U.S.C. § 120, the benefit of priority to Provisional Application 62/475,115, filed Mar. 22, 2017, titled “Grip Enhancement and Protection for the Feet” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
