Over time, evolution has allowed the hooves of animals to adapt to best suit the terrain encountered by the animal. For instance, animals living in mountains have hooves adept at gripping inclined surfaces. Moreover, the hooves will adapt to whether the inclined surface is rocky or soft. Similarly, animals living in dense forest or open plains have developed hooves providing the greatest advantage for the conditions encountered by the animals to increase the chances for long term survival. The sole for a shoe which simulates the hoof of an animal can realize the benefits of the hoof's contour, which provides benefits when the person wearing the shoe encounters terrain similar to the one normally encountered by the animal whose hoof is simulated.
Some shoes simulate an animal hoof. However, simulations often involve the upper shoe and are ornamental. In other words, the shoes are designed to provide the appearance that the lower part of the wearers leg is an animal leg. The shoes often involve boots which extend up towards the users make. These ornamental features do not provide any benefit to the user.
The sole of a shoe has a heel, a midsole and a tread portion extending from the mid-sole to the toe. The tread has a contour simulative of a horse hoof. A central recess is surrounded by a side wall forming the top and side edges of the tread. The side wall has in-turned ends that extend into the central recess. The in-turned ends taper in both height and width to their distal ends. A V-shaped protrusion is formed at a bottom of the tread and a curved surface transitions from the tread to the midsole. A tear drop recess is formed in the V-shaped protrusion. The top of the V-shaped protrusion and top of the side wall are coplanar. The tread provides traction on a variety of surfaces, including grassy fields, sand and hard surfaces, such as packed Earth or pavement.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, variations and modifications would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. The invention encompasses such variations and modifications.
This application claims the benefit of provisional application 61/767,882, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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PCT/US2014/017741 | 2/21/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2014/130835 | 8/28/2014 | WO | A |
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