Patent Application
20140230284
The present embodiments relate to an article of footwear, and in particular to an article of footwear having a split-sole configuration for use in athletic activities.
Typical athletic shoes have two major components, an upper that provides the enclosure for receiving the foot, and a sole secured to the upper. The upper is generally adjustable using laces or other fastening means to secure the shoe properly to the foot. The sole has the primary contact with the playing surface. The bottom surface of the sole is generally designed for durability and traction appropriate to the particular athletic activity the shoe is designed for. The shoe must be able to absorb the shock as the shoe contacts the ground or other surfaces, and must provide the appropriate type of protection to the foot and maximize the wearer's comfort. Moreover, many athletes and recreational users place additional value in footwear that is specifically designed for the particular activity they are engaged in, in order to maximize performance, durability and comfort.
This summary is intended to provide an overview of the subject matter of the present embodiments, and is not intended to identify essential features or key elements of the subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to determine the scope of the claimed embodiments. The proper scope of the embodiments may be ascertained from the detailed description of the embodiments provided below, the figures referenced therein and the claims.
Embodiments of the article of footwear are flexible split-sole footwear suitable for beach volleyball, Frisbee® beach games, other sand sports, and similar activities. In one aspect, the article of footwear includes a sock upper component (for example a textile sock upper component), a split sole having a forefoot portion and a heel portion separated by a gap, and an x-shaped bridge configured to arch over a wearer's instep. The x-shaped bridge connects the forefoot portion of the split sole to the heel portion of the split sole by extending arms to arch over the wearer's instep to connect with the forefoot portion on its lateral side, the forefoot portion on its medial side, the heel portion on its lateral side and the heel portion on its medial side. The article also includes lateral and medial protective forefoot elements configured to curve around and over the sides and front of the wearer's foot to provide protection for the wearer's foot, leaving a substantial opening at the dorsal surface of the foot. The article of footwear is formed as a unitary component with the split sole integrally attached to the textile sock upper component.
In another aspect, the article of footwear includes a textile sock upper component, and an integral split sole having a forefoot portion and a heel portion separated by a gap configured to lie beneath a wearer's instep. A back strap is configured to wrap around the wearer's heel and is attached at one end to the medial side of the heel portion and at the other end to the lateral side of the heel portion. An x-shaped bridge arches over a wearer's foot, thus forming an apex configured to lie over the wearer's instep, from which medial arms extend to a medial side of the forefoot portion of the split sole and to a medial side of the heel portion of the split sole, and lateral arms extend to a lateral side of the forefoot portion of the split sole and to a lateral side of the heel portion of the split sole. The medial arms are configured to extend in part down the side of the wearer's foot and the lateral arms are configured to extend in part over the top of the wearer's foot. The article also provides lateral and medial protective forefoot elements configured to curve around and over the sides and front of the wearer's foot to provide protection for the wearer's foot, leaving an opening at the dorsal surface of the foot. In this embodiment, the split sole is a unitary product formed by injecting mold material into a cavity having a last within the textile sock upper component defining one side of the cavity. The mold material impregnates the textile sock upper component and forms the split sole attached to the textile sock upper component.
In another aspect, the article of footwear includes a textile sock upper, and an integral split sole having a forefoot portion and a heel portion separated by a gap. The forefoot portion includes medial and lateral protective elements configured to curve over the sides and front of a wearer's foot to protect those parts of the foot, leaving an opening at the foot's dorsal surface. An x-shaped bridge is configured to fit over the wearer's foot at the wearer's instep. The x-shaped bridge has first, second, third and fourth arms extending downwards from an apex of the x-shaped bridge to attach to the forefoot portion and the heel portion of the sole. The first arm extends down to attach to the medial side of the forefoot portion, the second arm extends down to attach to the lateral side of the forefoot portion, the third arm extends down to attach to the medial side of the heel portion and the fourth arm extends down to attach to the lateral side of the heel portion. The split sole and the upper form an integral product.
In another aspect, the article of footwear includes a split sole and a textile sock upper, wherein the split sole comprises a forefoot portion and a heel portion separated by a gap. An x-shaped bridge having an apex and first, second, third and fourth arms, is configured to arch over a wearer's instep, to connect the forefoot portion of the sole to the heel portion of the sole. Specifically, the first arm attaches to a medial side of the forefoot portion, the second arm attaches to a lateral side of the forefoot portion, the third arm attaches to a medial side of the heel portion and the fourth arm attaches to a lateral side of the heel portion. The fabric sock upper comprises an ankle portion and an instep portion. The article of footwear can be fabricated by inserting a last into the fabric sock upper, positioning the last with the fabric sock upper over a mold, and injecting molding material into the mold to form the split sole.
Embodiments are flexible split-sole footwear suitable for beach volleyball, Frisbee® beach games, other sand sports, and similar activities. In one aspect, embodiments include two main components: a fabric sock upper component and a sole component. The sole is a split sole, with a forefoot portion and a heel portion, separated by a gap under the arch of the wearer's foot. The sole component includes a back strap that wraps around the wearer's heel, an x-shaped bridge that arches over the wearer's foot above the arch region to connect the forefoot and heel portions of the sole to each other, and medial and lateral side forefoot elements that curve around the sides and front of the foot to provide protection for the sides and front of the foot. The forward part of the sole has a longitudinal gap separating the portion of the forefoot of the sole under the wearer's big toe from the portion of the forefoot of the wearer under the other toes. The fabric sock is placed over a mold cavity, and the sole is formed by injection molding, such that the molding material impregnates the fabric along the bottom of the sock. Thus the shoe is fabricated without the use of adhesives. In some embodiments, the bottom of the sole includes rectangular ridges under the forefoot section and arcuate ridges under the heel section.
In another aspect, embodiments include flexible footwear comprising a sock-like textile upper and an integral split sole, wherein the integral split sole is fabricated by injecting moldable material into a mold cavity, such that the moldable material impregnates the bottom of the fabric upper to form a unitary product without the use of adhesives. The integral split sole comprises a back strap attached to both sides of the heel section of the sole, and an x-shaped bridge at the mid-foot that arches down from the apex of the bridge over the wearer's foot and attaches to the medial and lateral sides of the heel portion, and to the medial and lateral sides of the forefoot portion of the sole, thus connecting the heel portion of the sole to the forefoot portion of the sole. The forefoot portion includes medial and lateral protective elements configured to curve over the sides and front of a wearer's foot.
In another aspect, embodiments of the sole include a strap that wraps around the back of the wearer's heel and is attached to both the medial and lateral sides of the heel portion of the sole.
In another aspect, embodiments of the sole include a longitudinal gap separating the portion of the forefoot under the wearer's big toe from the portion of the forefoot under the wearer's remaining toes.
In another aspect, embodiments of the sole include a separate pad under the wearer's big toe with a bottom surface that has different physical characteristics than the bottom surface of the remaining portion of the forefoot.
In another aspect, embodiments of the sole include a portion of the bottom surface of the sole under the forefoot having a textured surface with a rectangular ridge pattern.
In another aspect, embodiments of the sole include a portion of the bottom surface of the sole under the heel having a textured surface with arc-like ridges.
It is an object of the present embodiments to provide footwear for professional or amateur athletes, or for recreational players, that provides optimum performance when playing on a sand or on a similar surface.
It is another object of the present embodiments to provide footwear for professional or amateur athletes, of for recreational players, that provides the flexibility needed for activities such as beach volleyball, beach games such as Frisbee,® touch football and/or similar activities.
It is another object of the present embodiments to provide footwear for professional or amateur athletes, or for recreational players, that provides optimum contact with surfaces such as sand.
It is another object of the present embodiments to provide footwear having selected areas of the bottom of the sole with enhanced abrasion resistance.
Other structures, objects, features and advantages of embodiments will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination and study of the following detailed description and the accompanying figures. It is intended that all such additional structures, features and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the embodiments and be protected by the claims set forth below.
For clarity, the detailed descriptions herein describe certain exemplary embodiments, but the disclosure herein may be applied to any article of footwear comprising certain of the features described herein and recited in the claims. In particular, the following detailed description discusses an exemplary embodiment, in the form of a sports shoe for use in sand volleyball or other similar activities, but it should be noted that the present embodiments could take the form of other articles of footwear including, but not limited to shoes used for other beach sports, water sports, canoeing and kayaking, as well as other kinds of shoes.
The term “textiles,” as used throughout the detailed description and in the claims, refers to any manufacture from fibers, filaments, yarns or other materials. Textiles may be characterized by flexibility, fineness, and a high ratio of length to thickness. Textiles may include fabrics produced directly from webs of filaments or fibers by random interlocking to produce non-woven fabrics or felts, or any manufacture formed by the mechanical manipulation of yarn to produce a woven fabric.
In some embodiments, forefoot portion 202 also comprises forefoot support portion 214, which extends from the front of the wearer's instep to the front of article 100. In some embodiments, forefoot support portion 214 may be configured with one or more protective elements. In one embodiment, forefoot portion 202 comprises medial front protective element 209 and lateral front protective element 210. In some embodiments, medial front protective element 209 and lateral front protective element 210 may extend upwardly from forefoot support portion 214. In some embodiments, medial front protective element 209 and lateral front protective element 210 may curve around the side and front of the foot, thus protecting those parts of the foot that are constantly pressed down and across abrasive surfaces such as sand, while leaving the top or dorsal part of the foot open for ventilation and comfort.
As seen in
A sole component can include provisions for connecting two disjoint support portions that may be separated by a gap. In some embodiments, a sole component could include a bridge or bridge-like structure that spans the gap and provides a means of connecting a forefoot support portion and a heel support portion. In some embodiments, the bridge or bridge-like member could be configured to arch over a gap.
In the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, heel support portion 213 and the forefoot support portion 214 of sole component 200 may be connected via bridge 208. Generally, the geometry of bridge 208 may vary from one embodiment to another. In some embodiments, bridge 208 may have an x-like geometry. In other embodiments, bridge 208 may be characterized as having other geometries.
In some embodiments, the x-shaped bridge 208 may be characterized by four arms. For example, on the medial side of sole component 200, x-shaped bridge 208 may have a first arm 206 that extends from the apex 216 of the x-shaped bridge 208 to the rearward end 217 of the medial side of forefoot support portion 214. The x-shaped bridge 208 may also include a second arm 204 that extends from the apex 216 of x-shaped bridge 208 to the forward end 218 of the medial side of heel support portion 213. On the lateral side of sole component 200, x-shaped bridge 208 may have a third arm 207 (shown in
In the embodiment shown in
Sock upper component 300 may incorporate provisions for separating two or more adjacent toes. In some embodiments, front medial portion 304 and front lateral portion 305 are separated from each other by an inwardly curving portion 307 of the perimeter at the front of the forefoot. In some cases, inwardly curving portion 307 may provide a gap or spacing between the big toe and adjacent toes of a foot. Moreover, as described below, inwardly curving portion may be aligned and associated with a corresponding gap of sole component 200.
A sole component may be configured with provisions on a bottom side, or ground contacting surface, for enhancing functionality of the footwear. In some embodiments, a ridge pattern and the materials used in making portions of the sole may be selected to maximize the abrasion resistance for those parts of the sole that are most subject to abrasion. Exemplary ridge patterns, described in further detail below, may also be configured to maximize traction against a playing surface, especially at the forefoot portion of the sole. Some embodiments include ridge patterns at the heel to improve the wearer's ability to pivot on his or her heel, while providing traction for lateral movements. In this embodiment, the ridge pattern may also include channels that allow grains of sand to be dispersed from the bottom of the sole during play.
The foregoing advantages are achieved by selecting the materials and ridge structures for the sole that maximize abrasion resistance and traction under the big toe, that allow the heel to pivot and that shed sand from the bottom of the sole. In particular, the portion of the sole under the big toe is particularly important, because in sports or games such as beach volleyball traction under the big toe is critical to performance. Thus, in some embodiments, forefoot section 401 includes toe pad 402, which may include features or provisions that differ from some other portions of forefoot section 401. For example, in some cases, toe pad 402 may be made of a material that is more abrasion-resistant and harder than the remainder of the bottom surface of forefoot section 401. Furthermore, in some cases, toe pad 402 may be associated with a substantially different traction pattern than some other portions of forefoot section 401 and/or heel section 403. In one embodiment, toe pad 402 includes ridges 411 for improved traction. Generally, the configuration of ridges 411 could vary in any manner. In some embodiments, ridges 411 may be configured as a concentric ridge pattern. In the embodiment shown in
Ridges 411 may function to increase the traction beneath the toe of the wearer, so as to improve the ability of the wearer to lunge forward or leap upward during a match or a game. In the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, the material properties of different portions of sole component 200 could vary. In some embodiments, toe pad 402 may be made from a material having a higher hardness, greater abrasion resistance and/or less resilience than the material used for the fabrication of the remainder of the forefoot, which includes the portions associated with ridge pattern 409. With such an arrangement, toe pad 402 may better facilitate lunging and leaping, while the remainder of the forefoot may be more resilient than toe pad 402, thus providing improved cushioning and energy return.
In some embodiments, forefoot section 401 also has a gap 410 between the big toe and the remaining toes, thus allowing for greater flexibility by the big toe. In some cases, gap 401 corresponds roughly to inwardly curving perimeter 307 of at the front of the forefoot. Together, gap 410 and inwardly curving perimeter 307 may cooperate to provide the flexibility needed to allow the big toe to push down hard into the sand when the wearer is lunging or leaping.
As seen in
In the embodiment shown in
Forefoot portion 401 may also include provisions for channeling sand or other particles away from the ridge structure and towards more open areas such that they can be shed from the sole. In some embodiments, forefoot portion 401 may include central longitudinal channel 416, which intersects with forward lateral channel 414 to form a roughly diamond-shaped depression 415. In some cases, diamond-shaped depression 415 may improve the ability of the sole to shed sand or other particles that have flowed or been propelled towards depression 415. Although the current embodiment uses a diamond-shaped depression, in other embodiments a depression could have any other shape including, but not limited to rounded, oval, or triangular shapes, as well as other generally polygonal or rounded shapes.
In one embodiment of a method for making an article, article of footwear 100 is fabricated by preparing textile sock upper component 300 using techniques known in the textile art. Upper sock component 300 is then fitted over a last, and the last is placed in a mold. Molding material is then injected into the mold to form sole component 200. The molding material impregnates the sock upper such that an integral article of footwear is fabricated.
Some embodiments may include provisions for maximizing contact between the bottom of a sole and a playing surface. In some embodiments, for example, the lower or ground-contacting portion of a sole can be somewhat flexible in order to adapt to the shape of the ground surface for maximizing contact, which can increase traction and control.
As illustrated in
In some embodiments, sole component 200 may be substantially flexible enough so that sole component 200 conforms to the shape of a corresponding surface. For example, as seen in
In another situation where a playing surface is not flat, sole component 200 may conform to the contours of the playing surface. For example,
As the geometry of lower portion 710 changes, the width of sole component 200 may change. In some embodiments, as sole component 200 flattens against a playing surface, the width of sole 200 may be increased. For example, in the initial configuration shown in
In order to accommodate changes in shape and width, upper component 300 may be substantially flexible as well. In some embodiments, the fabric or material used at least in the forefoot portion of upper component 300 in the embodiment shown in
While various embodiments have been described above, the description is intended to be exemplary, rather than limiting. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that additional embodiments and implementations are possible. Accordingly, the embodiments are not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.
