The field of the present invention is shoes, and specifically shoes for contact with steeper than horizontal surfaces.
Climbers, mountaineers and other sports enthusiasts often use shoes specifically designed for heightened traction, such as for “edging” on rock and steep terrain. Rock climbing (including ice-climbing), approach shoes, canyoneering, fly-fishing, river walking, and mountaineering shoes are among the types of shoes for which heightened traction can be important.
Conventional climbing shoes have outsoles and uppers, the external perimeters of which express a round, non-angular curvature. Sometimes there is a rand surrounding a portion of the lower external surface portion of the shoe upper. In the case of such conventional climbing shoes, the entire external perimeter of the outsole and the upper/rand is rounded—that is, there are no flat, or straight-lined edges.
b and 1c are side and top views respectively of an exemplary conventional rounded-perimeter shoe upper 21 and rounded-perimeter shoe rand (sometimes referred to as a “foxing” on some types of shoes) 20. As is depicted in
Conventional climbing shoes are often made using “lasts” with rounded forefront and heels. A “last” is an object that approximates the dimensions of a human foot of a particular size and shape. A last is used in the shoemaking process as a mold around which the outer shoe is formed. That is, a particular last is used to create the shape of the inside of a shoe of a particular size and shape. Lasts are often made of nylon, aluminum, or wood.
In climbing, there are drawbacks to shoes with rounded outsole perimeter curvature. When a climber encounters an edge, the climber needs to maximize the contact surface with the edge. An edge is a climbing surface, often of small dimension, that forms an angle with one or more rock walls. Exemplary edges are depicted in
The exemplary climbing edges 2a (
In nature, there are infinite variations of edge formations. It will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that the edges depicted in
Mountain climbing, rock climbing, and similar “extreme sport” athletes perform their sports in dangerous environmental conditions, often thousands of feet above ground level. Maximizing climbing surface contact gives this type of athlete greater safety and performance.
Conventional wisdom in making and fitting rock climbing shoes in order to increase a climber's ability to make greater contact with rock climbing surfaces has been to make the shoe very, very stiff and/or to fit the shoe very, very tight. There are drawbacks to these two approaches. Stiff shoes detract from a climbers' ability to feel rock and rock edges. Tight fitting shoes are painful for the wearer.
A better way is needed to maximize outsole and rand surface contact with climbing edges and rock wall surfaces.
The present invention provides outsoles, shoes with outsoles, and methods of making shoes with outsoles, wherein the outsoles comprise two or more flat perimeter edges. The flat external perimeter outsole edges are referred to herein as outsole “facets”. In the exemplary embodiments depicted and disclosed herein, these flat edge outsole facets intersect and form angled corners. In alternative embodiments, one or more of the flat outsole edges do not intersect with other flat outsole edges.
The present invention further provides rands, shoes with rands, and methods of making shoes with rands, wherein the rands comprise two or more relatively flat surfaces around the rand perimeter. The relatively flat rand surfaces are referred to herein as rand “facets”. In the exemplary embodiments depicted and disclosed herein, these relatively flat rand surface facets intersect and form angled corners. In alternative embodiments, one or more of the relatively flat rand surfaces do not intersect with other flat rand surfaces.
The present invention further provides shoe uppers, shoes with uppers, and methods of making shoes with uppers, wherein the shoe uppers comprise two or more relatively flat surfaces around the shoe upper perimeter. The relatively flat shoe upper surfaces are referred to herein as shoe upper “facets”. In the exemplary embodiments depicted and disclosed herein, these relatively flat shoe upper surface facets intersect and form angled corners. In alternative embodiments, one or more of the relatively flat shoe upper surfaces do not intersect with other flat shoe upper surfaces.
The present invention further provides faceted lasts for making faceted shoe uppers, faceted rands, faceted outsoles, shoes with faceted shoe uppers, shoes with faceted rands and shoes with faceted outsoles.
These and other features of the present invention are more fully set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is presented with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
a is a bottom view of an exemplary conventional rounded-perimeter outsole;
b and 1c are side and top views respectively of an exemplary conventional rounded perimeter shoe upper and an exemplary rounded perimeter shoe rand;
a through 2c depict a three-quarter view, a side view, and a top view, respectively, of an exemplary conventional rounded-perimeter last;
a and 7b depict side and frontal views respectively of an exemplary edge formation formed between two opposing rock walls where the intersection of the outer faces of the two rock walls forms an obtuse angle with horizontal ground level;
a through 13c depict a perspective view, a side view and a top view respectively of a faceted last;
As further described below, in one exemplary embodiment of the invention, each shoe outsole has multiple straight-line “facets” generally aligning with the bone structure of the foot. In the exemplary embodiment, these straight-line facets intersect at sharp angles.
Different types of rock form different types of formations. For example, granite often forms relatively linear straight-line edges as shown in
A faceted shoe generally increases the contact surface area with rock, greatly increasing the ability to climb. For example, angled corners can enter small limestone pockets more easily, more deeply, and more securely than a round-perimeter shoe. Further, when climbing granite formations, faceted shoes, outsoles and rands increase the contact surface areas with edge formations and rock wall faces.
For example, as depicted in
As depicted in
Similarly, as depicted in
The outsole, rand and shoe upper facets and angles of the exemplary embodiment of the invention can be adjusted to fit different types of foot structures.
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, the human foot has an arch. Reference herein to the arch of an outsole refers to the indented curvature of the outsole that mimics the arch of the human foot.
As depicted in
As depicted in
Continuing with
The straight-line facet 32 between angles 42 and 43 relates to a roughly straight line 203 between the inner tip 102 of the big toe over to the outer tip 103 of the second toe. The straight line 203 formed by the inner tip 102 of the big toe over to the outer tip 103 of the second toe form-fits under shoe-fitting compression to the straight-line facet 32.
In the exemplary embodiment, angle 43 is provided to accommodate what is known as “Mortons toe” (a longer second toe). In an alternative embodiment, a shoe for foot structures without a Mortons toe would not include angle 43, or alternatively, angle 43 would be of greater degree.
The straight-line facet 33 between angles 43 and 44 relates to a roughly straight line 204 between the second toe outer tip 103 and the outer knuckle tip 104 of the fifth toe. The straight line 204 between the second toe outer tip 103 and the outer knuckle tip 104 of the fifth toe form-fits under shoe-fitting compression to the straight-line facet 33.
The straight-line facet 34 between angles 44 and 45 relates to a roughly straight-lined area 205 between the fifth toe outer knuckle tip 104, to the ball 105 of the pinky/fifth toe. The straight line 205 between the fifth toe outer knuckle tip 104, to the ball 105 of the pinky/fifth toe form-fits under shoe-fitting compression to the straight-line facet 34.
As depicted in
The invention provides several methods of making faceted shoes. Two of the methods use a faceted last 150 such as depicted in
As will be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art, there are a number of ways of making shoes using a last. One method of making shoes with a last comprises grinding an outsole attached to a shoe upper that has been placed over a last. Another method of making shoes with a last comprises attaching a molded outsole to a shoe upper that has been placed over a last. Yet another method of making shoes with a last involves a process known as sock lasting, or cement lasting. The sock lasting method of making shoes comprises pulling a sewn upper over the last (like pulling a sock over a foot). Any necessary midsole is glued or otherwise attached onto the bottom of the shoe upper on the last. A rand (such as a rubber rand) can optionally be glued or otherwise attached around the lower surface perimeter of the upper.
One method of making faceted shoes is depicted in
Another method of making faceted shoes is depicted in
Yet another way of making a faceted shoe on a faceted last using sock lasting is depicted in
In the exemplary embodiment depicted in, e.g.,
Another method of making a shoe with a faceted shoe upper, faceted foxing/rand, and/or a faceted outsole would be to use a vulcanization process using a faceted last. The term “foxing” is used for a vulcanized rand. Using the vulcanization process, the upper and midsole would be placed on the faceted last. The foxing/rand would be attached to the upper and midsole and would then be baked (vulcanized) so that it takes the shape of the faceted last.
Another method of making a shoe on a faceted last would be to use a “board lasting” approach. The board lasting method comprises stapling a midsole directly to the last. An upper with no bottom would then be placed on the last and glued to the midsole, thus forming a complete upper in the shape of the last. The completion of the shoe would be similar to the above-described sock lasting method starting with the application of the rand.
It should be understood by someone with ordinary skill in the art that a faceted outsole can be sewn, glued, or otherwise attached to the bottom of a shoe with a round-perimeter shoe upper. Sometimes, stiff shoes (as with heavy duty mountaineering shoes) are made with a welted construction method. In the welted construction method, the outsole shape is not dependent upon the last shape. Using this method, an outsole having facets according to the invention would be sewn or attached to an upper of different curvature, such as a round-perimeter shoe upper. In an exemplary embodiment of this feature of the invention, the outsole would be constructed of material that is very stiff so that angles extending beyond the perimeter of the last would not flex upward when contacting edge formations. The method would be useful for plastic injection mountaineering boots for two reasons: 1.) It allows re-use of expensive round-lasted shoe upper molds; and 2.) the stiffness of a plastic injection boot allows a boot/outsole shape mismatch—that is, any shaped outsole can be attached to a stiff plastic boot.
Although the present invention has been described in certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the embodiments of the present invention described herein should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents rather than the foregoing description.
This is a U.S. National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/US02/14744, International Filing Date May 10, 2002, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. No. 60/290,308, filed May 10, 2001, Priority is claimed to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/290,308, entitled “Surface Contact Maximizing Shoe, Outsole and Rand”, filed on May 10, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated for all purposes herein in full by reference as if stated in full herein.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US02/14744 | 5/10/2002 | WO | 00 | 11/6/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO02/089624 | 11/14/2002 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040168349 A1 | Sep 2004 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60290308 | May 2001 | US |