Patent Application
20190313730
The present invention relates to a ventilated article of footwear and more particularly wherein the ventilation is effected by a disconnectable footwear portion which is partly detachably connected to the outer contour portion of the sole of the article of footwear and reconnectable thereto.
It is known to ventilate the foot or toe portion of a person while wearing a shoe or boot. Several patents have been granted for ventilated shoes and most of these relate to ventilation through the sole using pumps and conduits or through holes to release fresh air against a wearers foot. Such sole aeration systems comprise the construction of a hollow sole to form a cavity in which a pump and conduits are located and the pump being activated by the heel of the wearer person when walking or running. The pump has an air intake and a pump nozzle connected to distribution channels which pumps fresh air through the insole and against the wearer's foot. Examples of such are found constructions are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,387,276 and 8,919,011 as well has US Patent Publication 2008/0229623. Other forms of ventilated shoes or boots are known wherein the upper of the shoe has perforations or breathable fabrics to admit fresh air or release air.
Disadvantages of such known designs is that they are expensive to fabricate and often malfunction due to their design with the system being formed inside the sole of the shoe. These systems are also constantly subjected to impact by walking and running and not to mention the weight of the wearer person acting on a small pump. Still further, the ventilated system is constantly in operation and during cold weather period it is not always desirable to ventilate the fee with cold airt. It would be desirable to construct a ventilated shoe or boot with a non-perforated upper and which is simple in construction and which can be easily actuated and de-actuated by the wearer person when he/she feel a need to ventilate its feet.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a ventilated article of footwear which substantially obviates the above known disadvantages of the prior art and which provides the desirable need.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an article of footwear having disconnectable footwear portions secured by one or more connectors which are easily actuable to disconnect the diconnectable footwear portions to ventilate the foot or toes or heel of a wearer person and to reconnect same.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an article of footwear having disconnectable footwear portions secured to the outer contour portion of the sole of the article of footwear and wherein the one or more connectors are secured to the exterior surface of the sole along the side edge of the shoe or boot upper and easily accessible to the wearer person.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a ventilated article of footwear having a disconnectable footwear portion partly detachably connected to the sole outer contour portion of the article of footwear. A connector is actionable to disconnect and reconnect the disconnectable footwear portion to the sole outer contour portion whereby to permit the entrance of air between the sole outer contour portion and a lower edge of the disconnectable footwear portion to ventilate at least a portion of a users foot.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrates examples thereof.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
With reference now to
The slide mechanism 30 is comprised of a slide lever 31 having a slide bar portion 32 held captive under an inverted U-shaped bracket 33 secured by fasteners 34 to the top surface 14″ of the outer contour portion 14′ of the sole. One end of the slide bar as a finger engaging upturned portion 35 to be gripped between the fingers of a user person to impart sliding motion to the slide bar. The other end of the slide bar 32 also has an upturned portion to prevent disconnection of the slide mechanism by providing an abutment end 36 for abutment against the bracket 33 and clear of the slot 26 when the slide bar is retracted to release the tongue projection 27 of the bracket 28, as shown in
With reference again to
With reference now to
The slide locking mechanism 30′ is comprised of a slide member 46 formed with a clamping jaw 47 extending vertically upwards from its sliding support base 48. The sliding support base 48 is held in sliding fit in an attachment plate 49 having upturned opposed side edges 50 under which opposed side edges of the sliding support base 48 are held slidingly captive. The attachment plate 49 has a flat bottom wall 51 formed with holes 52 for securement thereof to the bottom wall 53 of the cavity 45 by fasteners 54 or other suitable means such as glue, etc. The clamping jaw 47 has a clamp head 55 held at an elevated position above the cavity 45 whereby a slightly inwardly slopped clamping edge 56 thereof is aligned with the top surface of the tongue projection 60 of the engageable bracket 28′ to progressively engage the clamping surface 64 as it is moved thereover to clamp the tongue projection 60 firmly across the cavity 53 and secure the seal forming edge 16 of the diconnectable footwear portion in the channel 17 of the sole 14. The clamping jaw 47 has a finger engaging projection 56 for ease of displacement of the clamping jaw 47 to its engaged position, as shown in
It within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the examples described herein provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims. It is foreseen, for example, that the article of footwear may be an entirely molded article of footwear modified to incorporate the connecting mechanisms described herein. Also, the disconnectable parts of the article of footwear may be formed as molded parts with a bottom edge seal formation. The article of footwear may be of different types such as athletic shoes, hiking boots, and many other types where foot ventilation is desirable. Other modifications of the connectors described herein are also contemplatable.
