Patent Application
20190116920
The present invention generally relates to shoes, and more particularly to a ventilative sole for shoes.
A conventional shoe usually includes a sole, a pad, and an upper that closely wrap around the foot. Except some ventilation holes, the shoe is basically airtight. Therefore, after wearing a period of time, a strong and unpleasant smell would be developed. The closed shoe also causes skin diseases such as athlete's foot and has adversary effect to personal hygiene. Therefore there are shoes that provide improved ventilation by an air chamber, but their effect is avoiding odor is still less satisfactory. On the other hand, the addition of the air chamber structure causes the walking to be less steady.
Therefore, a major objective of the present invention is provide a ventilative sole structure where air flow is provided in a shoe's sole so as to avoid odor and a steadier walking may be achieved at the same time.
The ventilative sole structure includes a sole, a first one-way valve, and a second one-way valve. The sole's heel portion includes a hollow chamber inside and a bottom piece beneath the chamber. The first one-way valve is configured on a circumferential wall of the chamber. The second one-way valve is configured between a tread portion of the sole and the chamber. When a user wears a shoe with the ventilative sole structure, air enters the chamber through the first one-way valve when the user raises his/her feet, and air is released from the chamber through the second one-way valve towards the tread portion when the user treads on the ground and compresses the chamber, thereby enhancing ventilation and removing odor of the shoe.
The sole's heel portion further includes a bottom piece on a bottom side of the heel portion. The bottom piece has a front vertical side, a back vertical side, and a lateral bottom side whose two ends connecting the front and back vertical sides, respectively. The front vertical side's height is smaller than the back vertical side's height. The corners connecting the front and back vertical sides to the lateral bottom side are rounded, respectively. The rounded corners allow a greater contact area with the ground, thereby achieving a greater compression effect to the chamber and waling with the ventilative sole structure steadier. When a user wears a shoe with the ventilative sole structure, air enters the chamber through the first one-way valve when the user raises his/her feet, and air is released from the chamber through the second one-way valve towards the tread portion when the user treads on the ground and compresses the chamber, thereby enhancing ventilation and removing odor of the shoe.
Each of the first and second one-way valve comprises a base element, a positioning element, a blocking sheet, and a filter element. The base element has a sleeve section and a back section of a smaller diameter. The sleeve section's inner back wall has a plurality of protrusion. The tubular positioning element is plugged into the sleeve section. The positioning element has a back section for plugging into the sleeve section. Within the back section, there is a platform. The blocking sheet is placed between the platform and the protrusions. The tubular filter element is plugged into a front section of the positioning element. When air is drawn into the positioning element, the blocking sheet is supported by the protrusions, and air would flow out of the back section of the base element through a gap between the protrusions and the blocking sheet. The blocking sheet seals the platform to prevent air from flowing back out through the positioning element.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings, identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
As shown in
The first one-way valve 2 is configured on a circumferential wall of the chamber 13. The second one-way valve 3 is configured between the tread portion 11 and the heel portion 12. A partition wall 15 is provided between the chamber 13 and the tread portion 11, and the second one-way valve 3 is configured on the partition wall 15.
The bottom piece 14 has front and back vertical sides 141 and a lateral bottom side 142 connecting the vertical sides 141 at corners 143 and 144, respectively. The corners 143 and 144 are rounded with an appropriate curvature. Therefore, together with the bottom piece 14's lower-front-and-higher-back design, the ventilative sole structure provides a more reliable tread. The rounded corners 143 and 144 allow a greater contact area with the ground and thereby a greater compression to the chamber 13. The front vertical side 141's height A is smaller than the back vertical side 141's height B, and preferably their ratio is 3:5 or 4:6. For example, if the height A is 18 mm, the height B is 30 mm or, if the height A is 16 mm, the height B is 24 mm.
As described above, when a user wears a shoe with the ventilative sole structure, air enters the chamber 13 through the first one-way valve 2 when the user raises his/her feet, and air is released from the chamber 13 through the second one-way valve 3 towards the tread portion 11 when the user treads on the ground and compresses the chamber 13. The process of drawing air into chamber 13 via the first one-way vale 2 and expelling air towards the tread portion 11 via the second one-way valve 3 repeats itself as the user walks. The ventilatlive sole structure therefore functions as if it is breathable. The shoe is as such more comfortable to walk, and the odor of the shoe may be removed as well. The bottom piece 14's lower-front-and-higher-back design provides a more reliable tread. The rounded corners 143 and 144 allow a greater contact area with the ground and thereby a greater compression to the chamber 13.
As shown in
The tubular filter elements 23 and 33 are plugged into front sections of the positioning elements 22 and 32. Filters 231 and 331 are positioned at the filter elements 23 and 33's front ends.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As described above, the gist of the ventilative sole structure lies in the chamber at the heel portion and the one-way valves on the chamber's wall so that ventilative air flow is achieved as a user walks and odor is removed as well.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claims of the present invention.
