U.S. patent application number 11/255319 was filed with the patent office on 2007-04-26 for breathing shoe.
Invention is credited to Chih-Yuan Liao, Ming-Chuan Liao, Ying-Fang Liao.
Application Number | 20070089319 11/255319 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37983987 |
Filed Date | 2007-04-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070089319 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Liao; Chih-Yuan ; et
al. |
April 26, 2007 |
Breathing shoe
Abstract
A breathing shoe is disclosed to include an air pumping
mechanism formed of an air bladder and mounted in the top wall of
the outsole for pumping outside cooling air into a front part
inside the shoe body to force foul air out of the shoe body through
air holes in the front upper part of the shoe body when the user is
walking or running.
Inventors: |
Liao; Chih-Yuan; (Fongyuan
City, TW) ; Liao; Ying-Fang; (Fongyuan City, TW)
; Liao; Ming-Chuan; (Fongyuan City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHARLES E. BAXLEY, ESQ.
90 JOHN STREET
THIRD FLOOR
NEW YORK
NY
10038
US
|
Family ID: |
37983987 |
Appl. No.: |
11/255319 |
Filed: |
October 20, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
36/3R ; 36/3A;
36/3B |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43B 7/081 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
036/003.00R ;
036/003.00A; 036/003.00B |
International
Class: |
A43B 7/06 20060101
A43B007/06 |
Claims
1. A breathing shoe comprising: a shoe body, said shoe body having
a plurality of air holes in a vamp thereof; an outsole fastened to
a bottom side of said shoe body, said outsole having a top wall and
an air inlet; and an air pumping mechanism mounted in the top wall
of said outsole, said air pumping mechanism comprising an air
bladder repeatedly compressible, an air inlet unit connected to
said air inlet of said outsole for guiding in cooling air from the
outside of said outsole into the inside of said air bladder when
said air bladder is not compressed, and an air outlet unit for
guiding air out of said air bladder into the inside of said shoe
body when said air bladder is compressed.
2. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein said outsole
has a recessed chamber in said top wall; said air bladder of said
air pumping mechanism is mounted in said recessed chamber and
partially protruding over the top wall of said outsole.
3. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 2, wherein said recessed
chamber is formed in the top wall of said outsole corresponding to
the heel.
4. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 3, wherein said air inlet
of said outsole is formed in a rear side of said outsole.
5. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air
bladder comprises a plurality of air cells joined to one another on
the inside, and a plurality of inside air holes respectively formed
in said air cells for air communication between said air.
6. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at
least one air discharging pipe respectively mounted in said shoe
body and respectively connected to said air outlet unit of said air
pumping mechanism for guiding air from said air bladder into a
front part inside said shoe body.
7. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 6, wherein said at least
one air discharging pipe each have a front end embedded in said
shoe body and a plurality of air jet nozzles spaced around the
periphery of said front end for guiding air out of the respective
air discharging pipe into a front part inside said shoe body.
8. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 6, further comprising at
least one air delivery pipe mounted inside said outsole and
respectively connected between said at least one air discharging
pipe and said air outlet unit of said air pumping mechanism.
9. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 8, wherein said at least
one air delivery pipe is mounted in the top wall of said outsole
and extending along the border area of said outsole.
10. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 9, wherein said outsole
has at least one pipe groove formed in said top wall and extending
along the border area thereof for accommodating said at least one
air delivery pipe.
11. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 6, wherein said vamp of
said shoe body comprises an outer covering layer and an inner
lining layer; said at least one air discharging pipe is
respectively set in between said outer covering layer and said
inner lining layer of said vamp.
12. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 6, wherein said at least
one air discharging pipe each has a rear end extending out of a
bottom side of said shoe body at a distance and connected to said
air outlet unit of said air pumping mechanism.
13. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air
inlet unit of said air pumping mechanism comprises an one-way air
valve connected to said air inlet of said outsole for guiding in
outside cooling air into said air bladder.
14. The breathing shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air
outlet unit of said air pumping mechanism comprises at least one
one-way air valve for guiding air out of said air bladder into the
inside of said shoe body.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates shoes and more particularly,
to a breathing shoe, which breathes when pressed by the user's
foot.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] When putting a pair of shoes on the feet of the legs, the
feet may feel sweltering due to poor ventilation, and may soon
start to sweat and to produce a bad smell. One may be embarrassed
when taking off the shoes from the feet or when changing the shoes
before others if the feet give off a bad smell. Further, keeping
the feet in a hot and wet environment for long may cause the skin
of the feet to suffer from a skin disease or to be infected with
bacteria. Dermatitis may frequently occur in the toes, the gap
between toes and the sole.
[0005] The aforesaid problems occur due to poor ventilation of the
shoes. In order to eliminate these problems, breathing shoes are
developed. Commercial breathing shoes use breathing materials for
the insole or the vamp, or making air vents on the vamp or the
outsole. However, these conventional breathing shoes do not
function as well as expected because they cannot induce ventilation
when walking.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention has been accomplished under the
circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present
invention to provide a breathing shoe, which automatically pumps
outside cooling air into a front part inside the shoe body and to
simultaneously force foul air out of the shoe when the user is
walking or running, thereby keeping the user's toes dry and
cool.
[0007] To achieve this and other objects of the present invention,
the breathing shoe comprises a shoe body, which has a plurality of
air holes in the vamp thereof, an outsole, which is fastened to the
bottom side of the shoe body and has an air inlet at the rear side,
and an air pumping mechanism, which comprises a repeatedly
compressible air bladder mounted in the top wall of the outsole
corresponding to the heel, an air inlet unit connected to the air
inlet of the outsole for guiding in cooling air from the outside of
the outsole into the inside of the air bladder when the air bladder
is not compressed, and an air outlet unit for guiding air out of
the air bladder into a front part inside the shoe body when the air
bladder is compressed.
[0008] When the user is walking or running, the air bladder is
alternatively compressed and released to pump outside cooling air
into the inside of the upper shoe and to simultaneously force
inside foul air out of the shoe body through the air holes in the
vamp of the shoe body.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a breathing shoe according to
the present invention.
[0010] FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but showing the air pumping
mechanism installed in the outsole.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along
line 3-3 of FIG. 1.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along
line 4-4 of FIG. 3.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a top plain view of the assembly of the outsole
and the air pumping mechanism according to the present
invention.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the present invention,
showing the action of the air pumping mechanism upon a downward
pressure from the user's foot.
[0015] FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing the action of
the air pumping mechanism upon a downward pressure from the user's
foot of FIG. 6.
[0016] FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of the present invention,
showing the shoe lifted from the ground and the air bladder of the
air pumping mechanism inflated.
[0017] FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing the action of
the air pumping mechanism after disappearance of the downward
pressure from the user's foot of FIG. 8.
[0018] FIG. 10 is a sectional view in an enlarged scale taken along
line 10-10 of FIG. 8.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, a breathing shoe in
accordance with the present invention is shown comprising an
outsole 10, a shoe body 30 fixedly fastened to the periphery of the
outsole 10 at the top, an air pumping mechanism 20 mounted in the
outsole 10, and at least one, for example, two air discharging
pipes 31 embedded in the outsole 10 and connected to the air
pumping mechanism 20.
[0020] The air pumping mechanism 20 comprises a repeatedly
compressible air bladder 21, an air inlet unit 221 disposed at one
side of the air bladder 21, an air outlet unit 231 disposed at an
opposite side of the air bladder 21, and at least one, for example,
two air delivery pipes 24 embedded in the outsole 10. The air inlet
unit 221 comprises a one-way air valve 22 for guiding air into the
air bladder 21. The air outlet unit 231 comprises at least one, for
example, two one-way air valves 23 for guiding air out of the air
bladder 21. The two air delivery pipes 24 are respectively
connected between the one-way air valves 23 of the air outlet unit
231 and the air discharging pipes 31 for guiding air out of the air
bladder 21 into the inside of the inside of the shoe body 30.
[0021] The outsole 10 has a recessed chamber 12 formed in the top
wall 11 at the area corresponding to the heel, an air inlet 13
backwardly extending from the recessed chamber 12 to the outside,
and two pipe grooves 14 formed on the top wall 11 at two opposite
lateral sides and respectively forwardly extending from the
recessed chamber 12 for accommodating the air delivery pipes 24.
The air bladder 21 is mounted in the recessed chamber 12 with the
one-way air valve 22 connected to the air inlet 13 of the outsole
10 and the one-way air valves 23 respectively connected to the air
delivery pipes 24 that are respectively set in the two pipe grooves
14 inside the outsole 10. When the air bladder 21 receives no
pressure from the user's foot, the air bladder 21 partially
protrudes over the top wall 11 of the outsole 10.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 10, the front side (vamp) of the shoe body
30 is comprised of an outer covering layer 32 and an inner lining
layer 33. The outer covering layer 32 and the inner lining layer 33
are bonded together and stitched to an insole 40, and then bonded
with the insole 40 to the outsole 10. The outer covering layer 32
has a plurality of air holes 34. The inner lining layer 33 is made
of a breathing fabric material. The air discharging pipes 31 are
respectively set in between the outer covering layer 32 and the
inner lining layer 33 at two opposite lateral sides. The
arrangement of the air delivery pipes 24 and the air discharging
pipes 31 must be kept away from direct pressure of the user's foot.
The air discharging pipes 31 each have one end extending out of the
bottom side (see FIG. 1) and respectively connected to the air
delivery pipes 24, and a plurality of air jet nozzles 311 spaced
around the periphery near the front end for guiding air from the
air delivery pipes 24 into the inside of the shoe body 30.
[0023] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the air bladder 21 comprises an
elastic top cover shell 212, an elastic bottom cover shell 213
peripherally sealed to the periphery of the elastic top cover shell
212, and a plurality of air cells 211 jointed to one another and
set in between the elastic top cover shell 212 and the elastic
bottom cover shell 213. The air cells 211 have air holes 214 for
air communication of one air cell 211 with another. The one-way air
valves 22 and 23 are simultaneously affixed to the air bladder 21
when sealed the elastic top cover shell 212 and the elastic bottom
cover shell 213. By means of the elastic cover shells 212 and 213
and the air cells 211, the air bladder 21 is continuously
compressible.
[0024] Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, when the foot gives a downward
pressure to the air bladder 21 of the air pumping mechanism 20
during walking (see the arrowhead sign B in FIG. 7), the air
bladder 21 is compressed to force air out of the air bladder 21
through the one-way air valves 23 into the air delivery pipes 24
and then the air discharging pipes 31, enabling the compressed air
to pass out of the air jet nozzles 311 of the air discharging pipes
31 into the inside space 35of the shoe body 30 (see FIG. 10) and to
further force a part of inside air out of the shoe body 30 into the
outside open filed through the air holes 34.
[0025] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, when the user lifts the shoe
from the ground, the aforesaid downward pressure is disappeared,
and the air bladder 21 immediately returns to the former shape (see
arrowhead signs C in FIG. 9) to suck in outside fresh air through
the air inlet 13 and the one-way air valve 22.
[0026] Therefore, when the user is walking, the air bladder 21 is
alternatively compressed and released to intermittently pump
outside fresh air into the inside of the shoe body 30 and to
simultaneously force inside hot and wet air out of the shoe body 30
through the air holes 34, providing a good ventilation in the shoe
body 30 and lowering the temperature and humility in the shoe body
30 around the toes of the user's foot.
[0027] A prototype of breathing shoe has been constructed with the
features of FIGS. 1.about.10. The breathing shoe functions smoothly
to provide all of the features discussed earlier.
[0028] Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been
described in detail for purposes of illustration, various
modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from
the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention
is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
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