Custom moldable personal insert

Abstract

A custom moldable personal insert composed of a thin, transparent, flexible, elastic, and tear resistant pouch embodiment, filled with a homogeneous radiation curable polymer, flow-able in its pre-cured state, that when placed in between ones body and an apparatus in use can readily and in detail, conform and fill between the two, and subsequently be quickly and easily cured by exposure to radiation. The then post cured insert provides greatly improved personal comfort and fitment when using the aforementioned apparatus.

Description

[0001] This patent application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 61/135,477, filed on Jul. 21, 2008

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an apparatus used to increase or improve personal comfort and safety, and decrease fatigue and other problematic areas of personal bodily concern, while affording the user a very effective, fast and inexpensive way to make various areas of the personal body interface better with articles of clothing, protective wear, equipment, or other articles that one may come into contact with.

[0004] It is a common practice and art of various types to make apparatuses in order to achieve a custom fitment of some article to ones personal bodily shape. These apparatuses are absolutely necessary in some cases and in others just desired because of the greatly improved personal comfort. A good example is custom insoles for shoes constructed typically by a podiatrist in order to properly support ones foot thereby treating symptoms such as foot, ankle, knee, pelvic and spinal abnormalities. There are several known methods of creating a custom molded shoe insert, some of which include, taking a mold or pattern of the foot, making a custom mold or tool based off of that pattern, making the insert with a separated process, then delivering the insert to the patient. The most recent and improved method found by the inventor relative to footwear, is disclosed in the Green U.S. Pat. No. 7,257,907 which teaches an insole, specific to footwear, containing a two part reactive polymer, which must be forcefully mixed together, with the person standing in the shoe, then allowed time to cure by way of chemical reaction. This method typically only allows for a portion of the insole to be conformed to the foot due to the complicated nature of the two part polymer system within the insole. Other methods of achieving this are similar but are built into the shoe, with the obvious and major disadvantage of this method is the limitation of shoes available as the insole is only built into the shoe and certainly the very high cost. Still other methods and apparatuses have been studied including Dieckhaus U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,158 which teaching a thermosetting material and an oven cure, Mardix U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,546 teaching a de-compressible foam pre-impregnated with a reactive chemical mixture, and Daley U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,708 teaching a layered again thermo-formable material and method. All disclosed and current methods used to achieve only specifically a custom insole for a shoe, are prohibitive to the average person by various reasons including cost, complexity of method, and effectiveness, and are typically only used within the professional field. Additionally, they may take a long time to prepare the footwear. None provide the advantages of the present invention including the ability to be quickly and easily cured by exposure to light or other means of radiation. Other examples of customized personal inserts may include helmets, bust supports, pads, safety equipment, seats, prosthetics, and the like of any other article that can benefit from being custom fitted to a person's body.

[0005] The present invention enables the average lay person to create a customized personal insert, on their own, expending very little time and money.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The subject apparatus is an embodiment composed of a transparent, thin, tear resistant, and flexible pouch, sealed at its edge and shaped relative to what the insert is for (i.e. an insole for a shoe is shaped like an ordinary shoe insole) typically with a textured layer on top and a smooth bottom side, and filled with an uncured radiation or light cured polymer (i.e. Ultra-Violet radiation) that may or may not be homogeneously mixed in and around a pre-cured polymer or polymers of like cured consistency, and or other fillers of various composition. The insert in its preferred embodiment, typically behaves like a thick paste or gel in the pre-cured state and like a soft rubber in the post cured state. The textured top or bottom layer of the insert allows the insert to more readily and accurately conform to the user's unique bodily shape and the shape of the object that ones body may come into contact with. In order to use the insert, one removes the insert pouch from a light resistant package avoiding direct light curing sources such as direct sunlight, inserts the pre-cured insert pouch in between the body and the article in use, compresses the insert in-between the body and the article using light to moderate pressure which urges the insert into detailed conformance with both surfaces. The user then carefully removes the article from between the body and article, taking care not to distort the detailed shape of the insert. Finally, the user exposes the insert to a known radiation curing source, Ultra-violet light preferably as it is available from direct sunlight, typically leaving the insert in or on the article that the insert is-being fashioned to. The same method closely applies to the insert regardless of what article of bodily wear the user is adapting and customizing the insert to be used with.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1. shows a simple isometric view of a typical embodiment of a personal insert.

[0008] FIG. 2. shows an enlarged view of a typical surface texture of the pouch.

[0009] FIG. 3. shows a cutaway view of the pouch and detail of the resin and other fillers that the pouch is filled with.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0010] In the preferred embodiment, the personal insert is in a very simple sealed pouch form 1 and is generally shaped, formed or fashioned as to the desired use of the insert, a shoe insole is the example represented throughout the drawings herein. It should be transparently understood that the invention can apply to a plethora of different embodiments for different applications where ones unique bodily shape could benefit from a personal insert being used to cause detailed conformity between the body and an object that ones body may come into contact with thereby adding increased comfort and support.

[0011] A surface texture 2 may or may not be used in the top and or bottom surfaces of the personal insert in order to more accurately and readily conform in detail to the intricacies of ones unique bodily shape and the shape of the object that ones body may come in contact with when the personal insert is put under pressure between the two in order to urge it into custom conformance before curing. In the preferred embodiment, the polymer resin and or fillers contained within the pouch, allow the insert to hold a custom shape indefinitely by way of high viscosity and surface tension after the insert is urged into conformance with the desired custom shape.

[0012] The flexible pouch embodiment top 3 and bottom 4 surfaces are a transparent, thin, elastic, flexible, tear resistant material of a polymer makeup. This can be of a wide variety of polymers including latex in the preferred embodiment. The pouch is transparent in order to pass radiation in the visible electromagnetic spectrum preferably ultra-violet light in the preferred embodiment. This pouch is filled during manufacture with a homogeneous polymer resin typically by way of injection, and resealing the pouch after injection.

[0013] A polymer resin 5 may be of a variety of different polymers including polyurethane in the preferred embodiment. This resin has liquid properties in order to allow the flexible embodiment, when conformed to the desired custom shape, to be filled by the flow-able polymer in the appropriate areas needed to maximize fit and comfort. The resin, once flowed into detailed shape inside the flexible embodiment, is then cured by exposure to a radiation curing source, typically of the ultra-violet range in the preferred embodiment. After curing, the polymer in its final state is a range from soft rubber to a high compressive strength rigid material in consistency. The resin in its pre-cured state is non-toxic, non-flammable, and water soluble in the preferred embodiment.

[0014] A filler media 6 is used to adjust the pre and or post cured consistency and physical properties of the homogenous resin and filler that are contained within the flexible pouch embodiment. These fillers can be of a great variety of materials that are transparent to the radiation curing source including but not limited to pre-cured polymers, hollow polymer and or glass spheres, fibers of polymer or glass, foam, solid polymer or glass beads, and any usable filler of the like, that is chemically compatible with the pre-cured polymer resin.

[0015] Although the apparatus and its method of use have been described above by reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood that modifications and variations for other fields of use of the apparatus and methods could be made with departing from the scope of protection provided by the following claims.

Claims

1. A custom moldable personal insert generally and or pre-shaped and fashioned as to agree with ones body and a typical personal wear article or other article that ones body may come into contact with comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment containing both a homogeneous mixture of pre-cured polymer resin that may be cured upon exposure to a source of radiation, that may or may not be dispersed in and around various pre-cured polymers of like or unlike ultimate consistency and various fillers of other type and consistency.

2. The insert of claim 1, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that is transparent.

3. The insert of claim 1, further comprising: A flexible pouch embodiment that ranges from very flexible and stretchable to relatively stiff.

4. The insert of claim 1, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that is thin, elastic, and tear resistant.

5. The insert of claim 1, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that has holes through the pouch in order to allow ventilation or air to pass through the embodiment.

6. The insert of claim 1, further comprising: a flexible pouch that has a top and or bottom surface texture that allows further and improved detailed conformance to ones unique body shape and or the unique shape of the article that one may come into contact with.

7. A custom moldable personal insert generally and or pre-shaped and fashioned as to be fitted between ones body and a typical article or apparatus that ones body may come into contact with comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment containing both a homogeneous mixture of pre-cured polymer resin that may be non-toxic, non-flammable, and water soluble, and can be cured upon exposure to a source of radiation, that may or may not be dispersed in and around various pre-cured polymers of like or unlike ultimate consistency and various fillers of other type and consistency.

8. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that is transparent.

9. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: A flexible pouch embodiment that ranges from very flexible and stretchable to relatively stiff.

10. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that is thin, elastic, and tear resistant.

11. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: a flexible pouch embodiment that has holes through the pouch in order to allow ventilation or air to pass through the embodiment.

12. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: a flexible pouch that has a top and or bottom surface texture that allows further and improved detailed conformance to ones unique body shape and or the unique shape of the article that one may come into contact with.

13. The insert of claim 7, further comprising: a flexible pouch that has a means of attachment to another apparatus and or a means such as a handle fixedly attached to the pouch in order to facilitate attaching the pouch to an apparatus and or carrying the pouch.

14. A custom moldable personal insert generally and or pre-shaped and fashioned as to be fitted between ones body and a typical article or apparatus that ones body may come into contact with comprising: a flexible embodiment having a plurality of pouches containing both a homogeneous mixture of pre-cured polymer resin that may be non-toxic, non-flammable, and water soluble, and can be cured upon exposure to a source of radiation, that may or may not be dispersed in and around various pre-cured polymers of like or unlike ultimate consistency and various fillers of other type and consistency.

15. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: a flexible embodiment with a plurality of pouches that is transparent.

16. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: A flexible pouch embodiment that ranges from very flexible and stretchable to relatively stiff.

17. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: a flexible embodiment with a plurality of pouches that is thin, elastic, and tear resistant.

18. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: a flexible embodiment with a plurality of pouches that has holes through the embodiment and or pouches in order to allow ventilation or air to pass through the embodiment and or pouches.

19. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: a flexible embodiment with a plurality of pouches that has a top and or bottom surface texture that allows further and improved detailed conformance to ones unique body shape and or the unique shape of the article that one may come into contact with.

20. The insert of claim 14, further comprising: a flexible embodiment with a plurality of pouches that has a means of attachment to another apparatus and or a means such as a handle fixedly attached to the pouch in order to facilitate attaching the pouch to an apparatus and or carrying the pouch.