U.S. patent application number 12/693380 was filed with the patent office on 2010-08-26 for structure of shoe sole.
Invention is credited to FU-YUAN CHENG.
Application Number | 20100212186 12/693380 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42629638 |
Filed Date | 2010-08-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100212186 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
CHENG; FU-YUAN |
August 26, 2010 |
STRUCTURE OF SHOE SOLE
Abstract
A structure of shoe sole is provided, which is a custom-made
shoe sole that is formed according to a user's foot sole so as to
improve the effects of support and wrapping of the shoe sole. The
shoe sole includes an enclosure and a clay-like thermoplastic
material. The enclosure includes upper and lower cover layers that
are made of a material showing local stretchability and air
permeability. The thermoplastic material is received between the
upper and lower cover layers and is a thermoplastic mixture in the
form of soft ceramic. With the shoe sole placed in a shoe and the
shoe put on a user's foot, the thermoplastic material of the shoe
sole may get deformed inside the enclosure according to the contour
of the user's foot sole, making the shoe sole shaped to completely
match the foot sole of the user.
Inventors: |
CHENG; FU-YUAN; (Taiping
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LEONG C LEI
PMB # 1008, 1867 YGNACIO VALLEY ROAD
WALNUT CREEK
CA
94598
US
|
Family ID: |
42629638 |
Appl. No.: |
12/693380 |
Filed: |
January 25, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
36/28 ;
36/30A |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43B 17/003 20130101;
A43B 7/141 20130101; A43B 17/02 20130101; A43B 7/28 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
36/28 ;
36/30.A |
International
Class: |
A43B 13/18 20060101
A43B013/18; A43B 13/42 20060101 A43B013/42; A43B 13/12 20060101
A43B013/12 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 23, 2009 |
TW |
098202671 |
Claims
1. A shoe sole, comprising: an enclosure, which comprises a hollow
sack having a shape corresponding to an inside contour of a shoe,
the enclosure comprising an upper cover layer and a lower cover
layer that overlaps each other and are jointed to each other along
circumferential edges to form the sack; and a thermoplastic
material, which is received between the upper cover layer and the
lower cover layer of the enclosure, the thermoplastic material
comprising soft ceramic material that is shapeable in room
temperature and settable by being heated; wherein a top surface of
the shoe sole is shapeable to form a three-dimensional
configuration exactly corresponding to a wearer's foot sole, the
three-dimensional configuration comprising an arch section that
corresponds to the arch of the foot sole and a heel wrapping
section that corresponds to the heel of the foot sole, whereby the
shoe sole is formed to realize full support of and closely wrapping
around the foot sole.
2. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the
upper and lower cover layers are made of a material showing local
stretchability and air permeability.
3. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 2, wherein the
material of the upper and lower cover layers is selected from a
group consisting of cloth, non-woven fabric, and plastic film.
4. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the
circumferential edges of the upper and lower cover layers are
jointed by means of ultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
5. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 2, wherein the
circumferential edges of the upper and lower cover layers are
jointed by means of ultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
6. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 3, wherein the
circumferential edges of the upper and lower cover layers are
jointed by means of ultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
7. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the
thermoplastic material comprises a thermoplastic resin, which is
added with a plasticizer and an excipient/filler to form a
clay-like soft ceramic material that has the characteristics of
being shapeable in room temperature and settable by being
heated.
8. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the
thermoplastic material comprises a reactive resin, which is added
with a constant temperature crosslinker and an excipient/filler to
form a clay-like soft ceramic material that has the characteristics
of being shapeable in room temperature and settable by being heated
to a reaction temperature.
9. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the
thermoplastic material comprises an air-drying resin, which is
added with an excipient/filler and which, after being taken out of
a sealed bag, is put into a shoe to match a user's foot sole and
then removed from the shoe to get naturally dried and thus shaped
and set.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention generally relates to the field of shoe
sole, and more particularly to a structure of shoe sole that is
self-shapeable and heat-setting so that the shape of shoe sole can
be automatically set according to three-dimensional contour of a
user's foot sole to thereby enhance safety and comfortableness of
the user wearing shoes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0002] A shoe sole is a pad that is positioned inside a shoe for
supporting pressures induced on a foot sole and limiting the
movement of an ankle thereby providing a cushioning function to
reduce the potential risk of damage to the user's foot. The shoe
sole is put in direct contact with a foot sole and it is of
critical effect on the safety and comfortableness of a user wearing
the shoe. A conventional shoe sole is made in the form of a flat
pad like article, which only engages front and rear portions of the
foot sole and the heel, but provides no support to the arch that is
at a middle portion of the foot sole. This results in non-uniform
distribution of pressure. Further, since the user's foot is not
properly constrained, the heel is allowed for movement in a large
range. This often results in a twist of the ankle. Apparently, the
conventional shoe sole does not completely meet the needs of
general consumers.
[0003] To overcome the problem that the conventional shoe sole
cannot properly support the arch, a thermoplastic shoe sole is
available. The thermoplastic shoe sole is formed by trimming a
plate made of foamed plastics or thermoplastic urethane to provide
a sole blank, which is heated to the softening point (not the
melting point) and is then subjected to depressing and shaping by
using a foot mold. Afterwards, cooling is made to set the molded
blank to form a finished product of shoe sole. In this way, the
shoe sole is made an arch pad that can support the arch of a user's
foot sole.
[0004] The above mentioned thermoplastic material that is used to
form the shoe sole is not a flowable material and must be heated to
the softening point, which generates a high temperature condition.
This, plus the effect of restoration springing, makes it not
possible to mold and shape the shoe sole by directly using a user's
foot sole, and the shoe sole can only be properly formed after
being repeatedly depressed and molded several times by using the
foot mold that is prepared in advance. Further, during the process
of molding and shaping, although the shoe sole blank can be
deformed in a vertical direction within a three-dimensional space
to form an arch pad, yet deformation of the blank in a horizontal
lateral direction is not significant enough to provide an effect of
wrapping the arch at opposite sides thereof.
[0005] Further, as discussed above, the known technique uses a
fixed foot mold, which has a poor capability of shaping, so that it
needs several times of repeated molding steps before the final
shape can be obtained. Thus, it is not possible for the known
technique to provide a custom-made shoe sole, for each individual
user has different height of arch, and thus, no effective support
to the arch can be realized and the pressure distribution on the
foot sole cannot be made uniform. Further, it shows a poor effect
of positioning, which negatively influences the comfortableness of
user wearing a shoe. Further, since the conventional shoe sole does
not closely wrap around the foot sole of a wearer, the foot sole of
the wearer is allowed to shift in an undesired lager range inside
the shoe, making the positioning of foot sole even worse and
eventually resulting in deformation and hurt of foot sole due to
twisting. In addition, due to the poor effect of not properly
supporting the arch and not wrapping the heel, a wearer of a shoe
cannot get the foot relaxed when taking movement while wearing the
shoe. This leads to waste of body energy and a long term wear of
the shoe incorporating the conventional shoe sole will eventually
exhaust the wearer and cause tiredness and incapability of long
standing and walking.
[0006] The above discussion clearly shows a potential solution that
comfortableness and safety of wearing a shoe can be realized for a
wearer by forming a shoe sole in such a way that a shoe wearer's
foot sole is used as a mold in molding the shoe sole, whereby the
wearer's foot arch can be properly supported and the heel and
lateral sides of the wearer's foot sole can be closely wrapped by
the shoe sole so made.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Thus, the primary object of the present invention is to
provide a structure of shoe sole, wherein the shoe sole is
custom-made according to the contour of a user's foot sole, so that
excellent support and close wrapping around the foot sole can be
realized.
[0008] The solution, which the present invention adopts to achieve
the above object, is a structure of shoe sole that comprises:
[0009] an enclosure, which comprises a hollow sack having a shape
corresponding to an inside contour of a shoe, the enclosure
comprising an upper cover layer and a lower cover layer that
overlap each other and are jointed to each other along a
circumference to form the sack;
[0010] a thermoplastic material, which is received between the
upper cover layer and the lower cover layer of the enclosure, the
thermoplastic material comprising soft ceramic material that is
shapeable in room temperature and settable by being heated;
[0011] as such, a top surface of the shoe sole is shapeable to form
a three-dimensional configuration exactly corresponding to a
wearer's foot sole, the three-dimensional configuration comprising
an arch section that corresponds to the arch of the foot sole and a
heel wrapping section that corresponds to the heel of the foot
sole, whereby the shoe sole is formed to realize full support of
and closely wrapping around the foot sole.
[0012] With such a technical solution, the shoe sole made in
accordance with the present invention, when positioned in a shoe
that is worn by a user, allows the thermoplastic material inside
the enclosure of the shoe sole to deform and thus be shaped
according to the foot sole of the user. Further, since the
thermoplastic material is enclosed and thus constrained by the
enclosure, the adhesion of the thermoplastic material is properly
isolated and deformation of the shoe sole to a three-dimensional
configuration corresponding to the user's foot sole can be properly
achieved. Further, after heating and setting, the shoe sole can
effectively wrap around the heel of the user's foot sole and
properly support the arch, making the pressure of the foot sole
uniformly distributed on the foot sole and the moving space of the
ankle suitably constrained, so that safety and comfortableness are
significantly improved and added value is increased, leading to
upgraded capability of competition and increased economic
value.
[0013] 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.
[0014] 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.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a foot sole constructed
in accordance with the present invention.
[0016] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the shoe sole of the present
invention, illustrating spatial relationship among constituent
components thereof.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the shoe sole of the
present invention in a completely assembled form, illustrating
inside structure of the shoe sole.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the shoe sole of the
present invention after being deformed and thus shaped.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] 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.
[0020] The present invention provides a structure of custom-made
shoe sole and an embodiment of the shoe sole is illustrated in the
several drawings attached, in which direction related terms, such
as front and rear, left and right, top and bottom, upper and lower,
and horizontal and vertical that are referred to in the following
description are provided only for convenience of description and
not to any extent to limit the components of the shoe sole of the
present invention to any specific position or orientation in the
three-dimensional space. Any specific size shown or mentioned in
the drawings and the specification is subjected to proper change
according to the design and requirement of embodiments of the
present invention illustrated, without departing the scope of the
present invention as best defined in the appended claims.
[0021] The present invention provides a structure of custom-made
shoe sole. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shoe sole of the present
invention, generally designated at 1, comprises a sack-like
enclosure 10 and a thermoplastic material 20 contained in the
enclosure 10.
[0022] Details of a preferred embodiment of the present invention
are illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, wherein the enclosure 10 has a shape
corresponding to an inside contour a shoe and the enclosure 10 is
formed of an upper cover layer 11 and a lower cover layer 12 that
overlap each other and are jointed together along circumferential
edges thereof. The upper and lower cover layers 11, 12 are made of
a material showing local stretchability and air permeability, such
as cloth, non-woven fabric, and plastic film. The circumferential
edges of the upper and lower cover layers 11, 12 can be jointed
through ultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
[0023] The thermoplastic material 20 is received between the upper
and lower cover layers 11, 12 of the enclosure 10 with the
circumferential edges of the upper and lower cover layers 11, 12
jointed together in a sealed manner. The thermoplastic material 20
is a soft ceramic material that is shapeable in room temperature
and is settable by being heated. The thermoplastic material 20 may
comprise a major constituent component of thermoplastic resin,
reactive resin, and/or air-drying resin. For the thermoplastic
resin, of which examples include ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA),
thermoplastic elastomer, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plasticizer (such as a softener,
including for example di-isononyl phthalate (DINP),
di-octylphthalate (DOP), and wax) and an excipient/filler (such as
calcium carbonate and gaseous silicon dioxide) that are added and
mixed together as a clay-like soft ceramic material, which has the
characteristics of being shapeable in room temperature and settable
by being heated. For reactive resin, of which examples include hot
air vulcanization (HAV) silicone rubber, rubber, polyurethane,
epoxy resin, a constant temperature crosslinker and an
excipient/filler (such as calcium carbonate and gaseous silicon
dioxide)are added and mixed to form a clay-like soft ceramic
material, which has the characteristics of being shapeable in room
temperature and settable by being heated to a reaction temperature.
For air-drying resin, of which examples include polyvinyl acetate
(PVAC), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE), an
excipient/filler (such as calcium carbonate and gaseous silicon
dioxide) is and it is processed by being taken out of a sealed bag
and put into a shoe to match a user's foot sole and being then
removed from the shoe to get naturally dried and thus shaped and
set.
[0024] As such, a custom-made shoe sole 1 that is formed according
to the foot sole of a user is provided.
[0025] As to practical applications of the present invention,
reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 4. The shoe sole 1, which is
not shaped and set, is positioned in a shoe and the shoe is then
put on a foot of a user. Afterwards, the user may stand and walk in
a normal way and then the shoe is taken off and the shoe sole 1 is
removed from the shoe. Due to the force applied by the user walking
and standing, a top surface of the shoe sole 1 is shaped to form a
three-dimensional configuration 30 exactly corresponding to the
contour of the user's foot sole. The three-dimensional
configuration 30 comprises an arch section 31 that corresponds to
the arch of the foot sole and a heel wrapping section 35 that
corresponds to the heel of the foot sole. The shoe sole is then
subjected to heating or natural drying to get the shape set. When
the user wears the shoe, the foot sole of the user completely
matches and is in tight and complete engagement with the
three-dimensional configuration 30 of the shoe sole 1 so that the
foot sole is provided with complete support and wrapping.
[0026] The shoe sole 1 of the present invention shows at least the
following advantages and values:
[0027] (1) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention can be kept in
a soft ceramic like condition that is shapeable in room temperature
and can be set after properly shaped. Thus, a user's foot sole can
be used as a mold to shape a custom-made shoe sole 1 that
completely matches the contour of the foot sole and thus provides
effective support to the foot sole and makes the foot sole pressure
uniformly distributed on the whole shoe sole 1 and is further
advantageous in enhanced foot sole positioning capability that
improves the comfortableness of wearing the shoe to do
activity.
[0028] (2) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention can be shaped
to match the three-dimensional configuration 30 of the soles of
various users, so as to provide an effect of wrapping that limits
the range of movement of the user's ankle inside a shoe and
improves the foot sole positioning capability, whereby deformation
and hurt of foot caused by twisting can be avoided and safety of
wearing shoe to do activity can be improved.
[0029] (3) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention provides
sufficient support to the arch of a user's foot sole and wraps
around the heel of the foot sole so that a user, when wearing a
shoe that incorporates the shoe sole to do activity, can totally
relax without causing waste consumption of body energy and this
helps improving the problems of tiredness and incapability of
properly standing and walking for long term wearing of the
shoe.
[0030] It will be understood that each of the elements described
above, or two or more together may also find a useful application
in other types of methods differing from the type described
above.
[0031] 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 spirit of the present invention.
* * * * *