Transversely Adjustable Boot

Abstract

In an athletic boot comprising a base portion, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, and a toe portion, said base portion including an insole and an outer sole, said side portions including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter and being joined at the rear of the boot to each other, at the front of the boot to said toe portion, and at the base of said boot to said base portion, and said toe portion being joined to the base of said boot, the improvement in which the lateral side portion is connected to a part of said base portion which is separate from the part of said base portion to which said medial side portion is attached whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be adjusted transversely to provide for a more accurate fit to the foot of the wearer. The toe portion is preferably removably secured to the side and base portions, so that the full toe vamp can be placed inside the side portions and the insole toe piece abutted against the remainder of the insole and secured in this position for fitting or refitting to the wearer's foot. The counter is constructed so as to allow it to pass around a portion of the protruding ankle bones, or if desired completely surround the ankle bone to provide a firmer fit to the sides of the foot.

Parent Case Text

This is a continuation, application Ser. No. 94,927, filed December 3, 1970, and now abandoned.

Description

The present invention relates to athletic boots such as ski boots, football boots, and skate boots. In particular, the present invention relates to an athletic boot which is manufactured in partially assembled kit form and which during its final closure may be adjusted transversely to the foot of the wearer and preferably also longitudinally to the foot of the wearer, whereby to provide for a good comfortable fit on the foot of the wearer.

Normal walking boots and shoes are usually only subjected to stress in a direction longitudinally thereof when in use, with very little stress in the direction transversely thereof and as such they are of relatively light construction. However, with athletic boots used in such sports as skating, skiing and football, tremendous pressures are applied transversely of the boot and in particular to the high top shoe quarters requiring such boots to give substantial support to the foot, ankle and leg of the wearer during use which support is seldom required in a walking boot or shoe. Thus, with athletic boots for adults and children, it is essential that the athletic boot provides a good fit both transversely and longitudinally thereof to provide such support. At the present time, when an adult selects a pair of athletic boot, such as skate boots, he normally selects a pair that meets his requirements as to length and thus for example if he requires a size 7, he will always require a size 7 since the length of his foot remains substantially constant. However, for a particular length of an adult's foot, there are an infinite number of widths and whilst the trade has a standard number of different fittings for a particular size of boot, it is impossible for the boot manufacturer to economically make a range of fittings to accommodate all possible sizes and in particular adults with malformed feet or unusually proportioned feet. Therefore, it is normal for the adult to select a boot fitting in the size which is the most comfortable. As such, the boot does not necessarily have an optimum fit on the foot of the wearer. With children's athletic boots the problem is more difficult, for in addition to the child's foot growing transversely it also grows longitudinally and for a growing child it is normal for the parents to buy a pair of boots which are one or two sizes too big for the child with the result that the child generally has an ill-fitting athletic boot.

The present invention provides an adjustable athletic boot, which is normally supplied in partially assembled form and which, when ready for completion of assembly, is transversely adjustable and preferably also longitudinally adjustable to allow for the growing foot of the child, thus providing a good fit on the foot of the wearer independently of the size and shape of the wearer's foot including malformities such as hammertoes, bunions, narrowing insteps and heavy heels. Thus, while heretofore shoes have been proposed which have provision for lengthening thereof such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,389,481, 2,207,306, 2,009,684, 2,112,052, 2,497,175, 2,523,449 and 2,734,284 as well as Canadian Pat. 714,751, there has been no proposal or attempt to provide an athletic boot which has the capability of being transversely adjusted during assembly thereof so as to provide a good fit to the foot of the wearer irrespective of the width and shape of the foot without the presence of auxiliary members which do not normally form part of the boot, which boot may be readily disassembled and reassembled when desired to provide for an increase in width and preferably of length of the wearer's foot.

According to the present invention therefore there is provided in an athletic boot comprising a base portion, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, and a toe portion, said base portion including an insole and an outer sole, said side portions including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter portion and being joined at the rear of the boot to each other, at the front of the boot to said toe portion and at the base of said boot to said base portion and said toe portion being joined to the base portion of said boot, the improvement in which the lateral side portion is attached to a part of said base portion which is separate from the part of said boot to which said medial side portion is attached, whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be adjusted transversely with respect to each other for a more accurate fit of the boot to the foot of the wearer.

The present invention also provides a kit in partially assembled form for forming such a transversely adjustable athletic boot comprising an insole and an outer sole for forming the base portion of said boot, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, said side portions having means at the rear thereof for being joined together to form the heel of said boot and a toe portion adapted to be attached to the front of said base portion and to said side portion, each side portion including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter portion and being attached to a separate part of one of said insole and outer sole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be moved relative to each other to provide for transverse adjustment of the boot to fit the foot of the wearer.

It is a critical feature of the present invention that the two side portions of the boot are attached to separate and distinct portions of the base portion so that on assembly of the boot, they may be moved relative to each other. Thus, in one particular embodiment of the present invention, one of the side portions is attached to the insole and the other is attached to the outer sole. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the insole is longitudinally split and each of said side portions is connected to one part of the insole. Thus on assembly of the boot, the side portions, insole and outer sole are assembled to the wearer's foot to provide a good transverse fit and the relative positions of the insole and outer sole are marked on the outer sole such that they can be permanently closed or fastened in such relative position, such as by sewing or by the use of an adhesive, whence the rear portions of the side portions are joined together to form the heel of the boot and desirably an adapter of the full toe vamp forms the toe portion. The particular configuration of the longitudinal split in the inner sole according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention is not critical and may include a plurality of spaced kerf cuts along their central longitudinal cut. The presence of the longitudinal split allows for transverse expansion or contraction at any one of several points throughout the full length of the insole various configurations and malformities to the wearer's foot. Kerf cuts are suitably provided around the periphery of the insole to facilitate this adjustment. Again, the longitudinal split may provide tapered portions adjacent the split in the insole which on transverse movement of the side portions and thus transverse movement of the parts of the split insole move across one another.

While transverse adjustment of the side portions of the boot readily allows for variation in the size of the wearer's foot, and thus provides for a close transverse fit, which in the majority of cases is perfectly in order for adults whose foot has stopped growing, with children whose feet are growing and thus lengthening, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is also provided a modification in which the boot can also be lengthened. In this modification, the insole is transversely split adjacent the toe end thereof with the outer sole being longer than the inner sole such that the separate toe portion of the insole can be either moved relative to the remainder of the insole or alternatively different sized toe portions of the insole, usually with the toe portion of the boot integral therewith, may be substituted and attached to the outer sole.

It will be readily realized that with the adjustment of the side portions of the boot with respect to each other and the toe portion with respect to the remainder of the boot, there will be, in many cases, gaps between the portions of the insole and these gaps can be readily filled with filler materials such as cork and a sock liner can be inserted over the insole which will accommodate any unevenness and thus avoid the insole being uncomfortable to the wearer's foot.

When there is a transverse split in the insole thus providing a separate toe portion of said insole, the longitudinal split need not extend completely through said toe portion of said insole, but can stop short of the end of said toe portion of said insole and still provide for transverse adjustment of said toe portion of said insole.

In assembly of the boot, the means for joining the rear ends of the side portions to form the heel of the boot can suitably comprise eyelets in the rear portions of the side portions which can be laced together or the rear ends may be merely stitched together. Suitably a tongue or a backstay may be present at the joint between the rear ends of the side portions.

The toe portion of said boot may include the conventional full toe vamp in its construction, and this toe portion may be attached to the toe piece of said insole and if said toe piece is separate from the rest of said insole then when the boot requires lengthening, all that would be necessary would be to rip around between the toe piece and the outer sole for example with a hawk-bill knife, the full toe vamp removed, complete with the toe piece and a larger toe piece may be affixed to the full toe vamp and the whole put back in position on the outer sole of the boot and refastened thereto, the outer sole as aforesaid being longer than the inner sole of the boot. Further, when a full toe vamp is employed in, for example, a skate boot it is usually a soft pliable leather and thus in a preferred embodiment of the invention there is provided a toe cover which has flanges thereon which may be attached to the boot such as by stitching or cement and is made of a rigid material such as rigid plastic fiber or metal which rigid toe piece protects the toes of the wearer on a football boot, ski boot, or ice hockey boot. However, in boots which do not require lengthening for adult wear the conventional built-in stiffeners are sufficient for protection of the foot of the wearer.

In conventional boots the counter portions usually only extend up to a position below the ankles of the wearer. However, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention such counter portions extend up to and preferably beyond and at least partially around the ankle bone (malkoli) of the wearer at the rear end of said side portion which allows flexibility of the boot towards the top of the instep.

According to the present invention therefore there is provided in an athletic boot including lateral and medial side portions each side portion including a high top shoe quarter vamp and counter portion the improvement in which the counter portion extends up to and at least partially around the top part of the high top shoe quarter accommodating the ankle bone. The counter portion may encircle the whole of the ankle bone if such is desired in the boot, but there would be some restriction of the foot from bending forward at the instep and thus the counter portion preferably extends only partially around the ankle bone. The heightening of the counter portion is made possible by providing holes in the lateral and medial high top shoe quarters as disclosed and claimed in Canadian Pat. No. 831,714, issued Jan. 13, 1970 to the applicant which will allow the parts of the counter portions around the ankle bone to come up flush against the leg which has not heretofore been possible until the invention set forth in Canadian Pat. 831,714. As in Canadian Pat. 831,714, the holes through which the ankle bones protrude may be provided with cups to prevent distortion and further protective hard rigid cups may be provided over the cups to protect the ankles from hard knocks.

The modifications of the present invention may be applied to any athletic boot including ski boots, skate boots and football boots. As is conventional with ski boots, the outer sole is a wedge-shaped sole, with ice hockey boots, is a flat sole to which the skate blade is attached, and with football boots, is a flat sole to which cleats may be attached.

It will be seen that while after assembly the parts of the boot are permanently attached to each other, they can be readily separated particularly by separation of the outer sole from the insole and reassembled in a new position when the wearer's foot alters transversely and/or longitudinally.

The present invention will be further illustrated by way of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical section through an athletic boot before assembly according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a similar section as in FIG. 1 of an athletic boot before assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a detail of a section through an insole for use in the boot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an insole for use in the boot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a detail plan view of an alternative toe portion of the insole of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are plan views of different configurations of the insole of FIG. 4, for use in the boot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an insole of another configuration for use in the boot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the insole and outer sole disposed for use in the boot of FIG. 2;

FIG. 11 is a vertical section showing the relative relationship between the insole and outer sole configuration in the athletic boot of FIG. 2;

FIG. 12 is a detail of the toe portion of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the assembled boot;

FIG. 14 is a side elevation of the lateral portion of the athletic boot of FIG. 2;

FIG. 15 is a side elevation of the medial portion of the athletic boot of FIG. 2;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the boot as assembled and before final stitching;

FIG. 17 is a pictorial view of a rear tongue cushioning the ends of the portions of FIGS. 15 and 16 to form the heel of the athletic boot;

FIG. 18 is a detail of a reinforcing toe cap used in the athletic boot;

FIGS. 19, 20, 21 and 22 are side elevations of side portions of the athletic boot showing different configurations of the counters thereof, and FIG. 23 is a detail of the high top shoe quarters in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, the boot comprises side portions 1 and 2 having holes at 1a and 2a in the high top shoe quarters for accommodation of the ankle bones of the wearer of the boot and may be provided with cups 30 (FIG. 23) as described in Canadian Pat. No. 831,714. The semi-rigid cups 30 which are affixed to the high top shoe quarters by means of the flange 31 are suitably enclosed by protective hard, rigid cups 32 which cups 32 are attached, such as by rivetting preferably by three spaced rivets through flanges 33 for an athletic boot used in hard contact sports such as a hockey boot. The rivetting is such that the attachment of the cups 32 does not have any substantial effect on the flexing of the boot in the rivetting of the holes 1a and 2a including the cups 30 as such flexing is desirable in the skate boot. The side portions 1 and 2 are fixedly attached as by sewing or cementing to the longitudinal split halves 3 of an insole. In assembling the boot as in FIG. 16, the side portions 1 and 2 are fitted to the wearer's foot and the relative positions of the insole halves 3 on the outer sole 4 are marked and subsequently the boot is pressed closed as in FIG. 16 with halves 3 in the marked position on the outer sole 4 and all the portions fixedly connected together.

Referring to FIG. 3 the halves 3 of the insole may be tapered so that the tapered portions move over each other to reduce the depth of the gap 5 between the portions 3 when the boot is assembled. As aforesaid, any gaps which appear in the insole in the fully assembled boot may be filled with a filler such as cork, and, if desired, covered with a sock such that the bottom of the wearer's foot is not uncomfortable in the boot.

Referring to FIG. 4, the insole is split longitudinally by a zig-zag gap 5 into the halves 3 to each of which a side portion 1 and 2 respectively is attached, such as by stitching 7. An arch brace 6 may be attached to one of the halves of the insole. In FIG. 4 a toe portion 8 is laterally split from the rest of the insole to provide for longitudinal adjustment of the boot and attached to the toe portion 8 such as by stitching 9 is a full toe vamp 10 shown in detail in FIGS. 11 and 12. However, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 the separation of the toe portion 8 from the rest of the insole is not critical and is only required generally for children's boots where longitudinal adjustment of the boot is also required to allow for the child's growing foot.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative form of the toe portion 8 of FIG. 4 and, in FIG. 5 the longitudinal gap does not extend completely through the toe portion 8 but terminates before the end of the toe portion 8 and is still capable of providing transverse adjustment of the toe portion of the boot on assembly thereof on the wearer's foot.

In FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 variations in the shape of the insole that can be achieved from the zig-zag longitudinal split 5 in FIG. 4 are shown, which different shapes allow for accommodation of different shaped feet. Kerf cuts 11 in the periphery facilitate the adjustment of the insole to the various shapes. Thus in FIG. 6 the gap 5 tapers toward each end of the insole, in FIG. 7 the gap tapers only towards the heel portion of the insole and in FIG. 8 the gap 5 only tapers towards the toe portion of the insole. In FIG. 9 the longitudinal split 5 in the insole is provided with a plurality of spaced kerf cuts 11 which locks the insole when sewn down the center. Again kerf cuts 11 suitably should also be provided around the perimeter of the insole for alteration of shape.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 10, the insole 12 does not have a longitudinal split therein but in this embodiment the lateral side portion 2 is fastened at 40 to the inside of the outer sole 4 such as by stitching. The insole 12 has the medial side portion 1 attached to the underside thereof such as by stitching. For assembly as shown in FIG. 16, the foot is placed on the insole 12 and the insole 12 and the outer sole 4 are transversely forced together until the shape of the foot causes them to stop as in FIG. 10 which in this particular case indicates that the ball and waist of the foot to which they are being fitted are wider than the instep and heel. This leaves an excess of outer sole 4 and after marking at 41, an edge trimmer may be used to remove the unwanted portion of the outer sole 4. As shown in FIG. 14, the outsole 4 is attached to the lateral side portion 2 and has eyelets 13 for attachment to the side portion 1 shown in FIG. 15 via eyelets 14. A rear tongue 19 as shown in FIG. 17 may also be used to provide protection at the heel of the wearer. In assembly, the rear tongue 19 is attached to the bottom of the insole 12 such as by stitching via portion 19a and passes upward along the heel of the foot beneath the lacing and just inside the two open rear ends of the side portions 1 and 2. In particular the portion 19a is the end of the tongue 19 folded over. Thus the insole 12 is placed on a shoemaker's last and the bottom edge 19 is folded over the insole 12 to form the portion 19a and then tacked in place. Both the side portions 1 and 2 include eyelets 15 for laces for subsequent lacing and unlacing of the boot in use. The insole 12 has a separate toe portion 8 and as shown in FIG. 11 the outsole 4 is longer than the insole 12.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 the full toe vamp 10 includes an edge 35 which is attached to the underside of the toe portion 8. The side portions of the vamp 10 and the edge portion 35 extend back beyond the lateral split between the toe portion 8 and the rest of the insole 12. Thus when the toe portion 8 is received between the side portions 1 and 2 the vamp 10 slides between the side portions 1 and 2 until the toe portion 8 brings up against the rest of the insole 12. The vamp 10 may be fastened in position in a conventional manner such as by stitching 38 or with eyelets 36 and hooks 37 on the sides 1 and 2 which allow for forward adjustment of the vamp 10 when elongation of the insole 12 is required.

The full toe vamp 10 includes a tongue 17 attached to the throat portion 18 thereof.

The assembled boot before stitching is shown in FIG. 16. Thus the boot is shown with the exception of the final closing, i.e., the edge of the outsole 4 is left unfastened part way around the heel and up one side and part way around the toe portion to allow the divided insole parts 3 to be closed towards each other causing the attached side portions 1 and 2 to bring up against the foot at the ball, waist, instep and heel, the opposite side of the outsole 4 having been permanently fastened e.g., by stitching, glue or nails to the insole part 3 of portion 2. A space 20 is present between the unfastened insole 1 and outer sole 4 which may be lifted to add an activator for a glue or pyroxylin cement present on both soles and the outer sole 4 will then be pressed closed onto the insole after the final fit has been made or it may be stitched or nailed as desired. When the boot has been elongated a wedge may be inserted between the soles, for example at 21 in the area of the new position that the growing foot arch will require. The back stay 22 may be fastened to one side portion 1 such as by stitching 22a and will subsequently be fastened to the other side portion 2 such as by stitching after final positioning of the side portions 1 and 2 to strengthen the seam at the rear of the boot.

With respect to FIG. 18, in many cases the full toe vamp portion 10 is not sufficiently strong to withstand the pressures applied to it during sports games in particular hockey and football games and a reinforcing cap 23 having a flange 24 may be permanently fixed over the toe portion of the boot.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20 these Figures depict side portions 1 and 2 respectively of the boot in which the counters 25 and 26 extend around and upwardly beyond the holes 1a and 2a respectively which accommodate the ankle bone of the wearer of the boot. Thus in FIG. 19 the medial counter 25 and in FIG. 20 the lateral counter 26, which are constructed of the conventional materials such as leather, fiberboard, glue-saturated canvas or plastic and are fastened by conventional means, extend around the ankle bone which allows flexibility of the boot towards the top of the instep. In FIGS. 21 and 22 the counters 25 and 26 include integral therewith a backstay 27 and 28 respectively for the boot.

Claims

I claim:

1. In an athletic boot comprising a base portion, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, and a toe portion, said base portion including a substantially full insole and an outer sole, said side portions including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter and being jointed at the rear of the boot to each other, at the front of the boot to said toe portion, and at the base of said boot to said base portion, and said toe portion being joined to the base of said boot, the improvement in which the insole is substantially completely longitudinally split, the side portions being attached respectively to one of the parts of said insole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be adjusted transversely to prove for a more accurate fit to the foot of the wearer.

2. A boot as claimed in claim 1, in which the insole is transversely laterally split adjacent the toe end thereof to provide a separate toe piece, said outer sole being longer than said insole whereby to provide for lengthwise adjustment of said boot during assembly thereof.

3. A boot as claimed in claim 1, which is a skate boot having a skate blade attached to the outer sole.

4. A boot as claimed in claim 1, which is a ski boot having a wedge-shaped outer sole.

5. A boot as claimed in claim 1, which is a football boot having a reinforced toe portion and cleats attached to said outer sole.

6. A boot as claimed in claim 1, in which the counters extend up to and partially around the top part of the high top shoe quarters accommodating the ankle bone.

7. A boot as claimed in claim 4 in which the toe portion is removably secured to the side and base portions such that the full toe vamp may be removably secured in position inside the side portions with the toe piece abutted against the remainder of the insole.

8. A kit for forming a transversely adjustable athletic boot comprising a substantially full insole and an outer sole for forming the base portion of said boot, a lateral side portion and a medial side portion, said side portions having means at the rear thereof for joining together to form the heel of said boot and a toe portion adapted to be attached to the toe end of said base portion and to said side portions, said insole being substantially completely longitudinally split, each of said side portions being attached respectively to one part of said insole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be moved relative to each other to provide for transverse adjustment of the boot to fit the foot of the wearer.

9. A kit as claimed in claim 8 in which one part of said insole is attached to said outer sole.

10. A kit as claimed in claim 8, in which the insole is split laterally adjacent the toe end thereof, the outer sole being larger than said insole to provide for lengthwise adjustment of said boot to the foot of the wearer during assembly thereof, said toe portion being attached to said toe end of said insole.

11. In an athletic boot including lateral and medial side portions, each side portion including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter portion the improvement in which the counter portion extends up to and at least partially around the top part of the high top shoe quarter accommodating the ankle bone.

12. A boot as claimed in claim 11 in which the counter portion extends only partially around the top part of the high top shoe quarter.

13. In an athletic boot comprising a base portion including a substantially full sole, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, and a toe portion, said side portions being jointed at the rear of the boot to each other, at the front of the boot to said toe portion, and at the base of said boot to said base portion, and said toe portion being joined to the base portion of said boot the improvement in which the sole is substantially completely longitudinally split, the side portions being attached respectively to one of the parts of the sole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be adjusted transversely to provide for a more accurate fit to the foot of the wearer.

14. A kit for forming a transversely adjustable athletic boot comprising a base portion including a substantially full sole, a laterial side portion and a medial side portion, said side portions having means at the rear thereof for joining together to form the heel of said boot and a toe portion adapted to be attached to the toe end of said base portion and to said side portions, said sole being substantially completely longitudinally split, the side portions being attached respectively to one of the parts of the sole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be moved relative to each other to provide for transverse adjustment of the boot to fit the foot of the wearer.

15. A boot as claimed in claim 1 in which each part of said insole has kerf cuts around the external periphery thereof providing improved flexibility of said insole.

16. A boot as claimed in claim 15 in which the kerf cuts extend along the edge of each part of said insole forming said split.

17. A boot as claimed in claim 14 in which each part of said sole has kerf cuts around the external periphery thereof providing improved flexibility of said insole.

18. A boot as claimed in claim 17 in which the kerf cuts extend along the edge of each part of said insole forming said split.

19. In an athletic boot comprising a base portion including a sole, a lateral side portion, a medial side portion, and a toe portion, said side portions being jointed at the rear of the boot to each other, at the front of the boot to said toe portion, and at the base of said boot to said base portion, and said toe portion being joined to the base portion of said boot the improvement in which the sole includes a longitudinal split, the side portions being attached to the sole whereby on assembly of said boot, said side portions may be adjusted transversely to provide for a more accurate fit to the foot of the wearer.

20. In an athletic boot including medial and lateral side portions, each side portion including a high top shoe quarter, vamp and counter portions, the improvement in which the counter portion extends up to and at least partially around the medial malleolus and lateral malleolus of the ankles, while avoiding the periphery of the base of the respective malleolus, thus providing a stiffener in the ankle area substantially extending away from said peripheral base of said malleoli.

21. A boot as claimed in claim 20 in which the counter portion of each of the medial and lateral side portions extend only partially around the ankle described by the peripheral base of the respective malleolus.

22. A boot as claimed in claim 20 in which the counter portions of each of the medial and lateral side portions extend substantially completely around the respective malleolus.

23. A boot as claimed in claim 20 in which each of the counter portions of the medial and lateral side portions has means defining an opening extending completely therethrough, said opening being dimensioned to avoid contact with the base periphery of the respective malleolus.

24. A boot as claimed in claim 20 including a backstay integral with the counter positions.