Sports Shoe

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sports shoe which comprises an enclosed bag member which consists of a heel cover section for covering a heel portion of a wearer's foot and an instep cover section connected integrally with the heel cover section for covering an instep of the wearer's foot, said enclosed bag member having an air chamber formed therein; and a cushioning member which is made of cushioning material and adapted to cover the heel portion and both sides of the instep of the wearer's foot, said cushioning member being provided exteriorly of the air chamber of the enclosed bag member.

Description

The present invention relates to sports shoes such as ski shoes or to sports shoes used for other sports than ski.

The present invention relates, more specifically, to a sport shoe provided with an inner means attached integrally or removably inside the sports shoe to secure a wearer's foot correctly in the sports shoe.

Conventional sports shoes provided with such kind of inner means are well known. One of the conventional sports shoes comprises an upper made of a suitable material such as leather or the like, a sole and an inner means attached within the upper.

Said inner means is made of, for example, a foamed synthetic rubber material or a modified material such as a leather covered foamed synthetic rubber material, and the said inner means has an inner peripheral wall adapted to fit the instep and other corresponding portions of a wearer's foot.

However, this kind of sports shoe is incapable of fitting closely a wearer's instep or other corresponding portions which vary considerably among individuals. Accordingly, such sports shoe, when worn for a long period of time, will often fatigue and injure the wearer's foot.

Furhter, as such sports shoe does not support the foot sufficiently, it will hamper smooth performance of athletic sports and others.

Furthermore, a sports shoe of which the construction is modified from that of the conventional sports shoe as mentioned above by forming a sealed bag member within the inner means, pouring a liquid or pasty unfoamed foamable synthetic resin material into the bag member and enclosing a cushioning member inside an air cell in the bag member, is invented by the inventor of the present invention (see pending applications, U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 178,117 and France Pat. application No. 7136,181).

In using this type of sports shoe, a wearer's foot is first inserted into the shoe, and then the liquid or pasty unfoamed foamable synthetic resin material is poured into the sealed bag member.

However, said synthetic resin material filled into the bag member may some times not reach evenly every part of the space defined between a wearer's foot and the inner peripheral face of the shoe, and, further, due to the pressure caused in the said space the wearer's foot is liable to move from the required position in the sports shoe. Consequently, it may some times be difficult to position correctly a wearer's foot at the required position in the shoe and have it hold said position.

Also, polyurethane which is generally used as the unfoamed liquid or pasty foamable resin material to be poured into said bag member is likely to generate a poisonous gas. Further, the amount of the liquid or pasty unfoamed foamable resin material to be poured into said bag member is relatively difficult to specify and the handling of pouring means is not easy.

The object of the present invention is to obviate the disadvantages of the conventionally known sports shoes by providing a sports shoe with an inner means comprising an enclosed bag member and a cushioning member formed according to the novel method.

The sports shoe according to the present invention is provided with the inner means attached inside said shoe, said inner means consisting of a heel cover section for covering the heel area of a wearer's foot and an instep cover section connected integrally with the heel cover section for covering the instep of the wearer's foot, said inner means being further provided with the enclosed bag member having formed therein an air chamber and with the cushioning member made of a cushioning material, and is characterized in that said cushioning member is provided outside the air chamber of said enclosed bag member.

Said cushioning member formed substantially according to a foot shape is attached within an inner shoe of the sports shoe or is attached inside the main body of the sports shoe thereby supporting provisionally the wearer's foot at the required position in the shoe. Further, said enclosed bag member, that is, said air chamber is provided adjacent to said cushioning member in the inner shoe of the sports shoe or in the main body of the sports shoe, and by means of the air pressure supplied into the air chamber, the shape of the inner peripheral wall of the sports shoe is modified so as to correspond correctly to the wearer's foot through said cushioning member to secure the wearer's foot substantially and effectively at the required position in the sports shoe.

In the sports shoe according to the present invention said enclosed bag member further possesses a plurality of seal lines suitably spaced on each side of the central heel cover section of the said bag member and located at the proper positions of the said instep cover section so that the air chamber formed in the enclosed bag member is comparted into a plurality of compartments, each of said compartments, being adapted to connect with each other. By the provision of such compartments the air contained in the enclosed bag member will not stagnate in certain parts but will be distributed evenly and the air will be prevented from moving around so that balanced pressure will be applied on the entire inner means.

In the sports shoe according to the present invention said enclosed bag member is divided into a plurality of independent air chambers each of which is capable of accommodating different amount or pressure of air in accordance with the shape of a wearer's foot. Thus, the heel portion which is the main portion of a man's foot can be held and secured for certain by a greater amount of air or stronger pressure of air then the other portions, thereby the foot and the shoe become integral allowing a wearer to perform a smooth sport.

The present invention will be better understood and its objects and advantages highly appreciated from the following detailed description given in connection with the embodiments by referring to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the inner means according to the present invention, that is, the enclosed bag member and the cushioning member;

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a modification of the inner means in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 taken along the line I--I or the line II--II, respectively;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the inner shoe containing therein the inner means shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the inner shoe containing therein the inner means shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 taken along the line III--III or the line IV--IV, respectively;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the main part of the inner shoe attached inside the main body of a ski shoe;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the ski shoe wherein the inner means according to the present invention is attached inside the main body of said ski shoe;

FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 7 showing the ski shoe of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a partially sectioned perspective view of the ski shoe shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a partially sectioned perspective view of the ski shoe shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the opened-out shape of a modified enclosed bag member according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of FIG. 12 taken along the line V--V;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of FIG. 12 taken along the line VI--VI;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view of FIG. 12 taken along the line VII--VII;

FIG. 16, FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 are plan views showing the opened-out shapes of various further modified enclosed bag members according to the present invention; and

FIG. 19 is a sectional view of FIG. 16 taken along the line VIII--VIII.

Referring now to the drawings showing the embodiments of the present invention, particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 1 represents an inner means according to the present invention, which inner means comprises a cushioning member 2 and an enclosed bag member 3.

The cushioning member 2 is made of a foamed natural or synthetic resin material and is formed with some room so that it can cover substantially closely the inside and outside as well as the heel area of a wearer's foot even though these portions of a foot have an individual difference.

The enclosed bag member 3 provided adjacent to said cushioning member 2 has a heel cover section A for covering the heel area of a wearer's foot and an instep cover section B connected integrally to the heel cover section A for covering the instep of the wearer's foot, and has an air chamber C formed therein. As can be seen from FIG. 3, in forming the enclosed bag member 3 a first sheet member 4 made of unfoamed natural or synthetic rubber, preferably of thermoplastic vinyl chloride resin is laid on top of a second sheet member 5, made of the same material, to be formed in a shape having the heel cover section A and the instep cover section B, and the peripheral edge portions of the first and the second sheet members are heat sealed integrally (the heat sealed portions are shown with letter d in FIG. 3). The cushioning member 2 is fixed to the outer periphery of the first sheet member 4 by means of a binding agent, and a valve 6 is provided through the second sheet member 5.

EXAMPLE 1

This is a ski shoe wherein the inner means 1 according to the present invention is applied to an inner shoe of the ski shoe, and the explanation thereof will be given hereinafter referring to FIGS. 4 through 7 and FIG. 11. The ski shoe in this example comprises an upper U of the shoe, an inner shoe 9 which is attached removably within the upper U and a shoe sole S, said inner shoe being attached to the ski shoe as shown in FIG. 11.

The inner means 1 in the opened-out shape as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 is folded at the central vertical line running through the heel cover section A so that both instep cover sections B are opposed to each other, and then is inserted into the inner shoe 9 formed in the shoe shape. FIG. 4 shows the inner shoe wherein the inner means as shown in FIG. 1 is inserted, and FIG. 5 shows the inner shoe wherein the inner means as shown in FIG. 2 is inserted.

Referring now to FIG. 6 there is illustrated the sectional view of the inner shoe shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. As can be seen from this FIG. 6, the cushioning member 2 has a cushioning member inner peripheral wall 7 formed in a shape corresponding to the inside and outside of a wearer's foot and a cushioning member outer peripheral wall 8 which is attached to the external face of the first sheet member 4 of the enclosed bag member 3 by means of a binding agent. The enclosed bag member 3 is provided with a valve 6 above the heel cover section A.

Said valve 6 is pierced through the inner shoe 9 which contains therein the inner means consisted of the enclosed bag member 3 and the cushioning member 2 which are integrally bound together by means of a binding agent, and said valve 6 is protruded outwardly through the upper of the shoe when the inner shoe is attached to the inside of said shoe.

An inner covering member 10 of the inner shoe 9 is fixed to the cushioning member inner peripheral wall 7 by means of a binding agent and the outer covering member 11 of said inner shoe is fixed to the second sheet member 5 of the enclosed bag member 3 by means of a binding agent.

When a required amount of air is pumped into the air chamber C in the enclosed bag member 3 through the valve 6 by using some suitable means such as a small pump or the like to expand said air chamber C, the inner covering member 10 of the inner shoe 9 presses both sides of a wearer's foot through the cushioning member 2, thereby said inner covering member 10 is made to contact closely the shape of the wearer's foot.

The advantage of the example 1 is that the inner peripheral wall of the cushioning member 2 formed approximately in conformity with the foot shape of a wearer is transformed in accordance with the wearer's foot shape to closely and correctly fit thereto by means of the air pressure supplied into the air chamber C. Therefore, the wearer's foot can be held reliably at the required position in the shoe.

Further, what is more important is that, because the cushioning member 2 is arranged outside the air chamber C of the enclosed bag member 3, the cushioning effect of the cushioning member 2 can be utilized effectively. Also, as the cushioning member 2 and the enclosed bag member 3 are in this case manufactured separately, the manufacturing of the enclosed bag member 3 particularly becomes extremely easy.

Furthermore, the inner covering member 10 and the other covering member 11 of the inner shoe 9 can be formed separately. Said inner shoe 9, particularly the inner covering member 10 is made of a material having nice feeling such as pliable felt or pliable leather, and improves wearing comfortableness of the shoe and relaxes the pressure from the air chamber in cooperation with the cushioning member 2. The outer covering member 11 reinforces the outer peripheral face of the inner shoe and protects the inner shoe from getting damaged due to contact friction which would otherwise occur between the outer peripheral face of the inner shoe and the inner peripheral face of the upper of the shoe.

Since said inner shoe is attached removably to the inside of the shoe, the inner shoe inside the shoe is replaceable as required.

EXAMPLE 2

This is a ski shoe wherein an inner means according to the present invention, that is, an enclosed bag member and a cushioning member attached thereto are fixed integrally directly to the inner face of an upper of the shoe, and the explanation thereof will be given in reference to FIG. 8 and other drawings concerned. The ski shoe referred to in this example comprises an upper U of the shoe, an inner means 1 internally fixed to the upper U and a shoe sole S.

The inner means 1 consists of an enclosed bag member 3 and a cushioning member 2 fixed on the inside of the bag member 3 by means of a binding agent as shown in FIG. 9 and other drawings concerned, and an outer peripheral face of the inner means 1 is fixed integrally to an inner peripheral wall of the upper U of the shoe by means of a binding agent. In this case the inner means, particularly the cushioning member 2 is desirable to be shaped gradually thin toward the toe portion as the above-mentioned embodiment 1, or it is desirable to eliminate the toe portion.

Further, in the ski shoe of this example the inner means and an insole are lined entirely with a lining L as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9.

The advantage of this example 2 is, in addition to the same advantage as mentioned in said embodiment 1, that a wearer's foot will be positioned most correctly at the required position in the upper and held thereat, since the upper and the inner means are joined together integrally.

A modification of the inner means according to the present invention, particularly of the enclosed bag member will now be shown.

In FIG. 12 there is shown an opened-out enclosed bag member which enclosed bag member is almost the same as these shown in said examples 1 and 2 except that the construction of an air chamber in the enclosed bag member is of a specific feature.

The enclosed bag member 3 comprises a heel cover section A and an instep cover sections B located on opposite sides of the heel cover section A, and an air chamber C is formed within the enclosed bag member 3. Said enclosed bag member 3 is formed of two pieces of sheet members made of vinyl chloride resin one laid on top of the other, and heat sealed together at their peripheral edge portions (a seal line of the peripheral edge portions is shown with letter d).

The air chamber C of the enclosed bag member 3 in this modification is divided into a plurality of compartments c1, c2, c3, c4, c5 . . . (see FIG. 13). These compartments are defined by a plurality of seal lines d1, d2, d3, d4, d5 . . . symmetrically spaced apart on both sides of the centrally located heel cover section A approximately in parallel therewith.

As can be seen from FIG. 12 and FIG. 15, each seal line is not extended up to the seal line d of the peripheral edge portion of the enclosed bag member 3 but is stopped slightly before said seal line d, and an interconnecting path e is formed at each such stop so that each compartment can be interconnected with one another. A valve h is provided above the heel cover section A. When air is supplied from the valve h into the air chamber C, this supply of air is distributed approximately evenly among each compartment.

Accordingly to this modified enclosed bag member, since the air chamber of the enclosed bag member is divided into a plurality of blocks, i.e., compartments by means of the heat seal lines, the supplied air is not likely to stagnate partly in the air chamber but is distributed evenly and its movement is minimized, thus allowing the pressure to be applied evenly on the entire enclosed bag member.

Consequently, when the ski shoe provided with this type of enclosed bag member is worn, the whole of wearer's foot is anchored evenly in the shoe, and the wearer can perform sports smoothly.

A further variation of the enclosed bag member according to the present invention will be shown hereinafter.

Various examples of the modified enclosed bag members are shown in FIGS. 16, 17 and 18 all in opened-out shape. Same as the enclosed bag members described hereinbefore, the enclosed bag members to be described now comprise a heel cover section A and an instep cover section B provided on opposite sides of the heel cover section A and has an air chamber formed in the enclosed bag member.

As shown in FIG. 16, there is provided to the enclosed bag member 3 a heat sealed line d1 in somewhat semicircular shape around the heel cover section A, thus a separate air chamber c1 is formed in the airchamber of the enclosed bag member, the area of air chamber c1 corresponding to the heel section of a wearer's foot, that is, the rear portion of the foot including Achilles' tendon.

The airchamber of the enclosed bag member is thus divided into two air chambers, namely, the air chamber c1 and an air chamber c2 (remainder) each of which is provided with a valve h1 and a valve h2, respectively, at a required place.

Referring now to FIG. 17, there is provided to the enclosed bag member 3 a heat sealed line d1, said line d1 defining a space corresponding to the heel and ankles of a wearer's foot. With the exception of the portions corresponding to the wearer's ankles, the entire heat sealed line d1 is formed in an I shape and is adapted to be surrounded by the heat sealed line d which binds together the peripheral edge portions of the enclosed bag member.

An air chamber defined by the heat sealed line d1 is denoted as c1 and a remaining air chamber is denoted as c2.

Referring next to FIG. 18, there are provided to the enclosed bag member 3 heat sealed lines d1 defining spaces corresponding to the ankke portions of a wearer's foot. Both air chambers defined by the heat sealed lines d1 are denoted as c1 and a remaining air chamber is denoted as c2.

In such enclosed bag members, since the air chambers c1 are completely independent of the air chambers c2, the amount of air contained in the air chambers c1 can be controlled without regard to the amount of air contained in the air chambers c2.

Needless to say that the heel portion is the most important portion of a foot, and if this heel portion is not securely anchored particularly when performing sports, the wearer will feel insecure and will not be able to exhibit his full power and athletic function.

When the inner means, particularly the enclosed bag member according to the present invention is used, the heel portion of the wearer's foot is applied with the greater amount of air or stronger air pressure than the other portions, so that said heel portion can be securely held and anchored in the required position of the shoe. Thus, the wearer's foot and shoe becomes integral and sports can be performed quite smoothly.

Claims

What I claim is:

1. A sport shoe having an upper and an inner shoe within the upper, the inner shoe comprising an inner enclosed bag having inner and outer walls and a heel portion for covering the heel of a wearer's foot and an instep portion connected integrally with the heel portion for covering the instep of a foot, the inner bag being provided with a plurality of air chambers therein, a cushioning member adapted to cover at least the heel and both sides of the instep of a wearer's foot and having an inner peripheral wall provided with a form corresponding to the shape of a foot and an outer peripheral wall secured to the inner wall of the inner bag, outer bag means enclosing the inner bag and the cushioning member, and means for supplying air to the air chambers.

2. A sport shoe as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outer bag means includes an inner wall secured to the inner peripheral wall of the cushioning member and an outer wall secured to the outer wall of the inner bag.

3. A sport shoe as claimed in claim 1 wherein the air chambers communicate with each other.

4. A sport shoe as claimed in claim 1 wherein the air chambers are independent of each other, each of the chambers being provided with means for supplying air thereto.

5. A sport shoe having an upper and inner layer means within the upper, the inner layer means comprising an enclosed bag having a heel portion for covering the heel of wearer's foot and an instep portion connected integrally with the heel portion for covering the instep of a foot, said bag being secured to the upper and having an air chamber therein which is divided into air compartments, a cushioning member adapted to cover at least the heel and both sides of the instep of a wearer's foot and having an inner peripheral wall provided with a form corresponding to the shape of a foot and an outer peripheral wall secured to the inner face of the bag, and means for supplying air to the air chamber.

6. A sport shoe as claimed in claim 5 wherein the air compartments communicate with each other.

7. A sport shoe as claimed in claim 5 wherein the air compartments are independent of each other, each of the compartments being provided with means for supplying air thereto.