CA1046764A - Support pad - Google Patents
Support padInfo
- Publication number
- CA1046764A CA1046764A CA246,578A CA246578A CA1046764A CA 1046764 A CA1046764 A CA 1046764A CA 246578 A CA246578 A CA 246578A CA 1046764 A CA1046764 A CA 1046764A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- core
- pad
- foot
- liquid
- support
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Landscapes
- Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)
Abstract
A B S T R A C T
A support pad including an envelope of flex-ible material is disclosed. A core of cellular material occupies substantially all of the space in the envelope.
A liquid is dispersed in the cells of the core, the amount of the liquid being less than that which will saturate the core.
A support pad including an envelope of flex-ible material is disclosed. A core of cellular material occupies substantially all of the space in the envelope.
A liquid is dispersed in the cells of the core, the amount of the liquid being less than that which will saturate the core.
Description
~104~'764 The present invention relates to support pads.
It is particularly applicable to the use of support pads for supporting parts of the human body, such as the sole of the foot or some part thereof.
various people have suffered from various ail-ments over the years which would be alleviated or at least made more endurable if the afflicted portion of the body received additiOnal support in some way. For example, athletes might be able to perform better or not tire as ea~ily in their particular sport if their feet were to receive more support than the normal shoe construction will give them. hong distance walkers and runners also would benefit from an improved support for their feet.
Many supplemental or special supports for the human foot have been proposed in the past. Foam or sponge pads have been tried. They do help somewhat, but are not as effective as one might desire. Fluid filled pads9 either gaseous or hydraulic, have been tried. However, the freely moving fluid has presented a number of problems. paste filled supports or supports filled with small glass beads have been tried. ~ll have helped to some extent but none have been entirely satisfactory. Either it is difficult to have the support in the right place at the right time or there are durability problems and very serious problems for the user if the support should burst, for example, if the support is a water-filled pad containing free water.
Accordingly, there has continued to be a very real _ /_ ~1676~
need for a support pad which will support the des;.red areas in the desired manner and at the same time be durable and easily applied.
The present invention provides a support pad com-prising: an envelope of flexible material; a core of cellu-lar material occupying substantially all of the space within the envelope, and a liquid dispersed in the cells of the core, the amount of liquid being less than that which will saturate the core.
The accompanying drawings are illustrative of advantageous embodiments of this invention.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a top plan view of a support pad for the human foot according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is an elevational view, in section, taken alOng line 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a partial top plan view, with parts removed for purposes of clarity, showing liquid being in-serked into the structure of Figure l;
Figure 4 is a top plan view~ with parts partially removed for purposes of clarity, of the support pad of Figure l;
Figure 5 is a partial top plan view of another em-bodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a side view illustrating a foot resting on a pad according to the instant invention;
Figure 7 is a side view of the pad of Figure 6 1~4~i764 showing the effect of the foot pressure on the heel; and Figure 8 is a side view of a foot with pressure on the toes showing the movement of fluid to the heel area of the embodiment shown in Figure 6.
Throughout the drawings the same reference numer-als have been used for corresponding parts.
In Figure 1 a support pad in accordance with the present invention is indicated generally at 10. As show~
therein, the pad includes an envelope 12 of flexible material such as vinyl, rubber, and the like. An opening 14 sealed by suitable means such as adhesive sealant 16 is provided in envelope 12. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the sup-port pad is for supporting part of the human body, particu-larly the foot and the pad is shaped to conform to the part of the body, i.e. the foot, being supported.
Referring now to Figure 2, it will be seen that envelope 12 comprises two sheets of flexible material 18, 20.
Core 22 of cellular material occupies substantially all of the space within envelope 12. An apprOpriate means for forming sheets 18 and 20 into an envelope 12 around core 22 is by disposing the three materials one on top of the other in the order in which they will be present in the final pad 10 and then heat and pressure bonding the edges to one another and sealing envelope 12 by suitable hot stamping means and the like, as is well known to those skilled in the art.
Core 22 may be of any suitable cellular material.
Desirably, the cellular material is fully reticulated, open ~4~764 pore, cellular structure. A particularly effective mater-ial is a fully reticulated open pore polyurethane foam manu-factured by the ~cott paper Company and sold under the trade name Product #250. This material has a density of 4.7 pounds per cubic foot, a compression-deflection of 0.21 P~I at 25%, a 27% ball rebound, a l~/o compression set, a 16~/~ ultimate elongation, and a 16 PSI tensile strength, all determined by the ASTM Procedure 1564-64T Method. The compression de-flection value shows the pounds per square inch required to compress one inch thick foam by a comparable percentage.
Referring now to Figure 3, an appropriate means of dispersing liquid in the cells of core 22 may be seen. A
hypodermic syringe 24 containing an appropriate amount of liquid 26 such as water is inserted by means of its needle 28 through opening 14 in envelope 12. The liquid 26 is then injected by hypodermic syringe 24 into the cells of core 22.
Needle 28 is removed from opening 14 and adhesive sealant 16 applied thereto as shown in Figure 1.
It is an important feature of the invention that the amount of liquid present in the core is less than that which will saturate the core. No free water, i.e. water that can move about freely,should be present~ All the water present should be dispersed in the cell structure of core 22. In a typical application of a support pad 10 to support a human foot of average size, say a man's shoe size 8, the amount of liquid present is about 8 to about 25 cubic centi-meters. This amOunt of water is so slight relative to the ~)4~7~4 amount of core s~ructure in which it is dispersed that if one were to then cut open pad 12 the core 22 would appear at best only very slightly damp. No undispersed water would be apparent.
The amOunt of liquid present may of course be varied somewhat with the weight of the part of the body, which generally is proportional to the overall weight of the human being being supported. More water will be required in pad 10 to support a heavy human than a light human. How-ever, in no case should the amount of water be at a level that will fully saturate the core. In all cases, it should be less than saturated.
Figure 4 is a partially cutaway view of the pad shown in the preceding figures and illustrates the overall structural arrangement of the various components, i.e. sheets 18 and 20, which are bonded together to form envelope 12, with core 22 occupying substantially all of the space within envelope 12. The amount of liquid 26 present is uniformly dispersed in core 22 and therefore no free water, i.e. water which is not dispersed in the cells of core 22, can be de-tected by the naked eye.
In the embodiments shown in Figures 1 through 4 inclusive, it is apparent that pad 10 is shaped like the entire plantar area of the human foot. In fact, while this will be desirable much o~ the time it may not always be necessary. Pad 10 may be shaped like no more than the area of the foot or other part of the body which it is desired to specifically support.
Figure 5 illustrates such a pad 10 which is de-signed to support the plantar area of the foot from the ball of the foot back, and not support the toe area.
Referring now to Figures 6 through 8 inclusive, the operation of pad 10 when the weight of the body is variably applied thereto by means of the movement of the human foot may be observed. ~s shown therein, foot 30 rests on pad 10. As can be seen in Figure 6, when foot 30 is not moving, the amOunt of liquid 26 in core 22 of pad 10 is suf-ficient, together with the inherent resiliency of core 22 to keep either the heel area 32 or the toe area 34 of foot 30 supported or both supported.
Referring now to Figure 7, when heel 32 bears the pressure of the body in a forward walking movement, the liquid 26 dispersed in the heel area of core 22 tends to act as a hydraulic shock absorber and cushion in impact of heel 32. The pressure of heel 32 on support pad 10 will tend to force some of liquid 26 out of the cells of core 22 immediately therebelow and forward towards the area of sup-port pad 10 below toes 34. Thus the ball 36 of the foot and toes 34 are received by a semi-hydraulic cushion of liquid 26 dispersed in the cells of core 22. This disperses the pressure evenly over the plantar area of foot 30.
Then, referring to Figure 8, as one continues with a walking movement, as shown in Figure 8, the pressure now is concentrated on toe area 34 of the foot 30. Ball 36 and toes 34 take the weight of the body, initially compressing ~4~7~
core 22 therebelow. This will tend to push liquid rear-wardly to the area of core 22 in pad lO below heel 32. This tends to support the entire plantar area of the foot rear-ward of ball 36 and spread the pressure uniformly over the entire plantar area of foot 30. The action is repeated every time one goes through a walking step.
It will be appreciated that while there have been shown and described hereinabove possible embodiments of this invention, the in~ention is not limited thereto, and variOus changes, alterations, and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the claims.
It is particularly applicable to the use of support pads for supporting parts of the human body, such as the sole of the foot or some part thereof.
various people have suffered from various ail-ments over the years which would be alleviated or at least made more endurable if the afflicted portion of the body received additiOnal support in some way. For example, athletes might be able to perform better or not tire as ea~ily in their particular sport if their feet were to receive more support than the normal shoe construction will give them. hong distance walkers and runners also would benefit from an improved support for their feet.
Many supplemental or special supports for the human foot have been proposed in the past. Foam or sponge pads have been tried. They do help somewhat, but are not as effective as one might desire. Fluid filled pads9 either gaseous or hydraulic, have been tried. However, the freely moving fluid has presented a number of problems. paste filled supports or supports filled with small glass beads have been tried. ~ll have helped to some extent but none have been entirely satisfactory. Either it is difficult to have the support in the right place at the right time or there are durability problems and very serious problems for the user if the support should burst, for example, if the support is a water-filled pad containing free water.
Accordingly, there has continued to be a very real _ /_ ~1676~
need for a support pad which will support the des;.red areas in the desired manner and at the same time be durable and easily applied.
The present invention provides a support pad com-prising: an envelope of flexible material; a core of cellu-lar material occupying substantially all of the space within the envelope, and a liquid dispersed in the cells of the core, the amount of liquid being less than that which will saturate the core.
The accompanying drawings are illustrative of advantageous embodiments of this invention.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a top plan view of a support pad for the human foot according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is an elevational view, in section, taken alOng line 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a partial top plan view, with parts removed for purposes of clarity, showing liquid being in-serked into the structure of Figure l;
Figure 4 is a top plan view~ with parts partially removed for purposes of clarity, of the support pad of Figure l;
Figure 5 is a partial top plan view of another em-bodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a side view illustrating a foot resting on a pad according to the instant invention;
Figure 7 is a side view of the pad of Figure 6 1~4~i764 showing the effect of the foot pressure on the heel; and Figure 8 is a side view of a foot with pressure on the toes showing the movement of fluid to the heel area of the embodiment shown in Figure 6.
Throughout the drawings the same reference numer-als have been used for corresponding parts.
In Figure 1 a support pad in accordance with the present invention is indicated generally at 10. As show~
therein, the pad includes an envelope 12 of flexible material such as vinyl, rubber, and the like. An opening 14 sealed by suitable means such as adhesive sealant 16 is provided in envelope 12. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the sup-port pad is for supporting part of the human body, particu-larly the foot and the pad is shaped to conform to the part of the body, i.e. the foot, being supported.
Referring now to Figure 2, it will be seen that envelope 12 comprises two sheets of flexible material 18, 20.
Core 22 of cellular material occupies substantially all of the space within envelope 12. An apprOpriate means for forming sheets 18 and 20 into an envelope 12 around core 22 is by disposing the three materials one on top of the other in the order in which they will be present in the final pad 10 and then heat and pressure bonding the edges to one another and sealing envelope 12 by suitable hot stamping means and the like, as is well known to those skilled in the art.
Core 22 may be of any suitable cellular material.
Desirably, the cellular material is fully reticulated, open ~4~764 pore, cellular structure. A particularly effective mater-ial is a fully reticulated open pore polyurethane foam manu-factured by the ~cott paper Company and sold under the trade name Product #250. This material has a density of 4.7 pounds per cubic foot, a compression-deflection of 0.21 P~I at 25%, a 27% ball rebound, a l~/o compression set, a 16~/~ ultimate elongation, and a 16 PSI tensile strength, all determined by the ASTM Procedure 1564-64T Method. The compression de-flection value shows the pounds per square inch required to compress one inch thick foam by a comparable percentage.
Referring now to Figure 3, an appropriate means of dispersing liquid in the cells of core 22 may be seen. A
hypodermic syringe 24 containing an appropriate amount of liquid 26 such as water is inserted by means of its needle 28 through opening 14 in envelope 12. The liquid 26 is then injected by hypodermic syringe 24 into the cells of core 22.
Needle 28 is removed from opening 14 and adhesive sealant 16 applied thereto as shown in Figure 1.
It is an important feature of the invention that the amount of liquid present in the core is less than that which will saturate the core. No free water, i.e. water that can move about freely,should be present~ All the water present should be dispersed in the cell structure of core 22. In a typical application of a support pad 10 to support a human foot of average size, say a man's shoe size 8, the amount of liquid present is about 8 to about 25 cubic centi-meters. This amOunt of water is so slight relative to the ~)4~7~4 amount of core s~ructure in which it is dispersed that if one were to then cut open pad 12 the core 22 would appear at best only very slightly damp. No undispersed water would be apparent.
The amOunt of liquid present may of course be varied somewhat with the weight of the part of the body, which generally is proportional to the overall weight of the human being being supported. More water will be required in pad 10 to support a heavy human than a light human. How-ever, in no case should the amount of water be at a level that will fully saturate the core. In all cases, it should be less than saturated.
Figure 4 is a partially cutaway view of the pad shown in the preceding figures and illustrates the overall structural arrangement of the various components, i.e. sheets 18 and 20, which are bonded together to form envelope 12, with core 22 occupying substantially all of the space within envelope 12. The amount of liquid 26 present is uniformly dispersed in core 22 and therefore no free water, i.e. water which is not dispersed in the cells of core 22, can be de-tected by the naked eye.
In the embodiments shown in Figures 1 through 4 inclusive, it is apparent that pad 10 is shaped like the entire plantar area of the human foot. In fact, while this will be desirable much o~ the time it may not always be necessary. Pad 10 may be shaped like no more than the area of the foot or other part of the body which it is desired to specifically support.
Figure 5 illustrates such a pad 10 which is de-signed to support the plantar area of the foot from the ball of the foot back, and not support the toe area.
Referring now to Figures 6 through 8 inclusive, the operation of pad 10 when the weight of the body is variably applied thereto by means of the movement of the human foot may be observed. ~s shown therein, foot 30 rests on pad 10. As can be seen in Figure 6, when foot 30 is not moving, the amOunt of liquid 26 in core 22 of pad 10 is suf-ficient, together with the inherent resiliency of core 22 to keep either the heel area 32 or the toe area 34 of foot 30 supported or both supported.
Referring now to Figure 7, when heel 32 bears the pressure of the body in a forward walking movement, the liquid 26 dispersed in the heel area of core 22 tends to act as a hydraulic shock absorber and cushion in impact of heel 32. The pressure of heel 32 on support pad 10 will tend to force some of liquid 26 out of the cells of core 22 immediately therebelow and forward towards the area of sup-port pad 10 below toes 34. Thus the ball 36 of the foot and toes 34 are received by a semi-hydraulic cushion of liquid 26 dispersed in the cells of core 22. This disperses the pressure evenly over the plantar area of foot 30.
Then, referring to Figure 8, as one continues with a walking movement, as shown in Figure 8, the pressure now is concentrated on toe area 34 of the foot 30. Ball 36 and toes 34 take the weight of the body, initially compressing ~4~7~
core 22 therebelow. This will tend to push liquid rear-wardly to the area of core 22 in pad lO below heel 32. This tends to support the entire plantar area of the foot rear-ward of ball 36 and spread the pressure uniformly over the entire plantar area of foot 30. The action is repeated every time one goes through a walking step.
It will be appreciated that while there have been shown and described hereinabove possible embodiments of this invention, the in~ention is not limited thereto, and variOus changes, alterations, and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the claims.
Claims (4)
1. A support pad comprising: an envelope of flexible material; a core of cellular material occupying substantially all of the space within the envelope; and a liquid dispersed in the cells of the core, the amount of liquid being less than that which will saturate the core.
2. The support pad of claim 1 wherein the pad is for supporting part of the human body and the pad is shaped to conform to the part of the body being supported.
3. The support pad of claim 2 wherein the pad is supporting part of a foot and the amount of liquid present is from about eight to about twenty-five cubic centimeters.
4. The support pad of claim 1 wherein the core of cellular material is an open-pore polyurethane foam.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA246,578A CA1046764A (en) | 1976-02-25 | 1976-02-25 | Support pad |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA246,578A CA1046764A (en) | 1976-02-25 | 1976-02-25 | Support pad |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1046764A true CA1046764A (en) | 1979-01-23 |
Family
ID=4105324
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA246,578A Expired CA1046764A (en) | 1976-02-25 | 1976-02-25 | Support pad |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1046764A (en) |
-
1976
- 1976-02-25 CA CA246,578A patent/CA1046764A/en not_active Expired
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US3914881A (en) | Support pad | |
| CA2193601C (en) | Shoe having hydrodynamic pad | |
| US5575090A (en) | Inner boot tongue of a ski boot | |
| US6199304B1 (en) | Sockliner | |
| US4774774A (en) | Disc spring sole structure | |
| CA2319904C (en) | Gel insoles with lower heel and toe recesses having thin spring walls | |
| CA2182753C (en) | Improved shock absorbing cushion | |
| KR0140071B1 (en) | Shoe sole with reactive energy fluid filled toroid apparatus | |
| KR940004750B1 (en) | Athletic shoes | |
| US4590689A (en) | Air-trapping insoles | |
| CA1337957C (en) | Shock absorbing system for footwear application | |
| US4817304A (en) | Footwear with adjustable viscoelastic unit | |
| US4627179A (en) | Shock absorbing insole construction | |
| US4342157A (en) | Shock absorbing partially liquid-filled cushion for shoes | |
| US5067255A (en) | Cushioning impact structure for footwear | |
| US4451994A (en) | Resilient midsole component for footwear | |
| US7788826B2 (en) | Dynamically moderated shock attenuation system for footwear | |
| US5685090A (en) | Cushioning system for shoe sole and method for making the sole | |
| US20070063368A1 (en) | Fluid-filled bladder incorporating a foam tensile member | |
| EP0664970A1 (en) | Cup-like insole | |
| MXPA01010979A (en) | Spring cushioned shoe. | |
| GB1598012A (en) | Inserts or insoles for footwear and cushioning devices inflated with a gaseous filling under pressure | |
| US5604998A (en) | Sports shoe providing heel stabilization | |
| JP2000501329A (en) | Footwear with a deformable inner sole that conforms to the shape of the sole of the user | |
| CA1046764A (en) | Support pad |