Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B17/00—Insoles for insertion, e.g. footbeds or inlays, for attachment to the shoe after the upper has been joined
  • A43B17/02—Insoles for insertion, e.g. footbeds or inlays, for attachment to the shoe after the upper has been joined wedge-like or resilient
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B17/00—Insoles for insertion, e.g. footbeds or inlays, for attachment to the shoe after the upper has been joined
  • A43B17/14—Insoles for insertion, e.g. footbeds or inlays, for attachment to the shoe after the upper has been joined made of sponge, rubber, or plastic materials

Definitions

• Damping or cushioning body for use in shoes and processing for the production thereof.
• the invention relates to a cushioning or cushioning body for use in shoes, such as an insole, a footbed, an inner shoe for ski boots or the like.
• damping or cushioning bodies can be made of very different materials. Examples include natural materials such as cork, rubber or the like. as well as elasti-cli-insulating plastic and especially foam materials.
• thermoplastic deformable, elastic-damping foam material For reasons of, for example, ease of manufacture and also for the individual adaptation of such damping or cushioning bodies to the corresponding anatomical shapes of the shoe wearer, attempts have already been made to manufacture the corresponding molded parts from a thermoplastic deformable, elastic-damping foam material.
• thermoplastically deformable foams are not stable enough with a practical density. With constant use when using the molded parts in shoes, the internal structure of the foam material will collapse sooner or later, causing the actual shape and damping properties of the Body is lost. If the density of the foam material is increased to improve the stability, the elastic-damping properties deteriorate to such an extent that the molded part can no longer be used satisfactorily as a damping or cushioning body.
• thermoplastic non-deformable plastic and foam materials such as polyurethane foam. Silicone rubber or the like Although damping or upholstery bodies with excellent elastic-damping properties can be produced, a subsequent change in shape by heating is not possible, for example.
• the invention is therefore based on the object of creating a damping or cushioning body made of a thermoplastically deformable, elastically-damping foam material, in which the disadvantages mentioned at the outset are avoided.
• the body is composed of individual beads of the foam material. These beads have a closed, essentially air-impermeable surface and are fixed in position by the influence of heat by means of sintering.
• the body thus consists of a large number of completely closed cells, the air-impermeable surface of which is an air cushion encloses.
• the latter acts like an air suspension and mechanically stabilizes the beads by creating a counter pressure and thus a restoring force when they are deformed inside.
• the foam material can thus have a low density without losing long-term stability.
• the shape of the damping or cushioning body according to the manufacture is determined by the mutual fixing of the position of the individual beads by the influence of heat by means of sintering. Sintering means that the pearls bake on their mutual contact surfaces.
• the damping or cushioning body according to the invention has a large number of outstanding properties with regard to use in shoes. These are the best damping properties, high resilience even after multiple and strong pressure loads, tough elasticity and dimensional stability, but high flexibility and breaking strength, low moisture absorption and excellent cold insulation. Due to the high stability, it is even conceivable to design entire shoe parts, such as the sole block of a sandal, entirely in accordance with the nature of the subject matter of the invention.
• the structure of the body from individual pearls also results in a structuring on the surface in the form of slight elevations and depressions which, for example when the body is used as an insole, have a physiologically advantageous effect on the sole of the foot, for example in the form of a massage effect.
• thermoplastic deformable beads are specified.
• a bead diameter of about 3-5 mm (claim 4) has proven to be a favorable compromise between good elasticity and shape-matching properties. If the balls are too small, very fine shapes can be formed, but the elasticity behavior is not satisfactory. If the balls are too large, there was a good cushioning effect, but certain fine shapes cannot be formed.
• the damping or cushioning body can also be made of the thermoplastic deformable beads in a mixture with an elastic-damping, thermoplastic non-deformable Be made of plastic material.
• the beads are embedded in a framework made of the latter plastic material.
• the material properties of the damping body are thus further improved, since the long-term stability of the elastic-damping plastic material advantageously overlaps with the possibility of the thermoplastic deformability of the beads. This makes it possible to subsequently deform the damping body thermoplastically within certain limits.
• thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material in claim 6, a favorable mixing ratio between the beads and the thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material of about 50:50 is specified.
• this plastic material uses a silicone rubber (claim 7) which, in addition to the thermoplastic non-deformability, has particularly favorable properties as a base material for cushioning and cushioning bodies for use in shoes. If the silicone rubber is hot vulcanizing, it can be crosslinked and the beads sintered in one operation.
• thermoplastically deformable beads a method for producing a damping or cushioning body from the thermoplastically deformable beads is specified. Accordingly, the latter are in a mold with full volume filling of this shape and then fixed in position with the addition of heat, preferably at a temperature of 110 °, by means of sintering. This manufacturing process is obviously very simple.
• thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material is crosslinked with the addition of heat, including and optionally sintering the beads.
• the shape of the body is thus defined per se by the framework formed by the thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material. Troxzdem subsequently result in adaptation options by changing the shape of the body, as explained in more detail in relation to claim 11.
• the beads or the mixture of the beads and the thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material are introduced into the mold under excess pressure.
• the damping hardness or the elasticity properties can be adjusted as desired by varying the overpressure.
• a very dense material structure results correspondingly hard elasticity behavior and vice versa
• thermoplastic deformable beads for the cushioning or cushioning body makes it possible to individually and finely adapt them to the respective shape of a corresponding foot area of the shoe wearer (claim 11).
• a cushioning or cushioning body corresponding to the rough anatomical shape of the respective foot area is produced by the method according to one of claims 7-9.
• the coarse shape is necessary because the damping body - be it that it is made exclusively from the thermoplastically deformable beads or be it that it consists of the mixed material described above - is no longer unlimitedly plastic due to the mutual fixing of the beads or the framework structure is flowable.
• a change in shape is only given in certain, by the elastic properties of the beads or the thermoplastic non-deformable plastic material. However, this is usually sufficient for a fine adjustment.
• the damping or cushioning body is brought into contact with the respective foot area in the heated state and its thermoplastic behavior is fine-tuned to this.
• the fine shape is stamped into the damping or cushioning body in an elastically damping manner but is unstable for forin. It should be noted that the adaptation to the ischmaterial is made possible by the fact that the thermoplastic deformable beads, in the heated state, quasi into the fine form pull along and keep it in this form after cooling.
• pearls have a kind of shape memory. They show the tendency to return to their original shape after a thermoplastic shape change under pressure and repeated heat supply in the depressurized state.
• the fine adjustment of the damping or cushioning body takes place directly in the shoe. So that the body is adapted to the shape of the foot as well as to the respective shape of the adjacent shoe inner surface in one work step.
• Claim 13 specifies a method for the simultaneous production and fine adjustment of the damping or cushioning body. This can be used, for example, in the manufacture and fine adjustment of a ski boot liner that has a sleeve for an adaptable filling material that lies between the outer shell of the boot and the foot. Accordingly, this shell of the inner boot used in the ski boot can also be filled with the thermoplastic deformable beads - or the mixed material - if necessary, under pressure, if the foot is also inserted. The beads or the mixed material are then fixed in position by applying heat to one another and the damping or cushioning body is fixed in a correspondingly fine shape. If the fine shape adjustment was not satisfactory, the Repeat the procedure as often as required by applying heat again.
• the insole (1) consists in its entirety of a plurality of beads (2) made of polyethylene foam, of which only a part is shown in the drawing for the sake of clarity.
• the beads (2) have an essentially smooth, air-impermeable surface (3).
• the mutual contact surfaces of the pearl surfaces (3) are sintered together by the application of heat, that is, they bake each other, which maintains the shape of the sole shown.
• the insole (1) in the rough shape shown is produced, for example, with toe depressions (4), reflex zone elevations (5) and a curved sole edge (5).
• a corresponding mold is filled with the beads (2) under a slight excess pressure and the sintering process is carried out by applying heat at a temperature of approximately 110 ° C.
• the insole (1) can be removed from the mold, it having the shape shown in the drawing.
• An individual shape adjustment can be done by heating again to about 60-80 °.
• the individual beads and thus the sole itself can be thermoplastic deformed within the limits given by the mutual fixing of the position and the deformability of the individual beads.
• the lower side (8) is also adapted to the inner surface of the sole of the shoe.

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• Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=6345915

Family Applications (1)

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• 1988
  • 1988-01-25 DE DE3802035A patent/DE3802035A1/de active Granted
• 1989
  • 1989-01-07 WO PCT/EP1989/000008 patent/WO1989006501A1/de not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1989-01-07 US US07/499,411 patent/US5150490A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1989-01-07 JP JP1501703A patent/JPH03502286A/ja active Pending
  • 1989-01-07 EP EP89901854A patent/EP0400032A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1989-01-25 CN CN89100411A patent/CN1034662A/zh active Pending
  • 1989-01-25 KR KR1019890000846A patent/KR890011561A/ko not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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