Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B5/00—Footwear for sporting purposes
  • A43B5/04—Ski or like boots
  • A43B5/0427—Ski or like boots characterised by type or construction details
  • A43B5/0482—Ski or like boots characterised by type or construction details made from materials with different rigidities
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B5/00—Footwear for sporting purposes
  • A43B5/04—Ski or like boots

Definitions

• the present invention refers to sports footwear provided with a rigid shell.
• Some sorts of sports footwear are largely known to comprise a shell and a legpiece that is usually joined in an articulated manner with the shell, both of which are made of rigid plastic materials and may be fitted with a removable inner shoe that is at least partially made with the use of softer materials.
• the actual purpose of such a kind of construction is in fact to prevent the feet from being able to move inside the footwear when practicing a sports activity, e.g. during skiing, further to ensuring not only an adequate protection in the case of accidents, but also a sufficient heating effect.
• EP-A-996 344 discloses a footwear for in-line skates which - in view of holding the foot of the wearer at an ideal temperature, such as in practice a temperature situated anywhere between 28°C and 35°C - is provided with first openings in the rigid portions thereof (i.e. shell and legpiece) and second openings, provided in an aligned arrangement with said first openings, in the outer surface of the soft portion (inner shoe) of the footwear.
• the said soft portion has in fact a composite structure, which includes, as a part thereof, a textile or fibrous material that, within the range of ideal temperature values, is capable of giving off and taking in heat through said openings.
• first openings use may further be made of a net or a vapour-permeable material in order to facilitate transpiration of the foot.
• this prior-art footwear does by no means ensure any adequate protection to the foot in the case of bumps, shocks and the like, which on the contrary is a basic pre-requisite of all kinds of footwear where shell and legpiece are made of rigid plastic materials, such as ski boots.
• FR-A-2 788 410 Also known from FR-A-2 788 410 is a removable inner shoe for ski boots, which features pre-indentations or yielding lines provided in a more or less circular configuration in correspondence of the "sensitive parts" of the foot, such as in correspondence of the malleoli and the upper side of the foot.
• a cutting tool eg. a knife
• Such kind of operations in order to be able to be carried out in a proper and correct manner without damaging the remaining portions of the inner shoe, must be performed by adequately skilled persons and are in all cases quite ill-accepted by footwear retailers.
• rigid bodies for example, possible stones concealed in snow
• sharply pointed objects for instance, the tip of a ski pole
• FIG. 2 is a view similar to the one shown in Figure 1 , in which the ski boot is however shown from the inner side of the foot;
• - Figure 3 is a simplified exploded and partially see-through view of the ski boot shown in Figures 1 and 2;
• - Figure 4A is a cross-sectional view of the portion of the shell of the boot that is enclosed in the circle D of Figure 1 , however in a different embodiment;
• FIG. 4B is similar to Figure 4A, showing the same portion of the shell as it tries to be penetrated by a sharp-pointed body, such as for instance the tip of a ski pole;
• - Figure 5 is a front view, i.e. from the outside of the foot, the same portion of the shell to which Figures 4A and 4 B also refer;
• - Figure 6 is a view from the outer side of the foot of a removable inner shoe that is adapted for use in combination with the boot illustrated in the preceding Figures;
• - Figure 7 is a partially cross-sectional view along the line A-A of Figure 1 of a footwear consisting of a boot as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 and an inner shoe as illustrated in Figure 6.
• a ski boot can be noticed to comprise two parts that are made of rigid plastic materials, i.e. a shell 10 - which includes a sole 101 , a lower portion adapted to accommodate the foot and an upper portion extending well above the line of the malleoli - and a legpiece 20.
• Hinge means (not shown, owing to them being well known to those skilled in the art) join the legpiece 20 to the shell 10 in such a manner as to enable the former one to be articulated with respect to the latter one about a substantially horizontal axis.
• the shell 10 features a longitudinal window 12 (shown in Figure 3), which extends from the tip portion 11 up to the upper free border 13.
• This window 12 which allows for the foot to be introduced in the boot, is adapted to be closed with a tongue 40 having the approximate shape of a "L" which, according to a feature of the invention, is at least partially made of two different co-injected plastic materials, of which the inner one is soft (for example, foamed open-cell polyurethane) and the outer one is not only rigid, but also impermeable in order to prevent water and snow from seeping through into the footwear (for example, polypropylene).
• the inner one is soft (for example, foamed open-cell polyurethane)
• the outer one is not only rigid, but also impermeable in order to prevent water and snow from seeping through into the footwear (for example, polypropylene).
• the rigid portion of the tongue 40 is provided with a window 46, which is occupied by a bulging portion of the above cited soft material in correspondence of the starting point of the instep, further to two front perforations 42 and 44 for a couple of rivets (not shown for sake of simplicity) for fixing it to the lower portion of the shell 10 in the proximity of the tip portion 11 - see Figure 3.
• a strip 50 of flexible plastic material which is in the approximate shape of a downward curved rectangle and is provided near one of its short sides with three perforations 52, 54, 56 for attachment (by means of rivets, not shown) to the lower portion of the shell 10, is adapted to extend transversally above the tongue 40, namely above said window 46.
• This strip 50 is in turn provided with a window 58 and a further perforation 59 for the attachment (by means of a further rivet, not shown) of a rack 61 which, jointly with a corresponding buckle 62 - shown in Figure 1 - forms the first one of the conventional fastening means of the boot.
• the other two conventional fastening means of the boot are constituted by two further racks 63, 64 which, as disclosed in the international patent application PCT/IT01/00341 by the same Applicant, are attached to a panel 22 hinged on to the inner side of the upper portion of the shell 10 - see Figure 2 - and are adapted to co-operate with corresponding buckles 65, 66, and by a strap 67 that winds all around the legpiece 20 so as to tighten it against the calf of the wearer.
• the shell 10 is provided with through- perforated windows in a roughly ovoidal shape, namely a window 14 in correspondence of the outer malleolus and a window 16 in correspondence of the outer side of the metatarsus. Above these windows, there is applied from the outside a soft padding 15 supported by a protective shield 25 which ensures the attachment thereof to the shell 10 and forms a sort of sandwich structure with the padding 15.
• the above-mentioned soft padding 15 forms a first panel in the approximate shape of a "L" with two outward facing bulging portions 17, 18 exactly in correspondence of the inner malleolus and the inner side of the metatarsus.
• the soft padding 15 is made by a thermoforming technique and may for instance consist of an inner layer of polyethylene, an intermediate layer of polyvinyl chloride and an outer layer (much thinner than the other two layers) of polyurethane.
• the support shield 25 which is of rigid shock-proof material, such as for instance rigid polyurethane and is also made by a thermoforming technique, forms a second panel that is substantially in the same shape as, but larger than the first one, and is provided with two windows 27 and 28 that are so shaped and sized as to be able to exactly and tightly accommodate the bulging portions 17 and 18 when the padding 15 and the shield 25 are joined together.
• use may be made of welding techniques, or equally well-known adhesive bonding techniques, to be applied at least along the whole of the outer periphery of the padding 15 and of the windows 27 and 28.
• Use can of course be made also of other well-known joining techniques, such as co-injection moulding.
• Such a sandwich structure consisting of the soft padding 15 and the rigid shield 25 is rigidly attached to the outer surface of the shell 10, with the result that said bulging portions 17 and 18 of the padding 15 are exposed to view and arranged in correspondence of the outer malleolus and the outer side of the metatarsus of the wearer, respectively, as this has already been discussed above - see Figure 1.
• Such an attachment calls for the lower folded edge 23 of the shield 25 to be inserted into a longitudinal receptacle 100 located immediately above the sole 101 of the shell 10 - see Figure 7 - in correspondence of the plantar arch of the foot, and is carried out under utilization of a few rivets (not shown, for sake of simplicity) engaging corresponding perforations which are distributed along the periphery of the shield 25, such as the one indicated at 29 and shown in Figures 1 and 3,.
• Figure 2 can be noticed to show the inner side of the ski boot where the rigid shield 125 features two windows 127 and 128 that are so shaped and sized as to be able to exactly and tightly accommodate the bulging portions 117 and 118 - arranged in correspondence of the inner malleolus and the inner side of the metatarsus of the wearer, respectively - of the soft padding 115 provided therebelow.
• the construction characteristics of the shield 125 and the padding 115, as well as the methods used to join the same together so as to obtain that sort of sandwich structure, are those already described in connection with the shield 25 and the padding 15.
• the shield 125 is furthermore attached to the outer surface of the shell 10 by means of a few rivets (not shown) engaging corresponding perforations such as the ones indicated at 126 and 129.
• All windows provided in the shell 10 are preferably sealed with thin plates or disks of impermeable material, such as for instance polyvinyl chloride reinforced with a textile mesh, in order to prevent any water and snow from being able to seep through into the footwear. Only one of these sealing disks is visible in the accompanying drawing, i.e. the disk indicated at 21 which is applied to the outer surface of the shell 10 in correspondence of the window 16 - see Figure 7.
• the shell 310 is provided, instead of at least one of the windows such as the ones indicated at 14 and 16, with zones having a reduced thickness, such as at 314, where is provided a narrow opening 320 which may be in a tripod-like configuration - as shown in Figure 5 - or in a different configuration, such as a cross-like or an asterisk-like configuration.
• said opening 320 is sealed by means of a plate 330 of impermeable material which preferably overlaps, as this is shown in the Figures, the step forming between the thinner zone 314 where the opening 320 is provided, and the remaining of the shell 310.
• the plate 330 (and even the overlying padding in the worst cases) may even break open, but the foot is anyway protected by the deflection of the shell 310 towards the interior of the boot, which is allowed for by the reduced thickness of said zone 314 and the conformation of the aperture 320 itself.
• FIGS 6 and 7 illustrate a removable inner shoe 200 which, in a per se known manner, is used as a part of at least some models of ski boots.
• the inner shoe 200 which has such a height as to protrude above the free upper border of the legpiece 20, comprises a vamp 202, a lining 204 and a padding 206 arranged in between. All these parts of the inner shoe 200 are conventionally made of materials that are less rigid than the materials used to make the shell 10 and the legpiece 20; for example, the vamp 202 is made up of mutually joined layers of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
• the inner shoe 200 is provided with windows on a level with the metatarsus - such as for instance the one indicated at 210 in Figure 7 - as well as on a level with the two malleoli, namely both on the outer side and the inner side of the foot of the wearer.
• windows on a level with the metatarsus - such as for instance the one indicated at 210 in Figure 7 - as well as on a level with the two malleoli, namely both on the outer side and the inner side of the foot of the wearer.
• corresponding inserts such as those indicated at 220 and 222 respectively, which are applied on to the vamp 202 by means of sewing seams 211 and 213 - see Figure 6.
• the said inserts are made of a material that may also be of the same type as the one used to make the vamp 202, but anyway featuring such elasticity properties as to allow for an expansion of the foot.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=32500475

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (3)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 2002
  • 2002-12-11 WO PCT/IT2002/000781 patent/WO2004052134A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-12-11 AU AU2002368449A patent/AU2002368449A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-12-11 EP EP02808225A patent/EP1571939B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-12-11 DE DE60214609T patent/DE60214609T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events