EP2286686A1

EP2286686A1 - Toe protection cap and footgear comprising toe protection cap

Info

Publication number: EP2286686A1
Application number: EP09168387A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Karl Peter kurth; Michael Grosbol
Original assignee: Mascot International A/S
Current assignee: Mascot International A/S
Priority date: 2009-08-21
Filing date: 2009-08-21
Publication date: 2011-02-23
Also published as: AU2010212295A1; AU2010212295B2; EP2298112A1; CN101991244B; CN101991244A; CA2713205A1; US20110185602A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a toe cap (1) for shoes comprising an arcuate peripheral wall (3) capable of covering the front part (3a) and the two side parts (3b, 3c) of the toe cap (1), a top wall (5) and a bottom wall (7) capable of covering the top and bottom parts (5a, 7a), respectively, of the toe cap (1) and being connected to said arcuate peripheral wall (3), said walls (3, 5 and 7) defining a rear opening (8) for a user's toes to be accommodated in the space defined by said walls (3, 5, 7), wherein said top wall (5) has a rearside edge (5b) having the shape of a letter "S" thereby allowing a protection of all toes of a user. The invention also relates to safety shoes, protective shoes, occupation shoes, sports shoes etc. comprising such a toe cap (1).

Description

The present invention relates to a toe protection cap. In particular, the invention relates to a toe protection cap providing improved ventilation to the toes of the wearer without a necessity of taking a loss of the toe protection cap in mechanical resistance to impacts or pushes. The invention also relates to footgear, e. g. safety shoes, protective shoes, occupation shoes, sports shoes, to name only a few without wanting to restrict the term, comprising such a toe protection cap as a means for preventing the toes of a wearer from being hit by impacts or pushes by tools, constructional materials, debris, pieces of sports equipment etc..
The human foot, due to its adaptation to the erect movement of a human, is an anatomically and functionally highly complex part of the body. Even minor mechanical influences to the muscles or bones of the feet result into major discomfort or even pain, and a physical injury to the feet may even have the consequence that a person has to refrain from walking, and thereby loose the possibility of movement, for the time of completely healing the injury. Having these facts in view, the working environment always emphasized protecting the feet of workers reliably, for example by suitable shoes. Wearing safety shoes or safety boots is, hence, an obligatory requirement in many areas where a risk exists that the feet may be harmed, for example in the steel industry, building industry, in the gardening and landscaping fields, for firefighters and rescue service people as well as for soldiers.
Safety shoes usually are midheight footwear made of leather and/or rubber or other polymers as, for example, polyurethane or thermoplastic polyurethane. Safety boots reach a height sufficient for protecting the foot including a part of the lower leg; they are made, in most of the cases, either of leather or of rubber (where protection against water is needed). The sole of safety shoes/boots usually has an exposed profile for preventing the wearer from slipping and is often made of a high strength material in order to give the person wearing the shoe/boot a safe stand. In many cases, additional strengthening and puncture-preventing materials as, for example, steel plates or hard polymer parts made of, for example, Kevlar^R of ParaAmide^R are incorporated into the soles of safety shoes or safety boots.
From the safety point of view, the toes usually are the best protected part of the foot: Safety shoes or safety boots are usually provided with a protective cap made of steel, aluminum or high-strength plastics at their forepart in order to protect the toes against injuries resulting from heavy objects falling down.
The document US-A 2005/0,144,809 discloses a composite-reinforced toe cap for a shoe, which includes multiple composite fiber reinforcement layers and a larger fiber layer laminated between and extending out from the composite fiber reinforcement layers. The fiber layer is made of continuous strands. The composite fiber reinforcement layers are made of fiber-reinforced plastic composite materials, are laminated on the fiber layer to form a pre-product toe cap. A bonding coating is applied to the fiber layer that extends beyond the composite fiber reinforcement layer to form a binding. The pre-product is cured and has a binding that can be sewn to the sole, upper or tongue of a shoe.
The document US-A 2006/0,213,086 discloses a metal toe cap for safety shoes which includes an arcuate peripheral wall that tapers forward, a top wall, and a bottom wall defining a rear opening for receiving the toes of a user. The peripheral wall and the top wall are connected by an upper arcuate transition section having a thickness that increases toward the top wall such that the top wall has a thickness greater than that of the peripheral wall. The impact-resisting property of the top wall is thus improved.
As many other known toe caps, these to caps of the prior art have no ventilation in the front part of the toe cap, and hence, sweat or humidity cannot escape. This not only results into discomfort to the wearer of the shoe, but also creates ideal conditions for diseases and micro-organisms to develop.
Hence, it was an object of the present invention to provide a toe cap for a shoe which allows sweat and humidity to escape from the inner space of the toe cap, without giving up stability and safety features of the toe cap.
Further, it was an object of the present invention to provide a toe cap for a shoe allowing a reliable protection for the whole toe area of the foot of a user. Moreover, it was an object of the present invention to provide a toe cap for a shoe allowing a greater comfort to the wearer than with conventional toe caps for shoes
Thus, the invention relates to a toe cap for shoes comprising an arcuate peripheral wall capable of covering the front part and the two side parts of the toe cap, a top wall and a bottom wall capable of covering the top and bottom parts, respectively, of the toe cap and being connected to said arcuate peripheral wall, said walls defining a rear opening for a user's toes to be accommodated in the space defined by said walls, wherein said top wall has a rearside edge having the shape of a letter "S" thereby allowing a protection of all toes of a user.
Preferred embodiments of the toe cap of the invention are claimed in claims 2 to 10.
The invention also relates to shoes comprising a toe cap of the invention as described below in detail. Such shoes may be safety shoes, protective shoes, occupation shoes, sports shoes, to name only a few of shoes wherein the toe cap of the invention may be used, without, however, restricting the invention to those shoes.
The invention is now in detail described exemplarily by means of the Figures which show preferred embodiments of the invention. The invention, however, should not be construed to be limited to those preferred embodiments described below.
In the Figures,

Figure 1 shows a toe cap of the invention having holes and fillets surrounding the holes;
Figure 2 shows a toe cap of the invention having no holes but having fillets;
Figure 3 shows a magnified view to a part of the top wall 5 of the toe cap of the invention, from which the holes 5c, the fillets 5d and the additional fillets 5e may be seen conveniently;
Figure 4 shows a magnified view to the inner space of the toe cap of the invention defined by the peripheral, top and bottom walls 3, 5 and 7, where the optional strengthening fillets 3d on the inner side of the peripheral wall 3 directed to the inner space may be seen conveniently;
Figure 5a shows the bottom wall 7 of the toe cap of the invention formed as claimed in claim 7;
Figure 5b shows the toe cap of Figure 2 (no holes) without the bottom wall, but showing at the inner side of the peripheral wall 3 the optional strengthening fillets 3d; and
Figure 6 shows the toe cap (no holes on the top wall) of the present invention divided along the peripheral wall 3 into an top cap part and a bottom cap part so that the optional strengthening fillets 3d may be seen conveniently.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a toe cap 1 for shoes. Toe caps are usually made of plastics or of a metal or metal alloy and are mounted in a front end of a shoe, for example of a safety shoe, to withstand external impact and thereby protect particularly the forefeet, i. e. the toes of a foot of a user of the shoe.
As shown in Figure 1, the toe cap 1 of the invention comprises a peripheral wall 3 which is formed arcuate and which is capable of covering the front part 3a and the two side parts (left hand and right hand side parts) 3b, 3c of the toe cap 1. The toe cap further comprises a top wall 5 and a bottom wall 7 which are capable of covering the top part 5a and the bottom part 7a of the toe cap 1. The top and bottom walls 5, 7 are connected to the arcuate peripheral wall 3 integrally so as to form the toe cap 1.
The arcuate peripheral wall 3, the top wall 5 and the bottom wall 7 together define a rear opening 8 of the toe cap 1, which rear opening 8 is for the accommodation of all the toes of one foot of the user, i.e. the toes of one foot of a user are accommodated in the inner space defined by said peripheral wall 3, top wall 5 and bottom wall 7.
In accordance with the invention, the rearside edge 5b of the top wall 5, and preferably also the rearside edge of the bottom wall, has the shape of a letter "S", which shape may be easily seen from Figures 1 and 2. The major advantage of such a shape similar to the letter "S" is the complete accommodation of all toes of one foot of the user wearing the shoe with the toe cap 1 of the invention within the toe cap in a convenient and non-restricted manner, in contrast to the prior art, where mainly the large toes were sufficiently protected, while the small toes were not.
In accordance with the invention, the toe cap 1 may be constructed not to have any holes at the top wall 5, as can be seen, for example, from Figure 2. However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the toe cap 1 is provided with a top wall 5 having at least one hole 5c, preferably having a number of holes 5c, even more preferably having a number of holes 5c distributed throughout the whole surface of the top wall 5 either regularly or irregularly. The term "regularly", as used in the description and claims is intended to mean that the holes have a substantially identical distance to the next-neighboring hole(s) throughout the top wall 5 of the toe cap 1. In contrast, a (partly or completely) irregular distribution of the holes means that the distances of one hole to the next-neighboring hole(s) may be more or less (or at least partly) different. A regular distribution of the holes 5c is preferred. Such hole or holes 5c may serve a ventilation of the toe area of the foot of the user wearing the shoe including the toe cap 1. Such a ventilation not only improves the convenience of wearing such a shoe with a toe protection cap 1, but also prevents an accumulation of sweat and/or humidity in the inner space of the toe cap 1.The latter may prevent the generation of bad smells due to a growth of smell-generating bacteria and the occurrence of diseases at the foot or, specifically, at the toes.
In order not to loose strength of the toe cap 1 against impact, some of the holes 5c at the toe cap top wall 5, preferably the majority of the holes 5c at the toe cap top wall 5, even more preferably each hole 5c in the surface of the top wall 5 of the toe cap 1 are / is surrounded by a system of fillets 5d. By providing the fillets 5d around the hole(s) 5c, the toe cap material loss, by the holes 5c, is compensated, and a strengthening effect is obtained. Hence, the impact strength of the toe cap 1 is not deteriorated by providing the ventilation holes 5c.
In an even more preferred embodiment of the invention, said fillets 5d around the holes 5c in the toe cap top wall surface form a hexagon around the hole 5c or around each hole 5c. More preferably, the hole is located in the middle of the fillet hexagon, which position provides a particular strength to the top wall 5. In such a preferred embodiment of the invention, said hexagons form a honeycomb structure at the top wall surface of the toe cap 1. Such a honeycomb structure is capable of strengthening the toe cap against impacts despite the provision of ventilation holes in the top wall surface of the toe cap 1. Thus, the same strength as in conventional toe caps can be obtained by providing the honeycomb structure of fillets 5d around each ventilation hole(s) 5c.
Furthermore, it is preferred in accordance with the present invention that said top wall surface has additional fillets 5e extending from one point, especially from one hole, radially over the surface of the top wall 5. Such additional fillets 5e may extend over the whole surface of the top wall 5 of the toe cap 1, and they extend preferably in a straight manner from one hole over the top wall surface, as can best be seen in Figures 1, 2 and 3. By such straight fillets 5e, the toe cap structure may be strengthened additionally.
In an attempt to provide a toe cap 1 having less weight, material may be omitted at certain parts of the toe cap walls 3, 5, and 7. In order not to loose impact strength by omitting material, additional strengthening measures may be taken: In one optional (i.e. not necessary) embodiment of the invention, the arcuate peripheral wall 3 may be provided with strengthening fillets 3d on its inside, i. e. on the side directed to the inner space of the toe cap 1 directed to the toes of the wearer. When providing such additional fillets (which may extend in the direction between the top and bottom walls 5, 7, of the toe cap 1), the strength of the toe cap 1 may be improved. A toe cap 1 without such fillets 3d is preferred.
Omitting material, and thereby making the toe cap of the invention loose weight (which weight loss may be preferred for reasons of convenience of wearing the low weight toe cap 1), can be achieved, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, by an embodiment wherein said bottom wall 7 is formed of a fillet 7b extending along the connection of the bottom wall 7 to the peripheral wall 3, and continuing at the rear side edge into a fillet 7c having the shape of a letter "S" and extending in parallel to the corresponding edge of the top wall 5, said filets 7b, 7c being bridged by at least one further strengthening fillet 7d. There may be provided two or even more further strengthening fillets 7d, but one additional strengthening fillet is particularly preferred. By such a structure which is shown in Figure 5a specifically, the overall weight of the toe cap 1 may be reduced, without taking a loss of impact strength.
Even more preferred, in accordance with the invention, due to a further improvement of the impact strength, is another embodiment wherein said bottom wall fillets 7b, 7c, 7d are provided with strengthening fillets 7e over their whole surface. Such strengthening fillets 7e may be of any conceivable type, but preferably said bottom wall fillets 7b, 7c, 7d are provided with honeycomb structure fillets 7e, even more preferred over their whole surface. Advantageously, the impact strength of the toe cap 1 is improved further.
The material for toe caps 1 of the present invention may be selected by a skilled person in accordance with material selections made in the prior art, and the material may be adapted to the specific requirements in each single case. In accordance with the skill, a material may be used for manufacturing the toe caps 1 of the present invention which is selected from the group consisting of plastics, for example hard polymer materials like those used in the prior art, e. g. Kevlar^R or ParaAmide^R (if a particular elasticity is required or desired, without giving up impact resistance / impact strength), reinforced plastics (e.g. fiber-reinforced plastics (glass fiber-reinforced or carbon fiber-reinforced or metal or metal oxide or metal boride or metal carbide or metal nitride whiskers-reinforced), metal powder-reinforced plastics), metal(s) or metal alloys. Particularly preferred are metals or metal alloys, e. g. aluminum or steel, or fiber-reinforced plastics. As reinforcing fibers for polymers of the plastics material, such fibers known from the prior art to achieve a plastics reinforcement may be used without restriction. Glass fibers, carbon fibers or whiskers made of metals, metal oxides, metal borides, metal carbides or metal nitrides or their mixtures are preferably used, and glass fibers and carbon fibers are particularly preferred. Even more preferably, in one exemplary and preferred embodiment of the invention, PA-6 (polyamide-6) may be used as the plastics material. Alternatively, steel (e. g. (without restriction) steel 8620 (e. g. of BASF AG) or steel 1050 SAE) may be used.
The process for manufacturing such embodiments of toe caps 1 as described above is not restricted, and a skilled person may select manufacturing processes in accordance with the requirements of each single case.
In an exemplary embodiment, a sheet of a metal or of a metal alloy, for example a steel sheet, may be punched from a larger piece of steel, and such a punched steel sheet is then deep-drawn or deep-pressed to obtain an integral body of the toe cap 1 of the invention. Such an integral body may then be subjected to further process steps, as for example polishing steps and steps of applying a surface coating, so as to obtain the final toe cap body.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the so-called MIM (metal injection molding) process is used for manufacturing the toe caps 1 of the invention. In the MIM process, a powder of the metal used as the material for the toe cap 1 is comminuted to a stage as fine as necessary (e. g. to metal particles having a size in the range of between 0.1 and 10 µm) and is admixed with suitable binders (e.g. waxes and/or polymers and/or cracking catalysts and/or solvents). In a preferred embodiment, a mixture containing 60 to 80 % by weight of metal (e. g. the above-mentioned steels, but this does not restrict the invention; also other metal or metal alloy powders may be used) and 20 to 40 % by weight of binder(s) is used. Such a mixture may be processed on conventional injection molding machines. A green body of the mixture used for injection molding is prepared. In a subsequent step, the green body is heated stepwise to temperatures in the range of, for example, 100 to 600 °C, so as to thermally crack the binders (wax(es), polymer(s), catalyst(s), solvent(s)). As a result, a body of metal powder is obtained (so-called "brown body"). The brown body thus obtained is now sintered under controlled temperature/gas conditions (e. g. 600 to 1,400 °C; exemplary suitable gases: H₂, N₂, and/or Ar). A body now having, for example, > 96 % of the final density is obtained by such a sintering step. The surface of such a sintered body may be subjected to further processing steps as, for example, polishing steps and steps of applying a surface coating, so as to obtain the final toe cap body.
Toe caps of plastics materials, plastics materials comprising one type or several types of fibers (as defined above) may, for example, be manufactures by a usual injection molding process, as is well known to a person skilled in this technical field. Hence, the detailed description of the steps of such an injection molding process, its components and its conditions may be omitted here since they are known to a person in this technical field.
Of course, any other step conceivable to a skilled person for manufacturing such a toe cap body of the invention may be used.
In accordance with the invention, a toe cap 1 is inserted into a shoe in order to protect the shoe wearer's toes against impacts. Such impacts may be impacts due to the work of a tool used by the wearer or by anybody else in his/her environment, may be impacts by heavy things falling down, may be constructional materials, debris, pieces of sports equipment etc..
Hence, the invention also relates to shoes comprising a toe cap 1 as described above in detail. Such shoes may be safety shoes, protective shoes, occupation shoes, sports shoes, to name only a few of shoes wherein the toe cap of the invention may be used, without, however, restricting the invention to those shoes. In the European Union, such shoes are standardized, with respect to requirements they have to fulfill, in the industrial standards ISO EN 20345
(safety shoes), ISO EN 20346 (protective shoes) and ISO EN 20347 (occupation shoes).
Shoes provided with the toe caps 1 of the invention were tested first with respect to their strength to withstand to impacts by a heavy test object falling down on the shoe provided with the toe cap or to impacts by a tool swinging to the side of the toe cap, and were tested secondly with respect to the "foot climate" in the toe region due to a better ventilation of said region. The tests were conducted in accordance with standardized test methods.
It was found that the toe region, due to the presence of the toe cap 1 of the present invention, could be protected in an indentically reliable manner as in cases of using conventional toe caps, so that the shoes passed the standardized tests.
On the other hand, the "foot climate" was found to be much better than in shoes having conventional toe caps, due to the fact that sweat and humidity could escape from the toe region and could not accumulate in that area. Hence, bad smells and diseases due to the action of microorganisms in the toe area could be prevented from occurring.
The above description of the invention by its exemplary and preferred embodiments does not restrict the invention to these embodiments described. The scope of the invention is defined by the following claims.

Claims

A toe cap (1) for shoes comprising an arcuate peripheral wall (3) capable of covering the front part (3a) and the two side parts (3b, 3c) of the toe cap (1), a top wall (5) and a bottom wall (7) capable of covering the top and bottom parts (5a, 7a), respectively, of the toe cap (1) and being connected to said arcuate peripheral wall (3), said walls (3, 5 and 7) defining a rear opening (8) for a user's toes to be accommodated in the space defined by said walls (3, 5, 7), wherein said top wall (5) has a rearside edge (5b) having the shape of a letter "S" thereby allowing a protection of all toes of a user.
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in claim 1, wherein said top wall (5) is provided with a number of holes (5c) regularly or irregularly, preferably regularly, distributed throughout its surface.
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein some holes (5c), preferably the majority of the holes (5c), more preferably each hole (5c) in the surface of the top wall (5) are/is surrounded by a system of fillets (5d) strengthening the toe cap (1).
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in claim 3, wherein said fillets (5d) form a hexagon around the hole (5c), preferably around each hole (5c), said hexagons forming a honeycomb structure at the top wall surface of the toe cap (1).
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, said top wall surface having additional fillets (5e) extending from one point or hole radially over the whole surface of the top wall (5), thereby additionally strengthening the toe cap structure.
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein said peripheral wall (3) has strengthening fillets (3d) on its side directed to the inner space.
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein said bottom wall (7) is formed of a fillet (7b) extending along the connection of the bottom wall (7) to the peripheral wall (3), continuing at the rearside edge into a fillet (7c) having the shape of a letter "S" and extending in parallel to the corresponding edge of the top wall (5), said filets (7b, 7c) being bridged by at least one further strengthening fillet (7d).
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in claim 7, wherein said bottom wall fillets (7b, 7c, 7d) are provided with strengthening fillets (7e) over their whole surface, preferably wherein said bottom wall fillets (7b, 7c, 7d) are provided with honeycomb structure fillets (7e).
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 8, made of a material selected from the group consisting of plastics, reinforced plastics, metals and alloys of metals, preferably made of steel or fiber-reinforced polyamide.
The toe cap (1) for shoes as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 9, made as one upper half cap (1 a) and one lower half cap (1 b) and connected to the toe cap (1) before further use.
A footgear or shoe comprising a toe cap (1) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 10.
The footgear or shoe as claimed in claim 11, being a safety shoe, a protective shoe, an occupation shoe, or a sports shoe.