EP2494879A1

EP2494879A1 - Shoe and related manufacturing method

Info

Publication number: EP2494879A1
Application number: EP10842003A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Santos MARTÍN-CARO SÁNCHEZ
Original assignee: Pablosky SL
Current assignee: Pablosky SL
Priority date: 2010-01-08
Filing date: 2010-05-03
Publication date: 2012-09-05
Also published as: CN102665465A; AR079977A1; WO2011083187A1

Abstract

Starting from an upper (2) for said shoe, in which an outer part (5) is provided made of any suitable material and an inner lining (6), the invention consists of locating a rubber piece (7) between these elements, at the level of the forward zone of the upper, which confers certain elastic characteristics on said upper thereby improving the effect of, for example, the shoe kicking a ball. This rubber piece (7) forms at least one chamber or bubble, preferably several, which can be open or closed in an airtight manner, and which define protuberances (8), preferably in the form of a spherical cap, which emerge to the outside through holes (9) suitably shaped and positioned on the outer part (5) of the upper, in such a way that said chambers or bubbles (10), as well as strengthening the elasticity of the shoe in this zone, have a positive effect on the aesthetic appearance of the shoe.

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a shoe which, in addition to substantially altering its aesthetic appearance with regard to conventional shoes of this type, substantially improves its features when worn for certain sports.
The invention also concerns the procedure for the manufacture of the shoe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As is known, the basic structuring of a shoe, specifically a sports shoe, consists of a combination of an upper piece and a sole, duly attached to each other by means of stitching and/or adhesive.
Leaving the sole to one side, which lies outside the scope of the invention, the upper usually consists of a two-layer structure, being based in particular on an outer layer, which can be of natural or synthetic leather, plastic, etc., and an inner lining for improving the comfort of the shoe, these two parts also being joined by means of stitching and/or adhesive, with the outer part frequently consisting of various pieces duly combined and superimposed via their marginal zones.
The common denominator for all shoes or footwear of this type is focused solely on the existence of these two parts, outer part and lining, directly attached to each other.
Although this structuring does not imply any problem at all for the shoe, it can be improved in the two aspects mentioned above, in the aesthetic appearance of the shoe as a whole and very specially and particularly in the features that it can provide for the wearer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The shoe that the invention proposes provides conventional footwear of this type with the improvements noted at the end of the previous paragraph, in other words, it provides a completely different aesthetic from that of conventional shoes and it improves the functional features of the latter.
More specifically, starting from the said conventional structure for the upper of the shoe, in other words, the existence of an upper with a multi-piece outer part and an inner part constituting a lining, the invention consists of establishing at least one bubble or air chamber between both parts, specifically in the zone of the shoe close to the tip and which can concern the upper and/or side of that zone, said bubble or chamber being materialised in a piece of flexible rubber or other elastic material, which can be hermetically sealed in such a way that the bubble confers an elastic character on this zone of the shoe owing its own inflation, or it can be open in such a way that the elastic deformation of these bubbles produces a similar effect.
The shoe will preferably have several bubbles or chambers, and the outer part of the upper will be provided with holes, with a suitable shape and dimension so that said bubbles substantially emerge to the outside, becoming partially visible and consequently contributing to the aesthetic appearance of the shoe.
Both the protuberances defined by the bubbles and the holes in the outer part of the upper will preferably present a circular shape in plan view, though they can adopt any other configuration.
In whatever case, in other words whether there is a single bubble or chamber or a multiplicity of them, and whether these emerge to the outside or whether they do not, certain elastic features are achieved for this forward zone of the shoe that turn out to be specially suitable when said shoe is worn in certain sorts played with the foot and a ball, achieving a notable strengthening of the impact with the foot on the latter.
For the manufacture of this shoe provision has been made so that, following the operative phase of producing the outer part of the upper, one or more holes are made in it by means of stamping, so that they coincide in terms of shape, dimension and position with the intended chambers or bubbles, with the rubber piece or pieces that have to fit in them then being coupled to said hole or holes and carrying out the join between these elements, in other words between the rubber piece or pieces and the outer part of the upper, by means of stitching, gluing, riveting or any other appropriate conventional means.
Finally, fitted on the inner face of the assembly consisting of the outer part of the upper and the rubber piece or pieces is the lining which will in turn be able to be glued and/or stitched.
Nevertheless, and as is evident, the joining operation, in other words, the stitching or gluing, can be carried out simultaneously for the lining and the rubber piece or pieces with respect to the outer part of the upper.
As far as the rest is concerned, and once the manufacturing process for the upper is completed, the production of the rest of the shoe will continue in the conventional way, in other words, in relation to the joining of the upper to the sole.
In an alternative embodiment, each bubble is provided with an interior neck with a cylindrical or similar configuration, providing a lesser deformability for the actual protuberance established by the bubble, but maintaining the elasticity thereof.
In this case the bubbles can form part of a single piece of rubber, or they can be independent pieces, in which case said pieces are provided with a perimetric rim or flange for support and attachment on the inner face of the corresponding upper.
The interior neck and cylinder referred to above provided in each bubble is endowed with external annular ribs in order to give it greater resistance, while inside it is smooth, being able to have a constant cross-section, in other words smooth on both the side and the outside.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In order to complement the description that is being made, and with the aim of aiding a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, in accordance with a preferred example of practical embodiment thereof, attached as an integral part of said description is a set of drawings in which the following has been represented in an illustrative and non-limiting way:

Figure 1.- Shows, according to a general view in lateral perspective, a sports shoe embodied in accordance with the object of the present invention.
Figure 2.- Shows a detail of the same shoe in cross-section, at the level of the zone where the invention is concentrated on.
Figure 3.- Shows a plan view of a bubble on a variant embodiment of the invention.
Figure 4.- Shows a view in cross-section of the bubble represented in the previous figure, allowing the interior neck thereof to be seen.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

With the stated figures in view it can be seen how the shoe which the invention proposes is, as with any conventional shoe of this type, produced by means of a functional combination of a sole (1), generally of an elastomeric nature, and an upper (2) joined to the sole (1) by any means and which will normally include the classical tongue (3) and any suitable means of closing, as might be the strap (4) of figure 1, a system of laces or any other appropriate means, without this having any effect at all on the essence of the invention.
The upper (2) is in turn structured, also conventionally, by means of an outer part (5) and an inner lining (6).
So, in accordance with an example of practical embodiment chosen in figures 1 and 2, contained between the lining (6) and the outer part (5) of the upper is a flexible rubber piece (7) with a number of protuberances (8), preferably in the form of a spherical cap, which emerge to the outside through some holes (9) operatively made in the outer part (5) of the upper, in such a way that they constitute elastic protuberances which strengthen the effect of, for example, kicking a ball.
As mentioned earlier, the protuberances (8) can belong to a single rubber body (7), defining chambers or bubbles (10) which are open below, as in the example of the figure, said chambers can be closed below so that they are sealed forming bubbles which on account of their own elastic nature incorporate the effect caused by pneumatic deformation, and in the same way each protuberance or bubble (8) can be physically independent of the others, being in whatever case duly joined to the structure of the upper (2) between the two parts of thereof.
In the case in which they emerge to the outside, the protuberances (8) can be decorated in accordance with any manner of design, since they have a direct effect on the aesthetic appearance of the shoe, without this having any effect on the essence of the invention.
As has also been said above, during the manufacturing process of the shoe, and more specifically during the manufacturing process of the upper (2), the rubber body (7) will be coupled to the outer part (5) of the upper, being coupled as the case might be in the holes (9), proceeding immediately afterwards to its stitching in order to finally obtain the lining (6), which will in turn be joined to the elements mentioned above, or the joining between these elements can be done simultaneously, in a single operation of stitching, cutting or similar.
In a variant embodiment shown in figures 3 and 4, it can be seen how each protuberance (8) presents centred in its concavity a neck (11) with a cylindrical configuration and which can have a constant thickness or have external annular ribs (12), for providing greater resistance. In any case, the neck (11) established in each one of the protuberances (8) of the bubbles confers a lesser deformability on the protuberance itself, nevertheless maintaining the elasticity thereof.
Each protuberance (8) corresponding to the respective bubble is formed by an independent body, as represented in figures 3 and 4, with a perimetric rim or flange (13) on the upper surface of which will rest the corresponding upper (5) for attachment of the former to the said upper of the shoe. In other words, the passage of the protuberance (8) through the hole corresponding to the upper will thereby entail support for the upper surface of the perimetric flange (13) on the inner face of the lining for the shoe, permitting the attachment to be carried out by means of stitching or by means of adhesive or by any other suitable means.
Finally, it can be said that the neck (11) is open via its lower end in order to permit a minimum deformability and achieve the maximum elasticity of the array of protuberances (8).

Claims

Sports shoe which, being of the type created by means of the functional combination of a sole and an upper, with the latter consisting of an outer or visible part and an inner part acting as the lining, said upper incorporating in correspondence with the forward zone thereof and between its outer part (5) and its lining (6), at least one elastic piece (7), preferably of flexible rubber which confers on the shoe in the said forward zone an elastic effect with regard to impacts on a ball or similar, and in which an array of bubbles (10) is provided, which emerge to the outside of the upper thereby defining protuberances (8) duly distributed on the forward zone and the side zones of the upper, characterised in that the protuberances (8) present centred in their concavity a neck (11) with a cylindrical configuration, which neck (11) is open to the inside in order to establish a lesser deformability, maintaining the elasticity of the actual protuberances (8).
Sports shoe according to claim 1, characterised in that each protuberance (8) is an independent piece with respect to the others and is provided with a perimetric rim or flange (13) or support and attachment on the inner face of the corresponding upper of the shoe in which it is applied.
Sports shoe according to claim 1, characterised in that the cylindrical neck (11) is smooth internally and suitable for being provided with external annular ribs (12).
Manufacturing procedure for the sports shoe of the above claims, characterised in that in the phase of producing the outer part (5) of the upper, it is stamped in order to create holes (9) in accordance with the shape, position and dimensions determined by the bubbles (10), then proceeding to the coupling of the protuberances (8) of the elastic piece (7) in the said holes of the outer part of the upper, these elements then being joined by means of gluing, stitching or similar, in order to finally couple the lining (6) to this assembly, and able to be joined to it in turn by similar means, having optionally provided for the joining between these three pieces be to done simultaneously following the preassembly of them, finally proceeding to the assembly of the upper on the sole in the conventional way.