FR2731324A1 - SHOE WITH HEEL REINFORCED BY A STRENGTHENING PLATE INCORPORATED IN THE REAR PART OF THE SOLE - Google Patents

Abstract

Shoe provided with a heel and a sole which includes a front part (A) intended to support the plantar area and the toes, a rear part (C) at the heel level intended to support the heel area of the shoe. user and an intermediate portion (B) which extends from the heel forward and downward to the front sole portion to connect the front and rear sole portions. The intermediate part (B) is reinforced with a stiffening plate (1) against sagging. At least the rear part (C) comprises a part made of elastic material and the stiffening plate (1) extends to near the rear end of the rear part with a recess (4) at a central zone of the user's heel and which has the shape of an oblong opening of the same shape as the underside of the heel of the foot and whose main axis extends in the direction of the length of the shoe.

Description

High heels.

  The present invention relates to a shoe provided with a heel, the sole of which contains a bridge intended to stiffen the lower part of the shoe from the heel to the front end, that is to say between the zones distant from one of the other where the sole of the shoe rests on a

  ground. The invention further relates to such a bridge.

  The sole of a shoe generally consists, from top to bottom, of an insole,

  a midsole, and a walking sole.

  In the case of shoes provided with a heel, such a bridge, also qualified as a cambering element, is incorporated in the sole. This bridge then takes the form of a slightly curved wooden or steel strip, 10 to 12 cm long and about 2 cm wide. The bridge can be buried or buried in the midsole and extends to the rear some

slightly below the heel of the foot.

  For shoes with soles with a fairly hard midsole, such bridges are

have proven to be very suitable.

  With the growing knowledge of kinematics and with regard to body positions and the influence on the body of the way in which the feet of people are supported by a shoe, it has appeared that it is advantageous for the body of a user that the foot is supported elastically. The interest of an elastic support for the feet will increase because the surfaces which are trodden by people are formed more and more often by hard materials. He imports

  therefore to provide the shoes with elastic soles.

  In the case of shoes without heels, also qualified as shoes with compensating soles, the fact of providing the shoe with an elastic sole does not give rise to any difficulty. The sole can indeed be supported over its entire surface by the ground. A sagging problem does not arise in this case, so a stiffening

is not necessary.

  The situation is different in the case of shoes with a heel. The elastic midsole must be stiffened, for example using the aforementioned bridge or cambering element, at the level of the part of the sole which is not supported by the ground. The known arching element would however largely cancel the elastic action of the midsole for the heel, because this element extends a few centimeters in the area where the heel of the foot finds support. In addition, the elastic midsole can be damaged at the rear end of the bridge, due to the movement of the material along the edge due to its compression and

relaxation.

  The invention now aims to provide a shoe of the type specified in the preamble, which is provided at least at the heel with an elastic material in the sole for the elastic support of the heel of the user. 'elastic effect for the heel of the user being retained despite the stiffening due to the bridge. An additional object of the invention is to provide such a shoe, for which the risk of formation of tears in the midsole

elastic remains weak.

  To do this, the invention provides a shoe provided with a heel, the shoe comprising a sole, which comprises a first sole part, which is located at the front and is intended to support the plantar area and the toes. the user, a second part, which is at the rear at the heel and is intended to support the user's heel area, and a third part, in the intermediate position, which extends from the heel towards front and down towards the first sole part to connect the first and second sole parts to each other, the third sole part being reinforced by means of a stiffening element against sagging, at least the second sole part comprising a part made of elastic material, and the stiffening plate extending close to the rear end of the second part and being provided with a recess at an area which is S ituted in

  below a central area of the user's heel.

  Thanks to the measures according to the invention, it is required that the sole, where necessary, will be sufficiently stiffened by the plate, but that an optimal elastic support can nevertheless be achieved for the

heel of the foot.

  Preferably, the recess in the stiffening plate is formed as a circular opening, surrounded by the material of the plate. This opening preferably has the form of an oblong opening, which is the same shape as the underside of the heel of the foot and whose main axis extends in the direction of the length of the shoe. In this way, the heel of the foot is supported on its periphery at its edges, while the elastic support for the central main part of the underside of the heel of the foot is preserved, so that the support of the foot by the shoe becomes more stable and the risk of sprain is reduced. In addition, since the plate extends close to the rear end, a deformation of the plate in the vertical plane

is thwarted.

  The stiffening plate is preferably made of a plastic material, preferably polystyrene (impact resistant). The stiffening plate is slightly flexible elastically, in order to make the sole flexible enough for comfort while keeping

its stiffening function.

  The use of plastic material makes it possible to injection mold the stiffening plate and to provide it with special means. It is thus possible to form, on the upper face and / or on the lower face of the stiffening plate, ribs which preferably extend longitudinally. Slipping, in particular in transverse direction, of the stiffening plate, which is buried or buried in the elastic material of the sole, is thereby prevented. The longitudinal ribs can also have a stiffening function, which means that the plate can in itself be made relatively thin. Another possibility is to make openings in the stiffening plate. The elastic material thereby penetrates into the stiffening plate, which further guarantees the position of the stiffening plate in the

elastic material.

  The invention will now be described below with the aid of an exemplary embodiment, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of the shoe and the plate.

stiffening according to the invention.

  In the accompanying drawings: FIG. 1 is a top view of a stiffening plate according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a view from below of the stiffening plate of FIG. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view along line III-III of the stiffening plate of FIGS. 1 and 2; Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of an important part of a shoe, in which the stiffening plate of FIGS. 1 to 3 is incorporated, and FIG. 5 is a view of the shoe of the

Fig. 4 in use.

  The stiffening plate or bending element 1 which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a plate-shaped body 3 made of plastic, such as polystyrene, which has a plate-shaped part before 3a and, behind this, a peripheral strip 3b, 3c and 3d, which determines with the plate part 3 has an opening 4. The opening 4 has essentially the same shape as the outline (taken horizontally) of the heel of the user of the shoe in which the arching element 1 will be incorporated. The underside of the bending element 1 is provided with a number of ribs 6, 7 and 10 extending in the longitudinal direction, the longitudinal ribs 10 extending as close as possible to the strip of back plate 3c . On the upper face, shown in FIG. 1, ribs are also formed, in particular the ribs 8, 9 extending in the longitudinal direction and a rib 11 substantially transverse to

these, located at the front.

  The cambering element is also provided, on its upper face, with a certain number of projections, in this case spikes 12 of approximately 2 mm in height, which are formed on the plate strips 3b, 3c and 3d. The bending element 1 is further provided with a number

openings 5.

  The shoe 2 illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 is provided with a heel. It is therefore necessary to distinguish in the sole of the shoe, in the longitudinal direction, three main parts, namely the front sole part A (of which only a small part is represented), where the arch and the toes of the foot are supported and o the shoe is supported on the ground, the rear part C, o is the heel and o the user's heel is supported, and an intermediate middle part B, o the sole will be at a certain distance from the ground and o a space will remain free. To prevent sagging of this area of the sole, the arching element 1 is incorporated in the shoe 2, this arching element also being able to influence the elastic properties of the sole in order to increase comfort and / or improve user health. Different areas can also be distinguished in the sole in the vertical direction. The upper 21 of the shoe 2 is limited below by the insole 22 which is attached to the intermediate sole 23 and is supported by the latter which is here made of an elastic expanded polyurethane material. This midsole 23, which can extend over the entire length of the shoe, is in turn supported by the walking sole 24 which is attached to it and which is made of a material

  relatively resistant to wear.

  The arching element 1 according to the invention is buried in the expanded polyurethane material of the midsole. The front edge 13 is thus located near the transition between the sole zones A and B above, while the rear edge 14 is located near the rear side of the shoe 2. The opening 4 of the arching element 1 is thus finds, so to speak, just below the underside of a user's heel,

  when his foot is housed in shoe 2.

  The heel of the user's foot can thus come into contact, during each walking movement, with the material of the (soft) insole and, indirectly, with the elastic polyurethane material of the midsole. The body weight is absorbed elastically by the polyurethane material of the midsole. The midsole and the insole will therefore be able to follow, to a large extent, the movement of the heel of the foot during the downward pressure it exerts followed by the release of this pressure, which means that the shock loads and the backlash on the joints of the feet and legs is considerably reduced, so that the risk of damage to the joints, and consequently of osteoarthritis, is reduced. However, the sole of shoe 2 is nevertheless sufficiently stiff in sole zone B, despite the functional presence of polyurethane material in the midsole of a

shoe with a heel.

  The fact that the opening 4 is surrounded by the bands 3b, 3c and 3d of the plate 2 has the advantage that the marginal zones of the underside of the heel of the foot can find support all around when the more central support zone of the the heel of the foot comes to bear as far as the opening 4. The heel of the foot is therefore supported and held straight in a stable manner, despite the presence of the elastic polyurethane material in the midsole. The risk of ankle sprain is

fact reduced.

  The position of the cambering element 1 in the polyurethane foam material of the midsole is ensured by means of the ribs 6 to 11, as well as by the openings 5. The pins 12 leave a

  space between the insole and the arching element.

  During the expansion of the midsole material, the arching element is fully encapsulated and anchored to the insole. At the same time, the 2 mm intermediate layer produced by the pins

  gives additional comfort to the shoe.

Claims (12)

R E V E N D I C A T I 0 N S   1.- Shoe provided with a heel, the shoe comprising a sole, which comprises a first part of the sole, which is located at the front and is intended to support the plantar zone and the toes of the user, a second part, which is at the back at the heel and is intended to support the heel area of the user, and a third part in the intermediate position, which extends from the heel forward and down towards the first sole part to connect the first and second sole parts to each other, the third sole part being reinforced by means of a stiffening element against sagging, at least the second sole part comprising a part made of elastic material, and the stiffening plate extending near the rear end of the second part and being provided with a recess at an area which is located below a central area e from user's heel.   2.- Shoe according to claim 1, wherein the recess formed in the stiffening plate is formed as a circular opening, surrounded by the plate material.   3.- Shoe according to claim 2, wherein the opening has the shape of an oblong opening, which is the same shape as the underside of the heel of the foot and whose main axis extends in the direction of the length of the shoe.   4. Shoe according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the recess formed in the stiffening plate is surrounded at least on the two lateral sides and on the rear side of a strip of the material of the plate stiffening.   5.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the material of the   stiffening plate is a plastic material,   especially polystyrene (impact resistant).   6.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the plate   stiffening is slightly elastically flexible. 7.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, in which part of the   second sole part comprising the elastic material at least substantially fills the area between the walking sole proper and the insole of the shoe.   8.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the plate   stiffening is drowned at least at the level of the second   sole part in the elastic material of the sole.   9.- Shoe according to claim 8, wherein the stiffening plate is buried at least at the level of the second sole part in the material. elastic sole.   10.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the plate   stiffening is provided on its upper face and / or its lower face with ribs, which preferably extend in the longitudinal direction.   11.- Shoe according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the plate   stiffening is provided with openings.   12.- Stiffening plate, intended to be incorporated into a shoe according to any one of claims 1 to 11.