JPH06165702A - Inner shoe sole having cushioning air and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the insole of a footwear and the method of manufacturing the same capable of adequately adjusting the degree of a cushion according to the using purpose of the footwear, and giving a shock absorbing body having a good elasticity or cushion. CONSTITUTION: A regular hexahedral air bag 3 composed of the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8 having a plurality of projected portions 7a, 7b of vertical bellows and then absorbing an exterial shock, and a plurality of coil springs 10 inserted into the bellow projected portions 7a, 7b for providing an elasticity to the air bag 3 are installed to the air bag 3 so as to be combined with the opened end portion of the bellow projected portion 7a, 7b. A plurality of spring caps 11 for holding the coil spring 10 in the interior of the projected portion of the vertical bellow 7a, 7b, an air regulating valve 4 for regulating air to be sucked or discharged into or from the air bag 3, and an air communicating pipe 5 for communicating the air bag 3 to the air regulating valve 4 by connecting one end portion to the air bag 3 and the other end portion to the air regulating valve 4 are formed, respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a midsole of footwear having a cushion or a cushion and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a sole having a bellows-shaped air bag as a cushion and a method for manufacturing the same. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, footwear such as athletic shoes usually has an elastic intermediate layer formed on the sole of the shoe in order to absorb an impact generated when the person wears the footwear and moves. At this time, the intermediate layer is formed by using an elastic sponge, is formed by combining foams, or is formed by incorporating a sealed rectangular bag-shaped air bag. It was a method.

[0003]

However, when a sponge / foam combination or an air bag is used according to the prior art, the degree of cushion cannot be easily adjusted according to the use condition, and the elastic force of the cushion is not adjustable. However, there was a small problem compared with the required amount.

The fundamental reason why such problems of the prior art occur is that the method of uniformly manufacturing and adhering is used without considering the purpose of use of the user, weight, field and the like. . That is, when an elastic body or the like is used, there is a shock absorbing effect, but even when only looking at an airbag, for example,
This is made into a bag shape by simply using high-frequency joining or the like of the cut raw materials, and therefore the joining portion naturally occupies an area larger than necessary. Also, when injecting air, it expands obliquely with respect to the joint, so that the inner middle portion decreases correspondingly. Furthermore, the practical cushioning effect is considerably reduced, considering the fact that they are uniformly manufactured and attached.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and the degree of the cushion can be appropriately adjusted according to the intended use of the footwear, and a cushioning body having a better elasticity or cushion can be provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a middle shoe sole of the footwear and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises an air bag which is composed of an upper portion and a lower portion having a plurality of vertical bellows members, absorbs an external impact, and is inserted into the bellows member.
A plurality of elastic bodies that provide elasticity to the airbag, and a plurality of upper caps and lower portions that are attached to the airbag so as to be coupled to the open ends of the bellows member and that maintain the elastic bodies in the bellows member. A cap, an air control valve for controlling the air sucked or discharged by the air bag, one end of which is connected to the air bag and the other end of which is connected to the air control valve. Provided is a middle shoe sole composed of an air communication pipe communicating with the sole.

Further, according to the present invention, a plurality of bellows members facing each other are provided, and a step of injection-molding an upper part and a lower part constituting an air bag, and the facing bellows members with a center ball interposed therebetween. Welding, welding the outer periphery of the upper part and the lower part of the airbag, and inserting the spring into the bellows member and closing the open end of the bellows member with a cap to open the bellows member. Provided is a method for manufacturing a middle shoe sole, which comprises the steps of closing a portion and connecting an air bag to an air regulating valve by connecting an air communication pipe to the air bag.

[0008]

The operation of the middle shoe sole of the present invention is classified into, for example, three states, that is, a completely closed state, a slightly opened state and a completely opened state, depending on the open state of the air regulating valve. . The effects of these three states are different from each other.

That is, when the air regulating valve is completely closed, it is necessary to determine the expansion degree of the airbag by adjusting the external pressure applied to the airbag before the closing operation of the valve. In this case, due to the interaction between the air inside the closed airbag and the vertical bellows member and the elastic body, the middle shoe sole provides maximum cushion and elastic restoring force. Therefore, it is desirable to select this state during exercise.

With the air control valve slightly open,
When external pressure is applied to the airbag, part of the air in the airbag is discharged from the airbag. Therefore, it is desirable to select this state when a relatively high pressure is applied to the airbag, such as when the wearer jumps from a high place.

With the air control valve completely opened, the air inside the air bag is easily discharged from the air bag even when a relatively low pressure is applied. At this time, the middle shoe sole provides a cushion and an elastic restoring force mainly by the interaction between the vertical bellows member and the elastic body. Therefore, it is desirable to select this state when walking with a relatively small impact.

In the manufacture of the middle shoe sole of the present invention, the upper part and the lower part of the airbag having a plurality of bellows members facing each other are injection-molded, and the facing bellows members are provided with a center ball interposed therebetween. Welding each other, welding the outer periphery of the upper part and the lower part of the airbag, inserting a spring into the bellows member, and closing the open end of the bellows member with a cap to close the open end of the bellows member. Then, the air bag is connected to the air regulating valve by connecting an air communication pipe to the air bag.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. The following description relates to the left footwear, and the right footwear is symmetrical to the left footwear.

1 and 2 show a left middle shoe sole having a first embodiment of the cushion airbag according to the present invention. The middle shoe sole 1 is composed of a main body 2 made of ordinary polyurethane. The main body 2 is equipped with a buffer airbag 3 known as a portion to which most external impact or pressure is applied in the rear portion thereof. An air suction adjusting valve 4 is attached to an intermediate portion of the middle shoe sole 1 so as to communicate with the buffer airbag 3 through an air communicating pipe 5. The air rescue valve 4 is adjusted in an open state to control the air discharged from the air bag 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, since the air bag 3 has an approximately rectangular parallelepiped appearance, it has a considerably larger capacity than the conventional example. As described above, the air bag 3 is provided with the air control valve 4 so that the air exhaust characteristic can be controlled in a wide range in three states. The air bag 3 has an approximately hexahedron shape and includes an upper portion 6 opened downward. Further, the upper portion 6 is integrally formed on the lower side and has a predetermined number of inverted frustoconical bellows protrusions 7a opened to information.
It has a bellows means constituted by. In the first specific example, seven bellows protrusions 7a are formed along the edge of the upper portion 6 at predetermined intervals, but the number of protrusions 7a can be appropriately adjusted within the scope of the present invention. Also, the protrusion 7a may have another shape such as a cylindrical shape as described later with reference to FIGS. 6a and 6b. An upper boss (not shown) having a semi-cylindrical cross section that forms an intake boss 14 together with a lower boss 5a of a lower portion 8 which will be described later is integrally formed at an intermediate portion of the end portion of the upper portion 6. The intake boss 14 accommodates the end of the air communication pipe 5. The upper portion 6 is molded by the pinpoint gate injection method.

In order to complete the air bag 3,
A lower portion 8 is provided that is molded by pinpoint gate injection in the same manner as the upper portion 6. The lower portion 8 is formed with a predetermined number of frustoconical bellows protrusions 7b protruding upward so as to coincide with the bellows protrusions of the upper portion 6. The bellows protrusion 7b of the lower portion 8 is opened downward, and may have another shape such as the cylindrical shape of the upper portion 6, of course. In the middle portion of the end of the lower portion 8, the intake boss 1 together with the upper boss of the upper portion 6 described above.
4, a lower boss 5a having a semi-cylindrical cross section, which constitutes No. 4, is integrally formed.

A frustoconical bellows projection 7a on the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8
Cone-shaped compression coil springs 10 are inserted into and 7b so as to provide a predetermined elasticity required for the air bag 3 and maintain the outer shape of the air bag 3. In another embodiment of the present invention, another elastic body such as elastic rubber may be used instead of the coil spring 10. The elastic body made of elastic rubber is used in the third embodiment shown in FIG. 6 b and has a cylindrical shape that coincides with the cylindrical bellows 15.

In order to keep the compression coil spring 10 from separating from the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b, a spring cap 11 is coupled to the open ends of the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b. For this reason, the spring cap 1 is attached to the open ends of the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b.
Since the annular grooves 6a and 8a that are connected to the outer peripheral portion of the coil spring 10 are formed, the connected state can be maintained regardless of the outward biasing force and the external pressure of the coil spring 10. In order to connect the spring cap 10 with the annular groove 6a or 8a, the outer peripheral portion of the spring cap 10 has an annular groove 6a or 8a.
It is pushed inward until it is joined with.

On the other hand, when the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8 are connected to the inside of the airbag 3, the frustoconical bellows protrusions 7a and 7b of the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8 are welded to each other with a center ball 9 interposed therebetween. To be done. Here, center recesses 9a are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the center ball 9 so as to be connected to the hemispherical protrusions 7c of the bellows protrusions 7a or 7b. Therefore, the center ball 9 cannot move with respect to the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b. The center ball 9 collects the pressure applied to the airbag 3 and vertically collects the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8.
Serve to communicate to. Therefore, even if pressure is applied to the airbag 3 irregularly, the center ball 9
Can certainly collect its pressure and transmit it to the upper part 6 or the lower part 8. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the footwear or / and the mid sole 1 from being twisted due to an unbalanced pressure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air control valve 4 mounted in the middle part of the main body 2 for controlling the air discharged from the air bag 3 is composed of a female part 12 and a male part 13. . The female part 12 is arranged in the middle part of the main body 2, the air communication pipe 5 is connected between the female part 12 and the intake boss 14, and the intake boss 14 is constituted by the bosses 5a of the upper part 6 and the lower part 8. The female portion 12 and the intake boss 14 are communicated with each other. The outer threaded portion of the female portion 13 is screwed into the threaded portion of the female portion 12 and projects from the side surface of the body 2 so that the wearer can adjust the adjusting valve 4, as shown in FIG. This male part 1
3 opens and closes a variable intake port (not shown) of the air communication pipe 5. Also, the female portion 12 is provided with rubber packing (not shown) to prevent air leakage. Since the female part 12 has at least one vertical groove (not shown) formed so as to cross the screw of the inner thread part thereof, air is blown through the vertical groove 3 when the male part 13 is loosely coupled. Inhaled or discharged by.

FIG. 4 shows a state of the assembled air bag 3. Top 6 manufactured by pinpoint gate molding
The lower part 8 is connected to the inside of the airbag 3. Top 6
To connect the lower part 8 and the lower part 8 to the inside of the airbag 3,
Bellows protrusions 7a and 7 that do not house the coil spring 10
b are welded to each other by ordinary high frequency resistance welding with the center ball 9 interposed therebetween. At this time, the outer peripheral portions of the upper portion 6 and the lower portion 8 are welded to each other in the same welding process. Then, each coil spring 10 is inserted into the corresponding protrusion 7a and 7b, and the spring cap 11 is coupled to the annular groove 6a or 8a to keep the spring 10 in the protrusion 7a or 7b. The assembled air bag 3 is connected to the female portion 12 of the air regulating valve 4 by connecting the intake boss 14 to the female portion 12 via the air communication pipe 5. After that, a main body is formed by a normal molding process so as to surround the air bag 3 together with the female portion 12 of the air control valve 4 connected to the air bag 3 through the communication pipe 5. At this time,
The formed body 2 should have an opening for receiving the male part 13 of the regulating valve 4. After the molding process of the main body, the male part 13 is joined to the female part 12.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4, showing the conical coil spring 10 and the spring cap 11 located in the airbag 3.

FIGS. 6a and 6b show second and third specific examples of the air bag 3 having bellows means constituted by a predetermined number of cylindrical bellows 15 according to the present invention. While the compression coil spring 17 is inserted into each cylindrical bellows 15 in the second specific example shown in FIG. 6a, the elastic rubber 16 is inserted into each cylindrical bellows 15 in the third specific example shown in FIG. 6b. Has been done.

The operation of the middle shoe sole of the present invention will be described below.
The operation of the sole 1 of the present invention is classified into three states, that is, a completely closed state, a slightly opened state and a completely opened state, depending on the open state of the air control valve 4. The effects of these three states are different from each other.

First, when the air control valve 4 is completely closed, the air bag 3 is closed before the valve 4 is closed.
It is necessary to determine the degree of expansion of the air bag 3 by adjusting the external pressure applied to the air bag 3. In this case, due to the interaction between the air inside the closed airbag 3 and the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b and the spring 10, the middle shoe sole 1 provides the maximum cushion and elastic restoring force. Therefore, it is desirable to select this state during exercise.

When external pressure is applied to the air bag 3 with the air control valve 4 slightly opened, part of the air in the air bag 3 is discharged from the air bag 3. Therefore, this state is preferably selected when a relatively high pressure is applied to the airbag 3 such as when the wearer jumps down from a high place.

Finally, when the air control valve 4 is completely opened, the air inside the air bag 3 is easily discharged from the air bag 3 even when a relatively low pressure is applied. At this time, the middle shoe sole 1 provides a cushion and an elastic restoring force mainly by the interaction between the bellows protrusions 7a and 7b and the spring 10. Therefore, it is desirable to select this state when walking with a relatively small impact.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The cushioning degree of the middle shoe sole can be freely adjusted according to the intended use of the footwear. That is, the degree of cushioning can be easily adjusted by opening and closing the air control valve as necessary to control the action of air. As a result, comfortable footwear can be worn in any condition.

Further, according to the present invention, the cushion and elastic force of the footwear can be made stronger than before. That is, the elastic force superposed by the interaction of the air, the bellows, and the spring is generated, so that a stronger elastic force than the conventional one is generated.

Further, when the bellows-shaped bellows protrusion and the center ball are adopted, the footwear and / or the midsole is prevented from being twisted even when an unbalanced pressure is applied to the footwear. obtain.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a middle shoe sole having a first specific example of a buffer airbag according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

3 is an exploded perspective view of the buffer airbag of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the airbag of FIG. 3 is assembled.

5 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG.

FIG. 6 (a) is a partially enlarged sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention having a compression coil spring as a buffer,
(B) is a third embodiment of the present invention having an elastic rubber as a buffer.
It is a partial expanded sectional view of a specific example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Middle Sole 2 Main Body 3 Buffer Airbag 4 Air Control Valve 5 Air Communication Pipe 5a Semi-Cylindrical Boss 6 Upper 6a, 8a Annular Grooves 7a, 7b Frustum-Cone Bellows Protrusion 8 Lower 9 Centerball 10 Compression Coil Spring 11 Spring cap 12 Female part 13 Male part 14 Intake boss 15 Cylindrical bellows

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An airbag including an upper portion and a lower portion having a plurality of vertical bellows members, which absorbs an external impact, and a plurality of elastic bodies which are inserted into the bellows member and provide elasticity to the airbag. A plurality of upper caps and lower caps attached to the airbag so as to be coupled to the open ends of the bellows member to maintain the elastic body in the bellows member, and air sucked or discharged by the airbag. And an air communication pipe having one end connected to the air bag and the other end connected to the air control valve to connect the air bag to the air control valve. A midsole with a cushioning feature. 2. The bellows member is a cylindrical bellows that extends from the upper portion to the lower portion of the airbag, and has an upper end and a lower end that are supported by the upper and lower caps to accommodate an integral elastic body. The middle shoe sole having the cushioning body according to claim 1, which is configured by: 3. The middle shoe sole having a cushioning body according to claim 2, wherein the integral elastic body is a spring. 4. The middle shoe sole having a cushioning body according to claim 2, wherein the integral elastic body is elastic rubber. 5. The bellows member is formed in the upper portion and the lower portion so as to face each other, is welded to each other through a center ball, and accommodates an elastic body supported by the upper cap and the lower cap. The middle shoe sole having a cushioning body according to claim 1, wherein the middle shoe sole is formed by a bellows-shaped bellows protrusion. 6. The middle shoe sole having a cushioning body according to claim 5, wherein the elastic body is a spring. 7. The middle shoe sole having a cushioning body according to claim 5, wherein the elastic body is elastic rubber. 8. The bellows member and the elastic body housed in the bellows member are regularly arranged in the upper portion and the lower portion of the air bag. A midsole with a cushion according to one of the claims. 9. The bellows member and the elastic body, except for a portion where the air communication pipe is connected to the air bag,
9. The midsole having a cushion according to claim 8, wherein the midsole is arranged along edges of the upper portion and the lower portion of the airbag. 10. A plurality of bellows members facing each other,
Injection molding the upper and lower parts of the airbag, welding the opposing bellows members with a center ball between them, and welding the upper and lower outer peripheral portions of the airbag. Closing the open end of the bellows member by inserting a spring into the bellows member and closing the open end of the bellows member with a cap; and connecting an air communication pipe to the airbag. And a step of communicating the air bag with an air regulating valve. 11. The injection molding step is performed by a pinpoint gate injection molding method, the welding step is performed by high frequency resistance welding, and the air communication pipe is connected between the air bag and the air control valve. The method of manufacturing a middle shoe sole with a cushion airbag according to claim 10, wherein the connecting step is performed by a fitting method.