US20090133202A1

US20090133202A1 - Footwear made by improved process of draining structure

Info

Publication number: US20090133202A1
Application number: US12/363,977
Authority: US
Inventors: Kung-Sheng Pan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-08-29
Filing date: 2009-02-02
Publication date: 2009-05-28
Also published as: CN201079046Y; US20080052966A1

Abstract

Footwear is made by a process which creates a draining structure in the footwear. The footwear includes an insole that has conical through holes formed in the top and bottom sides of the insole such that the holes gradually reduce from the top side toward the bottom side. The insole is made by preparing a molten foam material and then using a hydraulic press-controlled mold to mold the molten foam material into a blank insole having a plurality of conical blind holes. Part of the blank insole is then removed to open the conical blind holes by means of the application of a cutting process, a grinding process or a punching process. An outsole is bonded to the bottom side of the insole and has a plurality of drain grooves in communication with the conical through holes for guiding water out of the insole and the outsole. An upper is provided at the top side of the insole for securing the shoe to the user's foot.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to footwears and more particularly, to a footwear made by improved process of draining structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
People may wear a pair of footwears during daily life. Usually, comfort wearing is the first factor to be considered when purchasing a pair of footwears. When wearing a pair of footwears for a long time or to jump or to play games in water, the footwears become wet, and the user will feel uncomfortable when the footwears are wet.
There are commercial footwears that breathe and provide water drainage. However, these footwears are commonly complicated to manufacture and not suitable for mass production, resulting in a high manufacturing cost. Therefore, these conventional footwears are not competitive in the market.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a footwear made by improved process of draining structure, which is easy to manufacture and suitable for mass production. It is another object of the present invention to provide a footwear made by improved process of draining structure, which breathes and provides water drainage.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the footwear made by improved process of draining structure comprises an insole, an outsole, and an upper. The insole comprises an insole body, and a plurality of conical through holes cut through the top and bottom sides of the insole body. The conical through holes configure a conical through hole zone. The conical through holes each have a bore gradually reducing from the top side of the insole toward the bottom side of the insole. The outsole is made by preparing a molten foam material, and then using a hydraulic press-controlled mold to mold tire molten foam material into a blank insole having a plurality of conical blind holes, and then removing a part of the blank insole to open the conical blind holes by means of the application of a cutting processing process, grinding process, or punching process. The outsole comprises an outsole body bonded to the bottom side of the insole body, a plurality of drain grooves formed on the top side of the outsole body in communication with the conical through holes of the insole and extending to lateral sides of the outsole body. The upper is provided above the top side of the insole body for securing the footwear to the user's foot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a footwear made by improved process of draining structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the footwear shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view in an enlarged scale of a part of the footwear according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a part of the blank insole before processing according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing a cutting processing of the blank insole according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing showing a grinding processing of the blank insole according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing showing a punching processing of the insole according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a footwear made by improved process of draining structure in accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of an insole 10, an outsole 20, and an upper 30.
The insole 10 comprises an insole body 11 made out of a foam material, and a plurality of conical through holes 13 cut through the top and bottom sides of the insole body 11. The conical through holes 13 are longitudinally transversely aligned, configuring a conical through hole zone 15. Further; the conical through holes 13 have a bore gradually reducing from the top side of the insole 10 toward the bottom side of the insole 10.
The outsole 20 comprises an outsole body 21 for bonding to the bottom side of the insole body 11, a plurality of transverse ribs 23 formed on the top side of the outsole body 21 and arranged in parallel at an equal pitch, and a plurality of drain grooves 25 respectively formed on the top side of the outsole body 21 between each two adjacent transverse ribs 23 corresponding to the conical through holes 13 of the insole 10 and extending to two opposite lateral sides of the outsole body 21.
The upper 30 has a body 31 provided at the top side the insole 10 and adapted to secure the footwear to the user's foot, and a plurality of mounting portions 33 and 34 fixedly provided at the bottom side of the body 31 and respectively fastened to the insole 10.
The mounting portions 33 and 34 of the upper 30 are respectively inserted through the conical through hole zone 15 of the insole 10, and then the bottom side of the insole body 11 of the insole 10 and the mounting portions 33 and 34 of the upper 30 are bonded to the top side of the outsole body 21 of the outsole 20, thereby forming the desired footwear as shown in FIG. 3. When the footwear is assembled, conical through holes 13 are respectively disposed in fluid communication with the drain grooves 25 of the outsole 20. Therefore, the footwear can drain water from the user's foot through tire conical through holes 13 and the drain grooves 25. When the user's foot and the footwear are dry, the footwear can breath by means of the conical through holes 13 and the drain grooves 25.
Referring to FIG. 4, the fabrication of the insole 10 includes the step of (a) preparing a foam material and then melting the foam material, (b) using a hydraulic press-controlled mold to mold the molten foam material and then rapidly cool down the mold so as to obtain a blank insole 11A having a plurality of conical blind holes 111, and (c) removing the excessive part 19 or 19A of the blank insole 11A (see also FIGS. 5˜7) to open the conical blind holes 111 so as to obtain the desired insole body 11 having conical through holes 13. The step of removing the excessive part 19 of the blank insole 11A can be achieved by one of the following three methods:
The first method is to cut off the excessive part 19 of the blank insole 11A by means of the application of a cutting tool C1 to form the insole body 11, as shown in FIG. 5.
The second method is to grind off the excessive part 19 of the blank insole 11A by means of the application of a sand wheel C2 to form the insole body 11, as shown in FIG. 6.
The third method is to fix the blank insole 11A in place, and then to punch the excessive part 19A out of the blank insole 11A by means of the application of a punching tool C3 respective to the conical blind holes 111 to form the conical through holes 13A, as shown in FIG. 1.
By means of tire aforesaid method, the footwear is easy to manufacture, and the fabrication of the footwear saves much material and processing cost. Further, the finished footwear breathes and effectively drains off water.
Further, the conical through holes of the insole can be arranged to show a circular or star-like pattern wherein the conical through holes of the insole still in communication with the drain grooves of the outsole, or any of a variety of other patterns. Further, the conical through hole zone of the insole can cover the whole surface area of the insole or the front part of the surface area of the insole.
As indicated above, the invention has the following benefits:
1. The footwear made by improved process of draining structure is easy to manufacture, the processing of the conical through holes is easy, facilitating the fabrication of the footwear.
2. The footwear made by improved process of draining structure breathes and provides water drainage.

Claims

1. A fabrication method of an insole comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing a foam material and then melting the foam material;

(b) using a hydraulic press-controlled mold to mold the molten foam material and then rapidly cooling down the mold so as to obtain a blank insole having a plurality of conical blind holes; and

(c) removing an excess part of the blank insole to open the conical blind holes so as to obtain an insole body having conical through holes, wherein the step of removing the excess part of the blank insole includes cutting off a bottom portion of the blank insole with a cutting tool.

2. A fabrication method of an insole comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing a foam material and then melting the foam material;

(c) removing an excess part of the blank insole to open the conical blind holes so as to obtain an insole body having conical through holes, wherein the step of removing the excess part of the blank insole includes grinding off a bottom portion of the blank insole with a sand wheel.

3. A fabrication method of an insole comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing a foam material and then melting the foam material;

(c) removing an excess part of the blank insole to open the conical blind holes so as to obtain an insole body having conical through holes, wherein the step of removing the excess part of the blank insole includes punching the blank insole with a punching tool at locations corresponding to the conical blind holes.