US2817162A - Shoe construction - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 24, 1957 o. CASTAGNOLA SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 1, 1955 B E N R m A United States Patent SHOE CONSTRUCTION Oliver Castagnola, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor of one-half to John F. Mason, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 1, 1955, Serial No. 532,082

2 Claims. (Cl. 36-25) This invention relates to a novel shoe construction.

It has been found that, though numerous shoes have been constructed with plastic soles and heels these normally do not withstand any extensive amount of use but tend to have the bond between the leather and plastic break rather quickly when subjected to strains. One of the objects of the present invention, then, is to provide a novel shoe construction which will withstand long use and repeated strains.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a shoe which is inexpensive.

A further object of this invention is to provide a shoe having a plastic heel or sole secured to leather and one in which the shoe may include a molded and contoured arch support as part of its structure.

An additional object of this invention is to provide such a structure which may utilize a reinforcing steel shank to give the shoe additional strength and contour.

A further object of this invention is to accomplish the above and to achieve decorative effects on shoes without any loss of strength.

Other and further objects of this invention will appear from the below description and the appended drawings. These drawings are:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an assembled shoe of one form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view, from below, of the shoe of Fig. 1, showing its means of assembly.

Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an exploded partial perspective showing a modification of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a detailed perspective view showing the inner fibrous binding member having a decorative edge portion.

In Figs. 1 and 2, a typical ladies shoe 1 is shown, as made in accordance with the invention. This shoe has in this instance a leather inner sole 2 and an outer sole 3. It has secured to it, by a method to be later described, a plastic heel portion 4 with a leather top lift 5 thereon. It has an inner lining 6.

As shown in Fig. 2, a fibrous binding member 8 and a steel shank 9 are preferably sandwiched between heel 4 and inner sole 2.

The plastic heel 4 may have a hollow inner recess 10 extending above its base 11. There is a circumferential supporting portion 12 along the upper edge of the opening of the cavity 10. Edge portion 12 is so proportioned as to conform to the desired contour of the heel portion 14 of inner sole 2. This is best seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

The bonding member 8 is preferably of a thickness of approximately one thirty-second of an inch, is flexible, and is able to assume a shape conforming to the shape of the upper edge 12 of heel 4. This bonding member may be any strong, flexible and absorbent material but is preferably made from cotton cloth or canvas. Heavy thicknesses of paper and cardboard have proven satisfatory.

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The material used should, however, be permeable to the cement used and capable of absorbing it. It need not be one piece, as with fabric, but can be finely divided, such as cork dust. It is believed that the bonding member serves to provide more complete contact between the surface of the leather and that of the plastic.

The plastic heel member 4 can be made of any of several plastic resins, but the one which has been found to be best is Lucite, that is, metamethylcryolite. It is important that the plastic selected have sufficient strength and durability to withstand normal usage in a shoe. It is helpful if it is at least partially soluble in one of the normal commercial solvents, such as acetone.

The spring shank member 9 is preferably cut from a good grade of light-weight spring steel and is covered with adhesive tape or moleskin and is of elongated form shaped to conform to the desired contour of the inner sole of the completed shoe.

In assembling the shoe in the preferred embodiment of this invention, a decorative binding member 20 may first be positioned about the edge of inner sole 2. This member may be of any color desired and is preferably simply a cotton or leather cloth strip which is folded about the edge of the inner sole 2 in its heel portion 14 and secured in place with an adhesive such as pyroxolin in acetone cement. Bonding strip 20 is shown partially secured to inner sole 2 in Fig. 3.

Steel shank 9 is positioned upon inner sole 2; and the bonding member 8 is dipped in acetone briefly and then placed over inner sole 2 and shank 9, as shown in Fig.

3 A layer of the pyroxolin cement is sandwiched between bonding member 8 and sole 2 and in the preferred form of the invention an absorbent bonding dust 21 is also sandwiched between these members. The bonding dust may be a finely divided cork dust finely divided sawdust, or any comparable material which is resilient and will absorb the cement used. Bonding dust 21, when saturated with the pyroxolin cement, acts as a filler between bonding member 8 and inner sole 2, thus resulting in bonding contact between the two for the entire area in which they overlie one another.

In addition, to provide better contact, bonding member 8 is usually cut with the general T-shaped cut 22 shown in Figs. 3 and 6, so that it may pass about shank 9 and be in even greater contact with inner sole member 2. The functional value of this cut is improved if at the ends and points of intersection of the lines of the cut 22 the cut is somewhat widened by larger holes.

After the bonding member 8 is in place, its edge portion is coated with the pyroxolin cement and the edge 12 of heel 4 positioned against it. The entire assembly is preferably then subjected to pressure in order to maintain it in shape until the cement has hardened. Additionally, it is advisable to hold the more central portion of bonding member 8 in close contact with inner sole 2 during drying. This is best done by driving a few tacks (not shown) through bonding member 8 and into inner sole 2 before attaching heel member 4.

It will be seen from the foregoing that a bond has been obtained over the maximum area of contact possible, due to the use of the flexible and absorbent bonding member 8 and the bonding dust 21. These give a more flexible and more secure bond.

In Fig. 5, a modification of the invention is shown in which the bonding member 8 has not been used in direct contact with heel 4 itself. Here, the heel 4 is assembled to leather insole member 2 by the use of the intermediate conformed plastic bonding member 25. The lower peripheral surface of plastic bonding member 25 has been molded or ground to conform to the upper edge surface 12 of heel 4, the member 25 preferably being made of the 3 1 2 ypev of. plastic as. heel member 4. Member 25 hpl lsl be. atleast a ge. enough. ewver s ace. bu preferably will extend downwardly along innersole 2 toward the ball of the foot so as to provide arch support.

ma bepe ma m w ec red to heel; by. h u e. o a n roxqlinrcementon vhi enr e he i i t ep n; afifim l Qfr h he Qf: hi mod ic ti n After. plasti b ndin mem er 5;. a h e ave n cemented together andtthe cementhashardened, an additional layer; of the cement with bonding dust mixed or dispersed thereinis placedover the entire upper surface of heel; b o nding member 2 and the lower surface of inner s e snla ediuntl r p e sn e e nstm m r After his: men h sjdri d t e pre su e le sed, a d, nce ag l'n, it willbefound that a firm and permanent bondhas been attained.

It t has beenfound that if plastic bonding member is extendedforwalrd. of the heelv and isshaped to conform to the foot, it will provide an excellent archfsupport, in addi-' ti'o'nto strengtheningthe shoe.

Fig. 6 is a detaile d drawing showing a means of applying a decorative band-30about the flexib'lebonding member- Q8; In this, instance, the bond is preferably of acolored clgth'or leather which ispo'sitioned about and cementedto the edges of bonding member 8, as shown in Fig} The, use of such a decorative band30 in the assenibled shoe is shown in the cross-sectionaldrawing of F t It is understood that various modifications of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit he eof:

I'clairn:

1. In ashoe of the character described in combination a sole, a heel having a portionof its upper surface shaped to substantially conform to a portion of said sole, a bonding member interposed between said sole and said heel, id. bondinamember. ein pab e. Qf. eing. bonded. by. and absorbing cement, a resilient metal shank of lesser width than said sole adapted to fit beneath a portion of said sole and between said sole and said heel and shaped to define the finished conformity of said sole, said shank having an end positioned between said bonding member and said sole, and cementrdistrihuted between said bonding member and, said heel and said bonding member and said inner sole immersing an end of said shank in cement.

2:. In a shoe ofthecharacter describedin combination;

tween said heel portion and said bonding member atsaid; axial slot, and cement distributed between said bonding member andsaid plasticheel and between said bonding member, said heel portion and said end portion of said,

shank.

References Cited-inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES-,BATENTS 1964, 767 Pollard July 3, 1934, 1,973,785 Walsh Sept. 18, 1934 2,267,125 Molnar Dec. 23; 1941 2,288,475 Mariani June 30, 1942 2,303,431 Brophy Dec. 1, 1942 2,559,609 Foust' July 10, 1951

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