US915082A - Footwear. - Google Patents

Description

E. D. DGNOGHUE FOOTWEAR.

^ APPLIGATLON FILED JAN. 25, 190s.

- the bottom ot a s FRNCI D. DONOGHUE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOTWEAR. u

\Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented :Marchv 16, 1909.

Applicatien iled January 25, 1908. Serial No. 412,531.-

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRANCIS D. DoNoGHUE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suolk andl State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Footwear, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to footwear.

More particularly, it relates to coverings for the human foot having an upper portion which passes over the inste and a sole under the foot, all such footwear eing included in the term shoe as here used.

The purpose of the invention is to eliminate certaln structural features customarily present in shoes as now.made and worn, tending to injure or deform the foot, and to introduce certain novel features which are beneficial and preservative in tendenc The invention provides a shoe in which the constrictive effect of the upper tends to maintain and even to increase the arch formation of the bones of the'foot, instead of tending to break down or flatten it. This is accomplished by attaching'the upper at the instep to the shank portion of the sole only on the outer edge of. thefoot. The edge of the upper which has heretofore customarily been attached on the inside of the foot is carried under the foot and attached beneath the outside of the foot.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure il is a representation of the bones in a human foot as shown in side elevation in a radiograph, the foot being representedas wearing a shoe shown partl 1n section. Fi 2 shows oe embodying t e invention, in process of construction. Fig. 3 represents lin end elevation- ,somewhat diagrammatically, the'middle ortion of a foot wearing a shoe made accor ing to the invention,'sectioned on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, the section being taken just back 'of the apex of the middle transverse arch of the foot, show'- ing the relation of the upper sole to that arch. Fig. 4 is a diagram of forces in Fig. 3'; and Fig. 5 is a corresponding diagram of the forces in shoes not embodying the invention, as ordinarily constructe In shoes as ordinarily heretofore construc ed, the upper runs from the sole on one side of the foot over the middle transverse arch of the foot down to the sole on the other side of Vthe foot. At the shank of the ,sole there is an appreciable and considerable foot at o r near the apex of the longitudinal and intervening anteroostero arch. It may be recognized I by the one which projects upward on the foot about in the middle of the lacing of all low shoes as usually now constructed. At this place the foot has five longitudinal bones arranged side by side in the form of an arch-ap roximately as representedin Figs. 3, 4 an( 5, the inner base of the arch being higher than the outer. The under side of the foot curves upward in a manner corresponding somewhat to this arch of bones. n wearing a shoe the foot is thrust between the upper and the sole and is then bound down upon the sole by tightening and fastening the upper with strings or buttons.

YThe tightening of the ipper depresses the foot toward the sole an thus tends to depress and iiatten the arch of the foot by drawing it tight against the breadth of sole underlying it. When a forward step is taken the arch of the foot has to rise from. the ground. As the toes remain on the ground, this is impossible unless the sole of the shoe is bent correspondingly. The resistance of the sole to bending, transmitted through the upper and imposed on the to of the arch of the foot, constitutes an a ditional force acting at each step with a tendency to break down the arch. The nature of this action is illustrated in the diavram Fig. 5. 'The resistance of the sole and the constriction due to lacing are like forces pulling downward upon the arch as indin cated by the arrow, tending to destroy it. The invention provides a structure in which, contraryto thls, the forces tend to form the arch or to preserve it, as will be seen by reference to the diagram of Fig; 4. The forces in that iigure tend to-draw the bone at .the upper end or base of that arch toward tho bone at the other end orbase. The more tightly the lacing is drawn the more the curvature of the arch is increased. Likewise, in taking a forward step, the re'- sistance of the sole to bending, whentransmitted and applied to the arch., tends to draw the up er base toward the lower base, thus strengthening the arch. The stren 'th of the longitudinal archidepends consi erlos A ably on the maintenance of the curvature of the transverse arch. When the 'latter is iattened the lon itudinal arch can break down more easily t an when its cross section, as represented by the form of'the transverse arch, is well curved. Therefore, the invention tends also to strengthen the longitudi In applying the principles above set forth the design and construction of shoes may proceed in general as heretofore, except that the sole and upper are shaped so that, for the right shoe, both riOht and left edges of the upper are attached3 to the shank of the sole at the right side of the foot 5 and for the left shoe both right and left edges of the up er are attached to the shank of the sole un er the left side of the foot.

The invention is here illustratedas may be applied to a welt shoe; but it is applicable to shoes' made by any other method includthe4 foot.

f side for the left foot and on the leftv side for ing, for example, turned shoes, McKaysewed shoes and pegged shoes and the word sole as used here and in the claims may refer either to the single sole of a turned shoe or to the combined outer andinner soles if a shoe have both. As here illustrated (Fig. 2) the upper 9 and 'its inner lining'S are represented as sewed to an inner sole 10 and a welt 12, the inner sole being channeled for this purpose inthe ordinary manner as represented at 11. At the shank 13 the edge 14 of the upper, which is on the inner side of the foot, comes as close as possible to the edge 15 ofthe up erwhich is on the outer side of T e shank of the inner sole which receives these edges is made very narrow,

bringing the edges of theupper as near together as the width of the intervening two channels'jvill permit. For this pur ose the inner sole is deeply recessed on t e right the right loot. This recess runs forward conformably to the shape of the foot about to the inner endr of the middle' transverse arch of the foot. The last is shaped accordingly. By this construction, the part of the footwear`that incases the middle orti'on of the foot consists practically who yy ofV soft leather of the u per, which underneath the y foot takes the p ace heretofore occupied by the still shank of the solo. 1When the lacing is drawn the soft leather its this part of the foot like a glove. The upper may be laced.

'as tightly as desired between the arch and the ankle, the tightness merely binding the arch of the foot more strongly in. its curved formation, Instead of the foot being drawn down more tightly to the sole with accompanying tendency to depress the arch, the

exible 'under portion of the upper is lifted and drawnupward more closely about the foot. The only part of the footwear under the middle portion of thefoot which does not thus rise to the foot is the two close- 'about that portion of the foot.

together ed es of the upper and that triiiing portion of t e sole which intervenes between them; and these parts are located, according the foot, t. e.,- beneaththe lower basev of the vto the invention, beneath the outer side of transverse arch, where the under side of thel 4 foot normally touches the ground.

' Ordinarily it will be necessary for the top ofthe shoe to be split or open below the apex 16 o f the middle transversel arch, as now customary 'and as shown in Fig. 3, in order for the foot to be inserted; but the lacing represented by' eyelets 18 below said' apex is not needed to hold the shoe :on the foot and might be omitted, theenlyq lacing necessary being that between said apex and the ankle asat l? for drawing the upper snugly That lacing may be loose enough to be entirely Acomfortable, owing to the .glovelike grasp of the fit. The fore part of the4 shoe may be loose and larger than the foot if desiredwithout danger of coming off; and the shape of the toe, sole, heel and other p'arts may be i varied at will or as fashion may demand.

1n shoes having a channeled inner sole as above described, the inner sole is extremely narrow at its shank, and the shank of the outer sole may be correspondingly narrow if' desired; but it is preferable, in order to 'give greater strengthv to the sole, Vand toV protect from wear the portion of the upper which is under the foot, to make the outer sole wide enough to extend under the major portion of the instep of the foot. The shank of the outer sole is therefore represented in Figa?) as of ordinary width; but nearly all of its width mightbe cut away, as, unlike the arrangement in ordinary shoes, this por-A tion of the sole does not form apart of the band encircling the foot. i

I claim 1. Footwear having a sole in combination with an upper, bothright and left sidesof which, at a place between the heel and ball. of the foot, are attached to the sole under the outer side of the foot.

2. `Footwear having a sole in combination with an upper arranged above it and at-. tached thereto, the right and left sides of which are, at the' heel and at the ball of the foot, sha ed upward from their respective sides of t e sole and at a place between said heel and ball are sha ed upward from under the outer side of the pot.

3. Footwear having a sole in combination with an upper, both outer and inner edges of ing attached to the'edges ol the inner sole;

'sole extending under the maj or portion of the oi the foot and to the rear thereof; both outer and inner edges of the upper being attaehed to the sole approximately under the exterior base of said. arch,-

5. Footwear having an outer sole in eombination with a Welt and an inner sole attached thereto, and an upper, the upper bethe inner sole having a deep recess at the instep, thereby forming its s lank at the outer side of the foot,`and the shank of the outer width of the instep of thefoot.

6. Footwear'cornprising a flexible upper itting overand under the middle transverse arch of the foot .and to the rea'r thereofvand hayingits edges brought in under the foot to f approximately surround the foot with the :I f upper,. in combination with a sole having approximately thestinessof sole leather, the `1 I upper being attached by its edgestofthe solel under the wearerfs foot.v

7. Footwear /bomprising a lexibleupper :fittingl over and .under the middle transvere arch ofthe fdot and to the :ear 'thereof and having its edges. brought in under the foot to approximately upper, `in combination with' a sole having a proxilnzly the stiffness' of sole leather, tllie upperb under Vliewear'ers foot at the outer portion thereof. approximately the tread of a normal shoewearing hare foot.

Surround the foot with the y ing attached by its. edges to the sole 3 along the bordere of' signature, in'presence of4 two-witnesses.

FRANCIS .n.:noaoen'un llit'nesses':

4- .JosEPH T. BRENNAN, 'EvERErr E. KENT.

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