WO2007017709A1

WO2007017709A1 - Sole, and relating shoe, in particular sandal, slipper or similar, with peculiar binding configuration of the shoe upper to the sole

Info

Publication number: WO2007017709A1
Application number: PCT/IB2005/002601
Authority: WO
Inventors: Natalino Francalanci
Original assignee: Natalino Francalanci
Priority date: 2005-08-08
Filing date: 2005-08-08
Publication date: 2007-02-15

Abstract

A sole (11) for shoes comprises transversally crossing cavities (18, 19) apt to allow inserting and housing thongs, laces and straps, or similar, whose ends are connected together in a removable way to form the shoe upper or they are connected in a removable way to the shoe upper itself. So, it is possible to combine, according to personal tastes and needs, several sorts of shoe uppers, differently shaped, sized and coloured, with a same sole (11) in order to make different looking shoes. The transversally crossing cavities may also be in communication with apertures (23) located on the insole (12d) of the shoe for allowing the assembling of special shoes, like “infradito&rdquo” sandals.

Description

SOLE, AND RELATING SHOE, IN PARTICULAR SANDAL, SLIPPER OR SIMILAR₅ WITH PECULIAR BINDING CONFIGURATION OF THE SHOE UPPER TO THE SOLE. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a sole for shoes with a peculiar configuration for binding the shoe upper to the sole. The invention also relates to the shoes comprising said sole. Background of the Invention Among all sorts of shoes, sandals and slippers provide, as known, a particular and wide range of extremely practical solutions to the various kind of users which can be different both in gender and in age. Such shoes are mainly characterized by the open structure of the shoe upper, which is connected to the sole through thongs, laces, straps or similar components bound to the bottom of the sole itself in order to allow easy wearing and effective air circulation around the foot.

Are very widespread, for instance, solutions in which the shoe upper are made of one or more thongs having different dimensions, or laces, which can be arranged parallel one to another or crossing in various ways over the foot, so providing configurations which, are different mainly from an aesthetic point of view. Are also known solutions named "infradito sandals", in which one of the laces, or thongs, wraps the foot, usually the big toe, and then, after passing through the central part of the insole, bound to the sole underneath. In the above mentioned sorts of shoes the ends of the laces, or thongs, which form the shoe upper are generally glued and/or sewn to both sides of the sole. This, which is anyway common to all sorts of shoes, is a permanent way of binding the shoe upper to the sole; in fact it does not let separate the shoe upper from the sole once they have been assembled together during production phases. Moreover, gluing, sewing, or other working phases used to bind together the above said main parts of the shoe are inevitably expensive, both as regards the materials used, and as regards the cost of labours required to perform said phases. Summary of the Invention It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a sole, and relating shoe, in particular sandal, slipper or similar, which let the opportunity of easily and rapidly detaching the shoe upper from the sole and replacing it. Another object of the invention is to provide a sole, and relating shoe, in particular sandal, slipper or similar, which can be made and assembled at very low total costs.

Further object is to provide a sole for shoes which, as it can be easily assembled with different sorts of shoe uppers, let the final user compose by itself differently shaped, coloured or fashioned sort of shoes.

Finally, another object of the present invention is to provide a sole, and relating shoe, which let the final user perform by itself, in a very quick way, basic maintenance of the shoe. Said objects are attained through a sole for shoes, in particular shoes with an open structured shoe upper, such as sandals, slippers or similar, characterized in that it comprises one or more through cavities apt to house in sliding mode, thongs, laces, straps or similar accessories which form the shoe upper itself or which connect the shoe upper to the sole. A shoe according to the invention comprises a sole which has one or more through cavities within, said cavities housing in sliding mode- thongs, laces, straps or end parts of the shoe upper, the ends of said components being connected together or to the shoe upper, in a removable way, through buckles, knots, or other fastening means.

One or more of said through cavities are pseudo-rectangular shaped and they are made in the main body of the sole by directly moulding them in a single phase with the sole itself. Said cavities could have their top surface closed by supplementary components housed in the body of the sole or directly by the insole which, in this case, has a rigid structure.

Said through cavities can be obtained also by interposing,between the body of the sole and the insole, one or more supplementary components having same thickness as the height of the cavities and shaped as to form, together with the cavities, the surface of the sole, said supplementary components being linked to the body of the sole by gluing, screw means, or other similar or equivalent means. The advantages coming from the above sole for shoes are clear mainly as regards the chance the user have of extremely easily and quickly removing and replacing the parts which form the shoe upper. These operations, infact, can be rapidly performed by anyone, simply sliping the parts of the shoe upper off their cavities.

So, it is possible to perform by oneself maintenance of the shoe just buying the parts of shoe upper required and replacing the damaged ones.

In addition, the shoe of the invention is extremely versatile as it is possible to get very different looking shoes by simply replacing the parts which form the shoe upper. Further and important advantage coming with the sole of the invention concerns the total costs for making the shoe, costs that are notably reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings Anyway, for a better understanding of the characterics and the advantages of the present invention, they will now be described, by way of examples, embodiments of the invention itself, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :

-Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a shoe according to the invention;

-Figure 2 shows a side view of the sole of the shoe of fig.1;

-Figure 3 shows a top view of the parts forming the shoe upper of the shoe of fig.1;

-Figure 4 shows an exploded perspective view of a sole of the present invention, according to a specific embodiment;

-Figure 5 shows a side view of the sole of fig.4;

-Figure 6 shows an exploded perspective view of a further embodiment of the sole of the invention;

-Figure 7 shows a side view of the sole of fig.6; -Figure 8 shows an exploded perspective view of one more embodiment of the sole of the invention;

-Figure 9 shows a side view of the sole of fig.8;

-Figure 10 shows a perspective view of a further embodiment of a sole, and relting shoe, according to the present invention; -Figure 11 shows an exploded perspective view of the sole of the shoe offig.10;

-Figure 12 shows a longitudinal view, in partial section, of the sole of fig.ll. Description of Preferred Embodiments

Referring to fig. I₅ it is indicated as a whole with 10 a shoe according to a first embodiment of the invention, comprising a sole, 11, an insole, 12, and a shoe upper, 13. This last is made of two simple thongs, 14 and 15, provided with buckles, 16, and with the relating adjusting holes, 17, as well shown in fig.3.

In fig.2 can be noticed in detail that the sole, 11, provides two through cavities, 18 and 19, transversally crossing the sole itself, and shaped in order to correctly house, in sliding mode, the thongs, 14 and 15. Said sole, 11 is made of plastic material or other material which can be forged by injection moulding, so that the cavities, 18 and 19, are made contemporaneously with the sole, through a single moulding phase. What is more, said cavities, according to different embodiments, can be differently shaped and sized in order to house the desired kind of straps, thongs, laces or different components or accessories, of the shoe upper, 13.

In fig.4 is labeled with lla, in exploded view, a second embodiment of a sole according to the present invention. The lower body, 20a, of the sole lla is made according to the known art. Spacers 21a', 21a" and 21a'" are put between said lower body, 20a, and the insole, 12a, said spacers having same thickness as the height of the cavities, 18a, 19a, to be done, and being shaped in order to draw, together with said cavities, the top surface of the sole. In fig.5 is shown the sole, lla, once the body of the sole, 20a, the spacers, 21a, and the insole, 12a, have been assembled together, preferably by gluing the parts one to another, or, alternatively, providing different binding means as, for instance, screw means, nails, or other more. It has to be noticed that, in this embodiment, the insole, 12a, has, advantageously, a rigid structure for giving adequate support to the foot on the areas of the cavities, 18a, 19a, too. hi fig.6 is shown, still in exploded view, a further embodiment of a sole, pointed as whole with l ib, according to the present invention. In this case, the lower body of the sole, 20b, provides both the cavities, 18b, 19b, which take form of crossing grooves, both further housings 22', 22", respectively located over said cavities, in which two supplementary components, 21b', 21b" are housed, in order to close the top surface of the grooves themselves, so producing the through cavities.

Said supplementary components, 21b', 21b", are sized in order to perfectly house in said housings, 22', 22", binding as a tongue joint to the sole, 20b, and kept in such position by the insole 12b. In fig.7 it can be seen, infact, that thanks to their proper thick, the supplementary components 21b', 21b", fulfill the top surface of the body of the sole, 20b, where the insole, 12b, can be glued over or bound through different means or processes, hi fig.8 is shown a further embodiment of the sole of the invention. hi the body, 20c, of the sole, 1 Ic, are made, directly by moulding or in following working phases, the cavities 18c and 19c, which take form of crossing grooves, where the parts or accessories of the shoe upper, 13, are housed in sliding mode. As it can be seen in fig.9, the insole, 19c, glued or bound thorugh other means, to the body, 20c, completes the sole, lie, closing the top surface of the cavities 18c and 19c, and providing adequate support for the foot. Also in this case the insole has a rigid structure. Finally, in fig.10 is shown an "infradito" sandal, 1Od, comprising a further embodiment of the sole of the invention. In this case, as it can be seen in detail in the following figg.ll and 12, the embodiment is similar to the one shown in figg.l and 2. Infact the cavities, 18d, 19d, are made directly in the body of the sole. In this new embodiment there is also a hole, 23, in the insole 12d, close to the position of the big toe, and, underneath said hole, there is an aperture, 24, in the body of the sole, apt to let the hole 23 communicate with one of the cavities, 18d, so allowing laces, thongs or similar, passing through the top surface of the sole, Hd, in order to obtain, exactly, "infradito" sandals. Obviously, futher soluntions and embodiments of the sole of the invention, and relating shoes, could be provided, as well as changes or modifications to the disclosed ones.

For instance, the through cavities, which in the above embodiments have a pseudo-rectangular section, could be, for example, circular, oval, polygonal or differently shaped.

With reference to the first and the last disclosed embodiments, the sole could be made not by moulding but by different working processes. In particular, the trough cavities could be made by drilling or milling. As regards the second embodiment, could be used a different number of spacers 21 a' , 21 a" , 21 a" ' , and they could be differently shaped as a function of the number of cavities to be done in the sole 11a, while, as regards the third embodiment, also the supplementary components, 21b', 21b", could be glued or bound to the sole through different means in order to grant a better fastening and overall assembling of the sole itself.

The material of the sole may obviously vary according to the kind of utilization, as we can use plastic materials, leather, wood, cork or other materials. The through cavities may be parallely arranged or they may cross each other in various ways. The shoes of the invention, or in which are used the sole of the invention, have, preferably, an open structured shoe upper, but, they could also be shoes in which the shoe upper is bound to the sole all around its perimeter, through removable means, just like velcro strips or similar, and through end parts of the shoe upper itself which passes through the cavities of the sole.

These and other modifications may be carried out to the sole of the invention and relating shoe, always within the limits of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

C L A I M S

1- Sole for shoes, in particular with open structured shoe upper like sandals, slippers or similar, characterized in that it comprises one or more cavities apt to house thongs, laces, straps or similar accessories which form the shoe upper or which are binding means of the shoe upper to said sole .

2- Sole (11, lid) for shoes according to the previous claim characterized in that one or more of said through cavities (18, 19, 18d, 19d) are part of the main body of the sole. 3- Sole (11, lid) for shoes according to the previous claim characterized in that one of more of said through cavities (18, 19, 18d₇ 19d) are made directly by moulding said main body.

4- Sole (lie) for shoes according to claim 1 characterized in that one or more of said through cavities (18c, 19c) take form, in the main body (20c) of the sole, of crossing grooves with their top surfaces open, said top surfaces being closed by an insole (12c) having a suitably rigid structure.

5- Sole (1 Ib) for shoes according to claim 1 characterized in that one or more of said through cavities (18b, 19b) take form, in the main body (20b) of the sole, of crossing grooves with their top surfaces open, said top surfaces being closed through supplementary components (2Ib', 21b") housed as tongue joints in housing (22', 22") provided in said main body (20b), over said cavities (18b, 19b).

6- Sole (Ha) for shoes according to claim 1 characterized in that it comprises a lower body (20a), an insole (12a) and spacers (2Ia', 21a",

21a'") coming between, said spacers having same thickness as the height of said through cavities (18a, 19a) and being shaped in order to draw, together with said cavities, the top surface of said sole.

7- Sole (lid) according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that it comprises a lower body, (2Od) and an insole (12d) provided with a hole (23) close to the position of the big toe, said hole (23) communicating with one of the cavities (18d) part of the lower body (2Od), in order let laces, thongs, or similar, pass through the top surface of said sole (lid). 8- Sole according to one of the prevoous claims characterized in that it is made of plastic material.

9- Shoe, in particular with an open structured shoe upper, like sandal, slipper or similar, characterized in that it comprises a sole providing one or more through cavities which house, in sliding mode, thongs, laces, straps or end parts of the shoe upper, the ends of the above housed components being connected together or to the shoe upper in a removable way through buckles, knots, or other fastening means.

10- Shoe characterized in that it comprises a sole providing one or more through cavities which house, in sliding mode, thongs, laces, straps or other parts of the shoe upper, said shoe upper being further bound to said sole through joints placed all along the perimeter of the sole, by using removable means, like velcro strips, or similar.