Shoe with naturally contoured sole
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A shoe sole, comprising:
- a shoe sole with an upper, foot sole-contacting surface that conforms substantially to the shape of at least part of a sole of a wearer'"'"'s foot, including at least part one curved side of the foot sole;
the shoe sole is characterized by at least a part of the load-bearing portions of the shoe sole having a substantially uniform thickness, so that a lower, ground-contacting surface substantially parallels said upper surface, when measured in frontal plane cross sections;
said shoe sole thickness being defined as the shortest distance between any point on an upper, foot sole-contacting surface of said shoe sole and a lower, ground-contacting surface of said shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections;
the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, extends through at least one contoured side portion at least high enough to provide direct load-bearing support between sole of foot and ground through a sideways tilt of 20 degrees;
the shoe sole thickness is varying when measured in sagittal plane cross sections and is greater in a heel area than in a forefoot area; and
the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole is different when measured in at least two separate frontal plane cross sections wherein the shoe sole has at least one contoured side portion with the substantially uniform thickness extending through at least a sideways tilt of 20 degrees, so that there are at least two different thicknesses of the contoured side portions, when measured in frontal plane cross sections.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A construction for a shoe, particularly an athletic shoe such as a running shoe, includes a sole that conforms to the natural shape of the foot, particularly the sides, and that has a constant thickness in frontal plane cross sections. The thickness of the shoe sole side contour equals and therefore varies exactly as the thickness of the load-bearing sole portion varies due to heel lift, for example. Thus, the outer contour of the edge portion of the sole has at least a portion which lies along a theoretically ideal stability plane for providing natural stability and efficient motion of the shoe and foot particularly in an inverted and everted mode.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A shoe sole, comprising:
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a shoe sole with an upper, foot sole-contacting surface that conforms substantially to the shape of at least part of a sole of a wearer'"'"'s foot, including at least part one curved side of the foot sole; the shoe sole is characterized by at least a part of the load-bearing portions of the shoe sole having a substantially uniform thickness, so that a lower, ground-contacting surface substantially parallels said upper surface, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; said shoe sole thickness being defined as the shortest distance between any point on an upper, foot sole-contacting surface of said shoe sole and a lower, ground-contacting surface of said shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, extends through at least one contoured side portion at least high enough to provide direct load-bearing support between sole of foot and ground through a sideways tilt of 20 degrees; the shoe sole thickness is varying when measured in sagittal plane cross sections and is greater in a heel area than in a forefoot area; and the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole is different when measured in at least two separate frontal plane cross sections wherein the shoe sole has at least one contoured side portion with the substantially uniform thickness extending through at least a sideways tilt of 20 degrees, so that there are at least two different thicknesses of the contoured side portions, when measured in frontal plane cross sections. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A shoe sole, comprising:
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a shoe sole having an upper, foot-contacting surface at least a portion of which conforms to the shape of a wearer'"'"'s forefoot sole, including at least a portion of a curved side of the wearer'"'"'s forefoot sole proximate to a head of a fifth metatarsal of the foot; and said shoe sole portions having a uniform thickness, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; the direct load-bearing part of the shoe sole includes both that part of the bottom portion and that part of the curved side portion which become directly load-bearing when the shoe sole on the ground is tilted sideways, away from an upright position; said shoe sole including a heel area with a thickness that is greater than a forefoot area; the uniform thickness of the shoe sole, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, extends through at least a contoured side portion providing direct structural support between foot sole and ground through a sideways tilt of at least 60 degrees; wherein the shoe sole has at least a side portion, which adjoins said contoured side portion proximate to the head of the fifth metatarsal, with a thickness that is not uniform through a sideways tilt of at least 60 degrees, in order to save weight add to increase flexibility; whereby, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, the shoe sole'"'"'s uniform thickness between the upper, foot-contacting surface and the parallel lower, ground-contacting surface maintains a lateral stability of the forefoot on the shoe sole like that when the foot is bare on the ground, especially during extreme sideways pronation and supination motion occurring when the shoe sole is in contact with the ground. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
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44. A shoe sole, comprising:
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a shoe sole with an upper, foot sole-contacting surface that substantially conforms to the shape of a wearer'"'"'s foot sole, including at least one portion of the curved bottom of the foot sole when not structurally flattened under the wearers body weight load and including at least one portion of a curved side of the foot sole; and the shoe sole has a substantially uniform thickness, when measured in frontal plane cross sections, in at least a part of the shoe sole providing direct structural support between the wearer'"'"'s load-bearing foot sole and ground; wherein the direct load-bearing part of the shoe sole includes both that part of the curved bottom portion and that part of the curved side portion which become directly load-bearing when the shoe sole on the ground is tilted sideways, away from an upright position; said shoe sole thickness being defined as the shortest distance between any point on an upper, foot sole-contacting surface of said shoe sole and a lower, ground-contacting surface of said shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; the load-bearing part of the lower, ground-contacting surface of the shoe sole is therefore parallel to the upper foot sole-contacting surface of the shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; said shoe sole thickness varying when measured in the sagittal plane and being greater in a heel area than a forefoot area; the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, extends through the curved bottom portion and at least a curved side portion providing direct structural support between foot sole and ground through a sideways tilt of at least 7 degrees; and
,the substantially uniform thickness of the shoe sole is different when measured in at least two separate frontal plane cross sections. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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46. A shoe sole, comprising:
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a shoe sole having an upper, foot-contacting surface at least a portion of which conforms to the shape of a sole of a wearer'"'"'s heel, including at least a portion of at least one curved side of the wearer'"'"'s foot sole proximate to a calcaneus of a wearer'"'"'s foot; and said shoe sole portions having a uniform thickness, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; the direct load-bearing part of the shoe sole includes both that part of the bottom portion and that part of the curved side portion which become directly load-bearing when the shoe sole on the ground is tilted sideways, away from an upright position; said shoe sole including a heel area with a thickness that is greater than a forefoot area; the uniform thickness of the shoe sole, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, extends through at least a contoured side portion providing direct structural support between foot sole and ground through a sideways tilt of at least 30 degrees; wherein the shoe sole has at least a side portion, which adjoins said contoured side portion proximate to the calcaneus, with a thickness that is not uniform through a sideways tilt of at least 30 degrees, in order to save weight and to increase flexibility; whereby, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, the shoe sole'"'"'s uniform thickness between the upper, foot-contacting surface and the parallel lower, ground-contacting surface maintains a lateral stability of the heel on the shoe sole like that when the foot is bare on the ground, especially during extreme sideways pronation and supination motion occurring when the shoe sole is in contact with the ground. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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50. A shoe sole, comprising:
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a shoe sole having a sole portion including an upper, foot sole-contacting surface; the shoe sole also having at least one contoured side portion merging with the sole portion and the contoured side portion having an upper, foot sole-contacting surface conforming to the curved shape of at least a part of one side of the foot sole of a wearer; and the shoe sole having a uniform thickness, when measured in frontal plane cross sections, in at least a part of the shoe sole providing direct structural support between the wearer'"'"'s load-bearing foot sole and ground; the direct load-bearing part of the shoe sole includes both that part of the sole portion and that part of the contoured side portion which become directly load-bearing when the shoe sole on the ground is tilted sideways, away from an upright position; wherein the uniform thickness of the shoe sole extends through at least a contoured side portion providing direct structural support between a foot sole and ground through a sideways tilt of at least 20 degrees; said shoe sole thickness being defined as the shortest distance between any point on an upper, foot sole-contacting surface of said shoe sole and a lower, ground-contacting surface of said shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; wherein the lower, ground-contacting surface of the shoe sole is therefore parallel to the upper foot sole-contacting surface of the shoe sole, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; said sole portion having a varying thickness when measured in sagittal plane cross sections, said thickness being greater in the heel area than in the forefoot area; said thickness of the contoured side portion equaling and therefore varying directly with the thickness of the sole portion to which it is merged, when the thickness is measured in the frontal plane cross sections; wherein the uniform thickness of the shoe sole is respectively different when measured in at least two frontal plane cross sections wherein the shoe sole has a contoured side portion of at least 20 degrees, so that there are at least two different contoured side portion thicknesses, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; whereby, as measured in frontal plane cross sections, the uniform thickness of the shoe sole, especially including the side portion, maintains a lateral stability of the foot on the shoe sole like that when the foot is bare on the ground, especially during sideways pronation and supination motion occurring when the shoe sole is in contact with the ground.
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51. A shoe sole, comprising:
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an upper, foot sole-contacting surface that conforms substantially to the shape of at least a part of a sole of a wearer'"'"'s foot, said shape including at least a part of the load-bearing portion of at least a curved side of the foot sole; and a lower ground-contacting surface; said shoe sole has at least a sole portion including said foot sole contacting surface and at least one contoured side portion merging with said sole portion and conforming substantially to the shape of the corresponding side of the sole of said foot; said shoe sole thickness is varying when measured in sagittal plane cross sections and is greater in the heel area than in the forefoot area; said sole portion and said contoured side portion have a substantially uniform thickness, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; said shoe sole thickness being defined as about the shortest distance between any point on said upper, foot sole-contacting surface and the closest point on said lower, ground-contacting, when measured in frontal plane cross sections; said substantially uniform thickness of said shoe sole is different when measured in at least two separate frontal plane cross sections wherein the shoe sole has at least one said contoured side portion of at least 20 degrees, so that there are at least two different thicknesses of said at least one contoured side portion, when measured in frontal plane cross sections.
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Specification