Shoe sole structures Number:6,763,616 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent A construction for a shoe, particularly an athletic shoe, which includes a sole that conforms to the natural shape of the foot shoe, including the bottom and the sides, when that foot sole deforms naturally by flattening under load while walking or running in order to provide a stable support base for the foot and ankle. Deformation sipes such as slits or channels are introduced in horizontal plane of the shoe sole to provide it with flexibility roughly equivalent to that of the foot. The result is a shoe sole that accurately parallels the frontal plane deformation of the foot sole, which creates a stable base that is wide and flat even when tilted sideways in extreme pronation or supination motion. In marked contrast, conventional shoe soles are rigid and become highly unstable when tilted sideways because they are supported only by a thin bottom edge.<H structures, sole, Shoe, sole, struc, 6763616.html, Patent, pto, 6763616

Title: Shoe sole structures

Abstract: A construction for a shoe, particularly an athletic shoe, which includes a sole that conforms to the natural shape of the foot shoe, including the bottom and the sides, when that foot sole deforms naturally by flattening under load while walking or running in order to provide a stable support base for the foot and ankle. Deformation sipes such as slits or channels are introduced in horizontal plane of the shoe sole to provide it with flexibility roughly equivalent to that of the foot. The result is a shoe sole that accurately parallels the frontal plane deformation of the foot sole, which creates a stable base that is wide and flat even when tilted sideways in extreme pronation or supination motion. In marked contrast, conventional shoe soles are rigid and become highly unstable when tilted sideways because they are supported only by a thin bottom edge.

Patent Number: 6,763,616 Issued on 07/20/2004 to Ellis, III

Inventors: Ellis, III; Frampton E. (Arlington, VA)
Assignee: Anatomic Research, Inc. (Jasper, FL)

Appl. No.: 09/933,821

Filed: August 22, 2001

Related U.S. Patent Documents


Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
390288	Feb., 1995	6295744
053321	Apr., 1993
539870	Jun., 1990

Current U.S. Class: 36/102 ; 36/25R

Current International Class: A43B 13/14 (20060101)

Field of Search: 36/59C,59R,32R,25R,28,29,114,116,12,107,108,102,76R,30R,31

References Cited [Referenced By]

U.S. Patent Documents


280791	July 1883	Brooks
500385	June 1893	Hall
584373	June 1897	Kuhn
1115922	November 1914	Furber
1242233	October 1917	Pierce
D86527	March 1932	Klein
1870751	August 1932	Reach
2120987	June 1938	Murray
2124986	July 1938	Pipes
2135725	November 1938	Merritt
2147197	February 1939	Glidden
2155166	April 1939	Kraft
2162912	June 1939	Craver
D115636	July 1939	Sperry
2201300	May 1940	Prue
2206860	July 1940	Sperry
2211057	August 1940	Duckoff
2251468	August 1941	Smith
2284307	May 1942	Sperry
2328242	August 1943	Witherill
2345831	April 1944	Pierson
2470200	May 1949	Wallach
2508392	May 1950	Issaly
2627676	February 1953	Hack
2757461	July 1956	Cartmell
2922235	January 1960	Meltzer
3087261	April 1963	Russell
3087262	April 1963	Russell
3114981	December 1963	Murawski
3295230	January 1967	Szerenyi et al.
3341952	September 1967	Dassler
3487563	January 1970	Austin
3507057	April 1970	Olsson
3732634	May 1973	Jacobson
3824716	July 1974	Di Paolo
3834046	September 1974	Fowler
3964181	June 1976	Holcombe, Jr.
4059910	November 1977	Bryden et al.
4130947	December 1978	Denu
4149324	April 1979	Lesser et al.
4161829	July 1979	Wayser
4240214	December 1980	Sigle et al.
4245406	January 1981	Landay et al.
4281467	August 1981	Anderie
4302892	December 1981	Adamik
4308671	January 1982	Bretschneider
4309831	January 1982	Pritt
4309832	January 1982	Hunt
4316332	February 1982	Giese et al.
4335530	June 1982	Stubblefield
4389798	June 1983	Tilles
4393605	July 1983	Spreng
4449306	May 1984	Cavanagh
4454662	June 1984	Stubblefield
4455767	June 1984	Bergmans
4458430	July 1984	Peterson
4468870	September 1984	Sternberg
4498251	February 1985	Shin
4505055	March 1985	Bergmans
D278851	May 1985	Austin
4527345	July 1985	Lopez Lopez
4542598	September 1985	Misevich et al.
4547979	October 1985	Harada et al.
4557059	December 1985	Misevich et al.
4562651	January 1986	Frederick et al.
4569142	February 1986	Askinasi
4570362	February 1986	Vermonet
4571852	February 1986	Lamarche et al.
4611412	September 1986	Cohen
4614046	September 1986	Dassler
4615126	October 1986	Mathews
4620376	November 1986	Talarico, II
4624061	November 1986	Wezel et al.
4624062	November 1986	Autry
4638577	January 1987	Riggs
D288027	February 1987	Tonkel
4654983	April 1987	Graham et al.
4667423	May 1987	Autry et al.
D293275	December 1987	Bua
4715133	December 1987	Hartjes et al.
4724622	February 1988	Mills
4724624	February 1988	Duclos
D294425	March 1988	Le
D294537	March 1988	Le
4731939	March 1988	Parracho et al.
4733483	March 1988	Lin
D296149	June 1988	Diaz
D296152	June 1988	Selbiger
4748753	June 1988	Ju
4753021	June 1988	Cohen
4759136	July 1988	Stewart et al.
4777738	October 1988	Giese et al.
4779361	October 1988	Kinsaul
4782603	November 1988	Brown
4783910	November 1988	Boys, II et al.
4790083	December 1988	Dufour
4798010	January 1989	Sugiyama
4858340	August 1989	Pasternak
4864737	September 1989	Marrello
4864739	September 1989	Maestri
4876806	October 1989	Robinson et al.
4876807	October 1989	Tiitola et al.
4878300	November 1989	Bogaty
4887367	December 1989	Mackness et al.
4890398	January 1990	Thomasson
4894932	January 1990	Harada et al.
4934073	June 1990	Robinson
4937954	July 1990	Clement
4989349	February 1991	Ellis, III
5012597	May 1991	Thomasson
5014449	May 1991	Richard et al.
5025573	June 1991	Giese et al.
5048203	September 1991	Kling
5224810	July 1993	Pitkin
5247742	September 1993	Kilgore et al.
5317819	June 1994	Ellis, III
5544429	August 1996	Ellis, III
5909948	June 1999	Ellis, III
6115941	September 2000	Ellis, III
6115945	September 2000	Ellis, III
6163982	December 2000	Ellis, III
6295744	October 2001	Ellis, III
6308439	October 2001	Ellis, III
6314662	November 2001	Ellis, III

Foreign Patent Documents


1 176 458	Oct., 1984	CA
23462	Mar., 1883	DE
1 290 844	Mar., 1969	DE
30 24 587	Jan., 1982	DE
32 22 975	Feb., 1983	DE
0 069 083	Jan., 1983	EP
0 083 449	Jul., 1983	EP
337.366	Apr., 1904	FR
825.941	Mar., 1938	FR
1.034.194	Jul., 1953	FR
1.096.539	Jun., 1955	FR
1.187.325	Sep., 1959	FR
53	Oct., 1891	GB
9591	Nov., 1913	GB
346771	Apr., 1931	GB
471179	Aug., 1937	GB
764956	Jan., 1957	GB
2 001 843	Feb., 1979	GB
2 007 081	May., 1979	GB
11890	Oct., 1982	GB
2 113 072	Aug., 1983	GB
254536	Aug., 1927	IT
443702	Jan., 1949	IT
479755	Jul., 1950	IT
1590064	Sep., 1990	SU
WO 82/03754	Nov., 1982	WO
WO 83/03528	Oct., 1983	WO
WO 83/04166	Dec., 1983	WO
WO 87/07479	Dec., 1987	WO
WO 90/00358	Jan., 1990	WO
WO 91/00698	Jan., 1991	WO
WO 91/03180	Mar., 1991	WO
WO 91/04683	Apr., 1991	WO
WO 91/05491	May., 1991	WO
WO 91/10377	Jul., 1991	WO
WO 91/11124	Aug., 1991	WO
WO 91/11924	Aug., 1991	WO
WO 91/19429	Dec., 1991	WO
WO 92/07483	May., 1992	WO
WO 92/18024	Oct., 1992	WO
WO 94/03080	Feb., 1994	WO
WO 97/00029	Jan., 1997	WO
WO 00/54616	Sep., 2000	WO
WO 00/64293	Nov., 2000	WO
WO 01/80678	Nov., 2001	WO

Other References

German descriptions of adidas badminton shoes, pre-1989 (?). .
Runner's World, Nov. 1988, p. 75, Advertisement for Nike Air Flow. .
Runner's World, Oct. 1987, p. 60, Specifications on Turntec Road Warrior. .
The Reebok Lineup, Fall 1987 (1 two-sided page). .
Originally filed specification for U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/234,590 filed Apr. 28, 1994 (FEE-013/Con). .
Originally filed specification for U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/621,453 filed Jul. 21, 2000 (FEE-10-02)..

Primary Examiner: Patterson; Marie D
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Knoble Yoshida & Dunleavy, LLC

Parent Case Text

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/390,288, filed Feb. 15, 1995 now 6,925,744, allowed May 11, 2001; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application no. 08/053,321, filed Apr. 27, 1993, now abandoned; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/539,870, filed Jun. 18, 1990, now abandoned.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A shoe sole construction suitable for an athletic shoe, comprising: a sole inner surface and a sole outer surface; a sole lateral side, a sole medial side, and a sole middle portion located between the sole lateral side and the sole medial side; the sole including a lateral sidemost section and a medial sidemost section, each said section being located outside of a straight vertical line extending through the sole at a respective sidemost extent of said inner surface of the shoe sole, as viewed in said shoe sole frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition; a bottom sole; a midsole having an inner midsole surface and an outer midsole surface; the midsole comprising at least one convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition, said convexity being determined relative to a section of the midsole directly adjacent to the convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface; the midsole comprising at least one concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition, said concavity being determined relative to an inner section of the midsole directly adjacent to the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface; each said concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface being located on a side of the shoe sole at a location corresponding to the location of at least one convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface so as to define a rounded portion of the midsole located between said convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface and said concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface; the midsole extending from the sole middle portion into the sidemost section of the shoe sole side at the location of the rounded portion of the mid sole, the midsole further extending up the sole side to above a level corresponding to a lowest point of an inner surface of a nearest sidemost part of the midsole, as viewed in a shoe sole frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition; and a non-vertical internal flexibility slit located within the sole portion of said sole, said flexibility slit being located between two opposing substantially parallel sole surfaces in physical contact with one another to permit relative motion between said opposing sole surfaces, as viewed in a frontal plane-cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition, to provide flexibility to said sole portion when under load.

2. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second internal flexibility slit that is substantially vertical, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

3. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 2, wherein substantially vertical portion of said internal flexibility slit is located in said rounded side portion of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

4. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slit extends in a direction substantially parallel to the inner midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

5. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slit extends in a direction substantially parallel to the outer midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

6. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 5, wherein said frontal plane cross-section is located in a heel area of the shoe sole.

7. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slitextends in a direction substantially parallel to a boundary between the midsole and the bottom sole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

8. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slit extends through the sole middle portion in a direction substantially parallel to the inner midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

9. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 8, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slit extends from one side of the shoe sole through the sole middle portion and into the opposite side of the shoe sole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

10. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 9, wherein the non-vertical internal flexibility slit forms a boundary between the midsole and the bottom sole.

11. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second internal flexibility slit forms a boundary between the midsole and the bottom sole.

12. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a second internal flexibility slit which extends in a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the direction of a portion of said non-vertical internal flexibility slit that is located closest to said second internal flexibility slit, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

13. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 12, wherein the second internal flexibility slit is oriented substantially parallel to a part of the outer midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

14. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 12, wherein the second internal flexibility slit is oriented substantially parallel to a part of the outer surface of the shoe sole side, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

15. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 12, wherein the second internal flexibility slit is located in a midsole portion of the shoe sole.

16. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a third internal flexibility slit located in a midsole portion of the shoe sole.

17. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 16, further comprising a fourth internal flexibility slit located in a midsole portion and wherein the fourth internal flexibility slit is substantially vertical, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

18. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 17, wherein the fourth internal flexibility into the rounded portion of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

19. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 16, wherein the third internal flexibility slit extends in a direction substantially parallel to said non-vertical internal flexibility slit, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

20. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 16, wherein said third internal flexibility slit extends in a direction substantially parallel to the inner midsole surface, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

21. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 16, wherein said third internal flexibility slit extends from a side of the midsole portion to a location closer to a centerline of the shoe sole to thereby partially encapsulate a portion of the midsole within said non-vertical, second and third internal flexibility slits, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

22. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 16, wherein said second internal flexibility slit connects to said non-vertical internal flexibility slit.

23. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 22, wherein said third internal flexibility slit connects to said second internal flexibility slit to thereby at least partially encapsulate a portion of the midsole between said non-vertical, second and third internal flexibility slits, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

24. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface extends into the sole middle portion, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

25. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface extends to a centerline of the shoe sole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

26. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface extends through the sole middle portion, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

27. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the convexly rounded portion of the inner midsole surface extends through the sole middle portion and into the opposite side of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

28. A shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of an internal surface created by the at least one internal slit is non-porous and the shoe sole further comprises at least one lubricating agent between the non-porous portion of the internal surface created by the at least one internal slit and another internal surface of the at least one internal slit.

29. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of outer midsole surface extends through the sidemost extent of a side of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

30. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface extends through a lowermost section of a side of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

31. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface extends from a lowermost section of a side of the midsole to the sidemost extent of the same side of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

32. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface extends from a lowermost section of a side of the midsole to above a lowermost point of the inner surface of the midsole, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

33. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface extends into the sole middle portion, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

34. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer midsole surface extends through the sole middle portion, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

35. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the internal flexibility slit is continuous and partially encapsulates a part of the midsole portion, as viewed in a frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition.

36. The shoe sole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the internal flexibility slit is oriented substantially parallel to a horizontal plane cross-section.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the structure of shoes. More specifically, this invention relates to the structure of athletic shoes. Still more particularly, this invention relates to shoe soles that conform to the natural shape of the foot sole, including the bottom and the sides, when the foot sole deforms naturally during locomotion in order to provide a stable support base for the foot and ankle. Still more particularly, this invention relates to the use of deformation sipes such as slits or channels in the shoe sole to provide it with sufficient flexibility to parallel the frontal plane deformation of the foot sole, which creates a stable base that is wide and flat even when tilted sideways in natural pronation and supination motion.

The applicant has introduced into the art the use of sipes to provide natural deformation paralleling the human foot in pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/424,509, filed Oct. 20, 1989, and Ser. No. 07/478,579, filed Feb. 8, 1990. It is the object of this invention to elaborate upon those earlier applications to apply their general principles to other shoe sole structures, including those introduced in other earlier applications.

By way of introduction, the prior two applications elaborated almost exclusively on the use of sipes such as slits or channels that are preferably about perpendicular to the horizontal plane and about parallel to the sagittal plane, which coincides roughly with the long axis of the shoe; in addition, the sipes originated generally from the bottom of the shoe sole. This application will elaborate on use of sipes that instead originate generally from either or both sides of the shoe sole and are preferably about perpendicular to the sagittal plane and about parallel to the horizontal plane; that approach was introduced in the '509 application. Thus, this application will focus on sipes originating generally from either or both sides of the shoe sole, rather than from the bottom or top (or both) of the shoe sole.

In addition to the prior pending applications indicated above, the applicant has introduced into the art the concept of a theoretically ideal stability plane as a structural basis for shoe sole designs. That concept as implemented into shoes such as street shoes and athletic shoes is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,349, issued Feb. 5, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,819, issued Jun. 7, 1994, and in pending U.S. application numbers 07/400,714, filed on Aug. 30, 1989; Ser. No. 07/416,478, filed on Oct. 3, 1989; Ser. No. 07/463,302, filed on Jan. 10, 1990; and 07/469,313, filed on Jan. 24, 1990, as well as in PCT application no. PCT/US89/03076, filed on Jul. 14, 1989, which is generally comprised of virtually the entire '819 Patent verbatim (FIGS. 1-28) and major portions of the '349 Patent also verbatim (FIGS. 29-37) and was published as International Publication number WO 90/00358 on Jan. 25, 1990; PCT application no. PCT/US90/04917, which is comprised verbatim of the '714 application, except for FIGS. 13-15 (which were published as FIGS. 38-40 of WO 90/00358) and was published as International Publication number WO 91/03180 on Mar. 21, 1991; PCT application no. PCT/US90/05609, which is comprised verbatim of the '478 application and was published as International Publication number WO 91/04683 on Apr. 18, 1991; PCT application no. PCT/US90/06028, which is comprised verbatim of the '509 application and was published as International Publication number WO 91/05491 on May 2, 1991; PCT application no. PCT/US91/00028, which is comprised verbatim of the '302 application and was published as International Publication number WO 91/10377 on Jul. 25, 1991; PCT application no. PCT/US91/00374, which is comprised verbatim of the '313 application and was published as International Publication number WO 91/11124 on Aug. 8, 1991; and PCT application no. PCT/US91/00720, which is comprised verbatim of the '579 application and was published as International Publication number WO 91/11924 on Aug. 22, 1991. The purpose of the theoretically ideal stability plane as described in these applications was primarily to provide a neutral design that allows for natural foot and ankle biomechanics as close as possible to that between the foot and the ground, and to avoid the serious interference with natural foot and ankle biomechanics inherent in existing shoes.

The applicant's prior application on the sipe invention and the elaborations in this application are modifications of the inventions disclosed and claimed in the earlier applications and develop the application of the concept of the theoretically ideal stability plane to other shoe structures. Accordingly, it is a general object of the new invention to elaborate upon the application of the principle of the theoretically ideal stability plane to other shoe structures.

It is an overall objective of this application to show additional forms and variations of the general deformation sipes invention disclosed in the '509 and '579 applications, particularly showing its incorporation into the other inventions disclosed in the applicant's other applications.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a detailed description of the invention which follows taken with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows, in frontal plane cross section at the heel portion of a shoe, a conventional modern running shoe with rigid heel counter and reinforcing motion control device and a conventional shoe sole. FIG. 1 shows that shoe when tilted 20 degrees outward, at the normal limit of ankle inversion.

FIG. 2 shows, in frontal plane cross section at the heel, the human foot when tilted 20 degrees outward, at the normal limit of ankle inversion.

FIG. 3 shows, in frontal plane cross section at the heel portion, the applicant's prior invention in pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/424,509, filed Oct. 20, 1989, of a conventional shoe sole with sipes in the form of deforma