Article of footwear having a polygon lug sole pattern
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsEric P. Avar, Kevin W. Hoffer, Tobie D. Hatfield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Articles of footwear, including athletic footwear, include one or more of: (a) an upper; (b) a sole structure including a midsole and an outsole, the outsole having a plurality of polygonal lugs arranged about a base surface of the outsole. The outsole may include one or more regions wherein the characteristics of a portion of the lugs within a region differ from the characteristics of a portion of the lugs in another region. The lugs may differ, for example based on size, construction and/or spacing between the lugs. Methods of manufacturing such articles of footwear also are disclosed.
Claims17
An article of footwear, comprising:
- an upper;
- and
- a sole structure connected to the upper, the sole structure including a plurality of hexagonal lugs extending from a base surface, the hexagonal lugs being arranged to form a ground contacting surface of an outsole, wherein the hexagonal lugs are sized or spaced from one another to provide regions of the outsole with different impact-attenuation characteristics, wherein the plurality of hexagonal lugs are non-uniformly sized, wherein the plurality of hexagonal lugs includes a first hexagonal lug having two adjacent sides nested within an area defined by sides of two adjacent hexagonal lugs, wherein the plurality of hexagonal lugs are arranged in a toe region, an arch region, and a heel region, and wherein a spacing between any two adjacent lugs of the plurality of hexagonal lugs is less than a largest width of the two adjacent lugs through the entire outsole including through the toe region, the arch region, and the heel region.
An article of footwear, comprising:
- an upper connected to a base surface;
- and
- a first plurality of hexagonal lugs extending from the base surface, the first plurality of hexagonal lugs being arranged to form a ground contacting surface of a sole structure, wherein the first plurality of hexagonal lugs are non-uniformly sized, wherein the first plurality of hexagonal lugs includes a first hexagonal lug having two adjacent sides nested within an area defined by sides of a first pair of adjacent hexagonal lugs, wherein the first plurality of hexagonal lugs are arranged in a toe region, an arch region, and a heel region, and wherein a spacing between any two adjacent lugs of the first plurality of hexagonal lugs is less than a largest width of the two adjacent lugs through the entire base surface including through the toe region, the arch region, and the heel region.
An article of footwear, comprising:
- an upper;
- a sole structure connected to the upper, the sole structure including a plurality of hexagonal lugs extending from a base surface and arranged to form a ground contacting surface of an outsole, wherein the plurality of hexagonal lugs are non-uniformly sized, wherein the plurality of hexagonal lugs are arranged in a toe region, an arch region, and a heel region, the outsole further including at least a first lug region with a first plurality of hexagonal lugs having at least a first lug characteristic and a second lug region with a second plurality of hexagonal lugs having at least a second lug characteristic different from the first lug characteristic, wherein the first plurality of hexagonal lugs includes a first hexagonal lug having two adjacent sides nested within a first area defined by sides of a first pair of adjacent hexagonal lugs, wherein the second plurality of hexagonal lugs includes a second hexagonal lug having two adjacent sides nested within a second area defined by sides of a second pair of adjacent hexagonal lugs, and wherein a spacing between any two adjacent lugs of the first plurality of hexagonal lugs and the second plurality of hexagonal lugs is less than a largest width of the two adjacent lugs through the entire outsole including through the toe region, the arch region, and the heel region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.