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US 10,743,622 B2Granted
Footwear ventilation structures and methods
AssigneeTBL Licensing LLC
InventorThomas Yeh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Various embodiments of protective footwear are disclosed with improved ventilation characteristics. The protective footwear includes a toe cap having a ventilation channel, and various other ventilation structures to improve heat-transfer properties of the footwear.
Claims20
An article of footwear comprising:
- an upper defining a cavity sized and shaped to receive a foot of a user, wherein the upper is attached to an outsole;
- and a protective toe cap positioned entirely under the upper and adjacent a toe region of the footwear, the protective toe cap having an open underside sized to accommodate toes of the user, a lower lip that extends along a perimeter of the open underside, a forefoot side, and a midfoot side, the lower lip being arranged adjacent to the outsole, the toe cap being effective to protect a forefoot portion of the user's foot from injury and having an arcuate shape with a section arranged to overly the toes of the user's foot during use, wherein the toe cap includes a ventilation channel for providing ventilation in the toe region, the ventilation channel defined in a protrusion extending from the midfoot side to the forefoot side, the protrusion having a height at a maximum at the midfoot side and decreasing in a direction of the forefoot;
- wherein the toe cap is hemi-domed in shape and the ventilation channel extends along a longitudinal axis of the toe cap from the toe region of the footwear towards a heel region of the footwear.
An article of footwear, comprising:
- an upper defining a cavity sized and shaped to receive a foot of a user, wherein the upper is attached to an outsole;
- and a protective toe cap positioned adjacent a toe region of the footwear and entirely under the upper, the protective toe cap having an open underside sized to accommodate toes of the user, a lower lip that extends along a perimeter of the open underside, a forefoot side, and a midfoot side, the lower lip being arranged adjacent to the outsole, the toe cap being effective to protect a forefoot portion of the user's foot from injury and having an arcuate shape with a section arranged to overly the toes of the user's foot during use, wherein the toe cap includes a ventilation channel for providing ventilation in the toe region, the ventilation channel defined in a protrusion extending from the midfoot side to the forefoot side, the protrusion having a height at a maximum at the midfoot side and decreasing in a direction of the forefoot;
- wherein the upper includes a tongue region and a tongue ventilation channel is positioned along the tongue region, the tongue ventilation channel being aligned with the ventilation channel of the toe cap to provide a continuous channel.
A protective toe cap for an article of footwear comprising:
- a hemi-dome shaped body sized and shaped to cover a users toes once incorporated entirely under an upper of a footwear, the body having inner and outer surfaces, a lower lip extending along a perimeter of the body, a forefoot side, a midfoot side, and a ventilation channel extending in a longitudinal direction between the forefoot side and the midfoot side of the body, the lower lip being configured to attach the protective toe cap to a sole portion of the article of footwear, the ventilation channel being open along the inner surface to air to travel along the ventilation channel and defined in a protrusion extending from the midfoot side to the forefoot side, the protrusion having a height at a maximum at the midfoot side and decreasing in a direction of the forefoot side.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.