Rocker footwear
AssigneeThe North Face Apparel Corp.
InventorsBenoit Geis, Wu Shengching
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A shoe may comprise an upper (5) and a comfort sole (9) attached to an outsole (7), the comfort sole having a radius of curvature at any point of a line from a heel (C) to a toe (D) and interfacing with outsole (7), wherein the lowest point of comfort sole (9) and outsole (7), called the center of mass or balance point of the sole or natural balance point of the shoe, when placed on a substantially horizontal reference plane (H) defines a transition zone (Z1) of the roll of the foot having the highest radius of the comfort sole and the outsole, and in that the center of mass is behind point (B) of the metatarsals.
Claims11
A shoe comprising:
- an upper and a comfort sole attached to an outsole;
- the comfort sole having a varying radius of curvature at two or more points of a line extending from a heel area of the comfort sole to a toe area of the comfort sole and interfacing with the outsole, the comfort sole comprising;
- a centrally located center of mass zone, wherein the lowest point of the comfort sole and the outsole corresponds to a center of mass of the shoe, such that, when placed on a horizontal reference plane, the center of mass zone defines a transition of the roll of the foot having a highest sole radius of the comfort sole and the outsole, wherein the center of mass zone is positioned behind a metatarsal region of the comfort sole corresponding to a metatarsal region of a foot, and wherein the radius of curvature of the center of mass zone is between 350 mm and 3000 mm;
- a transition zone positioned adjacent to the center of mass zone toward the heel area of the comfort sole, the transition zone having a smaller sole radius than the center of mass zone;
- a first unrolling zone positioned forward of the center of mass zone in the metatarsal region of the comfort sole, the first unrolling zone having a sole radius that is smaller than the sole radius of the center of mass zone;
- a second unrolling zone positioned forward of the first unrolling zone having a sole radius that is greater than the sole radius of the first unrolling zone;
- and
- an impact zone at the heel having a sole radius smaller than the radius of the transition zone;
- wherein the transition zone and the impact zone each have a sole radius less than the sole radius of the center of mass zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.