Athletic shoe with independent supports
AssigneeSaucony, Inc.
InventorsCarl Hardy, Christopher Mahoney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An athletic shoe sole construction having a suspension system designed to resiliently support a foot and deflect downwardly upon foot imposed forces is provided. The athletic shoe includes a plurality of independent supports arrayed about the periphery of the suspension system. The supports, or pillars, may include a ground engaging section and a resilient section intermediate the ground engaging section and the suspension system. The suspension system may include a deflectable grid system, or it may include other resilient deflectable materials. The pillars may be constructed and arranged to deflect independently of an adjacent pillar.
Claims20
An athletic shoe construction having a transversely extending suspension system designed to resiliently support a foot and deflect downwardly upon foot imposed forces, comprising:
- a plurality of independent supports arrayed about the periphery of the suspension system and extending downwardly therefrom, said supports including a ground engaging section and a resilient section intermediate the ground engaging section and the suspension system, said supports collectively providing a flexible resilient support for the suspension system.
An athletic shoe sole construction comprising:
- a transversely extending suspension system designed to resiliently support a foot and deflect downwardly upon foot imposed forces;
- an independent support structure positioned underneath the suspension system, the support structure including a plurality of ground contacting surfaces extending about the periphery of the heel portion of the shoe sole, and a plurality of resilient sections positioned between the ground contacting surfaces and the suspension system, wherein deflection of a first resilient section is independent from the deflection of an adjacent second resilient section.
An athletic shoe construction having a transversely extending suspension system designed to resiliently support a foot and deflect downwardly upon foot imposed forces, comprising:
- a structure supporting the midsole from below, the structure including a plurality of resiliently compressible pillars arranged around the periphery of the heel portion of the midsole, and wherein a first pillar is constructed and arranged to deflect independently of an adjacent second pillar.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.