Footwear heel support device
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsElizabeth A. Kilgore, Austin Orand, Andrew A. Owings
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An article of footwear includes an upper defining a foot-receiving cavity with a heel region, and a heel support device extending around the rear of a heel region from a lateral side to a medial side. The heel support device may include a plurality of slats and a base, the plurality of slats providing a progressive gradient of lengths and/or widths, and/or one or more pegs extending from the device for attachment to a footwear upper, and/or an elongated tip that may be disposed in a cavity of an extension of a heel collar of the upper.
Claims18
A device for easing foot entry into an article of footwear, the device comprising:
- a control bar and a base underlying the control bar;
- wherein the control bar includes a plurality of slats, the plurality of slats including an uppermost slat, a lowermost slat closer to the base than the uppermost slat, and at least one intermediate slat disposed between the uppermost slat and the lowermost slat;
- each slat of the plurality of slats having:
- a center segment;
- a medial side arm extending from the center segment to a medial end connected to a medial side of the base;
- and
- a lateral side arm extending from the center segment to a lateral end connected to a lateral side of the base;
- wherein the center segments of the plurality of slats progressively increase in width from the lowermost slat to the uppermost slat;
- and
- wherein the control bar is resiliently bendable between an unloaded position and a loaded position in which at least one center segment is closer to the base than in the unloaded position.
An article of footwear comprising:
- an upper defining a foot-receiving cavity with a heel region, the upper having a heel collar defining an opening into the foot-receiving cavity;
- wherein the upper includes and inner layer and an outer layer, the inner layer and the outer layer defining an internal cavity;
- and
- a heel support device extending around a rear of a heel region and including a control bar and a base, wherein both the control bar and the base are in the internal cavity;
- wherein the control bar includes a plurality of slats, the plurality of slats including an uppermost slat, a lowermost slat closer to the base than the uppermost slat, and at least one intermediate slat disposed between the uppermost slat and the lowermost slat;
- each slat of the plurality of slats having:
- a center segment;
- a medial side arm extending from the center segment to a medial end connected to a medial side of the base;
- and
- a lateral side arm extending from the center segment to a lateral end connected to a lateral side of the base;
- and
- wherein the control bar is resiliently bendable between an unloaded position and a loaded position in which at least one center segment is closer to the base than in the unloaded position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.