Strain-Hardened Safety Toe For Footwear
AssigneeTBL Licensing LLC
InventorRyan Dulude
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A protective device, in particular a safety toe cap, for use with an article of footwear is provided. A safety toe cap of the present technology includes one or more strain hardened portions configured to strengthen or reinforce sections of the safety toe cap against impact, particularly from above. The one or more strain hardened portions have increased strength in relation to adjacent non-strain hardened portions and therefore may maintain adequate protection of a user's toes and foot, while simultaneously allowing for lowered material use and a device with a lightweight, streamlined profile.
Claims18
A protective toe cap for an article of footwear, comprising:
- a hemi-dome shaped body adapted to cover a user's toes once incorporated into an article a footwear,
- the body having opposing inner and outer surfaces, a forefoot side, a midfoot side, a medial side, and a lateral side,
- the body further comprising at least one strain hardened portion and at least one non-strain hardened portion.
An article of footwear comprising:
- an upper defining a cavity adapted to receive the 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, the protective toe cap comprising a hemi-dome shaped body adapted to cover the user's toes,
- the body having opposing inner and outer surfaces, a forefoot side, a midfoot side, a medial side, a lateral side, and a lower lip extending along a perimeter of the body configured to attach the protective toe cap to a sole portion of the article of footwear,
- the body further comprising at least one strain-hardened portion and at least one non-strain hardened portion.
A method of manufacturing a protective toe cap, comprising:
- providing a sheet of metal;
- providing a mold having first and second pressing surfaces, wherein at least one of the first and second pressing surfaces includes a protrusion;
- pressing the sheet of metal between the first and second pressing surfaces to produce a hemi-dome shaped body including at least one strain hardened portion formed by the protrusion;
- hardening the hemi-dome shaped body by heating to a first temperature within a range of about 500° C. to about 550° C. and maintaining the hemi-dome shaped body at the first temperature for a first period of 60 to 100 minutes to produce a hardened hemi-dome shaped body;
- and
- tempering the hardened hemi-dome shaped body by heating to a second temperature within a range of about 150° C. to about 200° C. and maintaining the hardened hemi-dome shaped body at the second temperature for a second period of 10 to 20 hours to produce the protective toe cap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.