Adjustable mechanically cushioned lateral border of the heel for a shoe
OwnerRobert D. Metroinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adjustable mechanically cushioned heel for a shoe comprises a recess adjacent one of the lateral borders of the heel area and ground-engaging members removably attached to the recess. Each of the ground-engaging members includes a relatively stiff spring element to provide a cushioning effect at the one lateral border of the heel area. Independent adjustable couplings between the ground-engaging members and the recess allow the user to independently alter the spring constant of each spring element to vary the cushioning effect at the lateral border of the heel.
Claims8
In a shoe including an upper portion and a lower portion having a sole and a heel area, the heel area having lateral and rear borders and spring-loaded means for cushioning the heel area, the improvement wherein the heel area includes a generally planar surface near the center of the heel area and an arcuate surface extending laterally outwardly and upwardly therefrom, the spring-loaded means includes at least one flexible cushioning member extending laterally generally parallel to the planar surface of the heel area, the planar and arcuate surfaces of the heel area providing a fulcrum at the lateral border for flexion of a distal portion of the cushioning member to produce a cushioning effect, and adjustment means for varying the cushioning effect of the spring-loaded means at the lateral border, the adjustment means including at least one elongated slot in the cushioning member and means received in the slot for securing the cushioning member to the heel area, the slot allowing the cushioning member to be moved laterally relative to the fulcrum at the lateral border of the heel area to change the spring constant of the distal portion thereof.
In a shoe including an upper portion and a lower portion having a sole and a heel area, the improvement comprising an adjustable mechanically cushioned lateral border of the heel area, the lateral border including a recess providing a fulcrum, a plurality of ground-engaging members, and means for independently coupling each of the ground-engaging members to the recess so that distal portions thereof extend beyond the fulcrum, each ground-engaging member including a flexible spring element providing a cushioning effect, the coupling means including means for independently altering the spring constant of each spring element to vary the cushioning effect, the means for altering the spring constant including at least one elongated slot in each ground-engaging member to allow movement thereof with respect to the fulcrum, and means received in each slot for securing the ground-engaging member to the recess.
In a shoe including an upper portion and a lower portion having a sole and a heel area, the heel area having lateral and rear borders, the improvement comprising a generally planar spring element for cushioning the heel area, the lateral border of the heel area including means providing a fulcrum for flexion of the spring element, means for coupling the spring element to the heel area so that a portion of the spring element extends laterally beyond the fulcrum to cushion the lateral border of the heel area, and adjustment means for varying the length of the portion of the spring element which extends laterally beyond the fulcrum to alter the spring constant and vary the cushioning effect thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.