Ventilated athletic shoe

In an athletic shoe for ventilating the user's foot, having inside said shoe a resilient slipsole above an insole board, and outside said shoe a resilient outsole assembly containing at least one transverse first air channel open at its ends through the side walls of said outsole assembly to the surrounding air, and means for conveying air from said first air channel into said inside of said shoe, that improvement comprising:

• at least one enlarged air reservoir cut vertically into the heel portion of said outsole assembly and spaced from the perimeter of said outsole assembly, said enlarged air reservoir being closed at its top and its bottom, open through its side wall to said first air channel, and open to said air conveying means,
• whereby a volume of air will be held in said enlarged air resevoir, the force of said user's foot against the ground will enhance the flow of air into said shoe, and the user's foot will be cushioned from shock.

An athletic shoe comprising

• an upper, and a sole assembly defining a network of air passages connecting the air inside said upper with the air outside said shoe,
• said network comprising at least two layers of horizontally-extending air channels connected by vertically-extending air holes and one or more enlarged air reservoirs communicating with one or more of said air channels, said enlarged air reservoir being cut vertically into said outsole assembly and spaced from the perimeter of said outsole assembly in the heel portion of said outsole assembly, and being closed at its top and its bottom,
• wherein said sole assembly is sufficiently resilient that the compression of said sole assembly between the foot and the ground pumps air held in said air reservoir into the inside of said upper.

In an athletic shoe for ventilating the user's foot, having inside said shoe a resilient slipsole above an insole board, and outside said shoe a resilient outsole assembly underneath said insole board, said outsole assembly containing at least one transverse first air channel open at its ends through the side walls of said outsole assembly to the surrounding air,

• at least one enlarged air reservoir cut vertically into said outsole assembly and spaced from the perimeter of said outsole assembly, said enlarged air reservoir being closed at its top and its bottom, and open through its side wall to said first air channel, and
• at least two layers of networks of horizontally-extending air channels, one of said networks being formed in said outsole assembly and one of said networks being formed in said slipsole, said networks being connected by vertically-extending air holes,
• wherein said sole assembly is sufficiently resilient that the compression of said sole assembly between the foot and the ground pumps air held in said enlarged air reservoir into the inside of said shoe and around said foot.