Sole with cushioning and braking spiroidal contact surfaces

A sole for a shoe comprising:

• a base member having a lower surface;
• a contact surface attached to said base member and extending downwardly from said base member to below said lower surface and disposed to contact the ground or floor before said lower surface makes contact as the shoe descends;
• said contact surface including an elongate, resiliently flexible spiroidal member vertically extending from said base member to below said lower surface, said spiroidal member having a plurality of involutions integral with one another;
• each of said involutions having four discretelv oriented portions joined end to end, at least two of said portions being oriented substantially transverse with respect to the longitudinal axis of said sole and facing frontward or rearward with bottom surfaces for frictionally gripping the floor or ground, said portions of each having an attachment to said base member opposed to said bottom surface;
• each of said transverse portions, upon downward force being exerted by the wearer on the floor or ground and upon frontward or rearward shear force being inserted on said sole, elastically bending and stretching between said bottom surface and said attachment in a direction opposite said shear force to provide a braking and antiskidding action.

A sole for a shoe comprising:

• a base member having a main lower surface;
• a plurality of contacting surfaces attached to said base member, said contacting surfaces extending downwardly from said base member to below said main lower surface and being disposed to contact the ground or floor before said main lower surface makes contact as the shoe descends;
• each said contact surface including an elongate spiroidal element having a plurality of involutions extending downwardly from said base member to below said main lower surface, each involution of the spiroidal element having four discretely oriented portions joined end to end and facing frontward, rearward, rightward and leftward, each of said frontward, rearward, rightward and leftward portions being spaced from and aligned with the remaining frontward, rearward, rightward and leftward portions, respectively, none of said portions crossing any other of said portions;
• said portions being resiliently flexible and deformable and providing cushioning from impact upon the wearer's foot exerting a downward force on the ground or floor;
• each of said portions having a bottom surface for frictionally gripping the floor or ground and having an attachment to said base member opposite said bottom surface;
• each of said forward and rearward portions, upon the wearer's foot exerting downward force on the floor or ground and having a frontward or rearward shear force exerted on the sole, elastically bending and stretching between said bottom surface and said attachment in a direction opposite to said shear force to provide a braking, force-absorbing and antiskidding action, each of said rightward and leftward portions behaving lidewise when encountering a leftward or rightward shear force.

A sole for an athletic shoe, comprising:

• a base member having a main tread forming a main lower surface;
• a plantar contact surface integrally formed on said base member beneath and roughly corresponding in horizontal extent to the plantar surface of the wearer's foot;
• a heel contact surface integrally formed on said base member beneath and generally corresponding in horizontal extent to the heel surface of the wearer's foot, said heel contact surface including a forward lateral extension to more closely coincide with the heel surface of the wearer's foot;
• each contact surface extending downwardly from said base member to below said main lower surface and being disposed to contact the ground or floor before said lower surface makes contact as the shoe descends;
• each contact surface including an endless member and a spiroidal member, each member having a width less than said member's depth and being flexibly resilient and elastic;
• said endless member defining the outer margin of said contact surface;
• said spiroidal member being disposed inwardly of said endless member and having a plurality of involutions, the outermost involution being similar in shape to said endless member, said involutions being uniformly spaced from adjacent involutions;
• said members vertically deforming upon the wearer's foot exerting downward force on the ground or floor, said endless member being adapted to make sealing contact with the ground or floor in order to entrap a cushion of air, said air cushion and said members coacting to cushion the foot of the wearer upon impact with the ground or floor;
• said members including longitudinal and transverse portions, said transverse portions including, for said heel contact surface, a plurality of inwardly concave rearward portions and, for said plantar contact surface, a plurality of inwardly concave frontward portions, said portions having flat bottom surfaces for frictionally gripping the floor or ground and attachments to said base member;
• and
• each of said transverse portions, upon the wearer's foot exerting downward force on the floor or ground and upon a forward or rearward shear force being exerted on the sole, elastically bending and stretching between said bottom surface and said attachment in a direction opposite of said shear force to provide a braking, force-absorbing and antiskidding action, each of said longitudinal portions acting in a similar manner when a leftward or rightward shear force is exerted on the sole.