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US 5,199,191 AGranted
Athletic shoe with inflatable mobile inner sole
OwnerArmenak Moumdjianinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An athletic shoe has an air pressurizable inner sole received in a compartment between the sole and the upper so as to be free to move therein except for the location at which the valve formation of the inner sole passes through the wall of this compartment.
Claims20
An athletic shoe comprising:
- an athletic shoe sole having a plate embedded therein over substantially an entire length of said sole, and a raised rim extending all around a periphery of said sole and molded unitarily therewith, said rim having an upwardly extending formation on one side of said sole;
- an athletic shoe upper affixed to said rim of sole around said periphery thereof, said upper and said sole defining a compartment between them extending substantially a full length and width of said sole, said compartment having a peripheral wall bounded by said rim, said formation overlying said wall;
- a hollow flexible inner sole received in said compartment and having a heel portion, a shank portion, a foot-ball portion and a toe portion, said inner sole further having a flexible valve element extending laterally thereof through said wall and said formation and forming the only location at which said inner sole is anchored in said compartment, said inner sole being freely movable within said compartment except at said element;
- and
- at least one checkvalve in said valve formation permitting fluid pressurization of an interior of said inner sole.
2 more elements
A method of making an athletic shoe, comprising the steps of:
- forming a hollow flexible inner sole having a heel portion, a shank portion, a foot-ball portion and a toe portion;
- retaining said inner sole in a compartment formed by attaching an athletic shoe upper to an athletic shoe sole along a peripheral wall of said compartment by introducing a flexible valve formation laterally through said wall and forming the only location at which said inner sole is anchored in said compartment, said inner sole being freely movable within said compartment except at said formation;
- and
- thereafter inserting two checkvalves in said valve formation permitting fluid pressurization of an interior of said inner sole, said inner sole being formed with transverse hinge webs interconnecting said foot-ball portion and said toe portion, said foot-ball portion and said shank portion, and said heel portion and said shank portion, at least said hinge webs interconnecting said foot-ball portion with said toe portion and said foot-ball portion with said shank portion having passages for fluid communication therebetween, one of said checkvalves communicating with said heel portion, the other of said checkvalves communicating with at least one of said shank portion, said foot-ball portion and said toe portion, said sole being assembled from an outer member and an inner member formed with said peripheral wall.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.