Water massage and shock absorption system for footwear
AssigneeBrown Group, Inc.
InventorJohn C. Preston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An article of footwear having a water massage midsole and a shock absorption system characterized by assembling the midsole with a sock lining in the upper for directing a fluid in the midsole to flow forwardly and reversely in the footwear to massage the foot during walking. The footwear includes a shock absorbing plug in the heel area for absorbing the shock on the foot each time the heel strikes the walking surface. Further, the outsole for the footwear is formed on opposite sides of the outsole with major break indentations for rendering the forepart of the outsole and its associated portion of the upper torsionally flexible relative to the heel portion. Finally, the invention includes a method of capturing water in the water massage midsole for the article of footwear.
Claims3
An article of footwear comprising:
- a) an upper formed to receive and support a foot and having a marginal flange;
- b) a fabric liner stitched to said upper along a line set inwardly of said upper marginal flange thereby leaving said marginal flange to be lasted over said fabric inwardly of said stitch line;
- c) an outsole secured to said upper to enclose said lasted margin of said upper, said outsole having a heel area and a forepart area and a shallow cupped configuration to permit said outsole to form a mating line with said upper and extending around the footwear;
- d) a fluid containing inner sole positioned on said fabric liner to conform substantially to the shape of said line of stitching of said liner to said upper;
- e) a sock lining seated upon said fluid containing inner sole to present an exposed surface to receive a foot, said sock lining having an under surface presented to said fluid containing inner sole, said under surface being formed with a raised margin surrounding the margins thereof and vent passages formed in said raised margin;
- and
- f) shock absorber means carried in said outsole in position to absorb the shock of the footwear heel area in walking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.