Shoe sole construction with mesh liner for mid-sole cavity

Abstract

A shoe sole and heel construction includes a midsole having a cavity formation therein opening at an outsole-facing surface thereof and lined with a thin perforated liner sheet. The cavity formation may include metatarsal and heel cavities and a restricted recess extending therebetween. The liner sheet covers not only the cavity walls but also portions of the outsole-facing surface immediately surrounding the cavity formation. An outsole is hermetically attached to the outsole-facing surface for closing the cavity formation to form a chamber formation with air at atmospheric pressure trapped therein. The outsole may also have a cavity formation therein which cooperates with the midsole cavity formation to define the chamber formation, and the outsole cavity formation may be congruent with the midsole cavity formation. The midsole is formed by adhesively securing the liner sheet to a body of midsole material and then compression molding the body and liner sheet to deform them into the cavity-containing midsole.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.