Athletic shoe midsole design and construction
AssigneeMizuno Corporation
InventorKenjiro Kita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A midsole assembly for an athletic shoe includes a midsole formed of soft elastic material and a corrugated sheet disposed in a heel portion of the midsole. A plurality of through holes are formed in the midsole at locations where the midsole contacts the corrugated sheet. In this case, transverse deformation of the heel portion of the midsole can be prevented by the wave configuration of the corrugated sheet and running stability of the shoe can be ensured. Also, the cushioning properties of the shoe can be improved at the portions provided with the holes because vertical deformation thereby becomes easier.
Claims13
A midsole assembly for an athletic shoe comprising:
- a midsole formed of a soft elastic material and including a midsole heel portion that comprises an upper midsole portion and a lower midsole portion;
- and
- a corrugated sheet formed of a plastic resin disposed between said upper midsole portion and said lower midsole portion of said midsole heel portion;
- wherein said corrugated sheet has a corrugated wave configuration including a plurality of linearly extending wave crests and wave troughs;
- wherein said midsole heel portion has at least one hole therein directly adjoining said corrugated sheet;
- wherein said at least one hole respectively is a linearly extending groove in one of said upper midsole portion and said lower midsole portion, said groove extends linearly along one of said linearly extending wave crests and wave troughs of said corrugated sheet, and said groove faces and opens directly onto said corrugated sheet;
- wherein said upper midsole portion and said lower midsole portion are directly contacting and connected to said corrugated sheet except at said at least one hole, where said upper midsole portion or said lower midsole portion respectively having said hole does not contact and is not connected to said corrugated sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.