Heater element for the inner sole of a footwear
AssigneeNEL Technologies Limited
InventorPatrick Ferguson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a breathable insole heater element (12, 40) for footwear. The heater element is formed by photochemically etching a porous metallized fabric, e.g. nickel-metallized polyester woven fabric. The heater element is embedded in or laminated in an insole for an article of footwear such as a shoe or boot. The insole may be cut to size as desired. The insole may include microencapsulated agents such as fragrances, perfumes, microbials or insect repellents. The microcapsules may be activated to release the agents due to the heat generated by the heater element in operation.
Claims21
A breathable insole heater element for footwear, comprising:
- a flexible metallised substrate of porous fabric having a plurality of components each encapsulated with metal wherein the metal on the metallised substrate of fabric is photochemically etched to form the breathable insole heater element by selectively etching out metal encapsulated about the plurality of components of the substrate of porous metallised fabric;
- a layer of insole face fabric;
- a backing layer;
- the flexible metallised substrate being laminated between the layer of insole face fabric and the backing layer;
- the face fabric being attached to the flexible metallised substrate by a thermoplastic web;
- whereby the flexible metallised substrate is configured to provide an insole heater element that is porous and breathable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.