US 9,144,262 B2Granted

Fast transition running shoe

OwnerDonald B Ardell, Raphael V Lupoinventors

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Abstract

A running shoe design focused on the heel section of running shoes used in, for example, T2 transition phase of the sport of triathlon. A heel counter portion of the shoe is a retractable flap. The flap retracts to an open position at a 45 to 90 degree angle awaiting the unhindered insertion of the runner's foot without any need for the runner to bend or sit. Immediately after the foot is inserted, the flap is closed with a pressing forward action by the athlete's other foot. The flap and the sides of the shoe are coated with adhesive, velcro-like materials. A variation of the foregoing uses a heel counter cut from the center top to the midsole area at the bottom, resulting in an acceptable size opening for uninhibited foot insertion when the flap (or strap) portion of the heel counter is set in the open position.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A running shoe, comprising:

a sole having a toe section and a heel section;
a material cover connected to an upper area of the sole to form a cavity for receiving a foot of a runner;
a heel counter portion formed from a material that is different than a material the sole is formed from, the heel counter portion being hinged to a back end of the heel section of the sole to permit the heel counter portion to recline at an angle sufficient to allow the foot to enter into a forward portion of the cavity while the running shoe remains in a substantially horizontal position;
quarter portions forming rear side walls of the running shoe, which extend upwardly from the heel section of the sole, each quarter portion having a fastening system disposed on an outer surface of the quarter portion;
flap sections extending outwardly from a center of the heel counter portion, each flap section extending a sufficient distance so as to allow contact with the fastening system disposed on a corresponding quarter portion so as to secure the heel counter portion in a closed position upon contact with the corresponding quarter portion,
wherein a lowermost portion of the heel counter portion has a width such that the lowermost portion of the heel counter portion does not overlap with the quarter portions so as to form a gap between the lowermost portion of the heel counter portion and the quarter portions when the heel counter portion is in the closed position.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/287,342Filed 27 May 2014 · continuation in part
Priority: 7 Feb 2014
Published: US 2015/0223553 A113 Aug 2015
Granted: 29 Sep 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

A43B 5/06
Footwear for sporting purposes: running shoes; Track shoes
A43B 1/0081
Footwear characterised by the material: made at least partially of hook-and-loop type material
A43B 23/0295
Characterised by the constructive form: pieced uppers
A43C 11/002
Other fastenings specially adapted for shoes: fastenings using stretchable material attached to cuts in the uppers

Family

Application14/174,969Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Feb 2014
US 2015/0223554 A1Pre-grant publication · published 13 Aug 2015
US 2015/0223553 A1Published application
US 9,119,436 B1Related patent
US 9,144,262 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.