Article of footwear with heel extender
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsDrew Conant, Anthony P. Daversa, Robert Charles Williams, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An article of footwear includes a sole structure that has a heel portion with a rear, a lateral side, and a medial side. The article of footwear includes a heel extender that has a rear segment disposed at the rear of the heel portion, a lateral arm disposed at the lateral side of the heel portion, and a medial arm disposed at the medial side of the heel portion. The heel extender has a protuberance that establishes a rearmost extent of the article of footwear. The sole structure has a first hardness and the protuberance has a second hardness greater than the first hardness.
Claims19
An article of footwear comprising:
- a sole structure that has a heel portion with a rear, a lateral side, and a medial side;
- and
- a heel extender including:
- a rear segment disposed at the rear of the heel portion, a lateral arm disposed at the lateral side of the heel portion, and a medial arm disposed at the medial side of the heel portion;
- and
- a protuberance that establishes a rearmost extent of the article of footwear;
- wherein the sole structure has a first hardness and the protuberance has a second hardness greater than the first hardness;
- wherein the heel extender has an inner surface with a first concavity from the medial arm to the lateral arm and a second concavity from an upper extent of the rear segment to a lower extent of the rear segment.
An article of footwear comprising:
- an upper;
- a sole structure supporting the upper;
- wherein the upper and the sole structure establish a heel portion of the article of footwear;
- a C-shaped heel extender including:
- a rear segment disposed at a rear of the heel portion, a lateral arm disposed at a lateral side of the heel portion, and a medial arm disposed at a medial side of the heel portion;
- and
- a continuous ridge sufficiently protruding at the rear segment, at the lateral arm, and at the medial arm to establish an outermost periphery of the article of footwear along the continuous ridge;
- wherein the heel extender has a hardness greater than a hardness of the sole structure on a Shore D durometer scale;
- wherein the heel extender has:
- a base;
- a first bevel extending from the continuous ridge to the base;
- a second bevel extending from the continuous ridge to the base;
- and
- wherein the continuous ridge is between the first bevel and the second bevel.
An article of footwear comprising:
- a sole structure that has a heel portion with a rear, a lateral side, and a medial side;
- and
- a heel extender including:
- a rear segment disposed at the rear of the heel portion, a lateral arm disposed at the lateral side of the heel portion, and a medial arm disposed at the medial side of the heel portion;
- and
- a protuberance that establishes a rearmost extent of the article of footwear;
- wherein the sole structure has a first hardness and the protuberance has a second hardness greater than the first hardness;
- wherein the sole structure includes a midsole layer exposed at the heel portion;
- wherein the heel extender includes:
- a base disposed on an outer surface of the midsole layer;
- and
- a bevel that slopes from the protuberance to the base;
- and
- wherein the outer surface of the midsole layer adjacent the bevel slopes in continuance from the bevel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.