Boots – shoes – and leggings – Boots and shoes – Occupational or athletic shoe
Patent
1999-05-11
2000-11-14
Kavanaugh, Ted
Boots, shoes, and leggings
Boots and shoes
Occupational or athletic shoe
36128, 36 67R, A43B 502, A43C 1516
Patent
active
061452211
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to footwear, and more particularly to athletic shoes with cleats for sports such as baseball, football, soccer and rugby.
2. Description of the Related Art
Participants in sports such as baseball, football, soccer and rugby wear cleated athletic shoes for traction on the playing field. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art baseball shoe 12 in which blade-like cleats 14, 16 are mounted below the shoe's outsole. The outsole is usually made of a hard polymer material which embeds a plurality of internally threaded housings. The cleats are replaceable by forming their upper ends with external threads which screw into the housings. Shoes for use in football, soccer and rugby are provided with truncated conical cleats.
When a cleated athletic shoe is weighted, such as when the user runs over the playing field, the cleats push upwardly against the outsole. The outsole reacts by deforming and pressing upwardly against the bottom of the user's foot. This undesirably creates a condition known as "point loading" on the user's foot at the cleat locations. Over a period of repeated use, this point loading can result in foot discomfort and fatigue. This has been a continuing source of complaints from athletes, both professional and amateur, who wear cleated athletic shoes. The point loading can also result in physiological injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, plantar warts, metatarsal problems and bone spurs.
The prior art cleated athletic shoes have a number of other shortcomings and disadvantages. The shoes are relatively stiff and rigid because of the requirement to mount the cleats into the hard polymer material which forms the outsole. The prior art cleated shoe design also results in relatively heavy shoes, which can detract from the athlete's performance. Athletes wearing the shoes also complain that the shoes need more cushioning.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved cleated athletic shoe which obviates the problems of point loading that can occur on the user's foot above the cleat locations.
Another object is to provide a cleated athletic shoe of the type described which is more flexible and is lighter in weight than prior art cleated shoes.
The invention in summary provides a cleated athletic shoe incorporating a cleat frame mounted above the top surface of the shoe's sole. Cleat supports on the frame extend down through openings formed in the sole. Cleats carried by the cleat support extend below the bottom surface of the sole where they provide traction on a playing surface. When the shoe is weighted by the user, upward forces from the cleat are transferred into the cleat frame for shielding the user's foot from the problems of point impact loading.
The foregoing and other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following specification in which the several embodiments have been described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a prior art cleated athletic shoe.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a cleated athletic shoe in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the shoe of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, to an enlarged scale, taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cleat frame which is a component of the shoe of FIG. 2.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 5 from a high view point illustrating the top of the cleat frame.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the sole which is a component of the shoe of FIG. 2.
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, similar to FIG. 4 and to an enlarged scale, showing a sole and cleat support structure with a replaceable cleat in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cleat frame in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERR
REFERENCES:
patent: 2032596 (1936-03-01), Shannon
patent: 2070269 (1937-02-01), Goldenberg
patent: 2471113 (1949-05-01), Melchionna
patent: 2918733 (1959-12-01), Anderson
patent: 3043026 (1962-07-01), Semon
patent: 5179791 (1993-01-01), Lain
patent: 5426873 (1995-06-01), Savoie
Backus Richard E.
Kavanaugh Ted
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