Boots – shoes – and leggings – Boots and shoes – Occupational or athletic shoe
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-19
2004-11-23
Stashick, Anthony (Department: 3728)
Boots, shoes, and leggings
Boots and shoes
Occupational or athletic shoe
C036S117400, C036S102000, C036S031000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820354
ABSTRACT:
RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention refers to a device to control the flexion of the toe, particularly in a sporting shoe.
The innovation finds particular even if not exclusive application in the field of technical goods for practicing the sport of motorcycling.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Shortly, it is possible to remember that a typical motorcycling boot is made of an upper, mostly of leather and thick, engaging the lower limb, surrounding the foot and also a good part of the calf. Furthermore an outsole is present, also generally thick, made of plastic material, to which the respective upper is joined. On the inside, the shoe provides an underfoot joined to the outsole and in some cases a lining, seamed to the inside of the upper. In some cases, instead of the common lining and localized only in some points, padding material can be provided for, like rubber, or even thermally-formed plastic material, that helps make the shoe more comfortable.
It is also a known fact that the user of such goods is a traditionalist, in the sense that he is usually somewhat mistrusting towards technological innovations, therefore, when choosing the product, he opts for more accurate boot solutions considering what materials have been used, for example preferring those with first quality skins, rather than the presence of technical solutions. These circumstances have in fact prevented a suitable technological progress of the motorcycle boot, placing it in the field of those products less permeated by innovations.
The spirit animating the bike rider is a legend. The racing biker in particular manages to appreciate his own motorcycle only when carrying out evolutions that do not necessarily coincide with the literal meaning of the word, but can seem like such for an onlooker. In the execution of a curve, the motorbike notoriously tends to tilt, originating what in lingo is defined a “fold”, and it is precisely this characteristic that leads people to believe that driving is extremely dangerous. As a matter of fact, this movement can be more or less accentuated, and depends both on the position assumed by the biker and on the speed with which he prepares to take the curve. As hazardous as the maneuver can be, it is easy to guess that even the novice, when riding his bike, for example when driving along a mountain road, full of bends, will find himself in the condition where he produces many folds, even consecutive ones and inadvertently, depending only on the configuration of the track. This movement, which we can define as a pendulum, then causes a side acceleration, provoking an uncontrolled fold, which can produce an extra-inclination of the bike strong enough to cause the lower appendixes and the parts closest to the frame to come in contact with the ground.
If these conditions of use are not so frequent for the novice, for the experienced biker they are rather common, not only when riding on mountain roads, but also on routes traditionally considered not very exacting, as for example the execution at moderate speed of a 90° bend. Finally, the fold is certainly the rule in motorbike racing, where engaging at full speed curves and reverse curves causes extremely exciting extra-inclinations of the bike, one can say at the limit of roadholding.
Due to these excessive folds, to the one side and then to the other, inevitably some parts of the motorbike, as for example the control pedals or other appendixes, come in contact with the ground. Some body parts are above all even more exposed to contact with the ground; because of their natural position and of the fact that they may be induced to protrude outside the bulk of the bike, they are engaged by a rubbing that can be prolonged, causing a localized abrasion of the coating material. These parts are notoriously positioned in the toe of the shoe, or along the side, at the height of the last external phalanx, but also at the height of the malleolus and of the articulation of the knee. One can conclude, consequently, that these parts, and others still, conveniently interested by the technical clothing, during the execution of the fold are therefore frequently in contact with the cemented surface that, being rough, at the least locally abrades the external layer.
The described phenomenon, for example, is observable with particular evidence in professional riders who, as is well known and because of wear, beyond any promotional need, replace their footwear with every race. The shoe, in fact, or more precisely the boot, is the part that most comes into contact with the ground because, by resting with the sole on the control pedals placed somewhat behind, it is naturally caused to protrude at least with the toe, underneath the frame, and therefore it usually comes closer to the track than other parts of the body.
In consideration of the problems mentioned above, certain devices, known as slider-protection, have been progressively entering the market, which have the purpose of protecting locally the parts of the footwear subjected to rubbing. These devices are also interchangeable, and substantially consist of at least one rigid plastic body, which on one side is provided with a configuration that adapts along a few centimeters of the external side of the shoe, originating a swell whose extrados presents a rounded surface.
The sole use of the slider protection, however, immediately proved to be insufficient, not so much for the safeguard of the shoe, but for avoiding that, during the race, the shoe and therefore the foot stressed by the contact with the ground, is forced to make unnatural movements. It is the typical case of the flexion of the toe, which obliges the bones of the toes, at the height of the metatarsus, to make an excessive upward flexion. This is a phenomenon that can cause at least the stiffening of the foot, or even cause damage of different entity, such as for example localized breaking, obliging the person to take often prolonged stops.
Recently, on the official web-site of Sidi Sport, an Italian company, a device has appeared, under novelties, its substantial purpose being to stiffen the sole of a series of motorcycling footwear, known as “vertebra race”. The mentioned device, named “sole rigidity system”, has the proper function of stiffening the sole, preventing the toe from flexing upwards during accidental contacts. On the other hand, when in the condition of normal riding, the hand-operated intervention that underlocks the device allows the sole to flex normally according to an arc that corresponds to the one structurally offered by the stronger or weaker rigidity of the upper.
Even more particularly, said device essentially consists of two elements. A first one is curved, and protrudes along the external side of the shoe, from its point towards the heel, with a development that engages about a third of the length of the sole. This element, which is practically a protection against contact with the ground, is fixed along the side on the outside of said sole, by means of the cooperation of two through screws that engage corresponding retaining means buried along the said sole. As regards the shape of said element of protection, one detects that the end of the body, facing towards the heel, ends with a conical shape that is then headed with a cursor. The cursor, on one side, is provided with a slide that interacts with an anchorage point of a wide protection plate that covers part of the side of the shoe and protracts diagonally from the plant, at the height of the tarsus, past the malleolus. As regards the other end of the cursor, it has a countershape that, by moving the cursor, is headed in correspondence with the conical extremity of the protection body. In this way, manually acting on the anchorage point of the slide, one can proceed to lock the slide and consequently the cursor headed on the protection body, achieving the complete stiffening of the sole.
B
Franco Claudio
Zanatta Ivo
Jolly Scarpe S.p.A.
Josif Albert
Modiano Guido
O'Byrne Daniel
Stashick Anthony
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