Combined Shoe
A combined shoe formed by a selected vamps and soles with different functions and appearances at any time, comprises a sole, a vamp and attaching means used to quick-connect the vamp and the sole for forming a whole shoe. The attaching means includes a front cap located in front of the sole for buckling the tip of the vamp; a hind cap located in the hind of the sole for buckling the heel of the vamp; two pairs of matched anti-slide plates located in half-soles/heels of both vamp and sole for preventing relative sliding between the vamp and the sole; and a plurality of pressing means used for pressing the vamp on the sole tightly. The combined shoes provide a multitude of combinations and reduce the shoe purchasing cost. Since the vamp and the sole can be disassembled and assembles quickly, when the wearer enters a room, he needs only remove the sole for keeping the cleanliness of the room and still can keep his feet warm and/or prevent the diffusion of foot odor.
This disclosure relates to footwear. More particularly, it relates to a combined shoe which is freely combined from different soles and vamps (uppers) for getting different functions and appearances.
BACKGROUNDUntil now, shoes have had a single function and appearance. For example, people wear tennis shoes when they play tennis, people wear dancing shoes when dancing, people wear overshoes when it is raining, etc. Each pair of shoes is combined by soles and vamps, these two parts are fixed together so that they are integrated and can not be separated.
As the development of the science and the improvement of the manufacturing technology, people find that prior shoes have many shortcomings. One of the shortcomings is the waste of materials and work-hours. For example, dancing shoes have hard leathered half-soles so they easily glide on waxed floors, while the heel is made of rubber for easy stopping. The vamp is preferred to match the dress. So, there must be numerous dancing shoes in different colors and appearances for selections. Thus, it is common for each person to have dozens of dancing shoes. In fact, this is not for the sole, since anyone in his lifespan will likely never wear out several pairs of soles by dancing. The reason for buying dozens of dancing shoes dwells in selecting different vamps.
For sport footwear, the condition is contrary. Any sport footwear should best fit between the vamp and the instep, while the soles are different for different sports. For example, to play basketball indoors, the sole must have certain coarseness for anti-gliding. To play basketball outdoors, particularly on coarse cement ground, the sole must have lubricity for reducing friction. The shoes for cycling use only half-soles, while the shoes for tennis use whole soles. They are quite different. Therefore, dozens of different shoes are needed for playing different sports.
A person who either likes dancing or sporting must have dozens of dancing shoes and dozens of sporting shoes for his daily choice. This is expensive and will be difficult to accommodate since he must also buy several of racks and have a large space for receiving them.
Another shortcoming of prior art shoes is using them both indoors and outdoors. For example, a person wears a pair of shoes going out from his office to visit a patient, and then he returns to his office to work. In the whole process, he wears the same pair of shoes. In the past, Japanese removed shoes before entering the room. While nowadays, this good habit is reduced since many public sites such as hospitals, offices, cinemas, etc., could not supply indoor shoes for everyone. Therefore, a pair of shoes used in both indoors and outdoors must reduce the indoor cleanliness from the outdoor usage.
SUMMARYA technical problem is to address the above mentioned shortcomings, and to provide a kind of combined shoes which is matched by selected soles and vamps with different functions and appearances at any time. The disclosed shoe not only increases the number of combinations, but also is less expensive. For example, since the vamps and the soles can be separated and combined quickly, when a person enters a room, he only needs to remove the soles, the cleanliness of the room and the warmth of the feet can be kept and any foot odor will not diffuse.
The combined shoes comprise the vamps, the soles, and attaching means which connect both vamps and soles together for forming a whole shoe. The attaching means include: a front cap located in front of the sole for buckling the tip of the vamp; a hind cap located in the hind of the sole for buckling the heel of the vamp; two pairs of anti-sliding plates located in the half-sole of both the vamp and the sole and in the heel of both the vamp and the sole. They are matched with each other for avoiding relative sliding between the vamp and the sole; and a plurality of pressing means press the vamp tightly on the sole.
The anti-sliding plates are a plurality of matched straight denticle grains, respectively, on the contact portion of the half-soles/heels of both the vamp and the sole.
The anti-sliding plates are a plurality of matched V-shaped denticle grains, respectively, on the contact portion of the half-soles/heels of both the vamp and the sole.
The pressing means are single or plural tight laces which wrap around the instep of the user.
The pressing means are Velcro fasteners located in the contact portions of both half-soles/heels of both the vamp and the sole and which exert no pressure on the instep of the user.
The pressing means are self-locking zippers around the periphery of both the vamps and the soles and therebetween, and which exert no pressure on the insteps of the user.
Each of the soles includes the outer sole, the middle sole and the inner sole. An EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer) filled layer is disposed between the middle sole and the inner sole.
In the above mentioned construction, the sole and the vamp are manufactured independently. They are combined to form a whole shoe just prior to using. The combined shoes have such an advantage for a user that he only needs to buy dozens of pairs of vamps of dancing shoes and one pair of soles for a dancing shoe, and dozens of pairs of soles of sport shoes and one pair of vamps for a sport shoe. Thus, the cost may be reduced in half while the functions remain unchanged. At the same time, it saves a large amount of materials and work hours.
When the wearer enters a room, he should only remove the soles and still wear the vamps which now only have thin soles. In so doing, dirty soles will never enter the room while people still have shoes on their feet. Therefore, in the winter, the wearer has warm feet; in the summer, the diffusing of foot odor is avoided. To the whole society, public indoor use shoes are saved and a good traditional Japanese habit is revived. To compare the combined shoes with prior art, this combined shoe has the advantages of ease of use, large numbers of combinations and a cost reduction to as much as half.
The description of the embodiments will be carried out with drawings as follows. Firstly, refer to
With reference to
In
Though the combined shoes are described above in various embodiments, all embodiments and descriptions mentioned should not be used to limit the combined shoes. For example, in the above mentioned examples, the anti-slide plates have straight and parallel denticle grains referred to as a ladder-toothed plate. Its function is to avoid the vamp 20 sliding on the sole 10 forwardly and backwardly. Any person skilled in the art can easily change the straight denticle grains into V-shaped ones, and thus can avoid the vamp 20 sliding on the sole 10 in any direction.
Furthermore, the combined shoes adopt the simplest, least expensive, tight laces which extend around the instep of the user for causing the anti-slide plates of indoor sole 22 to tightly press the anti-slide plates 13 of the sole 10. To do so, the instep of the user may feel uneasy under the pressure. While any person skilled in the art can simply use such means as Velcro, etc., the vamp 20 can also be fixed on the sole 10 without any pressure on the instep.
A self-locking zipper can also be provided around the periphery of the sole 10 and the vamp 20, and used to pull them all together. In doing so, even if the user pulls them apart from each other, the zipper will not give way.
Claims
1. A combined shoe, comprising:
- a vamp having a tip and a heel; and
- a sole compacting the vamp along contacting surfaces comprising: a front cap located in front of the sole for buckling the tip of the vamp; a hind cap located in hind of the sole for buckling the heel of the vamp; two pairs of matched anti-slide plates located on the half-soles/heels of both the vamp and the sole for preventing relative sliding between the vamp and the sole; and a plurality of pressing means for tightly pressing the vamp on the sole.
2. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said anti-slide plates are a plurality of matched straight denticle grains integrally manufactured on the contacting surfaces of the vamp and the sole located on the half-sole/heel portions.
3. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said anti-slide plates are a plurality of matched V-shaped denticle grains integrally manufactured on the contacting surfaces of the vamp and the sole and located on the half-sole/heel portions.
4. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said pressing means are one or plurality of tight laces configured to extend around the instep of the user.
5. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said pressing means are Velcro fasteners between the contacting surfaces of the vamp and the sole.
6. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said pressing means are self-locking zippers which extend around the periphery of the vamp/sole and therebetween.
7. The combined shoe of claim 1, wherein said sole includes an outer sole, a middle sole and an inner sole, and a layer of EVA filling is disposed between the middle sole and the inner sole.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 4, 2010
Publication Date: Jun 2, 2011
Inventor: Yuk Ling Sek (New Territories)
Application Number: 12/897,070
International Classification: A43B 13/04 (20060101); A43B 23/02 (20060101);