SPORT SHOE

Abstract

A sport shoe which includes an upper, a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole. The bottom surface has a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and is inclined along a transversal direction between the outer and inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottom surface and have tips defining a common plane.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to sport shoes.

2. Description of the Related Art

Practice of sports such as golf or match crossbow typically require an accurate movement of the upper body. To this end, the lower body needs to provide a stable support so as to facilitate the displacement of the upper body relative to the lower body. More particularly, in the practice of golf, the placement of the two legs and the gripping of the shoes on the ground can have a significant impact on the control of the upper body's movement. Unfortunately, most sport shoes currently available on the market do not have a design that can facilitate the angular adjustment of the leg standing axis on the ground.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved sport shoe that can address at least the foregoing issues.

SUMMARY

The present application describes a sport shoe. In one embodiment, the sport shoe includes an upper, a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole. The bottom surface has a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and is inclined along a transversal direction between the outer and inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottom surface and have tips defining a common plane.

In another embodiment, the sport shoe includes an upper, a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole. The bottom surface has a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and is inclined between the outer and inner side, the sole having a thickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinner near the inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottom surface, and have end tips defining a common plane that is substantially perpendicular to a standing axis of a wearer's leg.

At least one advantage of the sport shoe described herein includes the ability to tilt the standing axis of a wearer's leg so as to provide a more stable support for the lower body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a schematic rear view illustrating an embodiment of a pair of sport shoes;

FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of one sport shoe;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the sport shoe; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of use of the sport shoe.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic rear view illustrating an embodiment of a pair of sport shoes 100, FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of one sport shoe 100, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the sport shoe 100. The sport shoe 100 has an inner side 100A (i.e., corresponding to an inner side of the wearer's foot adjacent to the space between the two legs), an outer side 100B (i.e., corresponding to an outer side of the wearer's foot), a front 100C (i.e., corresponding to the toes of the wearer's foot), and a rear 100D (i.e., corresponding to the heel of the wearer's foot). The sport shoe 100 can include an upper 102 and a sole 104.

The upper 102 can be sized to enclose an entire of length of a foot from the toes to the heel, and can have any desirable shape, design and color. Examples of material for making the upper 102 can include fabric, leather, plastics, etc. The sport shoe 100 may have a mechanism for tightening the upper 102 on a wearer's foot, e.g., comprised of a lace 106 and a tongue 108. The tongue 108 can extend across a central opening of the upper 102, and the lace 106 can wrap across the tongue 108 to tighten the upper 102.

The sole 104 is arranged at a lower side of the upper 102. The sole 104 can extend from the front 100C to the rear 100D of the sport shoe 100 to provide support over an entire area from the toes to the heel of the wearer's foot. The sole 104 can have an upper edge 104A, a bottom surface 104B facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions 120. In one embodiment, the sole 104 can be integrally formed in a single body. The upper edge 104A of the sole 104 can be affixed with the upper 102, e.g., by gluing, sewing, and the like. When a wearer stands upright (as schematically shown in FIG. 1), the wearer's leg (shown with phantom lines) can bear the weight of the wearer along a standing axis V that extends along the leg and is substantially vertical. The bottom surface 104B of the sole 104 is not perpendicular to the standing axis V, but instead is inclined an angle along a transversal direction. More specifically, the bottom surface 104B is tilted such that it has a different height near the outer side 100B and the inner side 100A. In one embodiment, the bottom surface 104B can transversally rise along a slope from the outer side 100B to the inner side 100A, and the sole 104 can have a generally tapered shape that has a greater or thicker thickness at the outer side 100B and a smaller or thinner thickness at the inner side 100A.

The protrusions 120 are affixed with the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104, and can project downward from the bottom surface 104B. The protrusions 120 can act to prevent slipping of the sport shoe 100 on a ground. In one embodiment, the protrusions 120 can be formed integrally with the sole 104. In another embodiment, the protrusions 120 can be separate elements attached to the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104, e.g., by screw engagement. The protrusions 120 can be distributed over an area of the bottom surface 104B between the inner side 100A, the outer side 100B, the front 100C and the rear 100D. It is worth noting that the protrusions 120 are not limited in size and shape. Moreover, the protrusions 120 can be arranged according to any distributions on the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104.

The protrusions 120 are arranged with a varying height “h” along a transversal direction extending from the outer side 100B to the inner side 100A, the height “h” being the distance from the tip of each protrusion 120 to the location where it connects with the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104. In particular, the height “h” of the protrusions 120 can increase along the transversal direction from the outer side 100B to the inner side 100A of the sport shoe 100, and the tips of the protrusions 120 can be in a common plane H. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the height “h” of the protrusions 120A, 120B, 120C, 120D and 120E distributed along a transversal direction on the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104 can gradually increase from the outer side 100B to the inner side 100A of the sport shoe 100, the protrusion 120A adjacent to the outer side 100B having a smallest height and the protrusion 120E adjacent to the inner side 100A having a greatest height. In one embodiment, an inclination angle I defined between the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104 and the plane H can be equal to or smaller than about 15 degrees, i.e., the inclination angle I is between about 0 and about 15 degrees. Referring to FIG. 3, the protrusions 120 distributed lengthwise along a same row from the front 100C to the rear 100D can have a substantially similar height.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the common plane H defined by the tips of the protrusions 120 is substantially perpendicular to the standing axis V of the user's leg. When the user stands upright on a relatively hard floor surface (i.e., that does not easily subside), the plane H defined by the tips of the protrusions 120 can remain substantially parallel to the floor surface, and the protrusions 120 can provide effective standing support. In other words, the tilted bottom surface 104B of the sole 104 would not cause inclination of the standing axis V of the user's leg, which can remain substantially perpendicular to the floor surface. Accordingly, a user wearing the sport shoes 100 can stand and walk naturally on a hard floor surface outside a practice arena.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating another configuration of use of the sport shoe 100. When a user wearing the sport shoe 100 stands on a relatively soft or resilient floor surface G (e.g., grass surface) with the two legs spaced apart from each other, the protrusions 120 can sink into the grass surface G, the protrusions 120 closer to the inner side 100A sinking into the floor surface G with a greater depth, and the protrusions 120 closer to the outer side 100B sinking into the floor surface G with a smaller depth. Accordingly, the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104 can be substantially close or even entirely contact against the floor surface G. In this configuration, the sport shoe 100 can offer an inclined support, i.e., the standing axis V of the user's leg can incline toward the inner side 100A. The inward tilt angle J of the standing axis V and the sport shoe 100 relative to a vertical axis can increase support stability of the lower body on the floor surface, especially when some swing or rotation of the upper body needs to be performed. The inward tilt angle J of the standing axis V can be equal to the inclination angle I of the bottom surface 104B when the bottom surface 104B entirely contacts the floor surface G, and the inward tilt angle J can be smaller than the inclination angle I when the bottom surface 104B does not entirely contact the floor surface G. The inclination angle I of the bottom surface 104B can be set according to a height of the wearer, which can determine a maximum tilt angle of the standing axis V. With respect to the practice of certain sport, for example golf, the inclined standing support as described previously is more stable and allows performance of a more accurate displacement of the upper body, e.g., the upper body can swing or rotate relative to the lower body in a more accurate manner. It is worth noting that the application of the sport shoe 100 is not limited to the practice of golf, and may be suitable for any sport such as running, soccer, rugby, tennis, match crossbow, etc.

Because the conventional sport shoes are not adapted to provide an inclined support, a sport practitioner usually needs to use the leg muscles to place the legs in the correct position, which may cause muscle fatigue or even injury. The sport shoe described herein can provide effective grip on a soft floor surface, and also assist a wearer to adjust and incline the leg standing axis, which can prevent fatigue and injury and overcome the aforementioned problems of the traditional sport shoes.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the left and right sport shoes 100 can have a symmetrical construction. In alternate embodiments, the two sport shoes 100 may have slightly different construction, e.g., the slope of the bottom surface 104B, the height variation of the protrusions 120 may differ between the left and right sport shoe 100.

Realization of the sport shoe has been described in the context of particular embodiments. These embodiments are meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the inventions as defined in the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A sport shoe comprising:

an upper;

a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, the bottom surface having a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and being inclined along a transversal direction between the outer and inner side; and

a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole, the protrusions projecting downward from the bottom surface and having tips defining a common plane.

2. The sport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface rise along a slope from the outer side toward the inner side, whereby the sole has a thickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinner near the inner side.

3. The sport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the plane defined by the tips of the protrusions is substantially perpendicular to a standing axis of a user's leg.

4. The sport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the protrusions have a height that gradually increases from the outer side toward the inner side of the sport shoe.

5. The sport shoe according to claim 4, wherein an angle between the bottom surface of the sole and the plane defined by the tips of the protrusions is equal or less than 15 degrees.

6. The sport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the protrusions are formed integrally with the sole, or fastened with the sole.

7. A sport shoe comprising:

an upper;

a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, the bottom surface having a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and being inclined between the outer and inner side, the sole having a thickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinner near the inner side; and

a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole, the protrusions projecting downward from the bottom surface and having end tips defining a common plane that is substantially perpendicular to a standing axis of a user's leg.

8. The sport shoe according to claim 7, wherein the protrusions have a height that gradually increases from the outer side toward the inner side of the sport shoe.

9. The sport shoe according to claim 7, wherein an angle between the bottom surface of the sole and the plane commonly defined by the tips of the protrusions is equal or less than 15 degrees.

10. The sport shoe according to claim 7, wherein the protrusions are formed integrally with the sole, or fastened with the sole.