COMPONENT FOR JOINING UPPER AND SOLE PARTS OF AN ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR
A chassis part for connecting upper part and a sole part of an article of footwear with a flange structure, a sole part and an article of footwear comprising a chassis part and a method for joining an upper and sole are disclosed. The chassis part comprises a base portion and a flange portion at the periphery of the chassis part. The base portion is arranged on a lower level than the flange portion and provides at least one cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and at least one downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part. The at least one cavity is arranged to accommodate filler material, the at least one downward extending portion is arranged for engagement with the sole part, and the flange portion is arranged for joining to a flange portion of the upper part.
The disclosure relates to articles of footwear comprising a flange structure for joining an upper part to a sole part, to a sole structure, a component part for joining an upper to a sole, and a method of joining sole and upper parts.
BACKGROUNDAn article of footwear can comprise, e.g., a shoe, sandal, boot or the like. An article of footwear typically comprises main parts known as the upper and the sole. A sole part can comprise component parts such as an outsole, a midsole, an insole, a footbed, a sock, heel cup, shank, and so on. The various components can be bound during manufacture of the sole part and/or a shoe. The upper and the sole, and any components thereof can be made of different materials. An upper can be made from materials such as, e.g., leather, fabrics and/or synthetic materials. A sole is typically made from more hardwearing materials, e.g., rubber, leather, thermoplastic material or hardwearing synthetic material, or a combination of these materials. A sole can be provided with soft or cushioning parts for better comfort.
Different components can be attached to each other by various techniques, such as stitching, adhesion such as gluing or cementing, merging or fusing the materials under heat and/or pressure and so on.
A footwear structure comprising flanges extending substantially sideways from the upper and sole for the joining the upper and the sole can be provided. A shoe with a flanged structure may comprise a leather or synthetic flanged board or midsole extending outwards from the lower edge of an upper and a thereto attached flange part extending from the upper. A sole part of rubber or another sole material may then be attached underneath the midsole. The attachment of the sole to the upper can be, e.g., by stitching through the flange structure and/or adhesion, e.g., gluing, cementing and/or fusing the materials. Various forms of such structure are known.
A form of flanged structures is known as stitch-out construction where a flange is mechanically, or otherwise forced lasted/shaped over a last. In such flanged structure a midsole or lasting board then connects the upper to the sole. A full midsole board can be placed on top of an outsole such that the outer edge on the periphery thereof is sandwiched between the upper flange and the outsole.
Use of the midsole board for connecting the upper and the sole provides a firm structure. However, the design can also be hard for the wearer as it offers no underfoot cushioning. Fixing any cushioning on the board can become difficult, time consuming and add to the cost of making articles of footwear. It can also increase the overall girth and/or bulk of the finished shoe as allowances for such cushioning must be considered when creating the last. The midsole board can also reduce overall flexibility by adding another layer between the sole and the upper.
The herein described embodiments aim to address one or more of problematic issues in relation to articles of footwear.
SUMMARYAccording to an aspect there is provided a chassis part for connecting upper part and a sole part of an article of footwear with a flange structure, the chassis part comprising a base portion and a flange portion at the periphery of the chassis part, wherein the base portion is arranged on a lower level than the flange portion and provides at least one cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and at least one downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, and the at least one cavity is arranged to accommodate filler material, the at least one downward extending portion is arranged for engagement with the sole part, and the flange portion is arranged for joining to a flange portion of the upper part.
According to an aspect there is provided a sole arrangement for an article of footwear, the sole arrangement comprising a chassis part comprising a base portion and a chassis flange portion for attachment to an upper flange portion extending from an upper part of the article of footwear, the base portion being arranged on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and a downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, filler material in the at least one cavity, and an outsole member comprising edge portion at the periphery of the outsole member, wherein the flange portion of the chassis part is placed above the edge portion.
According to another aspect there is provided an article of footwear comprising an upper part comprising an upper flange portion, a chassis part comprising a base portion and a chassis flange portion, wherein the base portion is on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and at least one downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, and wherein the chassis flange portion and the upper flange portion are stitched together, filler material in the at least one chassis cavity, and a sole part comprising edge portion at the periphery of the sole part, wherein the chassis flange portion is placed above the edge portion.
According to a yet another aspect there is provided method of producing an article of footwear, comprising stitching an upper flange portion of an upper part to a chassis flange portion of a chassis part comprising a base portion, wherein the base portion of the chassis part is provided on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and a downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, placing filler material in the at least one chassis cavity, and joining a sole part of the article of footwear to the upper part through the chassis part.
According to a more detailed aspect the at least one cavity extends substantially over the entire foot supporting area of the sole part.
The at least one downwards extending portion and the corresponding at least one cavity may have a substantially similar contour. Alternatively, the at least one downwards extending portion and the corresponding at least one cavity may have different contours.
At least one downwards extending portion of the chassis part may have a substantially similar contour than a corresponding cavity provided in an outsole of the sole part. The cross-sectional profile of the chassis part may resemble a tray.
At least one cavity may be provided with at least two parts of different depths.
At least one shank element may be provided between an outsole member of the sole part and at least one downward extending portion of the chassis part.
Substantially entire volume of the at least one cavity may be filled with filler material. A snap-fit arrangement may be provided between the filler material and the chassis part. Filler material may be pre-attached into the at least one cavity before lasting. Filler material may also be placed into the at least one cavity after stitching the chassis flange portion to the upper flange portion.
Filler material may comprise ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) or similar soft foam material.
At least two separate chassis parts pay be provided.
A separate welt component may be provided under the flange portion and around the base portion.
An outsole member may comprise at least one outsole cavity for accommodating at least one downward extending portion of a chassis part. The at least one downwards extending portion and corresponding at least one outsole cavity may have substantially similar contours.
The chassis flange portion is suitably arranged for placing on the edge portion of the outsole member.
A separate welt component may be placed under the flange portion and around the base portion of the chassis component. The welt component can be placed on top of the edge portion of the outsole member.
The upper flange portion can comprise a lasted welt.
The article of footwear may comprise at least one of a stitch-out structure, a corner-stich structure, a mechanically stitched structure or a hand stitched structure for joining the upper part and the sole part.
Various exemplifying embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the attached drawings. Steps and elements explained herein may be reordered, omitted, and combined to form different embodiments and any step indicated as performed may be caused to be performed in another order. In the drawings:
In the following certain detailed examples of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The like numbers in the drawings refer to like features.
The sole part 3 can comprise different components. The example of
A specifically formed chassis part 10 is provided on top of the outsole member 5. A chassis part may comprise a base portion 15 at the center and a flange portion 8 at the periphery of the chassis part. As will be explained in more detail below with reference to
The flange portion 8 is arranged for sandwiching between similarly shaped flange member 6 of the upper part 2 and the edge portion 7 of the outsole member 3. The flange portion 8 of the chassis part 10 can be stitched by stitching 9 to the flange member 6 extending from the upper part 2.
The upper part 2 can be attached to the chassis part 10 through a stitch-out construction. This can be provided by stitching machinery. An example of providing the stitching is shown in
The lower side of the flange portion 8 can be attached to the edge part 7 provided at the periphery of the outsole 5. The attaching can be done by stitching, by machine and/or hand, and/or adhesion and/or fusion, or by any other appropriate attachment technique.
The chassis part 10 can be made from a variety of materials. The material is preferably chosen such that it exhibits a durometer high enough to ensure proper tear strength from construction stitching at the flange structure area. Non-limiting examples of suitable materials include rubber, polyurethane, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and so on.
It is noted that other structures for joining the upper and sole are possible. For example, the so called opanka or corner stich structure may be used instead of the stich-out structure of
The upper surface of the base part 15 provides an upward facing cavity 13. The cavity 13 on the topside of the chassis part 10 is called herein as the chassis cavity.
The chassis cavity 13 can be filled with suitable filler material 18. The filler material can be, e.g., soft foam to provide cushioning and soft support for the foot. For example, the filler material may comprise of various formulations of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), polyurethane, open cell foam or the like soft foam material. Filler material 18 can be inserted within the chassis cavity at an appropriate stage of manufacture of the article of footwear.
The outsole 5 of
The surface contour of the downward protruding part 12 on the underside of the chassis part can be made substantially similar to the surface contour of the cavity 13 on the topside of the chassis part 10. An example of a stepped tray like contouring is shown in
The surfaces on the topside and underside can also have differing contours. An example of this is shown in
Fitting of the chassis part 10 to the outsole member 5 of this example is shown in more detail in
The geometry of the chassis part creates an outer flange that takes the place of the outer edges of a conventional midsole. The outer flange can be stitched to in accordance with the construction feature of a stitch-out shoe, while creating a space or pocket by pulling the base portion of the chassis part down into area that is conventionally occupied by the outsole. In this example downward extending portion 12 is accommodated in the outsole cavity 11. The pocket or cavity 13 on top of the chassis part 10 allows for a soft material 18 such as EVA or the like to be placed in the space that would have conventionally been occupied by the hard midsole board. This enables a sole unit where cushioning is provided directly under the foot, with no more hard midsole board to get in between.
As shown, e.g., in
In accordance with a possibility a piece of EVA or other filler material matching the shape of the chassis cavity 13 is provided. The filler material piece can be attached, e.g., cemented down to the chassis so that the filler material piece stays in place. The attachment can be done before the upper is lasted and sole laid into engagement with the chassis part. This can be advantageous in certain applications because getting into a finished shoe down in the toe part to apply adhesive and place the filler material in the chassis cavity may become a cumbersome task.
In accordance with another possibility a “snap-in” or “snap-fit” type arrangement can be provided between the chassis part and a filler material piece. For example, angles and/or shapes such as grooves and protrusions can be provided in the filler material piece and chassis geometries. These can be provided such that the fitting of the filler material can take place in a lasted and/or otherwise finished shoe.
At least one shank element 20 can be placed between the chassis part 10 and the outsole member 5. Cavities 21, 22 (see e.g.
In the top part of
The bottom side of the chassis part and the outsole cavity can be shaped accordingly. More than two chassis cavity parts of different depths can be provided.
The footbed 48 can also be made higher than the chassis cavity. This is illustrated by the dashed lined 49.
A heel cup 42 may also be provided. This can be made of the same or different material than the footbed 48.
The contour of the upper and outsole sides of the chassis component can be different. This is illustrated by the difference in the upper and bottom surface contours of the flange step 44 and the cavity step 40.
The construction of
According to the above examples substantially the entire base part, i.e., the entire area within the flange portion of the chassis part can be formed as a recess to provide a chassis cavity on the top side of the chassis part. It is also possible to have only a part of the internal area of the chassis part recessed. Also, more than one cavity can be provided on the upper side of a chassis part. For example, a first cavity can be provided on the heel section and at least one another cavity on the toe section of a chassis part. Different filler material can be placed in different chassis cavities.
More than one chassis part can be provided. For example, one chassis part can be provided in the toe section and another in the heel section. Two or more flanged chassis parts can also be placed on top of each other. Different chassis parts can be made of different materials.
A sole structure may also comprise further layers, such as additional cushioning, ventilation and/or waterproofing layers.
Instead of an outsole shaped according to the underside of the chassis part 10 a substantially “flat” outsole part 50 is provided. The void between the flange portion 8 and the edge portion of the outsole 50 is filled by an external or separate welt component 60 provided under the flange portion 8 and around the base portion 15 of the chassis part 10. The material of the external welt can be for example plantation crepe, rubber, EVA, outsole grade leather, felt, and various other materials that are typical for shoemaking and have appropriate wear characteristics. The external welt can be made from the same material as the outsole, or it can be something completely different.
The outsole member may comprise at least one outsole cavity on the chassis part side of the outsole member. The attaching may comprise inserting the at least one downward extending portion of the chassis part in the corresponding outsole cavity.
The stitching may be a mechanically provide stitch-out structure. The stitching may also be provided manually. An example of such is a corner stitched structure.
Filler material can then be placed at 114 in the chassis cavity or cavities of the chassis part. The filler material can be, e.g., snap fitted to the chassis cavity or cavities.
The outsole may comprise at least one outsole cavity on the chassis part side of the outsole member. The attaching may then comprise inserting a downward extending portion of the chassis part in a corresponding outsole cavity.
After the attachment an upper and sole combination may be subjected to one or more additional operations, such as welt finishing by a grinder, hot knife, sand buffeting, buffing wheels and so on. The edge of the outsole member can be finished e.g. by a thermal finishing tool such as a hot knife.
The herein described chassis part, or an element comprising a combination of a chassis and filler material can be understood as a type of a midsole, as it replaces the conventional midsole made from a flat board. A difference is that the herein described chassis part used in place of conventional midsole comprises a flange portion on the periphery thereof that is raised from the base part in the middle. The chassis part may provide advantage, e.g., in saving of materials, ease of manufacture of shoes, making sole construction thinner and/or more flexible. An article of footwear comprising a chassis part as described may be produced without increasing the toe height, or other measures, while providing improved comfort.
The foregoing description provides by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of exemplary embodiments of the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. All such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the spirit and scope of this invention.
Claims
1. A chassis part for connecting upper part and a sole part of an article of footwear with a flange structure, the chassis part comprising a base portion and a flange portion at the periphery of the chassis part, wherein
- the base portion is arranged on a lower level than the flange portion and provides at least one cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and at least one downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, and
- the at least one cavity is arranged to accommodate filler material, the at least one downward extending portion is arranged for engagement with the sole part, and the flange portion is arranged for joining to a flange portion of the upper part.
2. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cavity extends substantially over the foot supporting area of the sole part.
3. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the at least one downwards extending portion and the corresponding at least one cavity have a substantially similar contour.
4. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the at least one downwards extending portion and the corresponding at least one cavity have different contours.
5. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein at least one downwards extending portion of the chassis part has a substantially similar contour than a corresponding cavity provided in an outsole of the sole part.
6. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional profile of the chassis part resembles a tray.
7. The chassis part according to claim 1, comprising at least one cavity provided with at least two parts of different depths.
8. The chassis part according to claim 1, comprising at least one shank element between an outsole member of the sole part and at least one downward extending portion of the chassis part.
9. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein substantially the entire volume of the at least one cavity is filled with filler material.
10. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the filler material is pre-attached into the at least one cavity before lasting.
11. The chassis part according to claim 1, comprising a snap-fit arrangement between the filler material and the chassis part.
12. The chassis part according to claim 1, wherein the filler material comprises ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) or similar soft foam material.
13. The chassis part according to claim 1, comprising at least two chassis parts.
14. The chassis part according to claim 1, comprising a separate welt component under the flange portion and around the base portion.
15. A sole arrangement for an article of footwear, the sole arrangement comprising:
- a chassis part comprising a base portion and a chassis flange portion for attachment to an upper flange portion extending from an upper part of the article of footwear, the base portion being arranged on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and a downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part;
- filler material in the at least one cavity; and
- an outsole member comprising edge portion at the periphery of the outsole member, wherein the flange portion of the chassis part is placed above the edge portion.
16. The sole arrangement part according to claim 15, the outsole member comprising at least one outsole cavity for accommodating the at least one downward extending portion of the chassis part.
17. The sole arrangement part according to claim 16, wherein at least one downwards extending portion and corresponding at least one outsole cavity have a substantially similar contour.
18. The sole arrangement part according to claim 15, wherein the chassis flange portion is placed on the edge portion of the outsole member.
19. The sole arrangement part according to claim 15, comprising a separate welt component placed under the flange portion and around the base portion of the chassis component, and on top of the edge portion of the outsole member.
20. The sole arrangement according to claim 15, further comprising at least one of a footbed, a heel cup, or a sock above the filler material.
21. Article of footwear comprising:
- an upper part comprising an upper flange portion;
- a chassis part comprising a base portion and a chassis flange portion, wherein the base portion is on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and at least one downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part, and wherein the chassis flange portion and the upper flange portion are stitched together;
- filler material in the at least one chassis cavity; and
- a sole part comprising edge portion at the periphery of the sole part, wherein the chassis flange portion is placed above the edge portion.
22. The article of footwear according to claim 21, wherein the upper flange portion comprises a lasted welt.
23. The article of footwear according to claim 21, comprising at least one of a stitch-out structure, a corner-stich structure, a mechanically stitched structure or a hand stitched structure for joining the upper part and the sole part.
24. A method of producing an article of footwear, comprising:
- stitching an upper flange portion of an upper part to a chassis flange portion of a chassis part comprising a base portion, wherein the base portion of the chassis part is provided on a lower level than the chassis flange portion to provide at least one chassis cavity on the upper side of the chassis part and a downward extending portion on the underside of the chassis part;
- placing filler material in the at least one chassis cavity; and
- joining a sole part of the article of footwear to the upper part through the chassis part.
25. The method according to claim 24, comprising placing the filler material into the at least one cavity before stitching the chassis flange portion to the upper flange portion.
26. The method according to claim 24, comprising placing the filler material into the at least one cavity after stitching the chassis flange portion to the upper flange portion.
27. The method according to claim 24, comprising inserting the at least one downward extending portion of the chassis part into a corresponding outsole cavity.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 14, 2019
Publication Date: Feb 18, 2021
Inventor: Gary DUCLOS (Waltham, MA)
Application Number: 16/540,262