Abstract: A spike is operable to be removably coupled to an article of footwear. The spike includes a first portion that is substantially rigid. The spike also includes a second portion that is resilient.

Abstract: An article of footwear with traction members, such as cleats or spikes, having a low profile sole providing increased stability to the wearer. The profile of a sole is the distance between the lasting line and the end of the traction members. This distance incorporates traction members, an outsole of the article of footwear having receptacles for receiving the traction members, and a lasting material located above the receptacles for attaching the sole to the upper. A lower profile may be achieved by reducing, for example, the height of the receptacle, through the use of new connection mechanisms and/or constructions.

Abstract: A removable cleat includes a plurality of projections, dividing into sets, with each set of projections made of different materials. The cleat includes a coupling element, for attachment to a shoe, and a ground contacting element. The ground contacting element contains a plurality of projections, with the projections divided into at least two sets. The projections may be disposed about the perimeter of the ground contacting element, such that each set of projections does not extend more than half the perimeter. Additionally, some of the plurality of projections may be located interior to the perimeter. Further, each set of projections may be oriented in a particular direction with respect to a plane formed by the perimeter. Each interspersed set of projections may be made of a different material, or each projection may itself be made of a different material.

Abstract: An assembly comprising an article of footwear, such as a boot, and a crampon, the assembly comprising a binding for retaining the crampon on the boot. The binding comprises an assembly device that comprises a first element affixed to the boot and a second element affixed to the crampon, the first and second elements being structured for assembly with one another in two phases, a first phase in which one of the elements guides the other element along a translational movement, from an initial point to a transition point, and a second phase in which one of the elements guides the other element along a rotational movement in the area of the transition point, the first phase and the second phase being mutually exclusive.

Abstract: An interchangeable cleat system for an article of footwear includes an outer sole member with a plurality of fixed cleat members and a plurality of removable cleat members. The spacing between the removable cleat members and the fixed cleat members may be approximately constant in at least one portion of the article of footwear. The differences in height between the removable cleat members and the fixed cleat members may be approximately constant within a portion of the outer sole member. The cleat system can include at least three sets of cleat members that can be interchanged over different portions of the outer sole member.

Abstract: A thinner shoe mounted receptacle results from a thin cleat attachment flange received in a shallow receptacle cavity. An angled interface between the cleat and receptacle provide a friction fit engagement to minimize inadvertent disengagement of the cleat and receptacle. Rotational locking occurring inside or outside the cavity further prevents inadvertent cleat rotation. Multiple positionally synchronized angular stops positively define the final angular orientation of the cleat in the receptacle.

Abstract: An article of footwear with traction members, such as cleats or spikes, having a low profile sole providing increased stability to the wearer. The profile of a sole is the distance between the lasting line and the end of the traction members. This distance incorporates traction members, an outsole of the article of footwear having receptacles for receiving the traction members, and a lasting material located above the receptacles for attaching the sole to the upper. A lower profile may be achieved by reducing, for example, the height of the receptacle, through the use of new connection mechanisms and/or constructions.

Abstract: A snowshoe accessory is provided. The snowshoe accessory can be purchased at low cost as an after-market device and be installed easily by the purchaser on his/her own snowshoes for upgrading them or snowshoes can also be purchased along with the snowshoe accessory already installed. The snowshoe accessory is to be installed on snowshoes having a tubular outside frame to provide lateral longitudinal crampons for preventing side-sliding. Lateral longitudinal crampons are disposed in a region proximate to the portion of the snowshoe where the weight of the snowshoer is applied—i.e., near the foot pivot system and the heel stand—and penetrate in the snow to efficiently prevent side-sliding when snowshoeing on a tilted snow surface for example and to provide additional traction. A snowshoe accessory without crampon can also be provided to provide spacing between the tubular frame and the ground in order to prevent early wear out of the pivot strap or the deck.

Abstract: An anti-balling system for a crampon (10) to prevent balling and snow accumulation during snow and ice climbing includes a plate (46, 50) attached to the bottom of the crampon. The plate can be rigid and can have a lower surface (54, 58) formed of a material configured to prevent sticking of snow or ice to the lower surface of the plate. The plate can include at least one loop (62) integrally formed at a front of the plate to receive a front point (38) of the crampon. The plate can have a loop or window (96 or 232) to receive the center strap (22 or 220) of the crampon. The plate can be attached with bail ends (222 and 224) of a bail (214). The lower surface of the plate can include a plurality of protrusions (100) extending therefrom forming a plurality of raised section (104) and a plurality of edges (108) forming a nonskid surface configured to prevent the lower surface of the plate from sliding with respect to another object.

Abstract: An ice spike comprises a fixing clamp attached to the fixed rear part of the armature and having a cross-bar designed to latch directly onto a rear rim of the sole. The front part of the armature comprises stop means to wedge the front of the shoe in the longitudinal direction. A strapping system is provided with at least one safety lanyard arranged to press the shoe against the bearing surface. After lengthwise adjustment of the strip has been performed according to the shoe size, fitting the shoe does not require any variation of distance between the rear fixing clamp and the front stop means.

Abstract: A traction system for use on conventional flexible footwear is provided that includes both toe and heel sections that are independently attached to a wearer's footwear and are connected with a flexible linkage. The flexible linkage allows the traction system to move with the normal movement of the flexible footwear so as to provide a natural walking and running movement. The traction system provides numerous benefits over previously available crampon and other spiked traction systems, including flexibility, light weight, practical usability with a wide variety of footwear types—including highly flexible footwear such as running shoes, compactability, and ready adjustability between different sizes and types of footwear.

Abstract: A perfected device for walking on snow or ice consisting of platforms (1) that are fitted on the upper face of the rackets (20) and have a swivel mechanism (6) formed by a spherical or similar piece equipped with axles (22) at the heel end. At the bottom of the platforms (1), they also have housings (24), spikes (8), rackets (20) and, at the heel end, semi-cylindrical parts (23) and (23′) equipped with fastening elements (10) and (10′).

Abstract: A snowshoe crampon system has toe and heel crampons which are fabricated from strong, hard abrasion resistant material such as stainless steel, titanium, or tool steel, the toe crampon having a depending formed skirt and a trio of tooth pairs depending angularly therefrom, namely: a pair of forward climbing teeth, a pair of lateral traction teeth and a pair of rear braking teeth, each tooth of each pair having an outwardly curved, convex, crowned outer face which Is grooved to form a gusset, each tooth pair being disposed at such an angle as to contribute to the traction provided by the other two pair; the heel crampon having two pair of teeth, namely: a pair of lateral traction teeth and a pair of rear braking teeth, the pair of lateral traction teeth being disposed on a plane parallel to the direction of snowshoe travel and the pair of rear braking teeth being disposed at an angle relative to the direction of snowshoe travel.

Abstract: A laser clamping system for a disc laser medium that includes two heat conductive members (one of which is optically transparent) positioned on either side of a disc laser. Pressure is applied to the conductive members to restrain the disc from deforming under pumping conditions to reduce the lensing effect. Thin disc geometry allows the thermal load of laser material to be much closer to the heat conductive members so that heat dissipation is generally more efficient than that of other geometric configurations (e.g. rod or slab). In disc lasers each part of the laser beam experiences the same temperature gradient so that there is no lensing effect caused by radial temperature distribution. It has been discovered that any resulting lensing effect is disc lasers is mainly from the thermo-mechanical deformation of the disc itself.

Abstract: A sole of a baseball spiked shoe has a toe portion projection, a first metatarsal head projection, a stepping portion projection, and a fifth metatarsal head projection provided at a fore foot portion at the bottom plane of the shoe sole, and a heel medial projection, a heel anterior projection, a heel posterior projection, and a heel lateral projection provided at the heel portion. Each projection is provided at an appropriate angle with respect to the longitudinal line of the foot.

Abstract: A removably attachable traction gear for the underside of footwear having two primary components: a retaining member and a receptacle. These two components respectively replace the common screw and threaded receptacle systems found in for affixing traction gear to the underside of shoes. A partial turn of the traction gear securely locks the gear into the receptacle. The retaining member has a three-extension design so as to make the traction gear resistant to lateral forces applied to the ground-engaging end of the cleat. Locking is achieved through use of cantilevered fingers which press in during installation of the retaining member, and which spring back out to lock with mated indentations in the extensions. During installation a dome containing insole material is compressed. Unlocking is achieved through reverse turning the retaining member to force the springs back in, and removal is aided through re-expansion of the dome. In a preferred form, the invention is utilized to attach a golf cleat to a shoe.

Abstract: A traction device for mounting on a shoe enables a user to walk safely on ice. The traction device includes a pad having an envelope formed by upper and lower fabric layers and having a middle layer of flexible foam material contained within the envelope. An elastic band attached to the envelope surrounds the front portion of the shoe and holds the pad tightly to the shoe's sole. The traction device also includes a set of spike assemblies. Each spike assembly has a tapped receiver that attaches to the middle layer of the pad and a spike having a threaded end that screws into the receiver. The spike also has a pointed tip end that passes through the sheath and engages the ice. An additional layer of resilient material within the envelope cushions the spike assemblies from the shoe and allows each spike assembly an independent range of vertical motion so that the spike assemblies may conform to rough ice surfaces.

Abstract: A cleat system for sports shoes, especially football shoes, comprising a downward opening socket in the outsole, provided with at least two circumferentially spaced first supporting surfaces at the inside thereof facing away from the socket opening, a cleat body, a fastening portion connected to the cleat body through which the cleat body is adapted to be detachably connected to the socket and which has at least two circumferentially spaced mounting surfaces integrally formed thereat facing the cleat body which upon insertion and after rotation of the fastening portion through a predetermined angle of rotation come to lie against the first supporting surfaces substantially under surface contact, a further mounting surface formed integrally with the cleat body which comes to lie against the outsole under pressure from below when the supporting and mounting surfaces are in engagement with each other, and locking means effective between the fastening portion and the socket which resists a backward rotational mov

Abstract: Adjustable-length, golf spike receptacles and anchoring strip combinations for use in soles of various sizes and widths comprise (1) an elongated strip of thin, flexible material and (2) a pair of golf spike receptacles which are attached, one at each end to the elongated strip. The golf spike receptacles comprise (a) an internally threaded sleeve or cylinder for receiving the threads of a golf spike and (b) a base plate to which the sleeve is attached at about a right angle to its axis. The base plates of the golf spike receptacles are attached to the ends of the elongated strips by attaching means in a manner such that at least one plate and preferably both plates are rotatable about the attaching means. In a further embodiment one or both the attaching means are slidably movable in elongated channels provided adjacent to the ends of the anchoring strip.

Abstract: A climbing aid comprising a rigid support bar having a climbing spike at one end and held in a horizontally disposed slot in a boot.