Tibia and/or foot protection article comprising at least one shock absorbing pad

Abstract

Disclosed is an article for protection of the tibia and/or the foot composed of a sock including at least one pouch and at least one pad removably positioned in the pouch; the article is remarkable in that the pouch is fixed to the inside of the sock and in that the pad is composed of a flexible and flat part including a layer obtained from a viscoelastic material and at least one layer made of fabric fixed to at least one of the faces of the layer of viscoelastic material.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A tibia and/or foot protection article composed of a sock comprising at least one pouch and at least one pad removably positioned in said pouch, wherein the pouch is fixed to the inside of the sock and wherein the pad is composed of a flexible and flat part comprising a layer obtained from a viscoelastic material and at least one layer made of fabric fixed to at least one of the faces of the layer of viscoelastic material.

14. The protection article of claim 13, wherein the pad is made from a flexible and flat part comprising a layer made from a viscoelastic material and two layers made of fabric fixed to corresponding faces of the layer of viscoelastic material.

15. The protection article of claim 13, wherein the static friction coefficient of the layer of fabric of the pad is between 0.1 and 0.5.

16. The protection article of claim 13, wherein the Shore hardness of the viscoelastic material is between 20 and 80.

17. The protection article of claim 16, wherein the viscoelastic material consists of a thermoplastic elastomer.

18. The protection article of claim 17, wherein said thermoplastic elastomer is chosen from the group consisting of: a non-vulcanised olefinic thermoplastic elastomer, a vulcanised olefinic thermoplastic elastomer, a polyurethane thermoplastic elastomer, a styrenic thermoplastic elastomer, a thermoplastic copolyester, a thermoplastic copolyamide, and combinations of these thermoplastic elastomers.

19. The protection article of claim 18, wherein said thermoplastic elastomer is chosen from the group consisting of: a styrene thermoplastic elastomer comprising polystyrene-b-polybutadiene-b-polystyrene, polystyrene-b-polyisoprene-b-polystyrene, polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-butylene)-b-polystyrene, polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-propylene)-b-polystyrene, polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-ethylene/propylene)-b-polystyrene and composites thereof.

20. The protection article of claim 13, wherein the pouch is fixed to the inside wall of the sock by stitching.

21. The protection article of claim 13, wherein the pouch extends in front of the tibial crest.

22. The protection article of claim 21, wherein the pouch is substantially rectangular in shape and wherein the upper part of the pouch is open.

23. The protection article of claim 22, wherein the pad is substantially parallelepiped in shape.

24. The protection article of claim 23, wherein the width of the pad is substantially equal to the width of the pouch and wherein the length of the pad is longer than the length of the pouch such that said pad projects outside said pouch.

25. The protection article of claim 14, wherein the static friction coefficient of the layer of fabric of the pad is between 0.1 and 0.5.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0021] Other advantages and features will become clearer after reading the following description of a single manufacturing variant, given as a non-limiting example of the tibia and/or foot protection article according to the invention, with reference to the appended drawings on which:

[0022] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tibia and/or foot protection article according to the invention,

[0023] FIG. 2 is a sagittal sectional view of the tibia and/or foot protection article according to the invention,

[0024] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the pad of the tibia and/or foot protection article according to the invention,

[0025] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a variant embodiment of the pad of the foot and/or tibia protection article according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION

[0026] In the following description, an article for protection of the tibial crest of a skier will be described, the shock absorbing pad absorbing shocks and thus preventing pain on the tibial crest caused by bending the leg on the rigid shell of ski boots; however, it is obvious that the tibia and/or foot protection article could be adapted to other sports or activities by choosing a suitable position of the pouch(es) in which the pad(s) will be placed, without going outside the scope of the invention.

[0027] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the tibia and/or foot protection article according to the invention is composed of a sock 1 comprising an inner pouch 2, placed in front of the tibial crest, and a shock absorbing pad 3 providing a shock absorbing function between the tibial crest and the ski boot of the person wearing the socks.

[0028] It will be noted that the term sock is used to mean any manufactured article wrapping the feet and rising above the ankle or higher as it is the case in the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 that consists of knee-length socks. Said sock may in particular comprise reinforcement zones and/or aeration zones and/or contention zones, not shown on the figures.

[0029] Said pouch 2 is made from a knitted or woven part, preferably a part knitted with the same thread as the remainder of the sock 1, substantially rectangular in shape and that is sewn onto the inside face of the sock 1 in front of the tibial crest.

[0030] It is obvious that the pouch 2 could be any shape, such as a trapezoidal, triangular, round or oblong shape, depending on the zone(s) of the foot and/or leg to be protected.

[0031] Thus, the protection article according to the invention could comprise a plurality of pouches 2, each pouch 2 holding a pad 3 with a shape adapted to said corresponding pouch 2, for example to protect the instep, the hallux or the Achilles heel.

[0032] Moreover, it is obvious that the pouch 2 could be fixed to the inside face of the sock by any other appropriate means known to the person skilled in the art such as by bonding, gluing or knitting, without going outside the framework of the invention.

[0033] Said pouch 2 that is open at its upper end receives a pad 3 with a parallelepiped shape with a width substantially equal to the width of the pouch 2 and a longer length longer than the length of the pouch 2 such that said pad 3 projects outside said pouch. In this way, the pad 3 can be easily slid into the pouch and then removed from said pouch 2, the part of the pad 3 projecting from the pouch 2 acting as gripping means.

[0034] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the pad 3 is made of a flexible and flat part comprising a layer 3a made from a viscoelastic material and at least one layer made of fabric 3b fixed to the at least one of the faces of the layer 3a of viscoelastic material. In this particular example embodiment, the pad 3 comprises a single fabric layer 3b.

[0035] According to one preferred embodiment, with reference to FIG. 4, said pad 3 advantageously comprises two fabric layers 3b fixed on each side of the layer 3a made of viscoelastic material.

[0036] Furthermore, in order to facilitate introduction and removal of the pad 3 in the pouch 2, and to limit shear stresses on the layer 3a made of viscoelastic material when the socks are being worn, the static friction coefficient of the fabric layer of the pad is between 0.1 and 0.5.

[0037] Preferably, the layer 3a made of a viscoelastic material is obtained from a thermoplastic elastomer with a Shore hardness of between 20 and 80. In this particular example embodiment, the thickness of the layer 3a made of viscoelastic material is constant and is between 2 and 6 mm.

[0038] It is obvious that the thickness of the layer 3a made of viscoelastic material can be variable depending on the shock absorption level required on the different parts of the foot and/or leg.

[0039] Said thermoplastic elastomer consists of a non-vulcanised olefinic thermoplastic elastomer (TPO), a vulcanised olefinic thermoplastic elastomer (TPV), a polyurethane thermoplastic elastomer (TPU), a styrenic thermoplastic elastomer (TPS), a thermoplastic copolyester (ether-ester block copolymer or COPE) (TPE or TPEE), a thermoplastic copolyamide (ether-amide block copolymer or PEBA) (TPA), or a combination of these thermoplastic elastomers.

[0040] Preferably, said thermoplastic elastomer consists of a styrene thermoplastic elastomer (TPS) comprising polystyrene-b-polybutadiene-b-polystyrene (SBS), polystyrene-b-polyisoprene-b-polystyrene (SIS), polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-butylene)-b-polystyrene (SEBS), polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-propylene)-b-polystyrene (SEPS), polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-ethylene/propylene)-b-polystyrene (SEEPS) or a composite thereof.

[0041] It is obvious that the thermoplastic elastomer could be replaced by any other natural or synthetic viscoelastic material well known to the person skilled in the art with equivalent mechanical and/or chemical properties.

[0042] It is also obvious that the viscoelastic material could consist in particular of any synthetic and/or natural material well known to the person skilled in the art.

[0043] Obviously, this invention is not in any way limited to the embodiments described above and modifications can be made to it without going outside the scope of the appended claims.