DANCE OR SPORTS SHOE COMPRISING A FORCE TRANSMISSION ELEMENT

Abstract

A dance or sports shoe is described. This has a sole (12) with an inner side and an outer side and an upper shoe (20), which has a foot section (22). In order to achieve a tight fit of the dance or sports shoe on the foot, at least one force transmission element (30, 40, 50) is provided, which has a sole proximate region and a sole distal region. In the state of use, the sole proximate region is form-fitting and/or force-fitting fixed to the sole (12) and the sole distal region extends over the surface of the foot wearing the dance or sports shoe facing away from the sole of the foot.

Claims

1. A dance or sports shoe comprising a sole having an inner side and an outer side and extending in a longitudinal direction from a rear end to a front end, and an upper shoe which has a foot section, wherein at least one force transmission element is provided, which has a sole proximate region and a sole distal region, said sole distal region of the at least one force transmission element comprising two sole distal sections which can be locked together in such a way that the length of the sole distal region can be adjusted, wherein in the state of use: the at least one force transmission element extends around the outer side of the sole, so that at least a part of the sole proximate region rests against the outer side of the sole and fixes the sole proximate region to the sole in a form-fitting and/or a force-fitting manner, and the sole distal region extends over the surface of the foot wearing the dance or sports shoe facing away from the sole of the foot.

2. (canceled)

3. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein the two sections can be locked together by means of a hook-and-loop fastener, a ball fastener or a hook fastener.

4. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein at least two, preferably three force transmission elements are provided, in particular in such a way that they form a force-absorbing cone for the foot, wherein a first force transmission element is provided to be located in the region of the ball of the foot.

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein the sole proximate region of the at least one force transmission element is designed in the form of at least one elongated connecting section, preferably in the form of two elongated connecting sections.

8. (canceled)

9. The dance or sports shoe of claim 7, wherein the outer side of the sole has a plurality of incisions, and in the worn state of the dance shoe, at least one elongated connecting section is received in one of the incisions of the outer side of the sole, the incisions preferably having an outer section extending from the outer side and an adjoining inner section which is widened relative to the outer section.

10. (canceled)

11. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein the upper shoe is an element separate from the sole with the underside of said foot section is formed as a sole section which extends along the outer side of the sole, the sole section having a plurality of slit-shaped recesses which extend along the incisions of the outer side of the sole through which, in the worn state, the elongated connecting sections extend, which are received at least in sections in incisions in the outer side of the sole.

12. The dance or sports shoe of claim 11, wherein a slit-shaped recess extends along each incision in the outer side of the sole.

13. The dance or sports shoe of claim 11, wherein the sole section of the upper shoe is formed in two or more layers, with at least one of the layers being made of plastic, preferably TPU.

14. (canceled)

15. The dance or sports shoe of claim 11, wherein the foot section of the upper shoe further comprises a textile upper section extending from and being connected to the sole section.

16. The dance or sports shoe of claim 15, wherein the textile upper section has a substantially non-stretchable first area and an elastically stretchable second area, the second area extends from the heel area to the entry opening of the upper shoe and around the entry opening, and the first area forms the remaining upper section of the foot section.

17. The dance or sports shoe of claim 9, wherein all elongated connecting sections are each accommodated in an incision of the outer side of the sole.

18. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, further comprising a cap connected to the sole, so that the dance or sports shoe is a ballet pointe shoe, said the cap being permanently connected to the sole, so that the cap and sole form a sole-cap unit, the cap preferably being integrally formed with the sole and further preferably being made of plastic.

19. (canceled)

20. The dance or sports shoe of claim 11, wherein the sole section extends over the front end of the cap.

21. The dance or sports shoe of claim 4, in the state of use, the sole distal region of the first force transmission element extends over the cap.

22. The dance or sports shoe of claim 21, wherein at least two recesses extend from an upper section of the edge of the cap, so that a tongue section of the cap is formed between the recesses, said tongue section being movable, preferably flexibly movable, against the surrounding portion of the cap.

23. (canceled)

24. The dance or sports shoe of claim 22, wherein the tongue section has a lower thickness than the front section and the lateral sections of the cap.

25. The dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein the rear end region of the outer side of the sole is corrugated or serrated.

26. (canceled)

27. (canceled)

28. A strip-shaped force transmission element for use as part of a dance or sports shoe of claim 1, wherein the force transmission element is strip-shaped and can be detachably arranged on the sole.

29. A sole-cap unit for use as part of a dance or sports shoe of claim 22.

30. An upper shoe for use as part of a dance or sports shoe of claim 11.

Description

[0020] The invention will now be described in detail with reference to a preferred embodiment of a ballet pointe shoe (hereinafter also simply referred to as a ballet shoe). The figures show:

[0021] FIG. 1 the sole of a sole-cap unit seen from below,

[0022] FIG. 2 an upper shoe consisting exclusively of a foot section,

[0023] FIG. 3 three force transmission elements in a plan view as shown in FIG. 1,

[0024] FIG. 4 the sole-cap unit from FIG. 1 and the force transmission elements from FIG. 3, wherein the force transmission elements are arranged on the sole,

[0025] FIG. 5 the items shown in FIG. 4 viewed from the opposite side so that the inner side of the sole and the cap of the sole-cap unit can be seen,

[0026] FIG. 6 a perspective view of the complete ballet shoe, with the ballet shoe being in a pointe dance position.

[0027] FIG. 7 the items shown n FIG. 6, with the foot in the ballet shoe being shown,

[0028] FIG. 8 a side view of the ballet shoe in a state, in which the foot stands flat,

[0029] FIG. 9 what is shown in FIG. 8, but with the upper shoe not being shown,

[0030] FIG. 10 a second embodiment of the upper shoe in a perspective view,

[0031] FIG. 11 an exploded view of the upper shoe from FIG. 10, showing several elements that are joined together during production,

[0032] FIG. 12 the upper shoe of FIG. 10 from a different angle,

[0033] FIG. 13 the upper shoe of FIGS. 10 and 12 from another angle,

[0034] FIG. 14 a second example of a sole-cap unit and

[0035] FIG. 15 the sole-cap unit of FIG. 14 from a different angle.

[0036] FIGS. 1 to 3 show all the components of a preferred embodiment of the dance or sports shoe according to the invention, which is a ballet pointe shoe (hereinafter also referred to as ballet shoe). All components of this embodiment can be separated from each other in the unused state and only interact when the ballet pointe shoe is worn.

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a sole-cap unit 10, as is essentially known from the generic WO 2019/229043 A1, in a view from below. This sole-cap unit 10 has a sole extending from a rear end 12a to a front end 12b. A plurality of incisions in the form of grooves 17a to 17f extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the sole are arranged in the outer side of the sole. A difference to the structure as known from the generic WO 2019/229043 A1 is that the grooves 17a to 17f are arranged in pairs of grooves 17 I, 17 II and 17 III. The cap of the sole-cap unit 10 cannot be seen in FIG. 1 due to the selected view, but can be seen, for example, in FIGS. 5, 8 and 9.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows an upper shoe 20 of the ballet pointe shoe, which in the embodiment shown consists exclusively of a foot section 22, but it should be noted that such an upper shoe 20 could also comprise a leg section, as shown and described in the generic WO 2019/229043 A1. On the underside, the upper shoe has a recess, so that when the upper shoe 20 is pulled over the sole-cap unit 10, the grooves 17a to 17f are at least partially and sectionally, preferably completely, exposed. It would also be possible to provide several separate recesses instead of one.

[0039] The three force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 are all constructed in the same way, but can differ from one another in their specific dimensions, which is the case here (and is generally preferred). The force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 are strip-shaped, i.e. they have a length (which, when in use, extends essentially transversely to the length of the sole) and a width which is generally less than the length. The first (foremost) force transmission element 30 is generally the longest and preferably also the widest. In the embodiment example shown, the second force transmission element 30 is slightly longer than the third and the width of the second and third force transmission elements is the same. Since all force transmission elements 30 are constructed in the same way, the first force transmission element 30 is described as an example: This first force transmission element 30 has a sole distal section 31, 32 at each of its two longitudinal ends, wherein the first sole distal section 31 has a fastening element and the second sole distal section has a matching counter-fastening element. In the specific embodiment example shown, the fastening element of the first sole distal section 31 is a Velcro element 38 and the counter fastening element located on the other surface is a corresponding counter Velcro element, so that the force transmission element consists of a base element, which for example consists of a plastic fabric, the Velcro element and the counter Velcro element. As already mentioned, a one-piece design of the force transmission element is also possible.

[0040] Two elongated connecting sections 33, 34 extend between the two sole distal sections 31, 32 with an aperture 35 being located between those two connecting sections 33, 34. The distance between the two connecting sections 33, 34 essentially corresponds to the distance between the grooves 17a, 17b belonging to the first pair of grooves 17 I and the length of the connecting sections 33, 34 (i.e. the length of the aperture 35) essentially corresponds to the length of these two grooves, but preferably exceeds them slightly. Velcro element 38 and counter Velcro element can (naturally) be attached to each other so that the two sole distal sections 31, 32 form a sole distal region when attached to each other and the force transmission element 30 forms a closed loop. Since both the Velcro element and the counter Velcro element have a length, the circumference of this loop can be adjusted within a range. The two connecting sections 33, 34 together form the sole proximate region of the force transmission element. Instead of a Velcro element and a counter Velcro element, a so-called ball fastener can also be provided.

[0041] As can be seen from FIG. 4, the three force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 can be attached to the outer side 16 of the sole 12 by inserting their connecting sections 33, 34; 43, 44; 53, 54 into the grooves 17a to 17f, so that the first force transmission element 30 is held by the first pair of grooves 17 I, the second force transmission element 40 is held by the second pair of grooves 17 II and the third force transmission element is held by the third pair of grooves 17 III.

[0042] As can be seen in particular from FIG. 5, the first pair of grooves 17 I (and thus naturally also the arranged first force transmission element 30) is located essentially in the region of the rear edge of the cap 18 in such a way that, when the two sole distal sections 31, 32 are closed to form the sole distal region, this sole distal region encloses the cap, as is shown again later in FIGS. 8 and 9.

[0043] The ballet pointe shoe according to the invention can be put on the dancer's foot as follows: First, the sole-cap unit is positioned on the foot in such a way that the forefoot, in particular the toes, are positioned in the cap 18. Then the upper shoe, which consists in this embodiment exclusively of the foot section 22, is-starting from the cap-pulled over the foot and the sole-cap unit like a sock, so that it encloses the sole-cap unit except in the area of the recess 24. Now the three force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 are arranged, whereby the two sole distal sections 31, 32 are first inserted into the grooves of a pair of grooves, whereupon the two sole distal sections are joined together over the foot section of the upper shoe and thus closed. The dancer can individually adjust the length of each sole distal region consisting of the two sole distal sections and thus the tightness. Alternatively, the upper shoe can be pulled over the sole-cap unit first, which has the advantage that the connecting sections can be snapped into the grooves before the dancer puts on the shoe.

[0044] FIG. 6 shows the complete ballet pointe shoe in a state and position as it occurs during pointe dancing. The main effect that occurs due to the force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 can be seen here, namely the connection of the foot (not shown) by means of a vertical cone, which connects the foot via the force transmission elements under pressure directly to the inner side 14 of the sole 12, so that even in this position a certain force fit occurs between the sole of the foot and the inner side 14 of the sole 12, which in turn leads to a reduction of the force acting on the toes. This is substantially not the case at all with traditional ballet pointe shoes; here, the majority of the dancer's body weight during pointe dancing rests on the tips of the toes. If the dancer adjusts the force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 tight enough, the toes could in principle be almost completely relieved. FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 also show the preferred positions of the three force transmission elements in relation to the foot.

[0045] In FIG. 8, all elements of the ballet pointe shoe are shown, with some elements that are not visible (i.e. hidden behind other elements) being shown as dashed lines, so that the structure of the ballet pointe shoe according to the invention can be seen better. In particular, it can be seen that the foot section 22 of the upper shoe 20 completely encloses the sole-cap unit, except for the area of its recess 24, and in particular encloses the cap. Additionally, it can be seen that the sole distal region of the first force transmission element 30 encircles the cap 12. The second force transmission element 40 preferably extends essentially over the central area of the instep of the foot and the third force transmission element 50 is located at the rear end of the instep.

[0046] FIG. 8 also shows a preferred contour of the grooves 17a to 17g, which are Q-shaped, thus ensuring, among other things, a secure hold of the connecting sections.

[0047] FIGS. 8 and 9 also clearly show the force-absorbing cone formed by the force transmission elements 30, 40, 50.

[0048] FIGS. 10 to 13 show a second embodiment of an upper shoe 20 which, like the upper shoe of the first embodiment, consists exclusively of a foot section 22. However, it should be emphasized that the features now described could also be realized in an upper shoe which additionally comprises a leg section.

[0049] The first difference to the first embodiment is that the upper shoe 20/foot section 22 (these terms are used synonymously in the following) has a sole section 23. This means that the upper shoe has this sole section 23 and an upper section 25. The upper section 25 generally consists of a textile material.

[0050] Several slit-shaped recesses 24 extend through the sole section. These are arranged at the positions of the grooves 17a-17f, which extend into the sole 12. This means that the connecting sections 33, 34, 43, 44, 53, 54 of the force transmission elements 30, 40, 50 can be inserted into these grooves in exactly the same way as in the first embodiment. The shape of the grooves with an outer section extending from the outer side 16 of the sole 12 and an adjoining inner section with an enlarged cross-section is also as in the first embodiment. In contrast to the first embodiment, however, thein the longitudinal directionmiddle section of the outer side 16 of the sole 12 is not exposed. Rather, this is covered by the sole section 23 of the upper shoe 20. In the embodiment shown, the sole section extends over the front end of the cap 18.

[0051] Covering the outer side of the sole essentially completely has several advantages: First, the sole-cap unit is protected from wear, which further extends its lifetime. Furthermore, the damping can be improved if the material or materials of the sole section are selected appropriately. Finally, the grip can be improved (also depending on the choice of material and independent of the material of the sole or sole cap unit 10). Due to the last advantage in particular, it is preferred if the sole section extends over the front end of the cap 18.

[0052] As can be seen from FIG. 11, the sole section 23 can be made of several layers, three layers in the example shown. The properties of the sole section can be adapted particularly well thanks to the multiple layers. In the embodiment shown, the innermost layer 23a consists of so-called Strobel board, the middle layer of a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and the outer layer 23c of a microfiber material. This results in good overall durability, good cushioning and a good grip.

[0053] The second difference to the first embodiment is that the textile upper section 25 of the upper shoe (which substantially corresponds to the upper shoe 20 of the first embodiment, except that it does not cover the front end of the cap (this is taken over by the sole portion in the embodiment shown)) has two areas, namely a substantially non-stretchable first area 25a and an elastically stretchable second area 25b. The non-stretchable first area 25a ensures a good hold of the foot in the shoe, while the elastically stretchable second area 25b, which extends around the entry opening 22a and up to the heel area 26, ensures that the upper shoe 20 can be put on and the edge of the entry opening still fits snugly against the foot/leg.

[0054] FIGS. 14 and 15 show a second embodiment of the sole-cap unit 10. The main difference to the first embodiment is that two recesses 18a (which could also be described as slots) extend from the upper section of the edge of the cap 18, resulting in a tongue section 19a. This is preferably formed with a relatively thin wall thickness, so that at least its rear section can be moved relative to the rest of the cap in the direction of the arrow. The first force transmission element 30 extends over this tongue section 19a and can press it in the direction of the foot, so that good force transmission is also achieved in the area of the cap, even if the rest of the cap (especially in the front section and in the lateral sections) is designed with a large wall thickness and is correspondingly rigid.

[0055] A second difference to the first embodiment is that the outer side 16 of the sole is serrated or corrugated in the rear end region (FIG. 15). This is particularly advantageous when this second embodiment of the sole-cap unit is used with the second embodiment of the upper shoe 20 shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, since this results in good, slip-free contact with the rear end region of the sole section 23.

[0056] The properties of the sole in terms of flexibility and stiffness, as described in the generic WO 2019/229043 A1, are fully maintained.

[0057] As already mentioned, the preferred and currently essential application of the invention is a ballet pointe shoe, but the principle of such force transmission elements can in essentially also be transferred to other sports or dance shoes.

[0058] In the embodiment example shown, the force transmission elements are separate elements, which is often preferred. However, it would also be possible to permanently connect the force transmission elements to the sole (in the embodiment example shown, the sole-cap unit) or the upper shoe.

[0059] It is also possible to permanently connect the upper shoe to the sole/sole-cap unit and still utilize the described advantages of the force transmission elements.

[0060] However, the modular structure described above often has advantages, for example with regard to the often lower consumption of resources.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0061] 5 dance shoe [0062] 10 sole-cap unit [0063] 12 sole [0064] 12a rear end [0065] 12b front end [0066] 14 inner side [0067] 16 outer side [0068] 17a-f incision/groove [0069] 17 pair of grooves [0070] 18 cap [0071] 18a recess [0072] 19 tongue section [0073] 20 upper shoe [0074] 22 foot section [0075] 22a entry opening [0076] 23 sole section [0077] 23a-c layers of the sole section [0078] 24 recess [0079] 25 textile upper section [0080] 25a non-elastic first area [0081] 25b elastic stretchable second area [0082] 26 heel area [0083] 30 first power transmission element [0084] 31, 32 sole distal section [0085] 33, 34 connecting section [0086] 35 aperture [0087] 38 Velcro element [0088] 40 Second force transmission element [0089] 41, 42 sole distal section [0090] 43, 44 connecting section [0091] 45 aperture [0092] 48 Velcro element [0093] 50 second force transmission element [0094] 51, 52 sole distal section [0095] 53, 54 connecting section [0096] 55 aperture [0097] 58 Velcro element [0098] B leg