EP0631737B1 - Sportsshoe - Google Patents

Abstract

The sports shoe comprises an upper (11) equipped with an opening (11a), to permit the passage of the foot, and including an inner quarter (12) and an outer quarter (13) which are linked together by means of a lace or cable (15) in conjunction with a blocking device or blocker (20) along a specific alternating path around a return or loops (1 to 8) arranged on both sides of the said opening (11a). According to the invention, the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) forming the lace (15) are secured to two fixed anchoring points (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) produced in a lower end zone of the lacing located towards the front (AV) of the shoe, the said strands (15a, 15b) together forming, at their opposite end, a free loop (21) capable of constituting a single gripping element for exerting traction according to a force (F) distributed symmetrically over each of the strands (15a, 15b) from the two fixed points. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a sports shoe comprising an outer sole on which is mounted a rod provided with a opening, to allow the passage of the foot and comprising a quarter internal and an external quarter linked together by a system of closure, constituted by a lace or cable forming two strands, in connection with a blocking device or blocker and connecting together, according to a determined alternative route a series of return elements or passers-by fixedly arranged on said districts on both sides of said opening near its respective edges located opposite screw and defining a lacing area, so that when pulling on the strands of the shoelace or cable, it acts in clamping on the neighborhoods by means of return elements or passers-by for bring said neighborhoods together and keep them in position clamping on the foot via the blocker.

A similar shoe is known from US Patent No. 262,653 which discloses a lacing device from a single lace, the strand single is alternately passed behind return elements located on either side and in an offset manner on each district of the shoe. According to this same device, the single strand of the lace is hooked by one of its ends in an end zone lower lacing located towards the front of the shoe, while has at its other end directed towards the upper part of the shoe, a device for hooking the free end of said strand after tightening.

Such a lacing device clearly shows that the tightening made from a single strand has the major drawback to offer a poor distribution of the tension exerted on the lace.

According to another document constituted by Italian patent N ° 19700/83, there is also known a lacing device constituted by a lace forming two strands whose ends located in the lower zone lacing form between them a loop without discontinuity suitable for slide freely in the last passers-by located in this area, depending on the traction exerted on each strand during tightening. The blocking of the lace after tightening is effected by a blocker arranged at the other end of the strands.

According to a first case of this device, the tightening of the lace is carried out by a pull on the end of the strands which are free, at the following which the blocker interposed between said strands is brought by sliding in the locked position.

In this way, as inequalities inevitably occur traction on each strand when tightening the shoe, it follows gradually a shift in the location of the blocker relative to the midline of the lacing, this offset can go so far as to escape one of the strands. In addition to the bad tightening and the bad distribution of the tension thus caused, another drawback lies in the making. Indeed, during assembly, it is difficult to center with the location of the blocker.

According to a second scenario partially remedying the disadvantages of the first, the free ends of the strands of the lace have been joined together as a loop and the blocker was arranged between the strands, but in the lacing area, that is to say between two pairs of successive passers-by. Not only does such a provision makes it awkward to act on the blocker when the lacing area is subsequently covered, which also led to operates an additional cable for actuating said blocker making it can be operated blind from an area external to the shoe, but moreover, since the cable can slide freely in the area lacing end, there remains the aforementioned drawback in the first case, namely a bad tightening and a bad distribution of tension on each strand.

The object of the present invention is to remedy all the drawbacks cited above.

To this end, it relates to a sports shoe comprising a outer sole on which is mounted a rod provided with an opening, to allow the passage of the foot and comprising an internal quarter and an outer quarter linked together by a closure system, constituted by a lace or cable forming two strands, in connection with a blocking device or blocker and connecting together, according to a route alternative determined a series of return elements or passers-by fixedly arranged on said districts on either side of said opening near its respective edges located opposite and defining a lacing area, so that when pulling on the strands of the shoelace or cable, this acts in clamping on the quarters by means of return elements or passers-by to reconcile from one another said quarters and keep them in the clamping position on the foot via the blocker, characterized in that the ends of the strands forming the lace are made integral with two fixed anchor points made in a lower end area of the lacing located towards the front of the shoe, said strands forming between them at their opposite end a free loop capable of constituting a unique gripping element for the exercise of traction according to a force distributed symmetrically on each of the strands from the two fixed anchor points. Such a provision indeed allows a quick and balanced tightening of the quarters according to a chosen force and can be exercised by one hand of the user, the latter acting with the other hand, on the blocker slidingly mounted on the strands in the area where they form the free mouth in order to block these strands to the desired clamping position.

In this way, as we always pull the lace from fixed anchor points from a common final loop it cannot more asymmetry occur between the strands of the lace during the traction, nor offset of the position of the blocker relative to the strands.

• la figure 1 représente une vue en perspective d'une chaussure comportant un dispositif de fermeture par laçage, selon l'invention.
• les figures 2 et 3 sont des variantes de réalisation d'un dispositif de laçage spécialement adapté pour la pratique du ski de fond en pas parallèle ou à la pratique de la marche.
• la figure 4 est une variante de réalisation d'un dispositif de laçage spécialement adapté pour la pratique du ski de fond en pas de patineur.
• la figure 5 est une vue latérale d'un élément de renvoi ou passant, à échelle agrandie.
• la figure 6 est une vue en coupe d'un passant selon la ligne VI-VI de la figure 5.

The invention will be better understood and other characteristics thereof will be highlighted with the aid of the description which follows, with reference to the appended schematic drawings, illustrating, by way of nonlimiting example, how the invention can be carried out and in which:

• FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a shoe comprising a lacing closure device, according to the invention.
• Figures 2 and 3 are alternative embodiments of a lacing device specially adapted for the practice of cross-country skiing in parallel or to the practice of walking.
• Figure 4 is an alternative embodiment of a lacing device specially adapted for the practice of cross-country skiing in skater steps.
• Figure 5 is a side view of a deflection or passing element, on an enlarged scale.
• FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a passer-by along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5.

The sports shoe shown in Figure 1 includes a outer sole 10 on which is mounted a rod 11 provided with a opening 11a towards the front, to allow the passage of the foot and comprising an internal quarter 12 and an external quarter 13 connected between them by a closure system 14. This closure system 14 is constituted by a lace or cable 15 forming two strands 15a and 15b, in connection with a blocking device or blocker 20, and connecting between them, according to a determined route, a series of reference elements or passers-by 1 to 8 fixedly arranged on either side of the opening 11a on said districts 12, 13, near their respective edges 12a, 13a located opposite. These edges define between them an area of lacing 16, so that during an action on the strands 15a and 15b of the lace 15, this acts in clamping on the quarters 12, 13, by through the reference elements 1 to 8. Thus, said districts 12, 13 are brought close to each other and are held in the position of clamping on the foot, via the blocker 20.

According to the invention, the general principle of which is shown in the figure 1, the "free" ends of the strands 15a, 15b forming the lace 15 are made integral with two fixed anchor points A and B. In the occurrence, these anchor points A and B are constituted by return elements 8 and 4 suitable for forming passers-by or allow the anchor of the lace 15, according to the allocation which is intended for it. This feature will be described in detail later.

The anchor points A and B are therefore made by having the elements 8 and 4 in a lower end zone of the lacing located forward (AV) of the shoe. Fixing the free ends of strands 15a and 15b on elements 8 and 4 constituting the points anchoring A, B, carried out by any means such as for example by a knot, splice, attached stopper, etc ...

Thus fixed by their ends, the strands 15a and 15b are led in a zig-zag crossed towards the upper part of the shoe, in bypassing the return or pass-through elements 3, 6, 1 respectively and 7, 2, 5 to then form a free loop between them 21.

This loop 21 advantageously constitutes a traction element unique for the exercise of a tightening traction according to a force F, is distributing symmetrically on each of the strands 15a, 15b, starting of the two fixed points A, B, for a balanced tightening of the quarters 12, 13. In this way, the force F can be exerted by only one hand of the user and when said force is reached, the latter acts in control, using the other hand, on the blocker 20 slidingly mounted on the strands 15a, 15b in the upper end zone where they form the free loop 21 so as to fix the clamping force.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the anchor points A, B, C, D, E, F (see figures 1, 2, 3, 4) for fixing the ends strands 15a, 15b forming the lace 15 as well as the return elements or passers-by 1 to 8 of each of them, are arranged symmetrically in screw with screws on either side of the opening 11a on the quarters 12, 13 according to axes XX ', YY', ZZ ', WW' parallel to each other and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis VV 'of the shoe so as to have a tightening optimum and balanced over the entire length of the instep from its front end zone, so as to encourage the practice of sport and in particular cross-country skiing according to the parallel step or the practice of normal walking. It should be noted that the symmetrical distribution of the effort tensile force F on each of the strands is only obtained thanks to the anchoring free ends of these guaranteeing the exercise of an effort of traction relative to these fixed and non-sliding points as it was the case in the known prior art.

In this case and as illustrated in Figure 1, the anchor points A, B ends of the strands 15a, 15b of the lace 15 are arranged opposite at the end of the lacing area, successive loops 1 to 8 ensuring a routing of the strands of the lace 15 for a zig-zag lacing symmetrical.

Despite the good overall results obtained according to the realization of figure 1, it nevertheless appeared during different tests, that the tightening between the end elements 4 and 8 could be improved based on the desired effect using other embodiments, always based on the same principle.

For example, in the construction method illustrated in FIG. 2, the anchor points C, D of the ends of the strands 15a, 15b of the lace 15 are arranged successively at the end of the lacing area on the same quarter 13, the penultimate anchor points, D, ensuring the fixing of the strand 15a and simultaneously constituting a return element or passing 7 to a strand 15b from the other anchor point C.

It is understood that in this case, the traction on the cable is carried out in a transverse direction which corresponds to the transverse approximation searched for shoe neighborhoods. Such an embodiment therefore allows optimization of tightening compared to the embodiment of Figure 1 in which the districts 12, 13 undergo the level of anchor points A, B a tensile force only in diagonal direction.

According to an alternative embodiment shown in Figure 3, performed according to the same objective, the lacing device differs essentially from the previous one shown in FIG. 2 in that the anchor points E, F, the ends of the strands 15a, 15b of the lace 15 are arranged, for one E, at the end of the lacing zone on one of the quarters 13 and, for the other F, immediately before a passer-by 4 located at the end of the lacing area on the other quarter 12.

In other words, the anchor points E and F are always arranged successively but on different districts and therefore diagonally relative to each other. In this case, the traction on the cable is carried out well always transversely as shown in said figure 3, and the same effect as in figure 2 is obtained.

In this case, none of the anchor points E and F constitute simultaneously a passerby.

As is apparent from the embodiments described above, the number of anchor points A, B, C, D, E, F, whether or not the passers-by 1 to 8, whether or not ensuring the simultaneous point function anchor and bystanders, is equal to eight and these elements are symmetrically distributed on either side of the longitudinal axis VV 'of the shoe, on each of the quarters 12, 13.

We can also observe according to the embodiment of Figure 3 that the number of references is identical on the two strands 15a and 15b of the cable or lace 15, from a separate anchor point E or F which offers the advantage of providing identical performance on both strands.

Anyway, these embodiments of Figures 2 and 3 allow, in particular for the practice of classic cross-country skiing, to have a tightening on an optimum length, on all the instep, but no further, so as not to hinder the smooth running of the foot, while reconciling anchoring and tightening up to the end of the kick.

In the practice of cross-country skiing according to the skater or skating step or other similar techniques (inline skating ......), the problem arises in a different way in that it is necessary then, to have a lacing that goes as far as possible towards the front of the foot, in fact up to metatarsal level, in order to have effective foot support in this zone during the support or propulsion phase, without any tightening problems in the little toe.

In such a situation, it is not possible to make compatible such a length of lacing with the morphology of the foot. Indeed if we wants a tightening up to the level of the big toe in question, it is not possible to have a symmetrical tightening on the other toes, which would cause a lack of comfort.

In order to remedy this problem, and as illustrated in Figure 4, the anchor points G, H intended for anchoring the ends of the strands 15a, 15b forming the lace 15 are arranged on an inclined axis tt ' substantially corresponding to that of the metatarsals of the foot of the user, so as to ensure optimum and balanced tightening level of all metatarsals, including the big toe, during exercise lateral, especially in the propulsion phase, in skiing background according to the skater or skating step.

In this case, the furthest forward anchor point G (AV) of the shoe corresponds to the metatarsal joint area of the large toe, and secures the end of a first strand 15b of the lace 15, while the other anchor point H of the end of a second strand 15a corresponds to the metatarsal articulation zone of the small toe and simultaneously performs the forwarding or passing function 4 of said first strand 15b, so as to obtain an identical number of passers-by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8 on each of the quarters 12, 13 to be tightened, and this according to always converging forces.

To obtain this, the shoe has on the inner quarter 13, four passers-by 5, 6, 7, 8 and an anchor point G, while the neighborhood outer 12 has four loops 1, 2, 3, 4, including the end 4 also constitutes an anchor point H.

This embodiment therefore makes it possible to obtain a tightening ranging most far possible on the inner (or medial) side of the foot and especially beyond the instep tightening area, while preserving the appearance comfort on the outside of the foot.

According to another characteristic of the invention shown in the figures 5 and 6, each of the passers-by 1 to 8 is constituted by a flat base 22 having a fixing hole 23 on the shoe, made at one of its ends, and a hook 24 obtained in material with the base 22, at its other end, along a parallel plane in order to delimit with a internal seat 25 produced at the free end of the hook 24, a housing 26 suitable for laterally receiving the lace or cable 15 and for retaining it there after elastic deformation of the hook 24 for the passage of this cable.

Preferably, the dimensions of the housing 26 are provided for so as to prevent the sliding of the end of a strand 15a or 15b of lace 15 in the longitudinal direction if this end is provided with a stop element, so that the passer-by can also constitute an anchor point for said end of the strand 15a or 15b. The anchoring of each end of strand 15a, 15b can also be made by simply passing a loop made at this end on hook 24.

According to an improvement, the bottom 27 of the passer-by 1 to 8 constituted by the area of connection of the hook 24 with the base 22, is of a section with the inward-facing part rounded to make pulley function for cable passage 15.

Advantageously, the cable or lace 15 is made of a material inextensible and having a low coefficient of friction suitable for favor its sliding in passers-by 1 to 8.

Claims (11)

1. Sport boot comprising an external sole (10) on which is mounted an upper (11) provided with an opening (11a), to allow the passage of the foot, and comprising a closing system (14), constituted by a lace or cable (15) forming two strands (15a, 15b) linked with a blocking device or blocker (20), and mutually connecting, along a predetermined alternate path, a series of return elements or guides (1-8) fixedly arranged on the upper on both sides of said opening (11a) near its respective edges located across from each other and defining a lacing zone (16), so that during a traction on the skids (15a, 15b) of the lace or cable (15), the latter acts through a tightening on the edges of the opening via the return elements or guides (1-8) to bring the edges close together and maintain them in a tightening position on the foot by means of the block (20), characterized in that the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) forming the lace (15) are made integral with two fixed anchoring points (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) made in a lower end zone of the lacing, said strands (15a, 15b) forming between them at their opposite end, a free loop (21) capable of constituting a single gripping element for exerting a traction along a force (F) symmetrically distributed over each of the strands (15a, 15b) from the two fixed points.
2. Boot according to claim 1, characterized in that the anchoring points (G, H) adapted to the fixing of the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) forming the lace (15) are arranged along an inclined axis (tt') corresponding substantially to the articulation axis of the metatarsal bones of the user's foot.
3. Boot according to claim 2, characterized in that the furthest anchoring point (G) towards the front (AV) of the boot corresponds to the articulation axis of the metatarsal bones of the big toe, and ensures the fixing of the end of a first strand (15b) of the lace (15), whereas the other anchoring point (H) of the end of a second strand (15a) corresponds to the articulation axis of the metatarsal bones of the small toe and simultaneously ensures the return or guide (4) function of said first strand (15b), so as to obtain a number of identical guides (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8) on each of the quarters (12, 13) to be tightened.
4. Boot according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises four guides (5, 6, 7, 8) and one anchoring point (G) on the internal quarter (13), whereas the external quarter (12) comprises four guides (1, 2, 3, 4), the end one (4) of which also constitutes an anchoring point (H).
5. Boot according to claim 1, characterized in that the anchoring points (A, B, C, D, E, F) adapted for the fixing of the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) forming the lace (15) as well as the return elements or guides (1-8) of each of them, whether or not merging, are symmetrically arranged across from one another on both sides of the quarters (12, 13) along axes (XX', YY', ZZ', WW'), parallel with one another and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (VV') of the boot.
6. Boot according to claim 5, characterized in that the anchoring points (A, B) of the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) of the lace (15) are arranged across from one another at the end of the lacing zone, the successive guides (1-8) ensuring a pathway of the strands of the lace (15) for a symmetrical zig-zag lacing.
7. Boot according to claim 5, characterized in that the anchoring points (E, F) of the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) of the lace (15) are arranged, for the one (E), at the end of the lacing zone on one of the quarters (13) and, for the other (F), immediately in front of a guide (4) arranged at the end of the lacing zone on the other quarter (12).
8. Boot according to claim 5, characterized in that the anchoring points (C, D) of the ends of the strands (15a, 15b) of the lace (15) are successively arranged at the end of the lacing zone on a same quarter (13), the next to last of the anchoring points (D) ensuring the fixing of the strand (15a), and simultaneously constituting a return element or guide (7) at a strand (15b) originating from the other anchoring point (C).
9. Boot according to one of claims 5-8, characterized in that the number of anchoring points (A, B, C, D, E, F), whether or not merging with the guides (1-8), whether or not ensuring the simultaneous action of an shoring point, is equal to 8, and in that these anchoring points/guides are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the longitudinal axis (VV') of the boot, on each of the quarters (12, 13).
10. Boot according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each guide (1-8) is constituted by a flat base (22) comprising a hole (23) for fixing on the boot, made at one of its ends, and a hook (24) obtained in a single piece with the base (22) at its other end along a parallel plane, 50 as to demarcate with an internal projection (25) made at the free end of the hook (24), a housing (26) capable of laterally receiving the lace or cable (15), and of retaining it therein after elastic deformation of the hook (24) for the passage of the lace or cable.
11. Boot according to claim 10, characterized in that the bottom (27) of the guide (1-8) constituted by the attachment zone of the hook (24) with the base (22), is of a section whose inwardly turned part is rounded to act as a pulley for the passage of the cable (15).

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