The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 1996
Filed:
Sep. 23, 1994
George S Cole, Pebble Beach, CA (US);
Harry W Edwards, Barrington, IL (US);
Stuart E Jenkins, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Karl M Schmidt, Woodside, CA (US);
Energaire Corporation, Pebble Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A shoe sole and heel member has a sole portion and a heel portion. Bulges are molded into the heel portion and the metatarsal region of the sole portion defining heel and metatarsal cavities. Passageways between the cavities enable air to move back and forth therebetween. A sealing member is attached to the sole and heel member to hermetically seal the air in the cavities and the passageways. In one embodiment, a single U-shaped heel cavity communicates with a single metatarsal cavity through a Y-shaped passageway. Rigid stabilizers laterally flank the cavity-defining bulges. In another embodiment the heel cavity has forward and rearward portions interconnected by a narrow channel, the portions respectively communicating through separate passageways with opposite sides of the metatarsal cavity, with oppositely-directed one-way valves in the passageways. In a third embodiment, there are two separate metatarsal cavities and two separate heel cavities respectively intercommunicating through two passageways.