US3156987A

US3156987A - Sport shoe

Info

Publication number: US3156987A
Application number: US262616A
Authority: US
Inventors: Dassler Adolf
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1962-10-24
Filing date: 1963-03-04
Publication date: 1964-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 1981-11-17
Also published as: AT248285B; CH401746A; DE1233751B; FI40868B; DK105256C; FR1346516A; AT248288B; GB987073A

Description

Nov. 17, 1964 A. DAssLER 3,156,987

sPoR'r sHoE Filed March 4,. 1963 INVENTORI po/.F DnssLEQ Trae/ve y.

United States Patent O 3,156337 SPDRT SHGE Adolf Dassler, Ain Bahnhof, Herzogenaurach, near Nrnberg, Germany Filed Mar. 1l, i963, Ser. No. 262,6]16 Claims priority, application Germany, Get. 24, 1962,

l) degli@ 4 Claims, (Cl. .l-2,5)

The present invention relates to sport shoes which are provided with suitable means `for removably securing spikes, cleats, or the like to the soles thereof in a manner so as to permit them to be exchanged.

The known sport shoes of his kind are usually provided with socket-like supporting elements which are emedded in the outerv soles and permit the spikes or cleats to be removably secured thereto, for example, by threaded connections. These supporting elements generally `form threaded inserts, each of which consists or a threaded tubular sleeve or socket into which a spike or cleat may be screwed and which is provided with a lateral projection, usually in the form of a disk, by means of which the insert is anchored within the outer sole.

Sport shoes of the above-mentioned type in which the supporting elements for the spikes or cleats are embedded in the outer soles have the great advantage that the socalled spike pressure is considerably reduced or even avoided entirely. This spike pressure is the annoying or even painful pressure which is exerted upon the bottom of the foot of the wearer of the sport shoe when under the forces which act upon the individual spikes or cleats the anchoring parts or disks of the supporting elements are pressed upwardly and form bulges on the upper side of t'ne insoles. This spike pressure occurs primarily in such shoes in which the anchoring parts are secured at the upper side of the insole, for example, by being riveted thereon. If, on the other hand, the anchoring parts are embedded in the outer sole ofthe shoe, the pressure which is exerted upon the spikes or cleats and is transmitted to their supporting elements is taken up by the outer sole and distributed over the surface thereof and is therefore no longer concentrated upon certain points of the sole.

Since in the known sport shoes, in which the threaded supporting inserts for the spikes or cleats are embedded in the outer sole, the anchoring disk of such an insert is provided on the end of the threaded sleeve or socket facing the foot, the length of this socket must be less than the thickness of the outer sole. Since the spikes or cleats have to withstand considerable forces, they have to be very securely connected to the bottom of the shoe. T his requires the threaded part of each spike or cleat and also the threaded socket of each supporting insert in the outer sole to be made at least of a certain minimum length. In the known shoe structures, this meant that the outer sole had to be of a suflicient thickness to permit the supporting elements to be completely embedded therein, that is, of such a thickness that the weight of the sport shoe was thereby considerably increased. This is, however, contrary to the modern demand on sport shoes that such shoes are as light as possible since the physical output of a sportsman and especially of a runner necessarily decreases with an increase in the weight of his shoes.

lt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight sport shoe the bottom of which may be equipped with spikes, cleats, or the like which are removably secured thereto by being screwed into supporting elements which are embedded in the outer sole of the shoe in a manner so that even though the outer sole may be made relatively thin and very strong forces may be exerted upon the spikes or cleats these supporting elements will remain lirmly anchored to the sole and the occurrence of a spike pressure upon the bottom of the foot will also be prevented.

For attaining this object, the invention provides in the i'irst instance that the part of each supporting element which is directly associated with a stop flange on the spike or cleat and preferably consists of a threaded sleeve or socket extends from the upper side to the lower side of the outer sole and at both sides of the anchoring projection on this element which preferably consists of an annular tlange. The threaded sleeve therefore extends through theentire thickness of the outer sole, while the anchoring flange is embedded within the sole.

For shoes which are intended for sports in which the spikes or the like are expected to be subjected to very high stresses, for example, for long-distance jumps or for ruiming on a hard cinder track, and in which the supporting elements for such spikes or the like should therefore be as long as possible, the invention further provides each individual spike supporting element to be made of a length greater than the thickness of the outer sole. In order to embed each supporting element completely in the material of the outer sole, and thus also the end of this element which exceeds the thickness of the outer sole and projects from the normal bottom surface of the sole, the invention provides the specific parts of the outer sole at and around the points where the individual supporting elements are located and would normally project from the bottom of the sole to be made of a greater thickness than the remainder of die sole by means of bulges at these parts of the bottom of the sole, so that the total thickness of the sole at these pants corresponds to the length of the supporting elements. Since the sides of these reinforcing bulges are tapered toward the normal bottom level of the outer sole, the spike pressure will also be more effectively distributed than if the spikes were applied directly upon the normal bottom of the sole. The special pressure distributing disks, for example, of aluminum, which were often provided between the spikes and the outer soles of previous sport shoes are therefore no longer necessary in the new shoe structure. Such pressure distributing disks have not only the disadvantage that they are easily lost or forgotten when the spikes are removed or exchanged, but also that they promo-te the adhesion of dirt on the bottom of the soles, especially when the ground is moist, which, in turn, results in a very undesirable increase in the weight of the shoes.

In order to distribute the spike pressure to a still greater extent, especially on a racing shoe with exchangeable spikes, another feature of the invention provides each spike with a disklike enlargement in the form of a flange on the shank of the spike directly adjacent to the threaded stud which is screwed into a supporting element in the outer sole. Its enlarged flat or slightly concave side facing the sole thereof increases the bearing surface of the spike on a reinforcing bulge of the sole. The other side of this round flange is preferably smoothly beveled and Ymerges by a -lillet with the shank of the spike. The flange is further preferably provided with radial recesses into which a suitable tool may engage when the spike is to be screwed into a securing element in the sole and tightened against the sole or to be removed from the sole. The llange therefore also serves as a screwhead. As against the usual polygonal screwheads of the conventional exchangeable spike, this round screwhead with radial recesses therein has several distinct advantages. Since it is round and smoothly beveled in the direction toward the shank of the spike, it is much less aiected by wear, for example, of a cinder track, than a polygonal screwhead. Even when worn considerably, the radial recesses in this flange will still permit a suitable wrench or similar tool to engage iirmly into them, whereas the i edges of a polygonal head may then be ground off to such an extent by its engagement with a cinder track that no wrench will hold thereon.l A further very important advantage of the spike according to the invention is the fact that, due to thev smoothly beveled shape of this tlange or screwhead, the latter can penetrate much more easily and with less resistance into the ground, and especially into ahard cinder track, than a polygonal screwead.

These and further features of the invention will become more clearly apparent from the following detailed description thereof which is to be read with reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which- FIGURE l shows an enlarged axial section of a supporting element according to the invention for securing a spike to the sole of a sport shoe;

FIGURE 2 shows two similar vertical sections of a racing shoe according to the invention, in which the sectional view at the left side shows the shoe and the spikes before being connected to each other, while the View at the right side shows the spikes secured to the shoe;

FIGURE 3 shows a perspective view of the front part of the racing shoe according to FIGURE 2, as seen upon the bottom of the outer sole thereof;

FIGURE 4 shows a perspective View of a spike according to the invention;

FIGURE Vshows an axial section of the spike taken along line V-V of FIGURE 6; while FIGURE 6 shows a plan view of the spike as seen in the direction of the arrow A in FIGURE 5.

As illustrated in the drawings, the supporting element or insert 1 which may be made, for example, of metal consists of a threaded tubular part 2 and an annular disklike anchoring flange 3 which may he secured to or integral with this tubular part.` The threaded tubular part 2 extends at both sides of ange 3 and as shown in FIGURE 2, it has a length in accordanceV with the maximum thickness of the outer sole 4 in which the entire supporting insert 1 including the tubular part 2 and lange 3 is completely embedded. In order to reduce the general thickness of the outer sole 4. and thus the weight of the shoe as much as possible and also to permit the threaded tubular part 2 of the` insert 1 to be made as long as possible so that the threaded stud of a spike or cleat will be securely held therein, the area 5 of the outer sole where the threaded inserts 1 are embedded are made of a greater thickness than the remainder of the sole and form projecting bulges on the bottom thereof.

The threaded inserts 1 may be placed into the outer sole 4 and the projecting bulges 5 thereof during the casting of the outer sole or during the operation of vulcanizing or molding such a sole tof rubber or plastic upon the upper 6 and the insole 7 of the shoe. While the material of the outer sole i is then still in a liquid condition, it penetrates' through the perforations 3 in the flanges 3 of inserts 1, as indicated in FIGURE 2, whereby the inserts are securely locked against rotation in the outer sole 4.

FIGURES 4 to 6 show a spike 9 which has a threaded stud l@ on its shank 11 and an annular ange 12 on the end of this shank adjacent to stud 1t?. This flange 12 has a dat or slightly concavey suracefacing the threaded stud and a pair of diametrically opposite recesses 13 which extend entirely through the ange and permit a suitable tool to engage into them for screwing the stud into the threaded bore in the insert 1 and tightening the spike on a bulge 5 of the outer sole 4 or for loosening it therefrom' when the spike is to be removed or exchanged. The

other side of ange .12 is smoothly beveled toward the shank 11 and merges by a fillet 14 with the shank.

Although in the above description I have spoken primarily of a racing shoe which is equipped with exchangeable spikes, it is obvious that the invention is also applicable to other kinds of sport shoes, that the shank portion of the spikes may also be of a different shape than that as illustrated in the drawings, and that cleats or similar elements may be secured to the outer sole of the sport shoe in place of such spikes and in the same manner as described with reference to these spikes. For the sake of convenience, however, the term spike alone is used throughout the claims, this term being intended to comprehend any tting which may be attached to' the underside of a sport, track, or other athletic shoe, such as actual spikes, cleats, studs, and the like.

Having thus described my invention in detail, what I ciairn is:

l. A sport shoe equipped with detachable spikes, saidsport shoe having an outer sole provided with a plurality ofl integral bulges projecting beyond the lower surface of said outer sole, there being embedded in each of said bulges a respective supporting element which extends substantially from the upper surface of said outer sole down to the bottom of the bulge within which it is embedded, each supporting element having a lateral projection for anchoring the respective supporting element to said sole, each supporting element further having means for detachably receiving a respective spike, each of said spikes having a connecting portion which is received by the receiving means of a respective supporting element, each spike further having a flange portion which, when the connecting portion of the spike is received by the receiving means of a supporting element, bears against the bulge within which the respective supporting element is embedded, each such bulge having, at'its lowermost surface region, an expanse whose area is substantially greater than that of the flange portion of the respective spike, in consequence of which there is obtained a distribution of the force between the spike and the sole.

2. A sport shoe as defined in claim 1 wherein said lowermost surface region of said bulges and the upper face of the ange portions which bear against the respective bulges are substantially at.

3. A sport shoe as defined in claim l wherein each of said supporting elements further comprises a sleeve portion whose interior serves as the receiving means, said sleeve portion extending axially on both sides of said lateral projection.

4. A sport shoe as defined in claim l wherein each of said supporting elements, including its lateral projection, is cast into the respective bulge.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS JORDAN FRANKLIN, Prinmry Examiner.

Claims

1. A SPORT SHOE EQUIPPED WITH DETACHABLE SPIKES, SAID SPORT SHOE HAVING AN OUTER SOLE PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF INTEGRAL BULGES PROJECTING BEYOND THE LOWER SURFACE OF SAID OUTER SOLE, THERE BEING EMBEDDED IN EACH OF SAID BULGES A RESPECTIVE SUPPORTING ELEMENT WHICH EXTENDS SUBSTANTIALLY FROM THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID OUTER SOLE DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BULGE WITHIN WHICH IT IS EMBEDDED,EACH SUPPORTING ELEMENT HAVING A LATERAL PROJECTION FOR ANCHORING THE RESPECTIVE SUPPORTING ELEMENT TO SAID SOLE, EACH SUPPORTING ELEMENT FURTHER HAVING MEANS FOR DETACHABLY RECEIVING A RESPECTIVE SPIKE, EACH OF SAID SPIKES HAVING A CONNECTING PORTION WHICH IS RECEIVED BY THE RECEIVING MEANS OF A RESPECTIVE SUPPORTING ELEMENT, EACH SPIKE FURTHER HAVING A FLANGE PORTION WHICH, WHEN THE CONNECTING PORTION OF THE SPIKE IS RECEIVED BY THE RECEIVING MEANS OF A SUPPORTING ELEMENT, BEARS AGAINST THE BULGE WITHIN WHICH THE RESPECTIVE SUPPORTING ELEMENT IS EMBEDDED, EACH SUCH BULGE HAVING, AT ITS LOWERMOST SURFACE REGION, AN EXPANSE WHOSE AREA IS SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THAT OF THE FLANGE PORTION OF THE RESPECTIVE SPIKE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH THERE IS OBTAINED A DISTRIBUTION OF THE FORCE BETWEEN THE SPIKE AND THE SOLE.