A sole for footwear having means to ventilate the footwear interior

Claim 2

A sole for footwear having a bottom layer and a top layer extending over the entire area to be occupied by the sole of the foot, a heel composed of resilient material secured to the bottom face of said bottom layer and having means therein defining a central cavity defined by resiliently deformable walls and an opening in the top deformable wall, means defining longitudinal grooves disposed between said top and bottom layers extending from a toe portion of the sole to a heel portion thereof and communicating with said opening, and means defining through apertures both in a heel portion of said top layer communicating with said opening and in a toe portion of said top layer communicating with said longitudinal grooves, whereby alternate deformation and release of said deformable walls causes air to alternately pass out of and into said central cavity through said opening.

Claim 3

A sole as claimed in claim 1, in which an inner sole part is provided adjacent said top layer for blocking the through apertures.

Claim 4

Footwear having a sole as claimed in claim 1.

Claim 5

An article of footwear comprising: an upper; and a sole connected to said upper, said sole having a heel portion composed of resilient material and a toe portion, means defining passages extending interiorly of said sole from said heel portion to said toe portion, means defining heel openings in said sole communicating the interior heel area of said upper with the heel portion of said passages, means defining toe openings in said sole communicating the interior toe area of said upper with the toe portion of said passages, and means defining a cavity in said heel portion in communication with said heel openings and having sufficient size to render said heel portion compressible in response to pressure exerted thereon by the heel of the wearer during use of the footwear article; whereby said heel portion alternately undergoes compression and expansion during use of the footwear article to alternately force air from within said cavity out through said toe openings and draw air into said cavity through said heel openings to effectively ventilate the footwear article.

Claim 6

An article of footwear comprising: an upper; and a sole connected to said upper, said sole having a heel portion composed of resilient material and a toe portion, means defining passages extending interiorly of said sole from said heel portion to said toe portion, means defining heel openings in said sole communicating the interior heel area of said upper with the heel portion of said passages, means defining toe openings in said sole communicating the interior toe area of said upper with the toe portion of said passages, and means defining a cavity in said heel portion in communication with said heel openings and having sufficient size to render said heel portion compressible in response to pressure exerted thereon by the heel of the wearer during use of the footwear article; whereby said heel portion alternately undergoes compression and expansion during use of the footwear article to alternately force air from within said cavity out through said toe openings and draw air into said cavity through said heel openings to effectively ventilate the footwear article.

Claim 7

An article according to claim 4 wherein said sole comprises an outer sole, and an intermediate sole connected to said outer sole in opposed relationship therewith; and wherein said passages are located between said outer and intermediate soles; and wherein said toe and heel openings extend through said intermediate sole.

Claim 8

An article according to claim 1; including a detachable inner sole configured to detachably fit within said upper and having means thereon for effectively blocking said toe and heel openings when same is fitted within said upper.

Claim 9

An article according to claim 1; wherein said passages extend longitudinally through said sole; and including means defining at least one connecting passage extending interiorly of said sole in a direction substantially transverse to that said first-mentioned passages and providing communication therebetween in said toe portion.

Claim 10

An article according to claim 7; wherein all of said toe and heel openings communicate with one of said passages and connecting passages.