Shoe heel spring support

Claim 1

A springy heel shoe comprising: a shoe formed for receiving a wearer's foot and having a bottom which is generally formed as a forward sole portion and a rearward heel portion; an undamped, compression spring means provided at the heel portion for resiliently compressing under the pressure of the rear, heel portion of the wearer's foot directed towards the ground support, and for resiliently expanding upon release of such pressure for returning a substantial portion of the energy of such pressure; said spring means being formed of an integral V-shape, made of a stiff, springy material, providing an upper leaf-like leg and a lower, leaf-like leg integrally joined together at a forwardly directed acute angle apex with the free ends of the legs located at, and being beneath, the rear of the shoe; and a leaf-like intermediate leg located within the V-shape, between and integrally joined with one, and extending towards the other, of the upper and lower legs, and having a free end portion which is normally spaced from, but under sufficient pressure moves towards and bottoms out against a portion of the leg with which it is not joined; wherein the free end portions of the upper and lower legs resiliently compress together under wearer foot pressure at a predetermined, generally uniform spring rate, until the intermediate leg bottoms out and thereafter, under further pressure, the spring means continues compressing at a predetermined increased spring rate which is considerably more resistant to compression.