US 12,324,480 B2
Sole and footwear
Keita Ozawa, Kobe (JP); Yoshihito Tahira, Kobe (JP); Genki Hatano, Kobe (JP); Yousuke Atarashi, Kobe (JP); Shingo Masumoto, Kobe (JP); Keishi Kitamoto, Kobe (JP); and Hiroki Nakamura, Kobe (JP)
Assigned to ASICS CORPORATION, Kobe (JP)
Appl. No. 17/907,134
Filed by ASICS CORPORATION, Kobe (JP)
PCT Filed Apr. 13, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/016304
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 23, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/210044, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 21, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0108812 A1, Apr. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. A43B 13/18 (2006.01); A43B 7/142 (2022.01); A43B 7/1425 (2022.01); A43B 13/40 (2006.01)
CPC A43B 13/186 (2013.01) [A43B 7/142 (2013.01); A43B 7/1425 (2013.01); A43B 13/40 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A sole constituting a part of footwear, the sole comprising:
a shock-absorbing part provided at least in a rearfoot region located at a rear of the footwear in a longitudinal direction, the shock-absorbing part cushioning an impact applied to a heel of a foot upon landing; and
a support part provided at least in a midfoot region located at a center of the footwear in the longitudinal direction, the support part being higher in rigidity than the shock-absorbing part and supporting a midfoot portion of the foot, wherein
the support part includes a support surface, the support surface being provided forward of the shock-absorbing part and having a shape extending from one end to an other end of the footwear in a width direction,
the shock-absorbing part includes a recessed surface located at a height position lower than the support surface, and a plurality of solid columnar bodies each having a shape extending from the recessed surface to a height position identical in height to the support surface,
a dimension between each pair of the plurality of columnar bodies directly adjacent to each other without any other of the plurality of columnar bodies between them is larger than or equal to a height dimension of each of the columnar bodies,
the surface of each of the columnar bodies is formed in a polygonal shape as viewed from above, and
a dimension between each pair of the columnar bodies adjacent to each other among the plurality of columnar bodies is smaller than a length of each side of the surface of each of the columnar bodies.