WO2018078574A1

WO2018078574A1 - Protective device for safety shoe

Info

Publication number: WO2018078574A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/056686
Authority: WO
Inventors: Enrico POLEGATO MORETTI; Angelo Mason
Original assignee: Diadora Sport SRL
Current assignee: Diadora Sport SRL
Priority date: 2016-10-31
Filing date: 2017-10-27
Publication date: 2018-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 2019-04-30
Also published as: IT201600109573A1

Abstract

A protective device (10) for safety shoe, adapted to protect the toes, comprising a dome-shaped toe cap (11) which surmounts the first four toes (F), and a plate (12), which is designed to protect the fifth toe (G) by covering it at least from the outer part and is associated with the toe cap (11) by means of a flexible connecting element (13).

Description

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR SAFETY SHOE

The present invention relates to a protective device for safety shoe.

Safety shoes lie within the field of personal protection devices adopted by people who, often due to work requirements, must perform actions or use equipment that can cause severe personal physical injury.

In order to meet the protection requirement, safety shoes are currently commercially available which are provided with inserts which are more or less extended within the shoe, at least at the top part of the upper.

Moreover, all commercially available safety shoes must be certified with specific tests. For example, the EN ISO 20345:2011 certification prescribes that toe caps must be conceived to provide protection against impacts with an energy level of 200 J.

The toes are considered one of the parts most at risk for operators, and in order to provide protection against impacts toe caps are used which are currently made of steel, aluminum, stratified fiberglass and/or various thermoplastic polymers, such as ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and nylon.

In order to cope with the various shapes of feet, wider, narrower, shallower and higher toe caps are commercially available.

They typically are dome-shaped, creating an arc-like internal wall, which surmounts the toes, for withstanding impacts.

Furthermore, in order to avoid limiting the flexibility of the shoe at the forefoot, the dome is typically sized to cover the first four toes, starting from the big toe, leaving the fifth toe exposed and therefore unprotected.

However, injuries of the fifth toe are frequent in all categories of workers (carpenters, drivers, waiters, etc.).

In an attempt to solve this problem, toe caps are also commercially available which have such dimensions as to cover with the dome the fifth toe as well, protecting it therefore also against lateral impacts. However, this solution, due to what has been explained, limits the flexibility of the shoe at the forefoot while walking and is therefore hardly ever provided and used.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a protective device for safety shoe that is capable of improving the background in one or more of the aspects indicated above.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a device that is capable of protecting all the toes without limiting the flexibility of the shoe while walking.

Another object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the background art in a manner which is alternative to any existing solutions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device that is highly reliable, relatively easy to provide and at competitive costs.

This aim, and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a device according to claim 1, optionally provided with one or more of the characteristics of the dependent claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the device according to the invention, illustrated by way of nonlimiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a view of the position of the device according to the invention with respect to the foot of a user;

Figure 3 is plan view of the device according to the invention, arranged upside down;

Figure 4 is a view of the flexible element.

With reference to the cited figures, the device according to the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 10.

In particular, as can be seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2, it is suitable to protect the toes, appropriately comprising a toe cap 11, which is dome- shaped and surmounts the first four toes F, and a plate 12 designed to protect the fifth toe G, covering it from the outer part.

The plate 12 is conveniently contoured to adapt its shape to the fifth toe G and to the wall of the shoe in the part of the upper that is designed to cover it.

Figure 1 clearly shows the device 10 according to the invention, while Figure 2 clearly shows the position of the toe cap 11 and of the plate 12 with respect to the toes, allowing to deduce that the function of the plate 12 is to protect the fifth toe G against lateral impacts.

The toe cap 11 and the plate 12 can be preferably made of at least one material selected among steel, aluminum, stratified fiberglass and/or various thermoplastic polymers, such as ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and nylon.

The plate 12 is associated with the toe cap 11 by means of a flexible element 13 for connection between the two.

The toe cap 11 is of a known type and has, as shown in Figure 3, an edge 14 to be folded below an insole of the shoe in which the device 10 is to be inserted.

The same figure shows that the plate 12 also advantageously has an edge, which in this case is referenced as outer edge 15, to be folded below the insole of the shoe at the outer side thereof.

The first three figures show how the flexible element 13 connects the plate 12 to the toe cap 11.

In particular, this is made possible by the particular structure of the flexible element 13, shown on its own in Figure 4, which clearly shows that it is flat. It is made of flexible plastic material, such as rubber, by means of which it can be easily folded and adapted to the shape of the tip of the shoe.

By associating the elements, a monolithic part is formed which is composed of the toe cap 11 , the plate 12 and the flexible element 13. Figure 4 also shows that the flexible element 13 advantageously has a substantially linear portion 16, to which the toe cap 11 is joined, on the side directed toward the forefoot, and a substantially C-shaped portion 17, to which the plate 12 is joined.

Furthermore, transverse cuts are provided advantageously thereon in order to facilitate its adaptation to the curvature of the shoe, therefore also of the toe cap 11 and of the plate 12.

In particular, on the linear portion 15 there are first transverse cuts 18, which in the joining of the flexible element 13 to the toe cap 11 arrange themselves at the changes of curvature of the toe cap 11, i.e., between the region that surmount the toes and the walls from the inner and outer side of the shoe, which have a substantially vertical orientation. The first transverse cuts 18 facilitate the fitting of the flexible element 13 to the toe cap 11.

Notches 19, again transverse ones, are also present on the opposite side with respect to the first transverse cuts 18 and are shorter than them.

On the C-shaped portion 17 there are second transverse cuts 20, three in the illustrated example, in order to be able to bend the flexible element 13 in positioning the plate 12 at the fifth toe G.

The notches 19 are provided on the region of the flexible element 13 that can be identified as the part to be arranged closest to the tip of the shoe, and there is also a C-shaped edge 21 on the C-shaped portion 17.

The toe cap 11 and the plate 12 are joined, preferably by adhesive bonding, in the region in which the notches 19 are present and on the C- shaped edge 21.

The toe cap 11 and the plate 12 are joined to the flexible element 13 by adhesive bonding or, as an alternative, said element can be overmolded on the toe cap 11 and on the plate 12.

The operation of the device according to the invention is evident from what has been described and illustrated.

In particular, it is evident that the device 10 is capable of ensuring protection for the toes with the toe cap 11 , as already occurs in the background art, and with the plate 12, so that impact protection is ensured for all the toes.

Furthermore, the two protective elements are associated by means of a flexible element, which as such does not prevent the shoe from flexing while walking.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the intended aim and objects, providing a protective device for safety shoe that is capable of protecting all the toes without limiting the flexibility of the shoe while walking.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application no. 102016000109573 (UA2016A007831), from which this application claims priority, are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. A protective device (10) for safety shoe, adapted to protect the toes, comprising a dome-shaped toe cap (11) which surmounts the first four toes (F), said device (10) being characterized in that it comprises a plate (12), which is designed to protect the fifth toe (G) by covering it at least from the outer part and is associated with said toe cap (11) by means of a flexible connecting element (13).

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said flexible element (13) is flat and has a linear portion (16) to which said toe cap (11) is joined and a C-shaped portion (17) to which said plate (12) is joined.

3. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flexible element (13) is made of flexible plastic material.

4. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said plate (12) has an edge (15) that is folded below an insole of the shoe, at the outer side thereof.

5. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said toe cap (11) has an edge (14) that is folded below an insole of the shoe, at the front part.

6. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said toe cap (11) and said plate (12) are made of at least one material chosen among steel, aluminum, stratified glass fiber and/or thermoplastic polymers.

7. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said toe cap (11) and said plate (12) are joined to said flexible element (13) by adhesive bonding.

8. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said flexible element (13) is overmolded on said toe cap (11) and said plate (12).