Flexible puncture resistant sole

Abstract

A puncture or cut resistant protective sole for footwear made of woven fiber plies and flexible bonding agent disposed between adjacent woven fiber plies to define an alternating layered composite, wherein the flexible bonding agent penetrates into voids of each woven fiber ply and bonds fibers of each woven fiber ply to fibers within the same ply.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The invention relates to flexible puncture resistant sole for use in safety footwear to reduce the likelihood of injury, and particularly a flexible sole made of alternating plies of woven fabric and a flexible bonding agent material such as thermo-formable resin, rubber or plastic. BACKGROUND OF THE ART [0002] The sole of footwear worn by people nowadays is often made of resin material, such as foam rubber or plastics, and possibly leather. Due to its elastic and pliable properties, it can provide those who wear the shoes with soft and comfortable feeling. Yet, conventional shoes also have some disadvantages. When the wearer treads on sharp-pointed articles, such as metal nails, they can easily pierce sole and injure the wearer's foot. [0003] To prevent injury, some manufacturers mount a mild steel sheet or stainless steel sheet on the sole to guard against puncture or cutting injury of the foot. However, the relative rigidity and inflexibility of the metal s...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] The invention provides a puncture and cut resistant structure in a multi-ply sole of shoes formed of a number of woven fabric layers and alternating plies of a flexible bonding agent, such as resin, plastic or rubber adhered to each other in a composite material. Preferably the composite material can be formed by thermo compression of the woven ply and bonding agent with each other. The material for the fiber woven ply may be a high-crystallized polymer fiber of polyamide having a high shearing strength and tensile strength, for example with tensile strength being five times as strong as that of the mild steel wire. The fiber woven ply may be woven with a common weave pattern where warp and weft yarns alternate in a dense crisscross pattern, with the function of inhibiting piercing or cutting. When in contact with sharp-pointed articles, the woven ply being bonded with the bonding agent or rubber ply by thermo compression serves to strengthen the piercing resistance function of the composite layered material. The bonding agent bonds the fibers of the woven ply together and fills in voids between the woven fibers to inhibit movement of the fibers which would permit a sharp point to penetrate the woven ply.

[0008] When the sole of the present invention is used the wearer is better protected from the risk of injury from sharp or pointed articles while the sole can also be used as an ordinary sole or as a shoe-pad. The composite puncture resistant sole can also be disposed on the ordinary sole and the shoe-pad or otherwise sandwiched in between the shoe-pad and the ordinary sole, so that the overall thickness increased as well as the efficiency of puncture and cut prevention. The sole of the present invention feels lightweight and flexible in use while remaining strong to resist injury.

Problems solved by technology

Yet, conventional shoes also have some disadvantages.

When the wearer treads on sharp-pointed articles, such as metal nails, they can easily pierce sole and injure the wearer's foot.

However, the relative rigidity and inflexibility of the metal sheet causes the wearer much inconvenience and the superior heat transfer properties of metal generally make the wearer's feet too hot in hot environments or too cold in cold environments.

Metal sheets are relatively difficult to properly bond to other footwear components with adhesives, bonding agents or stitching for example.

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