Knitted Shoe Sole With Selective Layer Connection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shoe sole designs using distance tricks struggle to achieve both damping and form stability, particularly in areas requiring high stiffness like the heel, and cannot easily be adapted to have varying damping properties across different regions.
Innovation Solution
A knitted shoe sole design that eliminates polar threads, allowing shot threads to fill cavities between knitting layers in non-connected areas, while connecting knitted layers in other areas for stability, enabling regions with varying damping properties and high form stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If spacer knits are used to create cushioning areas, then damping properties are improved, but form stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The knitted fabric is divided into multiple independent stitch rows, where each row can be selectively connected or disconnected between the two knitted layers. This segmentation allows different regions to have different cushioning properties while maintaining overall structural integrity through the connecting stitch rows.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the knitted fabric are designed with different connection patterns - some areas have connected stitch rows for form stability (heel area), while other areas have disconnected stitch rows for enhanced cushioning (footbed area). This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between damping and stability.
2Reliability
If spacer knits with pile threads are used, then cushioning effect is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the pile threads from the spacer knit structure, retaining only the essential function of creating hollow spaces between knitted layers. This simplification removes the manufacturing complexity associated with pile thread insertion while preserving the cushioning effect through weft thread placement alone.
3Reliability
If knitted layers are disconnected to create hollow spaces, then damping properties are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the complex pile thread insertion process from manufacturing, achieving the same cushioning effect through a simpler method of selectively connecting or disconnecting stitch rows between knitted layers using standard knitting machine operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The knitting process alternates between connected and disconnected stitch rows in a periodic pattern, creating the desired cushioning regions while maintaining a regular, manageable manufacturing rhythm that simplifies production control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design achieves customizable damping properties and high form stability across different areas of the shoe sole, surpassing the limitations of traditional distance trick methods.
Implementation Method 1
These types of threads are very thin under tension and can therefore be processed perfectly on a knitting machine. If the tension is released and/or the thread material is exposed to heat and/or moisture, these threads assume a size several times their diameter.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3a
Figure 3b
AI summary
A knitted fabric (100) with areas (10 - 50) with different cushioning properties, in particular a shoe sole (100), which is designed as a two-layer knitted fabric (1. 2) and on whose rows of stitches (R0, R5) at least one weft thread (S) is inserted in at least one section, wherein the knitted layers (1, 2) are connected to each other in areas (10.1, 20.1, 30.1) with no or low cushioning and are not connected to each other in areas (10, 20, 30, 40, 50) with higher cushioning.