Removable Footwear Upper via Midsole Registration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional athletic footwear lacks a removable upper, limiting user customization for aesthetics, environmental conditions, and maintenance, as well as posing challenges in replacing worn or soiled components.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a sole assembly with a midsole, frame recess, and registration members that allow a removable upper attachment, featuring a frame member with registration members and apertures for secure attachment, enabling easy replacement and customization of the upper.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the upper is made removable, then user customization and maintenance capability are improved, but device complexity increases due to additional attachment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The footwear is divided into separable components: the upper and the sole assembly. The upper can be removed from the sole assembly through a simplified attachment mechanism involving registration members and recesses, allowing independent replacement of the upper without affecting the sole structure.
Solution Approach 2:
A frame member acts as an intermediary component between the upper and the sole assembly. The frame member includes registration members that engage with corresponding recesses in the sole assembly, providing a mediated connection that enables easy attachment and detachment of the upper while maintaining structural integrity.
2Ease of repair
If the upper is made removable, then ease of maintenance is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The footwear is divided into separable components: the upper and the sole assembly. The upper can be removed from the sole assembly through a simplified attachment mechanism involving registration members and recesses, allowing independent replacement of the upper without affecting the sole structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment mechanism is designed to be self-aligning and self-securing. The registration members automatically engage with the corresponding recesses when the upper is placed on the sole assembly, eliminating the need for complex fastening operations or specialized tools during both manufacturing and user assembly.
3Reliability
If registration members are added to the midsole, then upper attachment reliability is improved, but midsole structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The registration members are extracted as separate, discrete features from the midsole structure. These registration members are positioned to extend from the midsole and engage with corresponding features on the upper, providing reliable attachment while maintaining the overall simplicity of the midsole design.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of adding complex fastening mechanisms to the upper, the invention inverts the approach by adding simple registration members to the midsole. The upper retains its simplicity while the midsole provides the attachment function through these dedicated registration features.
Data Source
AI summary
An article of footwear includes a sole assembly having a midsole having an upper surface, a frame recess and a first registration recess being formed in the upper surface. A frame member is seated in the frame recess, and has a first end secured to the midsole, a second end free of the midsole, and a first registration member extending downwardly from a lower surface of the frame member. The first registration member is received in the first registration recess. An upper is removably attached to the sole assembly, and has a pocket on a bottom surface thereof, with the second end of the frame member being received in the pocket.