Shoe Upper Merging Inner Sole and Quarters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional walking and sports shoes face issues of discomfort due to insole movement and uneven foot contact, and are complex to manufacture, requiring multiple parts and tools, leading to increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A shoe design featuring a single-piece inner sole, lateral quarter, and medial quarter connected by continuity of material, reducing the number of parts and assembly complexity while enhancing foot contact regularity and pressure distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiple separate parts (inner sole, lateral quarter, medial quarter) are used to form the footwear element, then the shoe can be manufactured with standardized components, but the assembly complexity increases and comfort decreases due to uneven foot contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the inner sole, lateral quarter, and medial quarter into a single integrated footwear element made from one continuous piece of material. This eliminates the need for assembling multiple separate components, thereby reducing assembly complexity while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through standardized material selection and forming processes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate parts are used to form the footwear element, then each part can be optimized independently, but the number of parts and assembly time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The footwear element is formed as a single integrated component where the inner sole, lateral quarter, and medial quarter are continuous portions of the same material piece. This eliminates assembly time while allowing design optimization across the entire structure through unified material selection and forming parameters.
3Ease of repair
If traditional multi-part footwear element construction is used, then repair and replacement of specific components is easier, but the overall shoe complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The footwear element is constructed as a single integrated piece, reducing the number of parts from three separate components to one unified structure. This simplifies the overall shoe construction and reduces cost, while the durable continuous material construction enhances resistance to wear and trauma at junction points.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4~5
AI summary
The footwear i.e. casual walking shoe (1), has an outer sole assembly (2) and an upper (3), where length of the footwear extends from a rear end (4) to a front end (5) of the footwear, width of the footwear extends from a lateral side (6) to a medial side (7) of the footwear, and height of the footwear extends from the outer sole assembly to a top portion (12). A footwear element (15) has an inner sole assembly (16), a lateral quarter (17) and a medial quarter (18). The inner sole assembly, the lateral quarter, and the medial quarter of the footwear element form a unitary element.