Ski Boot Liner Flaps for Tongue Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sports shoe liners, particularly in skiing boots, face issues with the tongue getting stuck laterally due to poor positioning, leading to discomfort and pain during use, as the tongue deviates under pressure and fails to return to its rest position easily, especially at the instep where it is not easily accessible.
Innovation Solution
The liner features two overlapping semi-rigid flaps at the instep to prevent tongue drifting and jamming, with an elastic band providing additional support, allowing the tongue to return to its rest position and ensuring correct positioning, enhancing comfort and support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the tongue is made rotatable to facilitate putting on and taking off the shoe, then the ease of operation is improved, but the tongue becomes prone to getting stuck laterally and failing to return to its rest position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces flaps as intermediary elements between the tongue and the liner. These flaps act as mediators that guide the tongue back to its rest position and prevent it from getting stuck laterally, while still allowing the tongue to rotate freely for easy putting on and taking off of the shoe.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the tongue structure into segments by adding separate flaps that can move independently. This segmentation allows the tongue to rotate for ease of operation while the flaps maintain control over the tongue's position, preventing it from getting stuck.
2Ease of operation
If the tongue is allowed to deviate forwards under foot pressure, then the ease of putting on the shoe is improved, but the tongue ends up in a bad position and causes discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The flaps are positioned to provide preliminary resistance against the tongue's forward deviation. As the tongue tries to move forward during putting on, the flaps create a counteracting force that guides it back to the correct position, preventing discomfort while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The flaps provide visual and tactile feedback to the tongue's position. When the tongue deviates forward, the flaps become visible and tangible indicators that guide the tongue back to its rest position, ensuring comfort while maintaining ease of putting on the shoe.
3Reliability
If the tongue is kept in a fixed position, then the tongue positioning stability is improved, but the ease of putting on and taking off the shoe deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the tongue from a fixed structure to a dynamic one that can rotate freely. The flaps are designed to move with the tongue during rotation, allowing the tongue to be easily put on and taken off while maintaining positioning stability through the flaps' guiding action.
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 solution allows for easy putting on and taking off the liner, provides better foot support, and improves user comfort by maintaining the tongue's correct position, reducing the likelihood of jamming and enhancing overall shoe efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
They can thus deviate, as it is represented on the picture 2, under the effect of the pressure of the tongue 4
Implementation Method 2
Further forward of the upper, the indentation of the liner is covered by an elastic band 8 which covers the tongue 4 and at least the lower part of the flaps 7, 7'
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The bootee (1) has a rod with a notch closed by a tab (4) extending from an instep at bottom of leg. Flaps (7, 7') are superposed and extended on a zone at the level of the instep of a shoe, where the flaps cover the tab and are presented in a monolithic structure. The flaps have plastic material to facilitate sliding of flaps one on another, and are semi-rigid to ensure maintenance of the tab and to ensure covering of the foot. The plastic material has rigidity lower or equal to the rigidity of polyurethane of 40 shore hardness.