Patent ID: 7530181
Filing Date: 2009-05-12
Classification: A43B

Abstract:
1. A method of protecting a foot of a human from effects of a landmine explosion underneath said foot, including guiding shock waves caused by the landmine explosion obliquely away from said foot by means of a correspondingly obliquely oriented shock wave guide member embedded in a sole volume of an article of footwear worn by the human, the shock wave guide member being of a material having an acoustic speed of at least more than 3000 m/sec; deflecting any stray component of the shock waves back into the guide member and attenuating propagation of any said stray component of the shock waves in a direction toward said foot in the sole volume of the article of footwear by means of a layer of material having a low acoustic speed arranged between the shock wave guide member and an inner sole of the article of footwear; cracking the material of the shock wave guide member by means of said shock waves at a speed of crack progression lower than the acoustic speed of said material of the shock wave guide member, and spalling said material at a downstream end of the shock wave guide member to create a path of lesser resistance for a blast following the shock waves; and causing said blast following the shock waves to follow said path of lesser resistance and removing said cracked material to render said path open, in which the acoustic speed of said layer of material having a low acoustic speed is lower than 200 m/sec.