Abstract:
A breathing shoe is disclosed to include an air pumping mechanism formed of an air bladder and mounted in the top wall of the outsole for pumping outside cooling air into a front part inside the shoe body to force foul air out of the shoe body through air holes in the front upper part of the shoe body when the user is walking or running.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates shoes and more particularly, to a breathing shoe, which breathes when pressed by the user&#39;s foot.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     When putting a pair of shoes on the feet of the legs, the feet may feel sweltering due to poor ventilation, and may soon start to sweat and to produce a bad smell. One may be embarrassed when taking off the shoes from the feet or when changing the shoes before others if the feet give off a bad smell. Further, keeping the feet in a hot and wet environment for long may cause the skin of the feet to suffer from a skin disease or to be infected with bacteria. Dermatitis may frequently occur in the toes, the gap between toes and the sole.  
         [0005]     The aforesaid problems occur due to poor ventilation of the shoes. In order to eliminate these problems, breathing shoes are developed. Commercial breathing shoes use breathing materials for the insole or the vamp, or making air vents on the vamp or the outsole. However, these conventional breathing shoes do not function as well as expected because they cannot induce ventilation when walking.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a breathing shoe, which automatically pumps outside cooling air into a front part inside the shoe body and to simultaneously force foul air out of the shoe when the user is walking or running, thereby keeping the user&#39;s toes dry and cool.  
         [0007]     To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, the breathing shoe comprises a shoe body, which has a plurality of air holes in the vamp thereof, an outsole, which is fastened to the bottom side of the shoe body and has an air inlet at the rear side, and an air pumping mechanism, which comprises a repeatedly compressible air bladder mounted in the top wall of the outsole corresponding to the heel, an air inlet unit connected to the air inlet of the outsole for guiding in cooling air from the outside of the outsole into the inside of the air bladder when the air bladder is not compressed, and an air outlet unit for guiding air out of the air bladder into a front part inside the shoe body when the air bladder is compressed.  
         [0008]     When the user is walking or running, the air bladder is alternatively compressed and released to pump outside cooling air into the inside of the upper shoe and to simultaneously force inside foul air out of the shoe body through the air holes in the vamp of the shoe body. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a breathing shoe according to the present invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is similar to  FIG. 1  but showing the air pumping mechanism installed in the outsole.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a top plain view of the assembly of the outsole and the air pumping mechanism according to the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  is a schematic side view of the present invention, showing the action of the air pumping mechanism upon a downward pressure from the user&#39;s foot.  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  is a schematic sectional view showing the action of the air pumping mechanism upon a downward pressure from the user&#39;s foot of  FIG. 6 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 8  is a schematic side view of the present invention, showing the shoe lifted from the ground and the air bladder of the air pumping mechanism inflated.  
         [0017]      FIG. 9  is a schematic sectional view showing the action of the air pumping mechanism after disappearance of the downward pressure from the user&#39;s foot of  FIG. 8 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 10  is a sectional view in an enlarged scale taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]     Referring to  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 , a breathing shoe in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising an outsole  10 , a shoe body  30  fixedly fastened to the periphery of the outsole  10  at the top, an air pumping mechanism  20  mounted in the outsole  10 , and at least one, for example, two air discharging pipes  31  embedded in the outsole  10  and connected to the air pumping mechanism  20 .  
         [0020]     The air pumping mechanism  20  comprises a repeatedly compressible air bladder  21 , an air inlet unit  221  disposed at one side of the air bladder  21 , an air outlet unit  231  disposed at an opposite side of the air bladder  21 , and at least one, for example, two air delivery pipes  24  embedded in the outsole  10 . The air inlet unit  221  comprises a one-way air valve  22  for guiding air into the air bladder  21 . The air outlet unit  231  comprises at least one, for example, two one-way air valves  23  for guiding air out of the air bladder  21 . The two air delivery pipes  24  are respectively connected between the one-way air valves  23  of the air outlet unit  231  and the air discharging pipes  31  for guiding air out of the air bladder  21  into the inside of the inside of the shoe body  30 .  
         [0021]     The outsole  10  has a recessed chamber  12  formed in the top wall  11  at the area corresponding to the heel, an air inlet  13  backwardly extending from the recessed chamber  12  to the outside, and two pipe grooves  14  formed on the top wall  11  at two opposite lateral sides and respectively forwardly extending from the recessed chamber  12  for accommodating the air delivery pipes  24 . The air bladder  21  is mounted in the recessed chamber  12  with the one-way air valve  22  connected to the air inlet  13  of the outsole  10  and the one-way air valves  23  respectively connected to the air delivery pipes  24  that are respectively set in the two pipe grooves  14  inside the outsole  10 . When the air bladder  21  receives no pressure from the user&#39;s foot, the air bladder  21  partially protrudes over the top wall  11  of the outsole  10 .  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 10 , the front side (vamp) of the shoe body  30  is comprised of an outer covering layer  32  and an inner lining layer  33 . The outer covering layer  32  and the inner lining layer  33  are bonded together and stitched to an insole  40 , and then bonded with the insole  40  to the outsole  10 . The outer covering layer  32  has a plurality of air holes  34 . The inner lining layer  33  is made of a breathing fabric material. The air discharging pipes  31  are respectively set in between the outer covering layer  32  and the inner lining layer  33  at two opposite lateral sides. The arrangement of the air delivery pipes  24  and the air discharging pipes  31  must be kept away from direct pressure of the user&#39;s foot. The air discharging pipes  31  each have one end extending out of the bottom side (see  FIG. 1 ) and respectively connected to the air delivery pipes  24 , and a plurality of air jet nozzles  311  spaced around the periphery near the front end for guiding air from the air delivery pipes  24  into the inside of the shoe body  30 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the air bladder  21  comprises an elastic top cover shell  212 , an elastic bottom cover shell  213  peripherally sealed to the periphery of the elastic top cover shell  212 , and a plurality of air cells  211  jointed to one another and set in between the elastic top cover shell  212  and the elastic bottom cover shell  213 . The air cells  211  have air holes  214  for air communication of one air cell  211  with another. The one-way air valves  22  and  23  are simultaneously affixed to the air bladder  21  when sealed the elastic top cover shell  212  and the elastic bottom cover shell  213 . By means of the elastic cover shells  212  and  213  and the air cells  211 , the air bladder  21  is continuously compressible.  
         [0024]     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , when the foot gives a downward pressure to the air bladder  21  of the air pumping mechanism  20  during walking (see the arrowhead sign B in  FIG. 7 ), the air bladder  21  is compressed to force air out of the air bladder  21  through the one-way air valves  23  into the air delivery pipes  24  and then the air discharging pipes  31 , enabling the compressed air to pass out of the air jet nozzles  311  of the air discharging pipes  31  into the inside space  35 of the shoe body  30  (see  FIG. 10 ) and to further force a part of inside air out of the shoe body  30  into the outside open filed through the air holes  34 .  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , when the user lifts the shoe from the ground, the aforesaid downward pressure is disappeared, and the air bladder  21  immediately returns to the former shape (see arrowhead signs C in  FIG. 9 ) to suck in outside fresh air through the air inlet  13  and the one-way air valve  22 .  
         [0026]     Therefore, when the user is walking, the air bladder  21  is alternatively compressed and released to intermittently pump outside fresh air into the inside of the shoe body  30  and to simultaneously force inside hot and wet air out of the shoe body  30  through the air holes  34 , providing a good ventilation in the shoe body  30  and lowering the temperature and humility in the shoe body  30  around the toes of the user&#39;s foot.  
         [0027]     A prototype of breathing shoe has been constructed with the features of FIGS.  1 ˜ 10 . The breathing shoe functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.  
         [0028]     Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.