Footwear having replaceable heel and sole

Footwear having a body portion receptive of a person's foot during use and a replaceable tread portion. The tread portion is releasably locked into the body portion by a flange having gripping members on the inner peripheral surface. The tread portion has a hollowed top portion having an outer peripheral surface with gripping apertures therein in which the gripping members are received. The outer peripheral surface of the hollowed top portion is closely received in the flange and the tread portion is thus prevented from moving both laterally and perpendicularly thereby.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to footwear having a replaceable heel and 
sole. 
Footwear of this type are known in the prior art, but these footwear have 
the disadvantage of having complex construction for preventing the lateral 
and perpendicular movement of the tread with respect to the body. Examples 
of prior art toorwear that show replaceable tread portions, but do not 
show the tread being engaged at the outer peripheral surface thereof to 
prevent both lateral and perpendicular movement of the tread with respect 
to the body of the footwear, are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,654,445; 1,758,342; 
1,773,242; 2,528,951; 3,019,534; 3,073,042; 3,538,628 and 3,693,369. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The principle object of this invention is to provide footwear having a 
replaceable tread portion. 
This and other objects are achieved by the preferred embodiment of the 
present invention in which a body portion of a shoe receptive of a 
person's foot has a rigid flanged member disposed around and affixed to 
the lower portion of the body portion. The inner surface of the flange has 
a plurality of gripping members disposed thereon. A resilient tread 
portion having a plurality of apertures each corresponding to a gripping 
member is configured to be received within the flange member. The tread 
member is locked both laterally and perpendicularly with respect to the 
flange member but may be removed by deforming side portions of the tread 
member to separate it from the gripping members. 
Having in mind the above and other objects that will be obvious to and 
enable those persons skilled in the art to clearly understand the 
function, operation, construction and advantages of it when read in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings, and in accordance with the 
principles of the invention, footwear 10 is shown comprising a body 
portion 12 having a lower surface 13 and receptive of a person's foot 
during use, a rigid flanged member 14 affixed to the lower surface 13 and 
a replaceable tread portion 16 capable of being received within the flange 
member. 
The flanged member 14 is fixedly connected to the lower surface 13 of the 
body portion 12 at a base 16 thereof. A flange 18 extends outwardly from 
the periphery of the base 16. 
A plurality of gripping members 20 configured as conical projecting tips is 
disposed on the inner peripheral surface 22 of the flange 18. 
The tread member 16 includes a lower treading surface 24, a hollowed 
resilient portion 26 opposite the treading surface 24 and a plurality of 
apertures 28 each aligned to and corresponding with one gripping member 20 
and closely receptive thereof, said apertures disposed on the outer 
peripheral surface 30 of the hollowed portion 26. The lower treading 
surface 24 includes a heel 32 and a sole 34 aligned with the outer 
peripheral surface 30 and the integral with the tread member 16. The 
hollowed portion on 26 is configured to be closely received within the 
flange 18. Entrance and removal is accomplished by deflecting the hollow 
resilient portion 26 as shown in FIG. 4. Once installed, both lateral and 
perpendicular movement of the tread member 16 with respect to the body 
portion 12 is precluded. 
While the preferred embodiment of the invention have been shown by way of 
example, in the drawing, it will be understood that the invention is in no 
way limited to these embodiments.