Innerboot, particularly for sports shoes

Abstract: An innerboot, particularly for sports shoes such as ski boots or skates, includes a pair of overlapping flaps (6a,6b) at the front (2) and, at the rear (7), an opening (8a) having a tongue member (9). An innerboot is thus obtained that can be used for several kinds of shoes, even structurally different, such as front-entry, rear-entry, or central-entry boots.

Description: The present invention relates to an innerboot particularly for sports shoes. Conventional sports shoes, such as for example ski boots, roller skates, or ice skates, are constituted by a shell and by at least one quarter that are rigid as they are manufactured by injection-molding thermoplastic material. Therefore, a soft innerboot, adapted to improve the user's comfort, is placed inside the shell and the quarter. Several kinds of innerboot to be applied inside sports shoes are known: some of them are stitched and fitted on the last by the following steps: the perimetric stitching of an insole, the insertion of the last, the spreading of glue, the reactivation of said glue by heating, the gluing of an inner sole by pressing, and finally the removal from the last. It is also known to manufacture innerboots that have a Strobel stitch along the edge of the sole in order to fasten the upper. Innerboots are also known which have a tongue or a pair of overlapping flaps at the foot instep region; said innerboots are used exclusively for shoes, such as ski boots, of the front-entry type and are therefore used to facilitate foot insertion. If ski boots of the rear-entry type are used instead, again to facilitate foot insertion, innerboots are used which have a rear opening over which a tongue can be partially superimposed. All these conventional innerboots have drawbacks which are due mainly to the fact that they can be used only for a particular type of shoe, either boots or skates, of the rear-entry or front-entry type, and therefore it is necessary to have a plurality of components in store, causing an increase in costs. The aim of the present invention is therefore to solve the described technical problems, eliminating the drawbacks of the prior art, by providing an innerboot for sports shoes that can be used for various kinds of shoes, ensuring good fit for the user and easy foot insertion and extraction. Within the scope of the above aim, an important object is to provide an innerboot that allows to reduce manufacturing costs and storage costs. This aim, these objects, and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by an innerboot, particularly for sports shoes such as ski boots or skates, characterized in that it comprises at least one pair of overlapping flaps at the front and, at the rear, at least one opening having at least one tongue member that can be folded away from said at least one pair of flaps. Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description of a particular but not exclusive embodiment, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: figure 1 is a front perspective view of the innerboot; figure 2 is a rear perspective view of the innerboot; figure 3 is a top view of the innerboot. With reference to the above figures, the reference numeral 1 designates the innerboot for sports shoes such as for example ski boots, ice skates, or roller skates. A front region 2 affects at least the foot instep 4, partially affects the tibia 5, and optionally affects the metatarsal region 3. The innerboot 1 is made of soft material and, at the front region 2, has a pair of flaps 6a and 6b that are arranged so that they mutually partially overlap. In the rear region 7, the innerboot 1 has a pair of slits 8a and 8b which are approximately parallel to each other and form a tongue member 9 that can be folded down away from said pair of flaps. Advantageously, a means for fastening the tongue member 9 to said pair of flaps 6a and 6b can be associated proximate to the upper edge 10 of the tongue member. The fastening means is constituted by a strap 11 which is provided, at its ends, with temporary connection means such as strips of the material known by the trade-name "Velcro". The strap 11 surrounds the outside of the tongue member and of the pair of flaps and passes inside the tongue member in a small region that is adjacent to the two edges 12a and 12b thereof, by means of two pairs of openings 13a and 13b formed on the tongue member. With this solution, the rear part of the strap 11 can constitute a means for engaging the rear part of the quarter, which is not shown. As an alternative, the strap 11 can be composed of two portions which are respectively connected at one end, for example by sewing, at the openings 13a and 13b on the tongue member 9. Accordingly, the strap does not surround circumferentially the innerboot but instead affects only its front and lateral regions. The invention is used as follows: after inserting the innerboot in the shell of the sports shoe, the user can rapidly and easily insert his foot, because regardless of the way the foot is inserted, depending on the particular structure of the shoe, for example a front-entry boot or a rear-entry boot or a central-entry boot, the pair of flaps and of the tongue member on the innerboot in any case allows the foot to enter the shoe in an optimum manner. It has thus been observed that the invention has achieved the intended aim and objects, an innerboot for sports shoe having been provided that can be used for various kinds of shoe, ensuring a good fit for the user, also in terms of the possibility of inserting and removing the foot easily. The innerboot is therefore of the universal type, as it can be used in the various kinds of sports shoes without any preliminary adaptation, so as to allow to contain storing costs. The materials and the dimensions that constitute the individual components of the innerboot may also of course be the most pertinent according to the specific requirements. Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims: Innerboot, particularly for sports shoes such as ski boots or skates, characterized in that it comprises at least one pair of overlapping flaps (6a,6b) at the front (2) and, at the rear (7), at least one opening having at least one tongue member (9) that can be folded away from said at least one pair of flaps. Innerboot according to claim 1, characterized in that said front region (2) affects at least the foot instep (4) and partially affects the tibia (5), said at least one pair of flaps (6a,6b) being arranged so that they partially overlap each other, said opening comprising at least one pair of slits (8a,8b) approximately parallel to each other and forming said tongue member (9). Innerboot according to claim 2, characterized in that proximate to the upper edge (10) of said tongue member (9) there is a means for fastening said tongue member to said pair of flaps, said means being constituted by a strap (11) which has, at its ends, temporary connection means such as straps of the material known by the trade-name "Velcro", said strap surrounding externally and at least partially said tongue member and said pair of flaps. Innerboot according to claim 3, characterized in that said strap (10) passes inside said tongue member, in a small region that is adjacent to the two edges (12a,12b) of said tongue member (9), through at least two pairs of opening (13a,13b) formed on said tongue member (9).

Inventors: BERGAMIN MIRCO, BERGAMIN, MIRCO
Applicants: NORDICA SPA, NORDICA S.P.A
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A43B5
IPC codes: A43B5, A43B19