Abstract:
Footbeds for footwear, especially sandals, are formed from weldable plastic materials, such as industrial and commercial carpeting, and are provided with patterns welded into the material and with decorative prints or patterns welded to the physical patterns. The footbeds are very decorative in appearance and produce very saleable footwear products. A process for conveniently and economically producing the decorative footbeds is also disclosed.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to footbeds for footwear, especially decorative footbeds for open style footwear, such as sandals and the like, and a process of making the same.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    It has become popular to provide sandals and similar open style footwear with decorative footbeds to enhance their appearance both on and off the foot. Recently, industrial carpeting has been adopted as a sturdy, long wearing footbed material which, when employed in the unlikely environment of open style footwear, imparts an unusual and esthetically pleasing visual quality to the footwear, as well as foot comfort. Among materials that have been employed are artificial grass and similar carpeting materials.  
           [0003]    U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,029,372 and DES. 429,555, for example, utilize as a footbed an industrial carpeting material comprised of filaments of polyvinyl chloride intertwined to form a cushioning, breathable network body that is very attractive and comfortable and that stands up to the abusive service to which sandals and beach footwear are subjected.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    It is an object of the present invention to provide footwear footbeds incorporating a variety of decorative enhancements.  
           [0005]    It is an additional object of the invention to provide footwear footbeds made of industrial carpeting and/or like products and including a variety of esthetic design elements comprised of one or more of shape, form, color and/or decorative print.  
           [0006]    More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide decorative footbeds for footwear comprised of a body of weldable plastic material, a preselected pattern physically welded into the footbed material, and a decorative print or pattern welded to the physical pattern.  
           [0007]    In accordance with the invention, a material is selected that is suitable for use as a footbed and comprised of a body of weldable filaments or fibers having a given decorative appearance; a pattern is physically welded into the weldable filaments or fibers to form a physical pattern therein or thereon; and a decorative print or pattern is welded to the physical pattern to impart thereto an appearance the same as, complementary to or contrasting with the appearance of the body of filaments or fibers. Additionally, the body of filaments or fibers may include a base or backing, which may also have a given decorative appearance, e.g., similar to, complementary to or contrasting with the appearance of the body of filaments or fibers, the physical pattern welded therein or thereon and/or the decorative print or pattern welded thereto.  
           [0008]    Further in accordance with the invention, a process is provided for conveniently producing decorative footbeds that is comprised of the steps of selecting a sheet of weldable plastic material suitable for use as a footbed material, placing a transfer sheet bearing a decorative transfer print or pattern onto the sheet of weldable plastic material, subjecting the sheet of weldable plastic material and the transfer sheet to plastic welding energy in a preselected physical pattern, and causing the physical pattern to be welded into the weldable plastic material and the decorative transfer print or pattern to be transferred to and welded to the weldable plastic material.  
           [0009]    The process is simple and economical to practice and produces decorative footbeds that are novel, unusual and highly attractive.  
           [0010]    These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those reasonably skilled in the art from the following detailed description, as taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the three customary components of open style footwear such as sandals, and illustrating a first embodiment of the footbed of the invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the footbed of the invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the footbed of the invention; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the sequence of steps involved in practice of the process of the invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0015]    The following is a detailed description of certain embodiments of the invention presently deemed by the inventor to be the best mode of carrying out his invention.  
         [0016]    Referring to FIG. 1, the customary components of a sandal comprise a sole  10 , a footbed  12  to be affixed to the sole, and means  14  to be affixed to the footbed and sole for holding the footbed and sole on the plantar surface or sole of a wearer&#39;s foot. The means  14  may comprise any customary open footwear upper, such as one or more sandals straps, or a slide, or the illustrated thong  15 .  
         [0017]    The footbed  12  illustrated in FIG. 1 (see also FIG. 4) constitutes one embodiment of the present invention and comprises, in its preferred form, a base or backing  16  and a layer or body  18  of weldable plastic material secured to the base or backing  16 . The base or backing  16  is optional and may be included in or excluded from the footbed; however, it is included in the preferred embodiments as it facilitates incorporation into the footbed of additional decorative and/or ornamental design elements. In accordance with the invention, portions of the body  18 , whether with or without a backing  16 , are compressed and welded together to form a physical pattern  20  in or on the body. In FIG. 1, the physical pattern is in the form of a marginal welded edge on the footbed.  
         [0018]    In the embodiment of the footbed illustrated in FIG. 2, which is comprised of the same elements as FIG. 1 numbered by the same numbers with the suffix “a”, the physical pattern  20   a  is such that the unwelded portions of the body  18  conform more or less to an imprint made by the plantar surface or sole of a wearer&#39;s foot.  
         [0019]    In the embodiment of the footbed illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein the same elements are indicated by the same numerals with the suffix “b”, the physical pattern  20   b  is such that the unwelded portions of the body  18  conform more or less to an imprint made by the toe, ball and heel of the plantar surface or sole of a wearer&#39;s foot.  
         [0020]    Additionally or alternatively, the welded physical pattern may comprise a decorative shape welded into the body  18  at one or more selected locations, such for example, as the heart  22  welded in the ball portion of the footbed depicted in FIG. 3.  
         [0021]    Further in accordance with the invention, the physical pattern welded into the footbed body  18  is enhanced by a decorative surface pattern  24 , such as a floral, paisley, plaid, rep-stripe, mountain, seashore, athletic or other decorative or theme pattern. For the sake of clarity, the decorative surface patterns  24  have been indicated simply by the letters x in the illustrations of FIGS. 1, 2, and  3 . In the actual end products the areas marked with x&#39;s bear decorative ornamental designs or patterns.  
         [0022]    The material used for the footbed  12  may comprise any material suitable for the purpose and comprised of a body  18  of weldable plastic, or weldable fibers, or other fixably compressible material. One material preferred for practice of the invention, which is depicted schematically in the drawings, has a body  18  comprised of filaments of polyvinyl chloride of substantially uniform diameter that are intertwined to form a cushioning, breathable network body having thickness and a plurality of open spaces. The filaments are readily weldable to facilitate formation of a desired physical pattern  20  within the body  18 .  
         [0023]    The decorative pattern is preferably applied onto the physical pattern by image transfer techniques, i.e., by transfer from an image bearing transfer sheet to the footbed material, preferably under heat and pressure, simultaneously with the welding of the physical pattern into the body of the footbed.  
         [0024]    The result is an extremely attractive footbed which, when incorporated in open style footwear such as sandals, produces a very attractive and very saleable footwear product.  
         [0025]    Additional decorative or ornamental aspects or features can be achieved by utilizing an open weave body  18  having a given decorative appearance, e.g., color, a base  16 , visible through the open weave body  18  and having a decorative appearance the same as, complementary to or contrasting with that of the body, and a decorative pattern having an appearance similar or complementary to or contrasting with the appearance of one or the other or both of the base  16  and the body  18 .  
         [0026]    The process of making the decorative footbed of the invention is comprised of a particular sequence of steps, which are illustrated schematically in FIG. 4. The first step resides in selecting an appropriate material for the footbed  12 , preferably one having a base or backing  16  and a cushiony weldable or fixedly compressible body  18 . The material may be supplied in sheet or continuous web form.  
         [0027]    A sheet, film or web  30  of a transfer material having a transferable decorative image or pattern on its lower surface is laid over the body  18  of footbed material. The footbed and transfer materials are then moved to a mold or die  32  of a press (not shown) capable of applying plastic welding and image transferring energy to the footbed and transfer materials. A preferred type of press is a radio frequency press or high frequency plastic welding machine, such as available from Strayfield Ltd. and Radyne Co. U.K. The mold or die is then pressed against the transfer and footbed materials, and energized to impart the proper energy level to the mold or die.  
         [0028]    The mold or die  32  is of a configuration to weld into the plastic body  18  the preselected physical pattern  20  and to cause the decorative pattern  24  to be transferred from the transfer sheet  30  onto the physical pattern and/or other portions of the body  18 . The mold or die is then retracted, the transfer sheet stripped away and the footbed die cut to desired shape to produce a decorative footbed product as illustrated and as above described.  
         [0029]    The steps of the process may be preformed stepwise on sheets of foot bed and transfer materials or may be preformed as a sequential continuous process on continuous webs of the footbed and transfer materials. In either case, the process is highly efficient and economical and produces practical and extremely attractive footbeds.  
         [0030]    The objects and advantages of the invention have therefore been shown to be achieved in a practical, efficient, economical and facile manner.  
         [0031]    While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been herein illustrated and described, it is to be appreciated that various modifications, rearrangements and changes made be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.