Abstract:
A moisture repellant tread is provided for a positive displacement of moisture to secure the traction in the bottom of a shoe. The tread comprises a base plate and multiple short bundles of absorbent fibers. The base plate has a top surface locally bonded to the outsole with a lateral clearance between the base plate and outsole about the bonded areas, a bottom surface for contacting a floor and multiple closely arranged recesses open to the bottom surface and communicating through smaller openings formed at the top surfaces concentrically of the recesses. The fiber bundles are partially implanted in the recesses for displacing water absorbed from the floor upon contact through the openings at the top surfaces to the lateral clearance whereby the tread secures an increased traction as a wearer steps on the tread through the shoe even on a film of moisture.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to footwear. More particularly, the present invention relates to moisture repelling shoes for preventing an injurious slippage and a tread attachment with moisture repellant effect for transforming common footwear into a slip-resistant foot protection. 
     B. Description of the Prior Art 
     The negative phenomenon of hydroplaning originally describes the unfortunate incidents in driving in rain or through a wet road where the footing of a vehicle, i.e. tires fail to grip the ground losing the decisive traction for keeping the safe travel of the vehicle and its occupants. The similar incidents are experienced by common walking individuals in the daily lives at the comfort of homes as well as busy work locations. There are many reports of personal injuries or even unexpected deaths from falls on surrounding hard surfaces stemming from normal shoes or slippers unfortunately stepped on an unsuspected wetted spot. 
     In order to counter this problem, there have been continuous developments of footwear tread designs for increased traction or grip on the floor. Most footwear comprises an outsole that is in direct contact with the floor and is made of elastic but durable materials such as natural rubber or a synthetic imitation in layers especially at the heel of the sole area for durability and traction. For somewhat extreme traction in athletic shoes, spikes are embedded in the outsole to grip the ground during the athletic event. Usually, gentler ridge designs are incorporated into the outsole bottom of everyday shoes in the hopes to handle universal floor surfaces people encounter daily. However, when the shoes wear out and then caught in a slippery situation, the wearer does very likely fall on the ground such as a glossy bathroom floor where moisture is often present to attribute to high slippage rate. Using improved plastic materials in soles for indoors work or leisure shoes donned in and out of bathrooms and outdoors activity shoes for pools and streams had their own limitations. 
     Therefore, it is in a dire need to provide so simple safety solution to prevent moisture slides of footwear soles that most household or work shoe types donned close to wet environment can be transformed immediately into slip-resistant foot protection. 
     In view of the foregoing, the primary object of the present invention is to provide moisture repellant shoes using wearer&#39;s own walk load to displace moisture. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention of the present invention is to provide a tread attachment for repelling moisture to transform common footwear into a slip-resistant shoe. 
     Yet another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a practically durable and economically attractive yet aesthetically concealed attachment to any known designs of footwear so that the attachment can be either integrated into the existing shoe manufacturing process or individually affixed to shoes in use by the wearers who want to modify common shoes to be slip-proof. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, moisture repellant slip resistance shoes comprises a top section for enclosing at least a part of the instep of a foot and a sole section attached to the top section for supporting the sole of the foot. The sole section has an outsole with traction surfaces facing a floor. Each of the shoes also has one or more flexible suction pads affixed to bottom surfaces of the sole section, The suction pads have a plurality of small absorbent elements partially planted in the suction pad to contact moisture on the floor and perforations formed through the suction pad for channeling the moisture absorbed by the absorbent elements laterally in response to downward pressures as a wearer walks to have the suction pads maintain a positive grip on the floor as they eliminate a slippery moisture layer between the floor and the shoes. The absorbent elements are fibers made of short cross cuts of cotton strands. Alternatively, they may be synthetic fibers or a mixture of cotton strands and synthetic fibers. 
     In one embodiment, the absorbent elements are bundled into short columns with free cut ends. They may be made into looped-ends by folding a length of strands of fibers into U-shapes. Multiple lateral channels are formed in the suction pads in communication with the perforations for channeling moisture laterally. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, a moisture repellant tread for attachment to an outsole of a shoe comprises a base plate having a top surface locally bonded to the outsole with a lateral clearance between the base plate and outsole about the bonded areas, a bottom surface for contacting a floor and multiple closely arranged recesses open to the bottom surface and communicating through smaller openings formed at the top surfaces concentrically of the recesses; and multiple short bundles of absorbent fibers partially implanted in the recesses for displacing water absorbed from the floor upon contact through the openings at the top surfaces to the lateral clearance whereby the tread secures an increased traction as a wearer steps on the tread through the shoe even on a film of moisture. 
     The present invention provides a moisture repellant outsole for use with a shoe including a top section for enclosing at least a part of the instep of a foot, the outsole comprising traction surfaces facing a floor, a plurality of small absorbent elements partially planted in the traction surfaces to contact moisture on the floor and perforations formed through the traction surfaces for channeling the moisture absorbed by the absorbent elements laterally in response to downward pressures as the wearer walks to have the traction surfaces maintain a dynamic non-slipping grip on the floor, whereby eliminating an injurious moisture layer between the floor and the shoe. 
     Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a representative perspective view of a shoe with a wet-repellent sole according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a wet-repellent sole attachment according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective sectional view of the sole attachment of  FIG. 2  taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1  showing fiber blocks in an exploded view. 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a sole member according to a second embodiment with water channels added to the first embodiment of sole attachment. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective sectional view of a part of the second embodiment of sole member taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1  clearly showing the water channels and an adhesive layer. 
     
    
    
     Similar reference numbers denote corresponding features throughout the attached drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention concerns improvements in shoe soles, treads, and shoes made using the wet-repellent feature of the improved soles. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a shoe  10  of the present invention is illustrated in the form of a conventional slipper including a relatively flat sole  12  made of a flexible and durable material such as natural rubber or a synthetic material to contact with the ground directly and an upper  14  of soft felt, terrycloth or soft leather for holding the shoe  10  onto the foot. In the simple footwear form of slipper, upper  14  may have no heel so the foot can be slipped into the shoe  10  although the wet-repellent structure of the present invention can be universally applied to any typical closed footwear, such as boots, sneakers and most men&#39;s shoes with a more complex upper in order to prevent the wearer from slipping on floors. Specifically, a wet-repellent sole tread  16  of the present invention may be attached to shoes and boots that are generally made of canvas, plastic, rubber, or leather, and often have thick soles and improve those shoes to adapt to various wet surfaces around pools, bathrooms, or other damp work environments. 
     Tread  16  may be in one piece shaped to generally conform to the bottoms of shoes or in two pieces including a separate heel tread  18 . Treads  16 ,  18  comprise flexible base plates  20  and  20   a  and thick transplants of short bundles of absorbent fibers  22 , respectively. Either base plate  20  or  20   a  may be solid or has a void  24  in the center because the collective absorbency of the concentrated fiber bundles  22  provides a great displacement of water upon contact with a wet surface as the wearer walks across there. 
     The tread  16  may be made and attached to shoe sole  12  using conventional methods known in the industry including stitching, gluing, molding and vulcanization by converting uncured material of plate  20  into a stable compound by heat and pressure. When the material in the mold cools, the sole-upper bonding will become permanent. 
       FIG. 2  specifically shows a first embodiment of a sole tread  1  of the present invention in a perspective view from the top. Sole tread  1  is adapted to be attached by a wearer to the underside of an existing shoe, which has a shaped tread  26  as exemplified in  FIG. 1  but is insufficient to prevent the wearer from slipping at the presence of floor water. Tread  1  in the drawing is partially flexed to show fiber bundles  22  on the underside for contacting the floor safely after it is fixed to the shoe  10 . Sole tread  1  provides just enough traction on a surface whether it is dry or wet without compromising the natural walking postures of the wearer or aesthetical value of the general conventional portion of the shoe  10  due to its thin and light structure only using the similar materials used for sole  12  and very light strands of fibers  22 . Tread attachment  1  has larger sole section  16  and smaller heel section  18  that can be formed either integrally or separately and are provided with multiple thru holes  26  formed concentrically with fiber bundles  22  for channeling water as will be described below. 
     Since the sole tread  1  is designed for a custom attachment to the existing shoe sole along the top surfaces of treads  16 ,  18  there are thick elastic patches  28 - 30  with a permanent adhesive bonding on both sides shaped to cover discrete areas of tread surfaces. Bonding patch  28  may be in the form of a crescent positioned at a toe area  32  and a number of rectangular patches  29  may be attached along the longitudinal side areas  34  spanning approximately the width of the side area  34 . At the rear of tread  16 , angled patches  30  may cover the rear corner areas of tread  16 . Extra angled patches  30  may be applied to rectangular heel tread  18  at its four corners. Particular shapes and areas of patches  28 - 30  may be adjusted to fit different tread shapes as long as they help raise treads  16 ,  18  from the shoe sole  12  while bonding the treads  16 ,  18  and sole  12  tightly together. Patches  28 - 30  have the strong enough bonding capability to resist water permeations. Therefore, once attached the sole  12  and treads  16 ,  18  provide a clearance through which many exposed thru holes  26  can breath to displace water properly. 
     A non-stick plastic sheet (not shown) may cover the overall adhesive top surfaces of patches  28 - 30  until the end user of the tread attachment  1  removes it. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  showing the bottom of side area  34  in cross section, the fiber bundles  22  may be a concentrated group of evenly cut cotton yarns used frequently in making floor mops. Fiber bundles  22  may be made of pure cotton or synthetic fibers like rayon or mixture of the two, which may be stranded into a thick yarn having a diameter of about ⅕ of an inch. Cotton fibers are economical and provide high water absorption and retention for effective floor drying. Each fiber bundle  22  may be cut straight latitudinally to provide free ends protruding from bottom surface  34  although they may be cut obliquely to provide a wider absorbing surface. Alternatively, ends of fiber bundles  22  may be formed into loops by folding longer strands of fibers  22  into U-shapes and fastening the two ends in the adjacent recesses. 
     In manufacture, the continuous cotton yarns may be threaded through a template with holes exactly aligned with the thru holes  26  so that they may be cut all at once to a short length for the fiber bundles  22  to protrude slightly over the bottom surface  36  of base plate  20  after they are planted to base plate  20 . In order to hold the fiber bundles  22  firmly, multiple recesses  38  are formed throughout bottom surface  36  of base plate  20 . Each recess  34  may be circular and extends close to a top surface  40  that will face the sole  12  positioned above. Recess  34  has a beveled edge  42  at its entrance to allow an easy entrance of the respective fiber bundle  22  and constriction ridges  44  for gripping side areas of the introduced bundle  22  to centrally tighten the fibers in the recess  38  with a firm hold. To keep the plantation of fiber bundles  22  permanent, a bonding material in a liquid form may be applied to inner walls  46  of recesses  38 . Taking advantage of the adhesive fluidity and gravity, the bonding process can be done swiftly by generally applying a measured amount of the adhesive gently over the whole bottom surface  36  of base plate  20  with its orientation inverted as depicted in  FIG. 3 . The adhesive will naturally flow down over the beveled edges  42  to inner walls  46 . In addition, thru holes  26  are positioned concentrically of round recesses  38 , respectively so that the holes  26  are in full communication with the latter. 
     For the purpose of evenly distributing the fluid of adhesive, each recess  38  has a conical seat  48  and an annual upright wall  50  to form a well for reserving the adhesive converged in the center of recess  38  just before fiber bundle  22  is introduced to start making a permanent bonding session. The temporary adhesive wells are clearly indicated at  51  in  FIG. 4  illustrating the coverage of adhesive  51  around recess wall  50  and seat  48 . Inwardly of upright wall  50 , thru hole  26  is shaped to have a funnel opening  52  to facilitate accepting moisture expelled from squeezing saturated fiber bundles  22  under the walking load of the wearer during operation of the tread  1 . 
     Upon attachment of tread  1  to the shoe  10  slightly protruding fiber bundles  22  collectively work to provide a unique advantage of positive displacement of water to sideways and thus secure grip on a wet floor as well as a familiar traction not different from conventional treads. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5  showing the bottom of side area  34  in section cut lengthwise with respective to widthwise as in  FIG. 3 , a second embodiment of the sole tread  100  of the present invention is good for both custom attachment to existing shoes and integration into the shoe manufacturing at the sole making and bonding processes. Tread  100  has a base plate  101  with an additional solid top surface  102  that can provide a bonding surface in its entirety in order to provide a better bonding of tread  100  by an end user or in the manufacturing process where the sole  12  may be formed integral to the inventive tread  100 . 
     In order to provide channels for displacing water, tread  100  further includes lateral apertures  104  for communicating holes  26  to side open spaces between sole  12  ( FIG. 1 ) and tread  100 . Upon attachment of tread  100  to the shoe  10  slightly protruding fiber bundles  22  collectively work to provide a unique advantage of positive displacement of water to sideways through apertures  104  and thus secure grip on a wet floor. Additionally, closed joined crossbeams  106  are formed in base plate  101  to enhance the supportive strength of tread  100  so that apertures  104  are squeezed under the walking load and return to their shape quickly every time the wearer changes steps on shoe  12  and its other pair. The repetitive depressions applied vertically to tread  100  will create a vacuum in the apertures  104  to draw more moisture absorbed by fibers  22  to expedite the displacement of water resulting in a highly secure grip of shoe  10  even before the wearer becomes aware of the danger of the slippery situation in a concealed manner. 
     Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the wet-repellent soles and shoes have been shown and described, and several modifications thereof discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims. 
     For example, the process of planting fiber bundles  22  into base plate  20 ,  20   a ,  101  may be achieved by molding wherein a treaded sole is formed integral to the fibers by injecting a liquid soling material around the aligned fiber bundles  22  leaving short protrusions below the bottom surface  36 .