Abstract:
A shoe includes a false welt member which extends along and is secured to a peripheral region of an outsole. The welt member includes an interior strip, a wrapping sheet enclosing the interior strip, and a sewing line extending along the wrapping sheet. An upper has a bottom open end secured to at least one of the outsole and the welt member. The wrapping sheet may be made of leather like the upper so that the shoe can present a harmonious and elegant appearance. The interior strip may include two or more strip sections having different stiffness properties so that the shoe can have sufficient flexibility and stiffness at respective front and heel regions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a shoe, more particularly to a shoe having a false welt member.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a typical false-welted shoe includes an outsole  1 , a false welt  2 , an upper  3  and an insole  4 . The false welt  2  includes a welt member  201  and decorative stitch lines  202  provided along the welt member  201 . The false welt  2  is adhered to the top face of the outsole  1  along the periphery of the outsole  1 . The bottom end of the upper  3  is lasted and is bonded to the bottom side of the insole  4 . After the lasted upper  3  is secured to the top of the outsole  1 , it is surrounded by the false welt  2 .  
         [0005]     As the false welt  2  is used, the shoe as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  has an outer appearance which resembles a welted shoe. However, since the welt strip  201  is generally injection molded, it can not be made from a leathery material which is the same as that of the upper  3 . Therefore, the shoe does not have a harmonious look. In addition, the shape of the welt strip  201  is the same throughout the entire length thereof and the appearance thereof is monotonous. Moreover, since the flexibility or stiffness of the welt strip  201  is constant through out the length thereof, the shoe does not possess sufficient flexibility and stiffness respectively at front and rear heel regions thereof.  
         [0006]     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a shoe produced by using an Opanka construction method includes an upper  5  which has a bottom end directly sewn to the periphery of an outsole  6 . The shoe as such does not always require any insole to interconnect the upper  5  to the outsole  6  and thus exhibits good flexibility. However, in order to enable the upper  5  to be sewn to the outsole  6 , the outsole  6  must be made of a stitchable material having a high tearing strength. Therefore, the material usable for making the outsole  6  is limited. While EVA and PU are used commonly in the shoe industry, only PU which has high strength is suitable for making the outsole  6 . In addition, PU, despite its high strength, is heavy and is hydrolyzable with water.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     An object of the present invention is to provide an improvement over the conventional false-welted shoes so as to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.  
         [0008]     Accordingly, a shoe according to the present invention comprises: an outsole having a top face with a peripheral region; a welt member extending along and secured to the peripheral region, the welt member including an interior strip, a wrapping sheet enclosing the interior strip, and a sewing line extending along the wrapping sheet, the wrapping sheet being folded to form a lower part, an upper part extending over the lower part, and a fold part interconnecting the lower and upper parts, the interior strip being embraced by the lower and upper parts and the fold part, the lower and upper parts respectively having marginal parts which are opposite to the fold part and which abut against each other; and an upper having a bottom open end, the bottom open end of the upper being secured to at least one of the top face of the outsole and the welt member. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional shoe;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view of the shoe of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of another conventional shoe;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view showing an outsole and a welt member used in the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is an exploded view showing an outsole and a welt member used in the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a sectional view of the second preferred embodiment;  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is another sectional view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  is a sectional view of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  is a side view of the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]     The present invention will be illustrated with reference to FIGS.  4  to  10 , wherein like elements are represented by like reference numerals.  
         [0021]     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the first preferred embodiment of a shoe according to the present invention includes a shoe which has an outsole  10  with a top face  11  and a peripheral region  111 . A welt member  20  is secured to the peripheral region  111  around an upper  30 .  
         [0022]     The welt member  20  is used as a false welt and includes a wrapping sheet  21 , an interior strip  22  and a sewing line  23 . The interior strip  22  is enclosed by the wrapping sheet  21 . The interior strip  22  may be a molded or non-molded strip, and the wrapping sheet may be made of any suitable sheeting material. In this embodiment, the interior strip  22  is a molded strip which has a rectangular cross-section, and the wrapping sheet  21  is made of the same leathery material as the upper  30 . The wrapping sheet  21  is folded to form a lower part  211 , an upper part  212  extending over the lower part  211 , and a fold part  24  interconnecting the lower and upper parts  211 ,  212 .  
         [0023]     The interior strip  22  is embraced by the lower and upper parts  211 ,  212  and the fold part  24 . The lower and upper parts  211 ,  212  respectively have marginal parts  213 ,  214  which are opposite to the fold part  24  and which abut agasint each other. The marginal part  214  extends beyond the marginal part  213  of the lower part  211  so that the end of the marginal part  213  of the lower part  211  is entirely covered by the marginal part  214 . Of course, the lower and upper marginal parts  213 ,  214  may be of the same width so that the upper part  212  has no portion extending beyond the marginal part  213  of the lower part  211 . The sewing line  23  is formed through the wrapping sheet  21  and the interior strip  22  and extends along the full length of the welt member  20 . In securing the welt member  20  to the peripheral region  111  of the outsole  10 , the lower part  211  of the wrapping sheet  21  and the marginal part  214  are attached to the top face  11  of the outsole  10  through a gluing process. Alternately, a sewing process may be used to attach the welt member  20  to the outsole  10 . The fold part  24  of the wrapping sheet  21  which bounds the interior strip  22  are located outwardly of the marginal parts  213  and  214 .  
         [0024]     The upper  30  has a top open end  31  and a bottom open end  32 . The bottom open end  32  is lasted over an insole  40  and is glued to the top face  11  of the outsole  10  and the upper part  214  of the wrapping sheet  21 .  
         [0025]     The welt member  20  may be prepared by folding the wrapping sheet  21  about the interior strip  22  followed by sewing together the wrapping sheet  21  and the interior strip  22  with the sewing line  23  which extends along the full length of the wrapping sheet  21 . Alternatively, the wrapping sheet  21  may be folded and sewn first to form a space which will in turn receive the interior strip  22 . After the welt member  20  is prepared, it is glued to the peripheral region  111  on the top face  11  of the outsole  10 . Then, the bottom open end  32  of the upper  30  which has been lasted over the insole  40  is glued to the top face  11  of the outsole  10  and the upper part  212  of the wrapping sheet  21 . The marginal parts  213 ,  214  extend between the bottom open end  32  of the upper  30  and the top face  11  of the outsole  10 .  
         [0026]     Since the welt member  20  is made of a leathery material which is the same as that of the upper  30 , the outer appearance of the shoe in this embodiment is harmonious and elegant. In addition, as the cross-section of the interior strip  22  may be in any shape other than a rectangle, the shape of the welt member  20  may be varied to match different shoe designs.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIGS. 6, 7  and  8 , a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown to have an outsole  10  and an upper  30  like the first embodiment. The top face  11  of the outsole  10  has a front region  112  and a rear heel region  113 . The peripheral region  111  surrounds the front region  112  and the heel region  113 . This embodiment utilizes a false welt member  20 ′ which includes a wrapping sheet  21  enclosing an interior strip that is composed of a front strip section  25  and a rear strip section  26 , and sewing lines  23   a  and  23   b.  The front and rear strip sections  25  and  26  are formed as separate pieces which have different cross-sections. Particularly, the front strip section  25  has a rectangular cross-section, whereas the rear strip section  26  has a circular cross-section. Furthermore, the rear strip section  26  has a stiffness greater than that of the front strip section  25 . The front strip section  25  extends in the front region  112  of the outsole  10  along the peripheral region  111 , whereas the rear strip section  26  extends in the rear heel region  113  along the peripheral region  111 . Since the front and rear strip sections  25 ,  26  are different in their cross-sections, different shapes are presented by the welt member  20 ′. Moreover, as the welt member  20 ′ has different degrees of stiffness or flexibility due to the front and rear strip sections  25  and  26 , it can provide sufficient flexibility for the front region  112  of the outsole  10  while also maintaining sufficient stiffness for the rear heel region  113 .  
         [0028]     Referring to  FIG. 9 , a third preferred embodiment of the present invention is substantially similar to the first embodiment except that the upper  30  has an outwardly turned bottom open end  32 ′ sewn to the welt member  20  through a sewing line  23 ′. Thus, the sewing line  23 ′ extends through both of the bottom open end  32 ′ and the welt member  20 . Like a shoe of an Opanka construction method, the shoe of this embodiment does not require lasting the bottom open end  32 ′ of the upper  30 , thereby increasing the flexibility of the shoe. However, unlike the shoe of the Opanka construction method, the bottom end  32 ′ of the upper  30  in this embodiment is sewn directly to the welt member  20  rather than to the outsole  10 . Therefore, the material of the outsole  10  used in this embodiment need not be limited to PU which is heavy and hydrolyzable with water. In other words, the outsole  10  may be made of any other suitable material besides polyurethane.  
         [0029]      FIG. 10  shows the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention which includes a welt member  20 ″. The welt member  20 ″ differs from the welt member  20  in that the welt member  20 ″ is divided into four discrete welt sections  201 ″ (only two welt sections  201 ″ are shown in  FIG. 10 ) which extend along the peripheral region  111  of the outsole  10 .  
         [0030]     While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.