Patent Publication Number: US-2022225726-A1

Title: Moisture-permeable waterproof shoe having upper of changeable appearance

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of Taiwanese Utility Model Application No. 110200774, filed on Jan. 21, 2021. 
     FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a shoe, and more particularly to a moisture-permeable waterproof shoe having upper of changeable appearance. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a conventional knitted sock shoe includes a three-dimensional (3D) sock-shaped knitted upper  1 , a shoe-shaped inner sleeve  2  fixed within the 3D sock-shaped knitted upper  1 , and a sole  3  fixed to the underside of the 3D sock-shaped knitted upper  1 . Compared to a conventional shoe, the above-mentioned knitted sock shoe is more comfortable to wear. However, to manufacture such knitted sock shoe, a specialized 3D upper knitting machine is required to produce the 3D sock-shaped knitted upper  1 . Moreover, since the sock-shaped knitted upper  1  has a 3D shape, due to technical limitations, it is not easy to design or produce the 3D sock-shaped knitted upper  1  with different patterns or shapes, thereby undesirably causing limited variations in terms of appearance of the 3D sock-shaped knitted upper  1 . 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a moisture-permeable waterproof shoe that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. 
     Accordingly, a moisture-permeable waterproof shoe of this disclosure includes an upper unit, a shoe-shaped inner sleeve, a connecting layer and a sole. The upper unit includes a top cut piece and a bottom cut piece. The top cut piece has a rear concave edge, a peripheral edge spaced apart from and surrounding the rear concave edge, and two rear mating edges. The rear concave edge has two spaced-apart first ends. The peripheral edge has two spaced-apart second ends corresponding to the first ends. Each of the rear mating edges interconnects one of the first ends and a respective one of the second ends. The two rear mating edges are abuttingly connected to each other by sewing. The bottom cut piece has a periphery. The peripheral edge of the top cut piece is sewn to the periphery of the bottom cut piece. The top cut piece and the bottom cut piece cooperate to define an interior space that has an open top end and a closed bottom end. The top cut piece is made of a knitted fabric. The shoe-shaped inner sleeve is disposed in the interior space, includes a moisture-permeable waterproof layer located on an outer side thereof, and defines a foot space having an open top end and a closed bottom end. The connecting layer is fixed between an inner surface of the upper unit and an outer surface of the shoe-shaped inner sleeve. The sole is fixed to a bottom portion of said upper unit. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional knitted sock shoe; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the conventional knitted sock shoe; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a moisture-permeable waterproof shoe according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of a top cut piece and a bottom cut piece of an upper unit of the embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is an assembled perspective view of the upper unit; 
         FIG. 7  is an assembled sectional view of the embodiment; and 
         FIG. 8  is an enlarged fragmentary view of  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3, 4 and 8 , a moisture-permeable waterproof shoe  100  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an upper unit  10 , a shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20 , a connecting layer  30 , a sole  40  and an adhesive layer  50 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the upper unit  10  includes a top cut piece  11  and a bottom cut piece  12 . 
     The top cut piece  11  has a rear concave edge  111 , a peripheral edge  112  spaced apart from and surrounding the rear concave edge  111 , and two rear mating edges  113 . The rear concave edge  111  has two spaced-apart first ends  114 . The peripheral edge  112  has two spaced-apart second ends  115  corresponding to the first ends  114 . Each of the rear mating edges  113  interconnects one of the first ends  114  and a respective one of the second ends  115 . The two rear mating edges  113  are abuttingly connected to each other by sewing. The top cut piece  11  is made of a knitted fabric. In this embodiment, the top cut piece  11  is manufactured by a conventional flat knitting machine. 
     The bottom cut piece  12  has a periphery  121 . In this embodiment, the bottom cut piece  12  is made of a non-woven fabric, but is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the bottom cut piece  12  may also be made of other fabric materials. 
     The peripheral edge  112  of the top cut piece  11  is sewn to the periphery  121  of the bottom cut piece  12 . The top cut piece  11  and the bottom cut piece  12  cooperate to define an interior space  13  that has an open top end and a closed bottom end. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , in combination with  FIG. 8 , the shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20  is disposed in the interior space  13 , and includes a lining layer  21 , an outer fabric layer  22 , a foam layer  23  fixed between the lining layer  21  and the outer fabric layer  22 , and a moisture-permeable waterproof layer  24  located on an outer side of the shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20 . Specifically, the moisture-permeable waterproof layer  24  is fixed to an outer surface of the outer fabric layer  22 . The shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20  defines a foot space  25  having an open top end and a closed bottom end. 
     The connecting layer  30  is fixed between an inner surface of the upper unit  10  and an outer surface of the shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20 , so that the upper unit  10  and the shoe-shaped inner sleeve  20  are closely attached to each other. In this embodiment, the connecting layer  30  is an adhesive. 
     The sole is fixed to a bottom portion of the bottom cut piece  12  of the upper unit  10 . 
     The adhesive layer  50  is fixed between the bottom portion of the bottom cut piece  12  of the upper unit  10  and a top surface of the sole  40 . 
     From the aforesaid description, the advantages of this disclosure can be summarized as follows: 
     1. The two-dimensional (2D) top cut piece  11  of the present disclosure can be produced by using a conventional flat knitting machine, after which the 2D top cut piece  11  is sewn to the 2D bottom cut piece  12 , thereby forming the 3D upper unit  10 . Compared with the conventional method, since the top cut piece  11  of the present disclosure has a two-dimensional shape, it is relatively easier to design and manufacture the top cut piece  11  with different patterns or shapes without having to manage the technical limitations encountered in the conventional method. Thus, the top cut piece  11  of the upper unit  10  is capable of exhibiting changeable appearances, such as different patterns, shapes or colors, and can meet the different visual needs of consumers. 
     2. The bottom cut piece  12  is covered by the sole  40 , and is not visible from an outer appearance of the moisture-permeable waterproof shoe  100 . Thus, the bottom cut piece  12  is made of a non-woven fabric, which is comparatively inexpensive, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. 
     While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment 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.