Patent Publication Number: US-9420845-B2

Title: Shoe upper structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a shoe upper structure and, more particularly, to an integrated shoe upper structure formed by a warp knitting machine. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, a sports shoe includes a shoe sole and a shoe upper structure connected with the shoe sole. A conventional shoe upper structure is composed of a top piece, a bottom piece, an inner edge piece, an outer edge piece, and two side pieces. However, the manufacturing process of the conventional shoe upper structure has lots of steps, resulting in material waste and manufacturing costs increase. Furthermore, in order to enhance the wearing comfort of the shoe upper and/or to allow the pieces of the shoe upper to have different flexibility, a plurality of elastic blocks with patterns is usually provided on the top piece of the shoe upper. However, the plurality of blocks associated on the top piece of the shoe upper need to be formed with different piece materials, which is inconvenient in processing and wastes lots of materials, resulting in high cost and low style changes. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Thus, an objective of the present invention is to provide a shoe upper structure to improve the aforementioned problems. The shoe upper structure of the present invention has the advantages of material saving, convenient processing, low manufacturing cost, long service life, and increase of the availability in pattern and style of an outer surface of the shoe upper. 
     To achieve this and other objectives, a shoe upper according to the present invention includes an upper layer and a lower layer. The upper layer includes front and rear ends spaced along an axis and a slot extending along the axis and located between the front and rear ends of the upper layer. The slot includes a front section adjacent to the front end of the upper layer and a rear section adjacent to the rear end of the upper layer. The upper layer further includes a plurality of shoelace holes in two sides of the front section of the slot. The upper layer further includes opposite outer and inner surfaces. The lower layer is adapted to be associated with a shoe sole and is engaged with the inner surface of the upper layer. The lower layer includes front and rear ends spaced along the axis. The front end of the lower layer is associated with the front end of the upper layer to form a front closing edge, and the rear end of the lower layer is associated with the rear end of the upper layer to form a rear closing edge. Two sides of the lower layer are respectively spaced from two sides of the upper layer, so that the upper layer can be stretched upwards relative to the lower layer. The rear section of the slot forms a heel opening when the upper layer is stretched upwards. The upper and lower layers and the front and rear closing edges are formed with elastomeric yarns into a one-piece integrated construction by a warp knitting machine. 
     In a preferred form, the upper layer further includes a plurality of blocks with patterns, and each block is integrally formed on the outer surface of the upper layer by the warp knitting machine using the elastomeric yarns. 
     The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of this invention described in connection with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The illustrative embodiments may best be described by reference to the accompanying drawings where: 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of a shoe upper of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of the shoe upper of  FIG. 1  with an upper layer of the shoe upper being stretched upwards and opened. 
         FIG. 3  is a slightly enlarged sectional view of the shoe upper of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing the shoe upper of  FIG. 2  associated on a shoe sole. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A shoe upper of an embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIGS. 1 through 3  of the drawings and generally designated  1 . The shoe upper  1  includes an upper layer  2  and a lower layer  3 . The upper layer  2  includes front and rear ends  21  and  22  spaced along an axis, and a slot  11  extends along the axis and is located between the front and rear ends  21  and  22  of the upper layer  2 . The slot  11  includes a front section  111  adjacent to the front end  21  of the upper layer  2  and a rear section  112  adjacent to the rear end  22  of the upper layer  2 . The upper layer  2  further includes a plurality of shoelace holes  12  provided in two sides of the front section  111  of the slot  11  for a shoelace to extend through and wrap around. Furthermore, the upper layer  2  further includes opposite outer and inner surfaces  23  and  24 . The outer surface  23  of the upper layer  2  is provided with a plurality of blocks  13  with patterns. 
     The lower layer  3  is adapted to be engaged with a shoe sole  4  to form a shoe, such as a sports shoe (see  FIG. 4 ). The lower layer  3  is in the form of a flat surface and is engaged with the inner surface  24  of the upper layer  2 . The lower layer  3  includes front and rear ends  31  and  32  spaced along the axis. The front end  31  of the lower layer  3  is associated with the front end  21  of the upper layer  2  to form a front closing edge  10 , and the rear end  32  of the lower layer  3  is associated with the rear end  22  of the upper layer  2  to form a rear closing edge  20 . Furthermore, two sides  33  of the lower layer  3  are spaced from two sides  25  of the upper layer  2 , so that the upper layer  2  can be stretched upwards and opened relative to the lower layer  3  (see  FIG. 2 ). After the upper layer  2  is stretched upwards, the rear section  112  of the slot  11  forms a heel opening  14 , so that the upper layer  2  can form a type of athletic shoe-shaped upper structure. 
     The upper and lower layers  2  and  3 , the front and rear closing edges  10  and  20 , and the blocks  13  are integrally formed with elastomeric yarns into a one-piece integrated construction by a warp knitting machine. Specifically, in a specific embodiment, a program of the warp knitting machine is firstly used to set up the pattern and style of the shoe upper  1 , and, then, elastomeric yarns are used to knit a closing edge (for example, the front closing edge  10 ). Next, the upper and lower layers  2  and  3  are knitted at the same time. A middle of the upper layer  2  is provided with the slot  11 , a plurality of shoelace holes  12  is provided in two sides of the slot  11 , and a plurality of blocks  13  with different patterns is knitted on the outer surface  23  of the upper layer  2 . When the upper and lower layers  2  and  3  are knitted to a preset length, the rear closing edge  20  is then knitted, completing the production of an integrated shoe upper structure of the invention. The shoe upper structure of the present invention has the advantages of material saving, convenient processing, low manufacturing cost, long service life, and the increase of the availability in pattern and style of the outer surface  23  of the shoe upper  1 . 
     Thus since the invention disclosed herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or general characteristics thereof, some of which forms have been indicated, the embodiments described herein are to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is to be indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.