Patent Description:
The characteristic shared by the two possible uses of the boot-type footwear according to the invention derives from the need to facilitate the operations of putting the footwear on the foot by avoiding having to introduce it with the known systems of opening boots, which are generally very inconvenient and for this reason oblige the user to perform manoeuvres that are often rather laborious.

It is envisaged that the footwear uses a sole, provided with a heel support element, hinged onto the edges of which there are opposite half-parts covering the ankle, the foot and the tibial/peroneal part of the leg, and which are divided along a vertical plane lying on the longitudinal centreline, allowing each of them to go from an open position, with the sole completely free, to a closed one, in a manner substantially like a book.

The present invention has application in the medical or sports industry, with particular reference to manufacturers of prostheses and braces.

It is well known that some degenerative diseases such as diabetes cause several complications, among the most frequent of which is a condition known as "diabetic foot"; the latter is the result of complications affecting blood circulation and the peripheral nervous system, whereby the bones and joints of the foot tend to weaken, with the formation of new pressure points in which the skin may become damaged, resulting in wounds.

In the orthopaedic industry a need is felt to make things easier for people who suffer from these and other pathologies affecting the lower limbs, and the technology in this sector is increasingly looking for solutions aimed at the production of comfortable footwear which on the one hand allows the feet to be easily introduced and on the other hand assures the necessary support and utmost breathability, in order to enable comfortable walking while avoiding the formation of pressure ulcers, and at the same time assuring a correct orthopaedic aid.

The needs in the sports industry are wholly similar, with industry operators seeking to find mountain boot or ski boot solutions that allow the feet to be easily introduced and assure the necessary support and utmost breathability, in order to offer maximum comfort and safety to users.

In this regard, solutions have been devised which envisage the use of boots comprising opening/closing systems that in some cases provide for the division of the footwear in two or more parts which are hinged together and reciprocally couplable and obtained from complete or partial sectioning of the sole along a median longitudinal plane, or a cut made on an oblique plane passing through the malleolar articulation of the ankle with an opening that divides the tibial portion of the leg into two parts.

In general, such solutions suffer from the common drawback of not allowing the foot to be introduced without effort, since there is not provided any possibility of opening the footwear in such a way as to leave the base portion or hull of the sole completely free.

This means that it is necessary for the user to open the upper part of the boot-type footwear as much as possible, in an attempt to recover the largest amount of space possible for introducing his or her foot, and perform several manoeuvres, which are in any case always rather laborious, until completely introducing the foot.

Furthermore, in the prior art solutions there is not provided any possibility of dividing the portion of the upper hulls of the footwear into a number of parts, that is, of separating a front portion thereof from a rear portion in the tibial-tarsal zone, to enable the lateral parts of the brace to be closed in an independent front/rear manner. This possibility would be desirable and reveal to be particularly useful in the event that it is necessary to partially or temporarily retain the front part of the foot, or else leave it at least temporarily open, as in the case of diabetic foot.

Document <CIT>, with its abstract, discloses a ski boot comprising an outer boot and an inner boot; the outer boot comprises a sole and a vamp, the sole being integral; the vamp comprises a right side portion of the vamp and a left side portion of the vamp, the right side portion of the vamp and the left side portion of the vamp being hinged on the sole such that the same may rotate relative to the sole between an open state and a closed state; the outer boot further comprises a locking device and a locking wire; the locking wire surrounds the vamp at a plurality of locations on the vamp (<NUM>) and may be buried in the locking device so as to keep the right side portion of the vamp and the left side portion of the vamp in the closed state, and may be released from the locking device to allow the right side portion of the vamp and the left side portion of the vamp rotate to the open state.

The present invention aims to provide boot-type footwear usable for orthopaedic purposes for controlled walking with stiffening of the lower extremities of the legs, or sports footwear of the mountain boot type, and in particular ski boots, provided with half-hulls that may be opened and spread apart and then closed and joined back together like a book, so as to allow the foot to be easily introduced, thus creating a condition capable of eliminating or at least reducing the drawbacks highlighted above.

The invention aims in particular to provide a new type of opening for both an orthopaedic and a sports boot that enables, in a first step, the positioning of the foot on the sole while the latter remains completely open and free of lateral obstacles, and, in a second step, the rearward movement of the foot until the calcaneal zone is resting against a heel support element.

Another object of the invention is to enable closure, following the facilitated positioning of the foot, by joining pairs of lateral half-hulls to the sole, the half-hulls being hinged onto two opposite lateral edges thereof.

According to the invention it is envisaged that in the open position the same lateral half-hulls enable the introduction of the foot, which goes to rest on the completely open, obstacle-free sole, whereas in the closed position it enables the complete containment of the lower part of the leg, including the tibial-tarsal zone and the foot.

This is obtained by means of boot-type footwear usable for orthopaedic purposes for controlled walking with stiffening of the lower extremities of the legs, whose features are described in the main claim.

The dependent claims of the solution in question outline advantageous embodiments of the invention.

The main advantages of this solution ultimately regard the fact that the footwear comprises a sole provided with a heel support element, hinged onto whose edges there are half-hulls which are positioned opposite relative to the longitudinal centreline of the sole itself and disposed so as to cover the ankle, the foot and the tibial/peroneal part of the leg, while enabling the boot to be put on with very simple operations that avoid the need to introduce the foot into very limited spaces of the known boots.

Said half-hulls are symmetrically opposite relative to the centreline of the sole and are formed by dividing the upper, that is, the part of the boot above the sole, along a vertical plane lying on the longitudinal centreline of the sole itself, thus enabling each of the half-hulls to go from an open position with the sole completely free to a closed one, by bringing them reciprocally near in a substantially book-like manner.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be clear after a reading of the following description of one embodiment of the invention, provided by way of nonlimiting example with the aid of the figures illustrated in the appended drawings, in which:.

Making reference to the appended figures, and initially in particular to <FIG>, <NUM> generally indicates a boot designed for orthopaedic use or for sports use, according to the particular embodiments.

In particular according to the embodiment represented in the aforesaid figures, the boot <NUM> is made up of a sole <NUM> comprising on the top thereof a resting base <NUM> for the foot, provided with a rear positioning element <NUM> extending substantially vertically and configured as a rear positioning element for the foot, a first pair of rear half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> having a conformation such as to enclose, once joined, the calcaneal-tibial-tarsal portion of the leg and the vertically extending rear positioning element <NUM>, and a second pair of front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> which cover, once joined, at least an upper part of the foot.

In other words, the two pairs of half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> are obtained by sectioning the upper on the median vertical plane lying along the longitudinal centreline of the sole.

More precisely, each of the rear half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> comprises a lower edge <NUM> associated with the rear lateral edge of the base <NUM> of the sole <NUM> by means of a hinging configured to allow the respective half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> of to go from an open position, in which they are spread completely apart and nearing the plane in which the sole lies, to a closed position in which the two half-hulls are reciprocally joined with interlocking edges, comprising said rear positioning element <NUM> of the sole.

The hinging between the two half-hulls and the rear lateral edges of the base <NUM> is advantageously achieved by means of hinges with pins passing through axes parallel to the edges of the base, or with weakening zones if the boot is made of plastic material in a single mould.

The joining between the two half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> is assured by fixing devices <NUM> represented by clasp-type elements with adjustment teeth or ratchet-type elements with pull cables <NUM> connected to pre-established connection points, based on the different needs.

According to a first embodiment of the invention represented in figures <NUM> to 3d, each of the front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM>, which cover, once joined, at least an upper part of the foot, has a substantially curved shape and comprises a lower edge <NUM> associated with the front lateral edge of the base <NUM> of the sole <NUM> by means of a hinging configured to allow the respective front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> to go from an open position in which they are spread completely apart and nearing the plane in which the sole lies, to a closed position in which the two half-hulls are reciprocally joined with the interlocking edges thereof.

In this case as well, the joining between the two front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> is assured by tensioning devices <NUM> represented by clasp-type elements with adjustment teeth or ratchet-type elements with pull cables connected to pre-established connection points, based on needs.

The hinging between the two front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> and the rear lateral edges of the base <NUM> is achieved by means of hinges with pins passing through axes parallel to the edges of the base or with weakening zones if the boot is made of plastic material in a single mould.

For the use of the boot-type footwear according to said first embodiment, as represented in <FIG>, the first step entails resting the foot on the base <NUM> of the sole <NUM> while the half-hulls are disposed in the open position and moving the foot rearward until the heel is resting against the rear positioning element <NUM>. Once the foot is positioned, one proceeds to close the second pair of front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> (<FIG>), then to close the pair of rear half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> (<FIG>), and finally to secure all of the components by means of the fixing devices <NUM>.

According to a second embodiment represented in <FIG> and <FIG>, the footwear according to the invention - which comprises a sole <NUM>, said two first opposing rear half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> and said two second opposing front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> - also comprises a further front hull <NUM>, hinged onto the front part of the sole and which, in the closed position, covers the front part of the foot and is joined to the second pair of front half-hulls.

In this case the further front hull <NUM> has a rounded conformation configured to allow the rotation thereof from an open position towards the front part of the sole to an interlocked closed position against the edges of the second front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrate different operating steps of the boot, from a totally open position for the introduction of the foot (<FIG>), to a first closure of the front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> (<FIG>), to a further closure also of the rear half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> (<FIG>) and the closure of the front hull <NUM> by interlocking against the edges of the same front half-hulls, followed by fastening by means of the fixing devices <NUM> (<FIG>).

According to a third further embodiment that is more suitable as a solution for sports use, for example as a ski boot, represented in <FIG> and <FIG>, the boot-type footwear comprises a first pair of half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM>, and a second pair of front half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> which, during use, cover the entire foot, including the area of the tips of the toes.

In this case as well, the two pairs of half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> are obtained by sectioning the upper on the median vertical plane lying along the longitudinal centreline of the sole and they are configured so as to comprise respective lower edges <NUM> associated with the lateral edges of the sole <NUM> by means of a hinging configured to allow the respective half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> to go from an open position, in which they are spread completely apart and nearing the plane in which the sole lies, to a closed position in which the two half-hulls are reciprocally joined with the interlocking edges thereof, as represented in <FIG>.

As in the preceding cases, the joined parts are maintained in a locked position by means of the fixing devices <NUM>.

According to the non-claimed solution represented in <FIG>, the upper applied on the sole <NUM> is divided into two half-parts, and comprises a front half-hull and a rear half-hull, which are integral with each other, thus forming two half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> which cover, in the closed position, the entire foot and all of the calcaneal-tibial-tarsal zone, i.e. the lower part of the leg.

From an operational viewpoint, the two half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> are obtained by sectioning the upper on the median vertical plane lying along the longitudinal centreline of the sole <NUM> and they are configured so as to comprise respective lower edges <NUM> associated with the lateral edges of the sole <NUM> by means of a hinging configured to allow the respective half-hulls <NUM> and <NUM> to go from an open position in which they are spread completely apart and nearing the plane in which the sole lies, to a closed position, following the introduction of the foot, in which the two half-hulls are reciprocally joined with the interlocking edges thereof.

According to further embodiments, said rear positioning element <NUM> extending substantially vertically, configured as a rear positioning element for the foot, is provided with an opening <NUM> configured as a relief zone for the heel and the tendon associated therewith.

Furthermore, different fixing devices <NUM> are also provided, in addition to the ones described and illustrated, such as straps, also of the Velcro type, associated with specific loops, or toothed tabs, wheels and steel cables, or the like.

The hinges connecting the half-hulls to the soles are also made in different ways, in addition to the ones described that use through pins or weakening zones.

The zones in which the half-hulls are joined can also be of various kinds, such as of the interlocking type or another suitable system adapted to join the half-hulls.

Claim 1:
Boot-type orthopaedic or sports footwear (<NUM>) usable for controlled walking and adapted to stiffen a lower extremity of a leg of an individual, comprising:
• a sole (<NUM>) having an upper resting base (<NUM>) for a foot;
• a substantially vertical rear element (<NUM>) for facilitating the positioning of the foot on the upper base (<NUM>) of the sole (<NUM>);
• a first pair of rear half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>), each of which comprises a lower edge (<NUM>) hinged to a rear lateral edge of the sole (<NUM>) so that each of the rear half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) can rotate from an open position in which the half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) are spread completely apart relative to the sole (<NUM>), to a closed position in which the two half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) are reciprocally joined to each other along an edge on a plane passing through the centreline of the sole (<NUM>), and are further connected to an edge of the rear element (<NUM>) so as to be able to cover the ankle and the calcaneal-tibial-tarsal zone of a leg of the individual;
characterised in that it further comprises:
• a second pair of front half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>), each of which comprises a lower edge (<NUM>) hinged to a front lateral edge of the sole (<NUM>) so that each of the front half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) can rotate from an open position in which the half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) are spread completely apart relative to the sole (<NUM>), to a the closed position in which the two half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) are reciprocally joined to each other along an edge on a plane passing through the centreline of the sole (<NUM>), and are further connected to the rear half-hulls (<NUM>, <NUM>) so as to be able to cover an upper part of the foot.