Patent ID: 7900376

Claim:
In a footwear worn by a user during locomotion comprising a toe area, a ball of the foot area, an arch area, and a heel area; an energy storage and return system for the footwear, the system comprising: a top spring board and a bottom spring board, the top spring board concave up in the arch area; the top spring board and the bottom spring board fixedly connected to each other in at least the arch area to form at least one spring board axis; wherein the top spring board and the bottom spring board cooperate to store energy when the user wearing the footwear lands on at least one of the toe area, the ball of the foot area, the arch area, or the heel area; and wherein the top spring board and the bottom spring board cooperate to return energy to the user when the user pushes off of at least one of the toe area, the ball of the foot area, the arch area, or the heel area; wherein, when the footwear is in a resting shape, the top spring board extends from the spring board axis into both the heel area and the ball of the foot areas of the footwear such that the top spring board does not directly contact the bottom spring board in at least two of the arch area forward of the spring board axis, arch area rearward of the spring board axis, heel area, and the ball of the foot area of the footwear; wherein, upon an impact, the top spring board is capable of reboundably bending toward the bottom spring board in at least two of the arch area forward of the spring board axis, arch area rearward of the spring board axis, the heel area, and the ball of the foot area of the footwear; and wherein, upon an impact, the bottom spring board is capable of reboundably bending toward the top spring board in at least two of the arch area forward of the spring board axis, arch area rearward of the spring board axis, the heel area, and the ball of the foot area of the footwear.