Patent ID: 8215031

Claim:
A sole structure for a shoe comprising: an upper sheet; and a plurality of curved sheet members that each comprise a downwardly convexly curved sheet element, and that are arranged adjacent one another and partially overlapping one another in a longitudinal direction of said sole structure; wherein an upper end of each respective one of the curved sheet members is joined to a lower surface of the upper sheet, and a lower end of each respective one of the curved sheet members is joined at a junction point to a downwardly facing surface of an adjacent one of the curved sheet members that is adjacent to and partially overlapped by the respective one of the curved sheet members, and wherein each one of the curved sheet members further has at least one of the following features: a first feature wherein each one of the curved sheet members consists of said downwardly convexly curved sheet element which is a single continuously downwardly convexly curved sheet element extending from said upper end to said lower end, a second feature wherein the downwardly facing surface of each one of the curved sheet members has a downwardly convexly curved shape at a lowermost point of the curved sheet member, a third feature wherein the junction point at which the lower end of each respective one of the curved sheet members is joined to the downwardly facing surface of the adjacent curved sheet member is higher than a lowermost point of the respective sheet member.