Patent ID: 6928756

Claim:
A shoe comprising: a heel comprising a heel panel; a shoe top structure for retaining a user foot; a sole connected to said shoe top structure and having a sole forward segment for making contact with a shoe support surface; and a sole rearward segment arching upwardly and extending rearwardly from said sole forward segment over said heel panel and being spaced above said heel panel; heel mounting means interconnecting said sole rearward segment and said heel panel; and spring means comprising a coil spring and biasing said heel panel downwardly a certain distance from said sole rearward segment and thereby defining a vertical gap between said sole rearward segment and said heel panel, said coil spring having a spring coil with a spring coil longitudinal axis extending across the width of and substantially parallel to said heel panel, said spring having a first spring end protruding radially from said spring coil and bearing downwardly against said heel panel and having a second spring end protruding radially from said spring coil and bearing upwardly against said sole rearward segment, biasing said heel panel and said sole rearward segment said certain distance apart from each other; such that a downward force on said sole rearward segment presses said heel panel against a shoe support surface and drives said heel panel upwardly toward said sole rearward segment against biasing of said spring means, closing the gap and thereby storing energy in said spring means, and such that reduction of the downward force permits the biasing of said spring means on said heel panel causes said heel panel to exert a downward force on a support surface, said spring means thereby adding upward force as a shoe wearer rises off the support surface; such that thrusting said heel panel against a support surface rotates said spring ends relative to said spring coil about said spring coil against the biasing of said coil spring, thereby storing energy.