Footwear assembly having a vulcanized rubber layer and polyurethane layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10849385-B2
Application number	US-201815940619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2018
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

The present technology relates generally to a footwear assembly and method of manufacturing said footwear assembly. The footwear assembly includes an outsole and an upper connected to the outsole, where the upper includes a neoprene sock, a vulcanized rubber layer, and an injection molded layer. The neoprene sock is a full-foot neoprene sock having a foot portion that is configured to receive a wearer's foot. The vulcanized rubber layer fully covers a vamp portion, heel portion, toe portion, and ankle portion of the neoprene sock while only covering some of an underfoot portion. The injection molded layer is formed over a portion of the vulcanized rubber layer and completely covers the underfoot portion of the neoprene sock.

First claim

We claim:

1. A footwear assembly, comprising:
an outsole; and
an upper connected to the outsole, the upper comprising:
a sock layer having a foot portion and a leg portion connected to the foot portion, wherein the foot portion comprises an ankle portion, a vamp portion and an under-foot portion;
a vulcanized rubber layer bonded to and fully covering an outer surface of the vamp portion and the ankle portion of the sock layer;

an injection molded layer that fully covers the vamp portion, the ankle portion, and the under-foot portion, wherein the vulcanized rubber layer is interposed between the sock layer and the injection molded layer; and
an interface layer on the vulcanized rubber layer and between the vulcanized rubber layer and the injection molded layer.

2. The footwear assembly of claim 1 , wherein—
the leg portion comprises a shin side portion,
the vulcanized rubber layer and the injection molded layer both include portions that cover at least some of the shin side portion of the leg portion of the sock layer forming a shin guard on the shin-side portion of the sock layer.

3. The footwear assembly of claim 1 wherein the interface layer comprises a mesh material bonded to the vulcanized rubber layer.

4. The footwear assembly of claim 1 wherein the sock layer is a neoprene sock layer.

5. The footwear assembly of claim 1 , wherein the foot portion further comprises a toe portion and a heel portion, and wherein the vulcanized rubber layer fully covers the toe portion and the heel portion.

6. The footwear assembly of claim 5 , wherein the vulcanized rubber layer fully covers the underfoot portion of the sock layer.

7. The footwear assembly of claim 5 , further comprising at least one of a toe guard insert positioned around the toe portion of the sock layer, and a puncture resistant layer between the outsole and the under-foot portion of the sock layer.

8. The footwear assembly of claim 1 wherein the injection molded layer comprises polyurethane.

9. The footwear assembly of claim 1 wherein the vulcanized rubber layer terminates below a top of the leg portion and above a top of the injection molded layer.

10. A footwear assembly, comprising:
an outsole; and
an upper connected to the outsole, the upper comprising a neoprene sock having foot and leg portions, the foot portion being integrally connected to the leg portion and having a heel portion, a vamp portion, and an under-foot portion, the leg portion having a shin side portion, wherein the upper further comprises:
a vulcanized rubber layer bonded to and fully covering the foot portion and bonded to and at least partially covering the shin side portion of the neoprene sock;
an interface layer on an exterior surface of the vulcanized rubber layer, wherein the vulcanized rubber layer is between the interface layer and the neoprene sock; and
an injection molded layer that fully covers the foot portion and is molded directly onto at least some of the interface layer.

11. The footwear assembly of claim 10 , the upper further comprising an insole board positioned adjacent to the under-foot portion of the neoprene sock, wherein the insole board is between the neoprene sock and the vulcanized rubber layer.

12. The footwear assembly of claim 10 , wherein the vulcanized rubber layer and the injection molded layer each include portions that partially cover the shin side portion of the leg portion of the neoprene sock defining a shin guard.

13. The footwear assembly of claim 10 wherein the injection molded layer defines an integrated midsole portion between the neoprene sock and the outsole.

14. The footwear assembly of claim 10 wherein the injection molded layer comprises polyurethane.

Assignees

• Lacrosse Footwear Inc

Inventors

• Ludemann John W
• Ledbetter Christopher Wayne
• Beck Matt

Classifications

• B29D35/04

  having multilayered parts · CPC title

• B29D35/0009

  by injection moulding; Apparatus therefor · CPC title

• B29D35/0054

  by compression moulding, vulcanising or the like; Apparatus therefor · CPC title

• A43B23/081

  Toe stiffeners · CPC title

• A43B23/026

  Laminated layers · CPC title