HEEL COUNTER STRUCTURE WITH REBOUND FUNCTION AND SHOE

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a bypass continuation application of PCT application no.: PCT/CN2024/115961. This application claims priorities from PCT Application PCT/CN2024/115961, filed Aug. 30, 2024, and from Chinese patent application 2024209557274, filed May 6, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein in the entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of shoes, and in particular to a heel counter structure with a rebound function and a shoe.

BACKGROUND

Shoes are daily necessities designed to protect our feet and facilitate walking. The heels of the shoes are a crucial component that provides support and protection for the human heel.

In related art, shoes are usually provided with accessories such as shoelaces, hook-and-loop straps, or elastic straps. The wearer usually needs to manually pull up the shoe heel for quick wearing. Besides, the wearer needs to loosen the shoelaces, hook-and-loop straps, or elastic straps when taking off the shoes and tighten them when putting on the shoes, making it difficult to put on and take off the shoes. Furthermore, improper force control during wearing may damage the shoe heel structure and potentially cause injury to the feet.

SUMMARY

In view of the shortcomings in the prior art, an objective of the present disclosure is to provide a heel counter structure with a rebound function and a shoe, which improve the use stability and wearing smoothness of a heel counter body.

To achieve the above objective, the present disclosure adopts the following technical solutions.

A heel counter structure with a rebound function includes a heel counter body, where the heel counter body is provided with a guide portion and a movable portion connected to the guide portion; the guide portion is provided with a guide surface; the movable portion is provided with protrusion structures; and the protrusion structures are connected to the guide surface, and can perform a compression contraction movement and a rebound recovery movement.

Preferably, the protrusion structures protrude from an inner side of the heel counter body to an outer side of the heel counter body; and/or

• • left and/or right side ends of all the protrusion structures extend to an edge of the heel counter body; and/or
  • a thickness H₁ of the protrusion structure close to the edge and a thickness H₂ of the protrusion structure close to a centerline of the heel counter body satisfy a following relational expression: H₂>H₁.

Preferably, the protrusion structure includes at least one first fold edge and at least one second fold edge obliquely connected to the first fold edge; and

• • the first fold edge and the second fold edge form an interior angle of α, and α is in a range of 0° to 90°.

Preferably, the guide surface includes a guide section and a support section connected to the guide section; the support section is connected to the movable portion; the guide section is oblique from bottom to top and backward; and the support section is arc-shaped from top to bottom and backward.

Preferably, a tangent line of an inner side of the guide section and a horizontal plane where the guide section is located form an angle of β, and β is in a range of 40° to 85°; and/or

• • a thickness D₁ of the support section close to the guide section and a thickness D₂ of the support section close to the movable portion satisfy a following relational expression: D₂>D₁; and/or
  • a tangent line of an inner side of the support section and a vertical plane where the support section is located form an angle of δ, and δ is in a range of 10° to 30°.

Preferably, a center point A of the heel counter body, a first edge point B on a left side of the heel counter body, and a second edge point C on a right side of the heel counter body form an angle ∠CAB; and the angle ∠CAB is defined as μ, 20≤μ≤90°.

Preferably, the heel counter body further includes a connection portion; the connection portion and the guide portion are located opposite at two side ends of the movable portion; and the connection portion is connected to the movable portion.

Preferably, the heel counter body further includes at least one buffer cavity; the buffer cavity is located between adjacent two of the protrusion structures; and a buffer direction of the buffer cavity is the same as a compression contraction direction of the protrusion structures, and a recovery direction of the buffer cavity is the same as a rebound recovery direction of the protrusion structures.

The present disclosure further proposes a shoe, including an upper portion, a sole portion, and a heel counter body, where the heel counter body is the above heel counter structure with a rebound function; the upper portion is connected to an upper surface of the sole portion; the heel counter body includes a side end connected to a side end of the upper portion and a bottom end connected to the upper surface of the sole portion; and the heel counter body is located at a back end of the upper portion.

Preferably, a surface of the heel counter body is wrapped with an outer covering.

The present disclosure has the following beneficial effects. In the technical solution, during the wearing process, when the guide portion applies a downward force and moves, foldable buffering action is achieved through compression movement of the movable portion, thereby reducing stress exertion on the heel counter body. After the wearing is finished, the heel counter body is recovered to an original state. This design improves protective capability of the heel counter body, improves use stability and wearing smoothness, and substantially eliminates the need for manual pulling of the heel counter body by the user during wearing. In addition, through the guide surface of the guide portion, the user can enter an inner side of the heel counter body along the guide surface, thereby improving the user's wearing smoothness and efficiency, and eliminating the need for manual footwear-assisting maneuvers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, advantages, and technical effects of exemplary implementations of the present disclosure are described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a heel counter structure with a rebound function according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a heel counter structure with a rebound function according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a lateral view of the heel counter structure with a rebound function according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the heel counter structure with a rebound function according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the heel counter structure with a rebound function according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the heel counter structure with a rebound function according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of a heel counter structure with a rebound function according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a shoe according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Reference Numerals: 100, heel counter body; 101, edge; 102, first position; 103, second position; 1, guide portion; 11, guide surface; 111, guide section; 112, support section; 2, movable portion; 201, protrusion structure; 21, first fold edge; 22, second fold edge; 3, connection portion; 31, protrusion; 311, through-hole; 4, buffer cavity; A, center point; B, first edge point; C, second edge point; 200, upper portion; 300, sole portion; and 400, outer covering.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by those skilled in the technical field of the present disclosure. The terms used herein are merely intended to describe the specific embodiments, rather than limit the present disclosure. The terms “includes” and “has” in the specification, claims, and drawings of the present disclosure and any variations thereof are intended to encompass without excluding other content.

In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical terms such as “first” and “second” are used merely to distinguish different objects, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating a number, a specific order, or a primary/secondary relationship of the indicated technical features. In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more, unless otherwise specifically defined.

The term “embodiment” mentioned herein means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in combination with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The phrase appearing in different parts of the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or an independent or alternative embodiment exclusive of other embodiments. It may be explicitly or implicitly appreciated by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described in this specification may be combined with another embodiment.

In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “and/or” merely describes associations between associated objects, and it indicates three types of relationships. For example, A and/or B may indicate that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, or B exists alone. In addition, the character “/” in this specification generally indicates that the associated objects are in an “or” relationship.

In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “multiple” refers to two or more, and similarly, “multiple groups” refers to two or more groups and “multiple pieces” refers to two or more pieces.

In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical terms such as “central”, “longitudinal”, “transverse”, “length”, “width”, “thickness”, “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “inner”, “outer”, “clockwise”, “anticlockwise”, “axial direction”, “radial direction” and “circumferential direction” are orientations or positional relationships shown based on the drawings. These terms are merely intended to facilitate describing the embodiments of the present disclosure and make the description simple, rather than to indicate or imply that a mentioned apparatus or element must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in the specific orientation. Therefore, these terms cannot be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.

In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise clearly specified and defined, the technical terms such as “mounting”, “interconnection”, “connection” and “fixation” should be understood in a broad sense. For example, the “connection” may be a fixed connection, removable connection or integral connection; may be a mechanical connection or electrical connection; may be a direct connection or indirect connection through a medium; and may be a communication or interaction between two elements. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand specific meanings of the foregoing terms in the embodiments of the present disclosure based on a specific situation.

The present disclosure is further described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a heel counter structure with a rebound function. The heel counter structure includes a heel counter body 100. The heel counter body 100 is provided with a guide portion 1 and a movable portion 2 connected to the guide portion 1. The guide portion 1 is provided with a guide surface 11, and the movable portion 2 is provided with protrusion structures 201. The protrusion structures 201 are connected to the guide surface 11, and can perform a compression contraction movement and a rebound recovery movement. As shown in FIG. 1, the guide portion 1 is located at an upper side of the movable portion 2, and the upper side refers to a relative upper end in a 0Z direction.

In the technical solution of the present disclosure, during the wearing process, when the guide portion applies a downward force and moves, foldable buffering action is achieved through compression movement of the movable portion, thereby reducing stress exertion on the heel counter body. After the wearing is finished, the heel counter body is recovered to an original state. The design improves protective capability of the heel counter body, improves use stability and wearing smoothness, and substantially eliminates the need for manual pulling of the heel counter body by the user during wearing. In addition, through the guide surface of the guide portion, the user can enter an inner side of the heel counter body along the guide surface, thereby improving the user's wearing smoothness and efficiency, and eliminating the need for the user to manually assist in putting on a shoe.

The protrusion structures 201 protrude outward from the inner side of the heel counter body 100 to an outer side of the heel counter body. Furthermore, the inner side of the heel counter body 100 is a side that fits to or faces a human heel. The outer side of the heel counter body 100 is symmetrical to the inner side of the heel counter body 100 (the outer side of the heel counter body 100 faces an outside of the shoe). Through this structure, the protrusion structures 201 can quickly achieve compression contraction due to wearing compression, thereby increasing wearing speed and avoiding excessive friction between the human heel and the protrusion structures 201 during wearing.

When the guide portion 1 is in a stationary or stress-free state, the protrusion structures 201 rebound and recover to a first position 102 of the heel counter body 100. When the guide portion 1 is under a compressive force, the protrusion structures 201 are compressed and contracted to a second position 103 of the heel counter body 100. Furthermore, a direction of a compression movement of the movable portion 2 is opposite to a direction of a rebound recovery movement of the movable portion 2. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the compression movement of the movable portion 2 is performed in a Z0 direction, and the rebound recovery movement of the movable portion 2 is performed in the 0Z direction.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the heel counter body 100 further includes a connection portion 3. The connection portion 3 and the guide portion 1 are located opposite at two side ends of the movable portion 2. The connection portion 3 is connected to the movable portion 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the connection portion 3 is located at a bottom of the movable portion 2, and the guide portion 1 is located at a top of the movable portion 2. In this structure, the connection portion 3 is assembled with another portion of the shoe, effectively reducing damage caused by assembly between the movable portion 2 and the shoe. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, a bottom of the connection portion 3 is provided with at least one arc-shaped protrusion 31. Each protrusion 31 is provided with at least one through-hole 311. The accuracy and speed of assembly are improved through the clamping assembly between the arc-shaped protrusion 31 and a bottom of the shoe, as well as the positioning effect of the through-hole 311. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, the connection portion 3 is an arc-shaped connection portion with a cross-section protruding outward from the inner side of the heel counter body 100 to the outer side of the heel counter body. A tangent line of an inner side of the connection portion 3 and a horizontal plane where the connection portion is located form an angle of γ, γ=0-90°. Preferably, γ is 45°.

In some implementations, the guide portion 1, the movable portion 2, and the connection portion 3 are integrally formed. The integrally formed structure improves the convenience of production and processing, and ensures structural stability. Furthermore, the heel counter body 100 is made of one of the group consisting of styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBC), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic rubber (TPR), silicone, styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene, nylon, acetal (POM) homopolymer, polyoxyethylene, thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), thermoplastic copolyester elastomer (TPC-ET), polypropylene (PP), acrylic resin, rubber, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic (ABS), and polycarbonate (PC).

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, there are at least two protrusion structures 201, which are sequentially stacked along a height direction of the heel counter body 100. Each two adjacent protrusion structures 201 are connected to each other. Through the multiple protrusion structures 201 that are sequentially arranged along the height direction of the heel counter body 100, the present disclosure improves the stability of a stacking movement, increases the speed of recovering the protrusion structures to an original state, and reduces the occurrence of plastic deformation.

Specifically, in some implementations, left and/or right side ends of all the protrusion structures 201 extend to an edge 101 of the heel counter body 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the left and right side ends of all the protrusion structures 201 extend to edges 101 of the heel counter body 100. That is, a width direction of the movable portion 2 spans a width direction of an outer surface of the heel counter body 100. The design attempts to buffer an external stress applied by the guide portion 1 from a horizontal direction as much as possible, thereby improving the stability and safety of use and avoiding breakage of the movable portion 2.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the protrusion structure 201 includes a first fold edge 21 and a second fold edge 22 obliquely connected to the first fold edge 21. The first fold edge 21 and the second fold edge 22 form an interior angle of α, α=0-90°. Preferably, 10°≤α≤30°, and more preferably, α=20°. Furthermore, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the interior angle α includes a first angle α₁ close to the guide portion 1 and a second angle α₂ away from the guide portion 1, α₁≥α₂. That is, the folding amplitude of the first fold edges 21 and the second fold edges 22 decreases from top to bottom. Besides, a smaller bottom angle increases the speed and amplitude of rebounding, thereby increasing the rebound recovery speed and operational efficiency. As shown in FIG. 2, a topmost portion of the connection portion 3 covers an outer surface of the second fold edge 22 of a bottommost protrusion structure 201. That is, the bottommost second fold edge 22 is integrated with the connection portion 3 to reduce a groove between the bottommost second fold edge 22 and the connection portion 3, thereby improving the supporting stability on the bottommost second fold edge 22 to avoid its breakage.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, as for the same protrusion structure 201, a thickness H₁ of the protrusion structure 201 close to the edge 101 of the heel counter body 100 and a thickness H₂ of the protrusion structure 201 close to a centerline of the heel counter body 100 satisfy a following relational expression: H₂>H₁. That is, the thickness of the protrusion structure 201 increases first and then decreases from a left edge 101 of the heel counter body 100 towards a right edge 101 of the heel counter body. Through the design of a thick center and two thin edges, the structure ensures orderly foldable buffering, thereby ensuring structural stability.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide surface 11 includes a guide section 111 and a support section 112 connected to the guide section 111. The support section 112 is connected to the movable portion 2. The guide section 111 is oblique from bottom to top and backward. The support section 112 is arc-shaped from top to bottom and forward or backward. Preferably, the support section 112 is arc-shaped from top to bottom and backward. The structure ensures orderly wearing through the guiding effect of the guide section 111 on the heel and the support and transmission effect of the support section 112 on the stress generated by guiding. The inner side of the heel counter body 100 facing the human heel is located in a forward direction, and the outer side of the heel counter body 100 facing away from the human heel is located in a backward direction.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIG. 3, a tangent line of an inner side of the guide section 111 and a horizontal plane where the guide section 111 is located (as shown in FIG. 1, the horizontal plane is defined by an XY plane) form an angle of β, β=40-85°. Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a tangent line of a lowest point of the inner side of the guide section 111 is at angle of β₁, which is equal to 85°, and a tangent line of a highest point of the inner side of guide section 111 is at an angle of β₂, which is equal to 40°. The angle α formed by the tangent line improves the wearing smoothness of the user and effectively ensures the structural stability of the guide portion 1, avoiding compression damage to the guide portion 1 caused by the wearing stress, thereby extending its service life.

Specifically, in some implementations, a thickness D₁ of the support section 112 close to the guide section 111 and a thickness D₂ of the support section 112 close to the movable portion 2 satisfy a following relational expression: D₂>D₁. As shown in FIG. 1, a thickness direction is defined by an X-axis direction. That is, the thickness of the support section 112 increases in sequence from top to bottom. The guide section 111 generates a stress F₁ during wearing, and the stress F₁ decomposes to form a stress F₁₁ on the support section 112. The thickness of the support section 112 close to the protrusion structure 201 is sufficiently large to provide a large bearing capacity. Therefore, the support section 112 can be prevented from being deformed due to compression, thereby ensuring that the protrusion structure 201 can be folded in a folding direction and avoiding misalignment or breakage of the protrusion structure 201. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a tangent line of an inner side of the support section 112 and a vertical plane where the support section 112 is located (as shown in FIG. 1, the vertical plane is defined by a YZ plane) form an angle of δ, δ=10-30°. Preferably, δ is 15°.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the heel counter body 100 is a U-shaped structure. The U-shaped support structure ensures the smoothness and convenience of the user's wearing from the guide portion 1, and ensures the supporting stability of the heel counter body 100, extending its service life. As shown in FIG. 6, a center point A of the U-shaped structure, a first edge point B on a left side of the U-shaped structure, and a second edge point C on a right side of the U-shaped structure form an angle ∠CAB. ∠CAB is defined as μ, 20°≤μ≤90°. Furthermore, μ is preferably 60°. The structure ensures the fit between the shoe heel and the human heel, thereby improving the comfort of use.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in FIG. 7, the heel counter body 100 further includes at least one buffer cavity 4. The buffer cavity 4 is located between adjacent two of the protrusion structures 201. A buffer direction of the buffer cavity 4 is the same as a compression contraction direction of the protrusion structures 201, and a recovery direction of the buffer cavity 4 is the same as a rebound recovery direction of the protrusion structures 201. The structure reduces the stress applied to compress the heel counter body through a dual effect, namely the folding compression buffering effect of the movable portion and the compression buffering effect of the buffer cavity 4. Furthermore, the structure achieves protective capability of the heel counter body and the movable portion, improving the use stability of and wearing smoothness. The buffer cavity 4 can be a parallelogram, rectangle, square, ellipse, etc. Most preferably, the buffer cavity 4 is a parallelogram. The structure improves the convenience of production and processing, and ensures the function of buffering external stress.

The present disclosure further proposes a shoe. As shown in FIG. 8, the shoe includes a shoe heel structure. The specific structure of the shoe heel structure refers to the above embodiments. As the shoe adopts all the technical solutions of the above embodiments, it has at least all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above embodiments, which will not be repeated herein. As shown in FIG. 8, the shoe further includes an upper portion 200 and a sole portion 300. The upper portion 200 is connected to an upper surface of the sole portion 300. The heel counter body 100 includes a side end connected to a side end of the upper portion 200 and a bottom end connected to the upper surface of the sole portion 300. The heel counter body 100 is located at a back end of the upper portion 200.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, a surface of the heel counter body 100 is wrapped with an outer covering 400. The outer covering 400 covers the outer surface of the heel counter body 100 in all directions. The outer covering 400 is made of a Lycra fabric or fiberfill. The structure effectively avoids damage caused by friction between the heel counter body 100 and the human heel, thereby improving the safety of use.

In addition, it should be understood that although this specification is described in accordance with the implementations, not each implementation only contains an independent technical solution, and this description in the specification is only for clarity. Those skilled in the art should take the specification as a whole. The technical solutions in the embodiments can also be properly combined to form other implementations that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

According to the disclosure and teaching of the above specification, those skilled in the art of the present disclosure may also change and modify the above implementations. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the above specific implementations, and any obvious improvements, replacements or modifications made by those skilled in the art on the basis of the present disclosure should fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. In addition, although some specific terms are used in the specification, these terms are provided to merely illustrate rather than limit the present disclosure.