Heel Counter Structure with Rebound Function and Shoe

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Reference Numerals:, heel counter body;, edge;, first position;, second position;, guide portion;, guide surface;, guide section;, support section;, movable portion;, protrusion structure;, first fold edge;, second fold edge;, connection portion;, protrusion;, through-hole;, buffer cavity; A, center point; B, first edge point; C, second edge point;, upper portion;, sole portion; and, outer covering.

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, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

As shown in, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a heel counter structure with a rebound function. The heel counter structure includes a heel counter body. The heel counter bodyis provided with a guide portionand a movable portionconnected to the guide portion. The guide portionis provided with a guide surface, and the movable portionis provided with protrusion structures. The protrusion structuresare connected to the guide surface, and can perform a compression contraction movement and a rebound recovery movement. As shown in, the guide portionis located at an upper side of the movable portion, 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 structuresprotrude outward from the inner side of the heel counter bodyto an outer side of the heel counter body. Furthermore, the inner side of the heel counter bodyis a side that fits to or faces a human heel. The outer side of the heel counter bodyis symmetrical to the inner side of the heel counter body(the outer side of the heel counter bodyfaces an outside of the shoe). Through this structure, the protrusion structurescan quickly achieve compression contraction due to wearing compression, thereby increasing wearing speed and avoiding excessive friction between the human heel and the protrusion structuresduring wearing.

When the guide portionis in a stationary or stress-free state, the protrusion structuresrebound and recover to a first positionof the heel counter body. When the guide portionis under a compressive force, the protrusion structuresare compressed and contracted to a second positionof the heel counter body. Furthermore, a direction of a compression movement of the movable portionis opposite to a direction of a rebound recovery movement of the movable portion. That is, as shown in, the compression movement of the movable portionis performed in a Z0 direction, and the rebound recovery movement of the movable portionis performed in the 0Z direction.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in, the heel counter bodyfurther includes a connection portion. The connection portionand the guide portionare located opposite at two side ends of the movable portion. The connection portionis connected to the movable portion. As shown in, the connection portionis located at a bottom of the movable portion, and the guide portionis located at a top of the movable portion. In this structure, the connection portionis assembled with another portion of the shoe, effectively reducing damage caused by assembly between the movable portionand the shoe. Furthermore, as shown in, a bottom of the connection portionis provided with at least one arc-shaped protrusion. Each protrusionis provided with at least one through-hole. The accuracy and speed of assembly are improved through the clamping assembly between the arc-shaped protrusionand a bottom of the shoe, as well as the positioning effect of the through-hole. Furthermore, as shown in, the connection portionis an arc-shaped connection portion with a cross-section protruding outward from the inner side of the heel counter bodyto the outer side of the heel counter body. A tangent line of an inner side of the connection portionand 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, the movable portion, and the connection portionare integrally formed. The integrally formed structure improves the convenience of production and processing, and ensures structural stability. Furthermore, the heel counter bodyis 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, there are at least two protrusion structures, which are sequentially stacked along a height direction of the heel counter body. Each two adjacent protrusion structuresare connected to each other. Through the multiple protrusion structuresthat are sequentially arranged along the height direction of the heel counter body, 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 structuresextend to an edgeof the heel counter body. As shown in, the left and right side ends of all the protrusion structuresextend to edgesof the heel counter body. That is, a width direction of the movable portionspans a width direction of an outer surface of the heel counter body. The design attempts to buffer an external stress applied by the guide portionfrom a horizontal direction as much as possible, thereby improving the stability and safety of use and avoiding breakage of the movable portion.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in, the protrusion structureincludes a first fold edgeand a second fold edgeobliquely connected to the first fold edge. The first fold edgeand the second fold edgeform an interior angle of α, α=0-90°. Preferably, 10°≤α≤30°, and more preferably, α=20°. Furthermore, in some implementations, as shown in, the interior angle α includes a first angle αclose to the guide portionand a second angle αaway from the guide portion, α≥α. That is, the folding amplitude of the first fold edgesand the second fold edgesdecreases 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, a topmost portion of the connection portioncovers an outer surface of the second fold edgeof a bottommost protrusion structure. That is, the bottommost second fold edgeis integrated with the connection portionto reduce a groove between the bottommost second fold edgeand the connection portion, thereby improving the supporting stability on the bottommost second fold edgeto avoid its breakage.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in, as for the same protrusion structure, a thickness Hof the protrusion structureclose to the edgeof the heel counter bodyand a thickness Hof the protrusion structureclose to a centerline of the heel counter bodysatisfy a following relational expression: H>H. That is, the thickness of the protrusion structureincreases first and then decreases from a left edgeof the heel counter bodytowards a right edgeof 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, the guide surfaceincludes a guide sectionand a support sectionconnected to the guide section. The support sectionis connected to the movable portion. The guide sectionis oblique from bottom to top and backward. The support sectionis arc-shaped from top to bottom and forward or backward. Preferably, the support sectionis arc-shaped from top to bottom and backward. The structure ensures orderly wearing through the guiding effect of the guide sectionon the heel and the support and transmission effect of the support sectionon the stress generated by guiding. The inner side of the heel counter bodyfacing the human heel is located in a forward direction, and the outer side of the heel counter bodyfacing away from the human heel is located in a backward direction.

Specifically, in some implementations, as shown in, a tangent line of an inner side of the guide sectionand a horizontal plane where the guide sectionis located (as shown in, the horizontal plane is defined by an XY plane) form an angle of β, β=40-85°. Furthermore, as shown in, a tangent line of a lowest point of the inner side of the guide sectionis at angle of β, which is equal to 85°, and a tangent line of a highest point of the inner side of guide sectionis at an angle of β, 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, avoiding compression damage to the guide portioncaused by the wearing stress, thereby extending its service life.

Specifically, in some implementations, a thickness Dof the support sectionclose to the guide sectionand a thickness Dof the support sectionclose to the movable portionsatisfy a following relational expression: D>D. As shown in, a thickness direction is defined by an X-axis direction. That is, the thickness of the support sectionincreases in sequence from top to bottom. The guide sectiongenerates a stress Fduring wearing, and the stress Fdecomposes to form a stress Fon the support section. The thickness of the support sectionclose to the protrusion structureis sufficiently large to provide a large bearing capacity. Therefore, the support sectioncan be prevented from being deformed due to compression, thereby ensuring that the protrusion structurecan be folded in a folding direction and avoiding misalignment or breakage of the protrusion structure. As shown in, a tangent line of an inner side of the support sectionand a vertical plane where the support sectionis located (as shown in, 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, the heel counter bodyis a U-shaped structure. The U-shaped support structure ensures the smoothness and convenience of the user's wearing from the guide portion, and ensures the supporting stability of the heel counter body, extending its service life. As shown in, 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, the heel counter bodyfurther includes at least one buffer cavity. The buffer cavityis located between adjacent two of the protrusion structures. A buffer direction of the buffer cavityis the same as a compression contraction direction of the protrusion structures, and a recovery direction of the buffer cavityis the same as a rebound recovery direction of the protrusion structures. 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. 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 cavitycan be a parallelogram, rectangle, square, ellipse, etc. Most preferably, the buffer cavityis 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, 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, the shoe further includes an upper portionand a sole portion. The upper portionis connected to an upper surface of the sole portion. The heel counter bodyincludes a side end connected to a side end of the upper portionand a bottom end connected to the upper surface of the sole portion. The heel counter bodyis located at a back end of the upper portion.

Specifically, as shown in, a surface of the heel counter bodyis wrapped with an outer covering. The outer coveringcovers the outer surface of the heel counter bodyin all directions. The outer coveringis made of a Lycra fabric or fiberfill. The structure effectively avoids damage caused by friction between the heel counter bodyand 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.