Convertible traction shoes
A convertible shoe having a shoe body and a shoe sole. An air channel formed in said shoe sole including pressurized air inlet and air exhaust. An elongated pocket or multiple individual pockets in the bottom of the shoe sole and along said air channel. A flexible wall portion between said air channel and pocket that expands into the pocket(s) upon pressurization of said air channel. A protrusion affixed to said flexible wall portion and which extends out of said pocket and into engagement with a support surface when said air channel is pressurized.
1. A convertible footwear comprising:
a footwear body and a footwear sole, the sole having a bottom surface adapted to engage a support surface;
a fluid directing channel disposed in said sole;
a pocket underlying said fluid directing channel;
a flexible wall portion disposed between said fluid directing channel and said pocket;
a protrusion coupled to and extended from said flexible wall portion and residing at least partially in said pocket;
a fluid source connected to said fluid directing channel to increase and decrease a parameter of the fluid in the fluid directing channel, wherein said flexible wall portion is responsive to said increase of the parameter to extend the flexible wall portion into said pocket and extend said protrusion out of said pocket into engagement with said support surface, and wherein said decrease of said parameter and resiliency of the flexible wall portion urge retraction of said protrusion relative to the pocket.
2. The convertible footwear claim 1 , wherein said fluid is air.
3. The convertible footwear of claim 1 , wherein the parameter is volume and/or pressure.