Substantial energy return shoe with optimal low-impact springs, tuned gear change, and smart knee brace
A futuristic shoe with true energy return based on enhanced heel-lift, optimized shoe springs (40% reduction in maximum foot impact), practical precise automatic electronic gear changers, novel powerful shoe impact chargers, improved pulley electronic actuators, novel low-impact much stronger springs (featuring the novel use materials such as Kevlar, Spectra Shield, and fiberglass), novel remarkably stronger, more flexible, and tougher structures, and multiple designs for enhanced heel-lift and to prevent excessive toe sink. These designs require linkages and two improved hinges—one with enhanced natural hinges and a second with tied cogged hinges. There is a rotating-arms enhanced optimal spring, which when combined with the tied cogged hinges, results in optimal foldable arrays for deployment in outer space—and which gives a smart energy return knee brace. These novel capabilities promise a wide range of additional applications such as robotics, prosthetics, orthotics, springs, aerospace, automobiles, body armor, and earthquake retrofitting.
1. An energy-return shoe, comprising:
a monolithic, compressible, linkage sole, including:
a single forward leaning toe parallelogram linkage structure disposed in a toe portion of a shoe, and extending from a top to a bottom of the compressible sole;
a single forward leaning rear parallelogram linkage structure disposed in a mid and rear portion of the shoe, and extending from the top to the bottom of the compressible sole;
the toe parallelogram linkage structure having:
top and bottom plates, and a left side linkage structure, and a shared side linkage structure shared with the rear parallelogram linkage structure;
the rear parallelogram linkage structure having:
top and bottom plates, and a right side linkage structure, and the shared linkage structure shared with the toe parallelogram linkage structure;
the toe parallelogram linkage structure having:
a first hinge mechanism movably connecting the top plate of the toe parallelogram linkage structure to the left side linkage structure of the toe parallelogram linkage structure,
a second hinge mechanism movably connecting the left side linkage structure of the toe parallelogram linkage structure to the bottom plate of the toe parallelogram linkage structure,
a first shared hinge mechanism movably connecting the top plates of the first and rear parallelogram linkage structures and a top of the shared side linkage structure, and
a second shared hinge mechanism movably connecting the bottom plates of the first and rear parallelogram linkage structures and a bottom of the shared side linkage structure;
the rear parallelogram linkage structure having:
a third hinge mechanism movably connecting the top plate of the rear parallelogram linkage structure to the right side linkage structure of the rear parallelogram linkage structure,
a fourth hinge mechanism movably connecting the right side linkage structure of the rear parallelogram linkage structure to the bottom plate of the rear parallelogram linkage structure;
and
a spring mechanism disposed between the top and bottom plates of the rear parallelogram linkage structure and configured to provide a spring force therebetween,
wherein virtually all impact energy of a foot of a wearer is captured and stored during an impact period and returned via enhanced heel-lift during and throughout a heel-lift period.
2. The energy-return shoe of claim 1 , further comprising:
an anti-toe-sink mechanism disposed near a front of the toe parallelogram linkage structure having variable height ladder stops and configured to prevent toe-sink when the toe parallelogram linkage structure moves forward during sole compression.