Shoe with sole pivot
The pivotable footwear including a front portion, a heel portion, a flexible sole defining a channel extending across the flexible sole, a shoe upper attached to the flexible sole, and a lockable hinge mechanism disposed within the channel. The lockable hinge has an unlocked position wherein the heel portion of said footwear is free to pivot about the channel relative to the front portion of the footwear, and a locked position wherein the heel portion of the footwear is locked into position relative to the front portion of said footwear. The lockable hinge mechanism is electronically actuated and battery operated and controlled to move between the locked position and the unlocked position by actuation of an electronic remote control. That is, actuation of the electronic remote control causes the hinge to move the footwear to an open, foot insertion position and a wearable locked position.
1. An article of footwear having a front portion and a heel portion, the article of footwear comprising:
a flexible sole defining a channel extending within said flexible sole;
a stretchable unitary shoe upper attached to said flexible sole;
a lockable hinge mechanism disposed within the channel, said lockable hinge having an unlocked position wherein the heel portion of said footwear is free to pivot about the channel relative to the front portion of said footwear, and a locked position wherein the heel portion of said article of footwear is locked into position relative to the front portion of said footwear; and a spring within the channel biased to pivot the heel portion relative to the front portion.
2. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism is a push button activated hinge.
3. The article of footwear of claim 2 wherein pressing a push button of the push button activated hinge moves said hinge mechanism between the locked position and the unlocked position.
4. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism is electronically actuated and battery operated.
5. The article of footwear of claim 4 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism moves between the locked position and the unlocked position by actuation of an electronic remote control.
6. The article of footwear of claim 5 wherein actuation of the electronic remote control causes the hinge to move said article of footwear to an open, foot insertion position.
7. The article of footwear of claim 5 wherein actuation of the electronic remote control causes the hinge to move said article of footwear to a closed, wearable position.
8. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism is magnetically actuated between the unlocked position and the locked position.
9. The article of footwear of claim 8 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism is locked into the locked position when said article of footwear is brought into proximity with a magnetic mat.
10. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein when said lockable hinge mechanism is in the unlocked position the heel portion of said article of footwear is free to pivot up to 45 degrees relative to the front portion of said article of footwear.
11. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said lockable hinge mechanism has a diameter of 0.5 in.
12. The article of footwear of claim 11 wherein when said lockable hinge mechanism is in the unlocked position the heel portion of said article of footwear is free to pivot up to 10 degrees relative to the front portion of said article of footwear.
13. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said flexible sole is integrally formed.
14. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said flexible sole is formed of a rubber material.
15. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said shoe upper is integrally formed.
16. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said shoe upper is formed of a stretchable material.
17. The article of footwear of claim 1 wherein said shoe upper has a stretchable region positioned proximate to the channel defined in said flexible sole.