Protective footwear

Abstract

A protective footwear incorporating a special ballistic grade pliable protector designed to protect the vulnerable arch area of the foot from multi-directional punctures. As an integral part of the boot, the protector provides protection from different sharp objects having multiple angles of incident. The protector is made of multiple layers of woven ballistic fabric and is adapted to trap the sharp point of the protruding object in its fabric webbing preventing it from being redirected to a more vulnerable and exposed area of the foot.

1 . A footwear comprising a body for receiving a wearer's foot, and a flexible puncture protective arch insert integrated to said body at an instep portion thereof, said flexible puncture protective arch insert comprising multiple overlying layers of woven ballistic fabric, each layer having interlaced warp and weft yarns, the warp and weft yarns of at least a plurality of said layers having an orientation different from that of neighboring layers, said multiple overlying layers providing protection by entrapping encountered puncturing objects, thereby preventing redirection to unprotected areas of the wearer's foot.  
   
   
       2 . A footwear as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said flexible puncture protective arch insert has a flexible backing, the protective arch insert together with the flexible backing being deformable under pressure exerted thereon by the encountered puncturing objects.  
   
   
       3 . A footwear as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said body includes inner and outer layers of flexible material, and wherein said flexible puncture protective arch insert is captively received between said inner and outer layers of flexible material.  
   
   
       4 . A footwear comprising a sole and an upper extending from the sole for receiving a wearer's foot, a flexible protector of woven ballistic yams integrated to said upper, the flexible protector being deformable together with said body under pressure exerted by an encountered penetrating objects in a trapping configuration in which the encountered penetrating objects are captured by the woven ballistic yarns to prevent redirection of the penetrating objects to a more vulnerable area of the wearer's foot.  
   
   
       5 . A protective footwear as defined in  claim 4 , wherein said ballistic yams are woven in multi-directional layers.  
   
   
       6 . A protective footwear as defined in  claim 5 , wherein said flexible protector is a lateral protective insert extending over the arch area of the footwear to provide arch protection while preserving flexibility of the footwear.  
   
   
       7 . A protective footwear as defined in  claim 4 , wherein said upper is of composite construction and includes inner and outer layers of material, the flexible protector being installed between said inner and outer layers and being movable therewith.  
   
   
       8 . A protective footwear comprising a body for receiving a wearer's foot, said body having inner and outer flexible layers, and a lateral puncturing protector mounted between said inner and outer flexible layers in the arch area of the wearer's foot, the lateral puncturing protector including a fiber material woven in multi-directional layers, the fiber material defining a plurality of catching interstices in which a sharp edge of a sharp object is captively received when pushed under pressure against said lateral puncturing protector.  
   
   
       9 . A protective footwear as defined in  claim 8 , wherein said fiber material is at least partly made of a ballistic material.