The present invention relates to shoes having an arch support provided with magnets stationarily housed therein.

More particularly, the present invention relates to physiological shoes with or without an arch support, such as shoes, sandals, slippers, suitable for users employing the same for a particularly long period and that therefore, thanks to the presence of the magnets, find benefit as a lower tiredness of the foot.

It is in fact known that although they do not have a specific therapeutic function, the use of shoes having inserted under the foot magnets creating magnetic fields, causing an interaction on body liquids

(particularly on the blood) circulating along the extremities, and therefore a well-being and comfort feeling.

In fact, assuming the human body as an electrolytic column and applying at the base of the same a magnetic action, a depolarising action of the hematic component manifested by the above well-being feeling is produced with a greater or lower effect, in function of the subjective response.

Wearing shoes provided with magnetic fields placed in such a way to obtain an action on precise foot pressure points, it can be easily obtained a stimulation of the blood circulation with a remarkable relief of the heaviness feeling and swelling mainly in those persons having an activity providing long standing periods, a long motion activity, as in the sport, but also in those persons that, due to a variable posture can be subject to slowing down of the circulation.

The stimulating and depolarising action produced on the blood by magnets provided below the lower extremities of the human body, and therefore the well-being effect so caused, is the basis of solutions known from the prior art, such as soles to be removably introduced within the shoes, provided with magnets in particular stimulation points.

Such soles are essentially comprised of two layers of aired, washable material, enclosing the same magnets. However, the disadvantages obtained by this invention are various and mainly consist in the fact that in view of the composition of the soles, the magnets can be in contact with the foot plantar, and thus such

projections in many cases can cause microtraumas to the foot plantar with pains caused by intolerance and therefore it is impossible a long use of the same. Furthermore, the fact that the sole is a removable element to be introduced within the shoe does not guarantee a constant position and consequently correspondence between the same magnet and the corresponding foot point.

This fact causes a remarkable reduction of the induced effect and can even determine contrary effects in case the magnets come into contact with "wrong" points of the extremities. Further, the user will be obliged to transfer, each time, in function of the shoes, the sole with particular discomfort in performing such an operation.

It is well clear therefore the needing of having at disposal physiological shoes with support arch, which overcome the abovementioned drawbacks, and thanks to the stable presence of magnets in the portion under the extremities, guarantee a constant well- being effect during the time, avoid that the magnets are in direct contact with the foot due to the wearing of the covering material or to the deterioration of the containment shims within the magnets assembly. In order to accomplish this needing it is suggested according to the invention the realisation of physiological shoes having support arch providing, during their manufacturing process, the introduction and the complete stationarily housing in the sole or inner sole portion of magnetic small blocks covered by material suitable to guarantee an easy passage of the magnetic flux toward the foot end.

Further, always according to the invention, it is provided the insertion of the magnets stationarily within the bottom of the shoe during the manufacturing process of the same, so that in order to complete the shoe it is only necessary to provide the apposition of the covering and of the vamp.

Particularly, it is provided the insertion of the magnets directly during the manufacturing process of the magnets according to two substantially equivalent modes, in case of shoes providing as support arch a support wedge comprised of material that can be moulded by fusion or compression.

The first of these two modes comprises that the mould contains positive shapes which realize in the moulded material the housing

necessary for the introduction of the magnets: in this case the magnets will be set within the recesses during the phase immediately after the working and before the covering.

The second mode will provide that the mould contains on the wall forming the part under the foot, fixed zone of soft iron. The magnets will be applied on these soft iron material zones, said magnets will naturally remain fixed to the same zones. The result obtained will be therefore a wedge that when is realised will automatically and directly built in the magnets in precise positions of the geography of the foot rest plantar.

Always according to the invention, in case of shoes having wedges comprised of not printable materials such as wood, cork, single and multilayered leather, the recesses will be obtained by high speed milling with diamond, and in these recesses, before of the covering process, the magnetic tesseras will be inserted flush with the rest plantar. Instead in case of shoes having padded and prefabricated rest plantar ("Fussbett"), realised by the provision of a padded sole above a rigid layer, the housing recesses are realised by die-cutting of the drawn material before its covering with the covering material. Finally, always according to the invention, in the shoes provided with sole comprised of leather or other material, with or without support arch, the housing of the magnetic tesseras occurs obtaining the recesses by milling, said recesses having the same thickness of the sole under the foot before their mounting. It is evident that in all the various embodiment described in the above said magnets will never be in contact with the foot in order to avoid oxidation, allergic phenomenons and generic irritations, since it is always placed between the magnets and the foot, a thin animal or other material layer, having a variable thickness. It is therefore a specific object of the present invention a physiological shoe, comprising a support rigid or semi-rigid wedge, having one side in contact with the ground and the other one in contact with the foot plantar, characterized in that it provides in correspondence of the rest plantar of the foot, housing recesses, and in that said recesses contain magnetic material small blocks, and in that said magnetic small blocks are covered by a protective layer.

Always according to the invention said recesses provided in said rigid or semi-rigid wedge are realised directly by aluminium, resin or other mould means, at the same time of realisation of the same wedge.

A further advantage of the present invention is the design of the moulds that will have precise and stationary soft iron anchorage's upon which the magnets will be coupled. To this end, the moulding material (Epoxy resin, polyurethane, etc.) will include at the moment of its realisation fixed magnets in the positions indicated by the design. The result of this operation will be a support wedge that at the exit from the mould will contain already positioned fixed magnets.

According to the invention, the shoes comprising a semi-rigid and padded support prefabricated sole (Fussbett), that will be introduced within the shoe, will provide recesses obtained by die-cutting or moulding of the padding material before the covering by the covering material. Always according to the invention, the shoes providing a simple leather, hide or other material sole, with or without anatomic elements, the bottom of which will be realised with cork, wood or other not mouldable materials, the recesses suitable to house the magnets will be obtained before the gluing and the coupling of the components by high speed milling with diamond. Such housings could be completely or partially realised within the thickness either of the support wedge or of the covering material.

The present invention will be now described for illustrative but not limitative purposes with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein. figures 1 and 2 represent a schematic view of the magnetic fields induced in the foot by the shoes according to the invention according to two preferred embodiments; figure 3 shows a section and exploded schematic view of a second embodiment of shoe having the tip closed with wedge and Fussbett; figure 5 shows a section and exploded schematic view of a third embodiment of a shoe with heel and Fussbett; figure 6 shows a section and exploded schematic view of a fourth embodiment of a shoe with heel and Fussbett; figures 7 and 8 show an exploded view of the sequence of the element realising the lower part of the shoes according to the invention having the magnets and the relevant housing recesses.

As it can be noted from the schematic views of figures 1 and 2, the sole 1 of the shoes according to the invention is a rigid support sole, in the upper part of which, in correspondence of the rest plantar, magnets covered with a thin covering layer are placed in suitable housings, said magnets creating in the foot magnetic fields indicated by hatching which modify the course of the hematic flux making at the same time the stimulation effect.

In figure 3, it is schematically shown, in explosion and in vertical section, a shoe like a slipper, having the tip opened and wherein the sole portion 1 is substantially made up of a wedge realised with cork or similar material, providing in its upper portion a padded sole or

Fussbett wherein the magnets are housed.

Such a sole or Fussbett is substantially comprised of three overlapped layers, one of which is an upper covering leather layer 4, which avoids the direct contact between the foot and the magnet, a latex layer 5 within which the magnets are housed within suitable recesses, a paperboard or leather layer, not shown, assuring a perfect adhesion between the same Fussbett and the wedge, the position of the magnets being, according to a first embodiment, slightly different with respect to the one shown in figure 4 in a shoe like a closed slipper / sabot with heat- mouldable or epoxy wedge.

As it can be noted, the shoe shown in figure 4 has a wedge sole 1A covered on its upper part with covering material 5A and provided, in correspondence of the surface contacting the ground, with anti-slipping projections.

Within the latex foam / polyurethane or similar material wedge it is provided, in correspondence of the heel, under the magnet 6A, a wood or similar material reinforce position 8, in order to avoid that, by the continued use and the body weight, the wedge can buckle. Also in this embodiment, the magnets are housed and inserted in the corresponding recesses during the manufacturing process of the wedge 1A.

A similar positioning of the magnets is shown in the shoes of figures 5 and 6 provided with anatomic sole 9B and 9C made up of a covering 10B and 10C, a latex layer 1B, 11 C, within which magnets 6B and 6C are housed, and of a lower support layer 12B, 12C, integral with the sole coming into contact with the ground.

As already described in the above, it is proposed according to the invention, in case of shoes having wedge realised by mouldable material, as in figure 4, to realise the magnet housing recesses by fusion and compression and to insert the magnets by dies directly during the manufacturing design, while in case of shoes having a cork, leather or other not mouldable material sole, as it is the case of figures 3, 5 and 6, it is proposed to realise the recesses by die-cutting.

Figures 7 and 8 schematically show in exploded view the sequence of the elements constituting the lower part of the shoes and particularly the outer covering 4 avoiding the direct contact with the magnets 6, that can be placed within the wedge according to different positioning, the wedge 2, that can be realised by leather or other materials, with the recesses 14 realised by die-cutting or directly during the moulding step, the sole 3 coming into contact with the ground and covered, as shown in figure 8, with a further anti-slipping covering 13.

The present invention has been described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it is to be understood that modification and/or changes can be introduced by those skilled in the art without departing from the relevant scope, as defined in the enclosed claims.