Sandal having grooves for drainage

Abstract

A sandal includes a sole and a drainage system. The sole is molded from a resilient material and has a top surface for supporting a human foot, and a bottom surface for contacting a walking surface. Further, the sole defines on the top surface a forwardmost toe region, an intermediate ball region, an intermediate arch region and a rearmost heel region that are of different heights to follow an anatomical contour of an undersurface of the human foot. The drainage system has a plurality of grooves defined throughout the top surface of the sole to define a plurality of islands of different heights on the toe, ball, arch and heel regions of the sole. The grooves have different slopes and extend over the toe, ball, arch and heel regions in a manner which guides liquid to flow laterally out of the sole.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A sandal comprising:
 a sole molded from a resilient material; the sole having a top surface for supporting a human foot, and a bottom surface for contacting a walking surface; the sole defining on the top surface a forwardmost toe region, an intermediate ball region, an intermediate arch region and a rearmost heel region that are of different heights to follow an anatomical contour of an undersurface of the human foot; and   a drainage system having a plurality of grooves defined throughout the top surface of the sole to define a plurality of islands of different heights on the toe, ball, arch and heel regions of the sole, and the grooves having different slopes and extending over the toe, ball, arch and heel regions in a manner which guides liquid to flow laterally out of the sole.   
     
     
         2 . A sandal as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the sole is formed with a partition rib at a junction between the toe region and the ball region. 
     
     
         3 . A sandal as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the sole has a peripheral wall enclosing the islands of the sole; and the drainage system includes an outer trench extending along the peripheral wall of the sole and in communication with the grooves, and a plurality of cutouts defined in the peripheral wall to aid in draining the liquid outside the sole. 
     
     
         4 . A sandal as recited in  claim 3 , wherein a first pair of the cutouts of the drainage system is defined at opposite sides of the ball region of the sole. 
     
     
         5 . A sandal as recited in  claim 4 , wherein a second pair of the cutouts of the drainage system is defined at a junction between the arch region and the heel region of the sole. 
     
     
         6 . A sandal as recited in  claim 4 , further comprising a vamp attached to the sole for fitting over an instep of a wearer. 
     
     
         7 . A sandal as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the vamp defines a pair of notches incorporating with the first pair of the cutouts of the drainage system to aid in the drainage. 
     
     
         8 . A sandal as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the vamp is integrally formed with the sole in one piece. 
     
     
         9 . A sandal as recited in  claim 5 , further comprising a thong member attached to the sole for fitting over an instep of a wearer. 
     
     
         10 . A sandal as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the thong member is integrally formed with the sole in one piece. 
     
     
         11 . A sandal as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the sole is further formed with a plurality of bumps on at least one of the islands in the ball region of the sole. 
     
     
         12 . A sandal as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the sole is further formed with a plurality of bumps on one of the islands in the arch region of the sole corresponding to an arch of the foot.