Importance

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Abstract

An improved sports boot is provided for use by snow skiers and the like, wherein the boot includes an improved boot liner interposed between a substantially rigid outer boot shell and the foot and lower leg region of a skier. The boot liner is defined by flexible sheet material extending about selected anatomical zones of the skier's foot and lower leg region to define a plurality of relatively small chambers each of relatively low vertical dimension and partially filled with a metered quantity of substantially uniform sized particulate. The boot liner further includes a plurality of small vents for restricted air passage between adjacent chambers, with one of said chambers communicating with a main air discharge tube. When the skier's foot and lower leg region are received into the boot shell and boot liner, and boot buckles or the like are closed, the particulate filled chambers are pressed against the skier's foot and lower leg region to force air to exhaust substantially from the chambers, thereby causing the individual chambers to assume a substantially rigid yet comfortable configuration in close conformance with the shape of the skier's foot and lower leg region. As a result, improved mechanical coupling is achieved with respect to the rigid boot shell, for a correspondingly improved mechanical coupling with a ski attached to the boot.

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First Claim