ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,575,644, issued on March 17.
"Heel-cup for climbing shoes" was invented by Young Chu (Fullerton, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heel-cup structure for climbing shoes having increased edge-contact properties and friction on uneven surface where the heel area has a protrusion around the outer sole area under the heel and rimmed indentation between the heel counter and the outer sole. The heel-cup structure with protrusion of the outer sole made of soft, polymeric, synthetic rubber material provides a device to latch onto a thin edge of the rock surface in contact, to effectuate edging and heel-hooking."
The patent was filed on S...