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US 11,284,675 B2Granted
Method of manufacturing a fully formed upper
Assigneeadidas AG
InventorsEric Jeandin, Ulrich Bauer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described is a method of manufacturing a component for a shoe that includes the steps: forming a sheet of material; heating the sheet of material; stretching the heated sheet of material by moving a last into the sheet of material, wherein the last defines the shape of the component; and applying a pressure lower than ambient pressure between the stretched sheet of material and the last to conform the sheet of material to the last; or applying a pressure higher than ambient pressure over the stretched sheet of material to conform the sheet of material to the last.
Claims16
A method of manufacturing a component for a shoe comprising:
- heating a sheet of material;
- stretching the heated sheet of material by moving a last into the sheet of material, wherein the last defines a shape of the component;
- applying at least one of a pressure lower than ambient pressure between the stretched sheet of material and the last to conform the sheet of material to the last or a pressure higher than ambient pressure over the stretched sheet of material to conform the sheet of material to the last;
- pulling a loop of a heated cable against a portion of the sheet of material that is wrapped underneath the last so as to pull the sheet of material into bonded securement with an insole board positioned below the last and so as to separate excess material from the component by melting the sheet of material at a point of contact with the heated cable;
- and
- cutting the stretched sheet of material to form at least one aperture and deconstructing the last to fit through the aperture.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.