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US 11,369,168 B2Granted
Footwear component manufacturing fixture
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorPhilippe Blanchard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A footwear component manufacturing fixture secures a component, such as a shoe sole, in a manner that allows for the processing of one or more surfaces of the component without obscuring the surfaces. The fixture has a fixed portion with a first compression surface and an adjustable portion having a second compression surface. The adjustable portion moves in relation to the fixed portion to compress one or more protrusions of the component between the compression surfaces to secure the component to the fixture for processing.
Claims19
A method of processing a footwear component on a fixture, the method comprising:
- inserting a first protrusion of the footwear component between a first compression surface of a fixed portion of the fixture and a second compression surface of an adjustable portion of the fixture, wherein the first protrusion extends from a foot-facing surface of the footwear component;
- slidably moving the adjustable portion toward the fixed portion such that the first compression surface and the second compression surface contact the first protrusion allowing the fixture to maintain the footwear component relative to the fixture;
- processing the footwear component as maintained by the fixture;
- subsequent to processing the footwear component, slidably moving the adjustable portion away from the fixed portion such that the first compression surface and the second compression disengage the first protrusion;
- and
- removing the first protrusion from between the first compression surface and the second compression surface.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.