Drive mechanism for automated footwear platform
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsSummer L. Schneider, Jacob Furniss, Jamie Kelso
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and apparatus related to automated tightening of a footwear platform including a lacing engine drive apparatus are discussed. In an example, a drive apparatus to rotate a lace spool of a motorized lacing engine within a footwear platform can include a gear motor, a gear box, a worm drive, and a worm gear. The gear box can be mechanically coupled to the gear motor, and the gear box can include a drive shaft extending opposite the gear motor. The worm drive can be slidably keyed to the drive shaft to control rotation of the worm drive in response to gear motor activation. The worm gear can rotate the lace spool upon rotation of the worm drive to tighten or loosen a lace cable on the footwear platform.
Claims20
A drive apparatus to rotate a lace spool of a motorized lacing engine within a footwear platform, the apparatus comprising:
- a gear motor;
- a gear box mechanically coupled to the gear motor, the gear box including a drive shaft;
- a worm drive slidably keyed to the drive shaft to control rotation of the worm drive in response to gear motor activation;
- a worm gear including gear teeth engaging a threaded surface of the worm drive to cause rotation of the worm gear in response to rotation of the worm drive, the worm gear rotating the lace spool upon rotation of the worm drive to tighten or loosen a lace cable on the footwear platform;
- and
- wherein the lace spool includes a spool and a spool shaft extending inferiorly from the spool to the worm gear, the spool including a lace channel bisecting a superior surface to receive a continuous section of the lace cable into the spool.
A lace tensioning apparatus to tension a lace cable of a footwear platform, the apparatus comprising:
- a worm drive slidably keyed to a drive shaft to control rotation of the worm drive in response to activation of a gear motor while allowing axial movement of the worm drive along the drive shaft;
- a worm gear including gear teeth engaging a threaded surface of the worm drive to translate rotation about a drive shaft axis to rotation about a worm gear axis;
- and
- a lace spool including a spool and a spool shaft coupled to the worm gear along the worm gear axis, the lace spool adapted to rotate about the worm gear axis to wind a lace cable onto the spool or unwind the lace cable from the spool, wherein the lace spool includes a lace channel bisecting a superior surface of the lace spool to receive through an opening of the lace channel bisecting the superior surface a middle portion of the lace cable and route the lace cable onto a spool recess portion of the lace spool upon rotation of the lace spool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.