Buffing system for footwear
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsChun-Chieh Chen, Yi-Min Chen, Chia-Hung Lin, Hsien-Kuang Wu, Hung-Yu Wu
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Abstract
Buffing of a footwear component allows for an alteration of the component surface to achieve an intended surface for aesthetics and/or manufacturing purposes. The buffing is performed in a system having a vision module, a sidewall buffing module, an up surface buffing module, and a down surface buffing module. Each of the buffing modules are adapted for the unique shape and sizes of a footwear component to effectively and automatically buff the footwear component.
Claims21
An article of footwear up surface buffing system, the system comprising:
- a rotational brush with a plurality of bristles extending outwardly from a rotational axis of the rotational brush;
- a footwear component holder comprising a support surface, a first clamp, and a second clamp;
- and
- a brush rotational drive coupled with the rotational brush to rotate the rotational brush in first direction and in a second direction based on location of the rotational brush relative to the footwear component holder;
- wherein the first clamp and the second clamp are each configured to separately move from a clamped position to an unclamped position relative to the footwear component holder;
- wherein the first clamp is in the clamped position and the second clamp is in the unclamped position when the rotational brush is rotated in the first direction;
- and
- wherein the second clamp is in the clamped position and the first clamp is in the unclamped position when the rotational brush is rotated in the second direction.
A method of buffing an article of footwear component with a footwear up surface buffing system, the method comprising:
- compressing the article of footwear component between a support surface and a first clamp of a footwear component holder;
- contacting a rotational brush with the article of footwear component at a first location;
- rotating the rotational brush in a first direction at the first location;
- compressing the article of footwear component between the support surface and a second clamp of the footwear component holder;
- contacting the rotational brush with the article of footwear component at a second location, wherein the first location is different from the second location;
- and
- rotating the rotational brush in a second direction at the second location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.