System for shoe sole portion painting
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsPATRICK CONALL REGAN, FENG-MING OU, HAO-ZHEN CHEN, CHIH-CHUNG WU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automated system for painting a shoe sole portion of a shoe is provided. The automated painting system is adapted to use a variety of stations and components to automatically paint a side surface of the shoe sole portion while it is secured in a jig, transition the jig to an open position, and remove the painted shoe sole portion from the jig.
Claims20
A painting system for painting a shoe sole portion of a shoe, the painting system comprising:
- a jig comprising a bottom plate having a first multi-layer deforming layer and a first rigid layer and a top plate pivotably coupled to the bottom plate, the top plate having a second multi-layer deforming layer and a second rigid layer, wherein the top plate and the bottom plate are adapted such that an upper surface and a lower surface of the shoe sole portion are completely covered by the top plate and the bottom plate of the jig when the jig is in a closed position, and at least a portion of a side surface of the shoe sole portion is left exposed when the jig is in the closed position;
- and
- a painting station adapted to automatically paint the exposed portion of the side surface of the shoe sole portion while the shoe sole portion is positioned in the jig.
A painting system for painting a shoe sole portion of a shoe, the painting system comprising:
- a jig adapted to hold the shoe sole portion in a fixed position when the jig is in a closed position such that only a side surface of the shoe sole portion is exposed;
- a painting station adapted to paint the exposed side surface of the shoe sole portion while being held by the jig, wherein the painting station is controlled by a computing device having a predefined painting path associated with the jig;
- and
- an opening station having an opening mechanism adapted to translate movement of the jig into an opening force that transitions the jig from the closed position to an open position.
A painting system for painting a shoe sole portion of a shoe, the painting system comprising:
- a jig configured to hold the shoe sole portion in an inverted position such that when the jig is in a closed position, only a side surface of the shoe sole portion is exposed;
- a computer controlled painting station that is adapted to paint the exposed side surface of the shoe sole portion while being maintained by the jig;
- an opening station having an opening mechanism adapted to transition the jig from the closed position to a fully-open position;
- an unloading station having an inversion mechanism that is adapted to remove the shoe sole portion from the jig and invert the shoe sole portion to an upright position;
- and
- a transport assembly adapted to transport the jig from a first location to the painting station, from the painting station to the opening station, and from the opening station to the unloading station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.