Last With Retractable Pins
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsSam Fisher, Jared M. Kilmer, Thomas Berend, Tony H. Le
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A last assembly includes a plurality of retractable pins and a plurality of vacuum holes, both acting to hold footwear segments to the last assembly to facilitate manufacturing of, or modification to, an article of footwear. A method of making or modifying an article of footwear includes placing footwear segments on the last assembly by associating an extension portion of at least one footwear segment with the retractable pins, modifying the footwear segments and then removing the extension portion.
Claims20
A last assembly configured for use with an article of footwear, comprising:
- a last member having the approximate shape of an article of footwear;
- a base member associated with a bottom portion of the last member;
- and
- wherein the base member includes a plurality of vacuum holes.
A last assembly configured for use with an article of footwear, comprising:
- a last member having the approximate shape of an article of footwear;
- a base member associated with a bottom portion of the last member, wherein the base member is substantially longer than the last member and is substantially wider than the last member;
- and
- wherein the last member and the base member both include a plurality of vacuum holes.
A last assembly configured for use with an article of footwear, comprising:
- a last member having the approximate shape of an article of footwear, wherein the last member includes:
- a plurality of vacuum holes disposed on an outer surface of the last member;
- and
- a plurality of retractable pins extending from the outer surface, wherein each pin of the plurality of retractable pins includes:
- an exterior terminal end and an interior terminal end opposite the exterior terminal end;
- and
- an extended position and a retracted position, wherein the exterior terminal end is closer to the outer surface of the last member in the retracted positioned than in the extended position;
- and
- a base member associated with a bottom portion of the last member, the base member including a plurality of vacuum holes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.