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US 2021/0076779 A1Published application
Buffing system for footwear
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsCHUN-CHIEH CHEN, YI-MIN CHEN, CHIA-HUNG LIN, HSIEN-KUANG WU, HUNG-YU WU
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims20
An article of footwear buffing system, the system comprising:
- a sidewall buffing module comprising:
- (1) a first brush, the first brush having a cylindrical form with a plurality of bristles extending outwardly from a rotational axis of the first brush, the rotational axis extends along a longitudinal direction of the cylindrical form;
- (2) a first brush rotational drive, the first brush rotational drive functionally connected with the first brush to rotate the first brush about the first brush rotational axis, and
- (3) a first footwear component holder, the first footwear component holder positioned to secure a footwear component for contact with the first brush;
- an up surface buffing module comprising:
- (1) a second brush, the second brush having a cylindrical form with a plurality of bristles extending outwardly from a rotational axis of the second brush, the rotational axis extends along a longitudinal direction of the cylindrical form;
- (2) a second brush rotational drive, the second brush rotational drive functionally connected with the second brush to rotate the second brush about the second brush rotational axis, and
- (3) a second footwear component holder, the second footwear component holder comprised of a first support and a first clamp, the first clamp is positioned to contact an up surface of the footwear component and the first support positioned to contact a down surface of the footwear component;
- and
- a down surface buffing module comprising:
- (1) a third brush, the third brush having a cylindrical form with a plurality of bristles extending outwardly from a rotational axis of the third brush, the rotational axis extends along a longitudinal direction of the cylindrical form,
- (2) a third brush rotational drive, the third brush rotational drive functionally connected with the third brush to rotate the third brush about the third brush rotational axis,
- (3) a third footwear component holder comprised of a plurality of rollers forming a support plane, wherein each of the rollers has a rotational axis parallel with the third brush rotational axis and the third brush rotational axis is positioned on a first side of the support plane and at least a portion of the third brush plurality of bristles extending to a third side of the support plane, and
- (4) a compression member, the compression member is positioned on the third side of the support plane.
11 more elements
A method of buffing an article of footwear component with a footwear buffing system, the method comprising:
- buffing a sidewall of the article of footwear component with a sidewall buffing module having a first brush, wherein the article of footwear component extends into bristles of the first brush at least 5 mm;
- conveying the article of footwear component to an up surface buffing module;
- buffing an up surface of the article of footwear component at the up surface buffing module having a second brush, wherein the second brush is conveyed along the article of footwear component up surface and rotates in a first direction at a first location on the up surface and the second brush rotates in a second direction at a second location on the upper surface;
- conveying the article of footwear component to a down surface buffing module;
- and
- buffing the article of footwear component at the down surface buffing module having a third brush and a compression member, wherein the compression member compresses the article of footwear component into the third brush while conveying the article of footwear component across the third brush.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.