Technique and articles for forming shoe shanks

A method for stiffening the shank region of a shoe insole comprising:

• providing a selected length of a sleeve having a thermosetting resin therein and a multiplicity of glass fibers embedded in the resin;
• slitting the sides of the sleeve at each end of the sleeve;
• applying said strip to the insole;
• pressing said strip to the insole to conform the strip to the contour of the insole and flattening the ends of the strip to feathered merging with the insole;
• and
• activating the resin.

A method for stiffening a selected portion of a shoe assembly comprising:

• applying a flexible sleeve containing a fluent matrix of externally activatable thermosetting resin to the selected region of the shoe assembly, said sleeve and matrix being flexible and deformable as a unit to enable it to substantially conform to the contour of the selected surface of the shoe assembly while in an unactivated condition;
• urging said sleeve and matrix into engagement with the contour of the selected region of the shoe assembly to cause it to substantially conform to said contour;
• and
• activating the resin in situ form a thermoset stiffening member.

A method for forming a shank stiffener for a shoe assembly comprising:

• providing a shank strip having a flexible sleeve which contains a fluent matrix of externally activatable thermosetting resin, said sleeve and matrix being flexible as a unit to enable it to conform to the contour of a selected surface of a shoe assembly;
• urging the shank strip into engagement with a surface having said selected contour to substantially conform the sleeve and resin to said contour;
• and
• activating the resin while it is maintained in said contour.

A method for stiffening a selected region of a shoe assembly comprising:

• applying to the selected region of the shoe assembly, a flexible sleeve containing a fluent externally activatable resin material, said sleeve and matrix being flexible and deformable, as a unit, to enable it to substantially conform to the contour of the selected region of the shoe assembly;
• urging said sleeve toward and into engagement with the selected region of the shoe assembly to cause it to substantially conform to the contour of the selected region;
• then pressing at least one selected portion of the sleeve to flatten the selected portion to a feathered configuration;
• and
• then activating the resin.

A method for stiffening the shank region of a shoe insole comprising:

• providing a selected length of a sleeve having a fluent resin therein, said sleeve and resin being flexible and deformable as a unit to enable it to substantially conform to the contour of the shank region of the bottom of the insole while in an unactivated condition;
• said sleeve having an opening formed at least at one of its ends;
• applying said sleeve to the bottom of the insole and urging the sleeve into engagement with the shank region of the insole to cause the sleeve to substantially conform to the contour of the insole;
• pressing said at least one end of the sleeve against the insole bottom to flatten the end of the sleeve and to cause a portion of the resin to flow out of the sleeve into direct contact with the insole;
• and activating the resin.