Moulded footwear
OwnerPeter Foldesinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mould (14) for manufacturing an article of footwear comprises two mould halves (16); a hollow last (20) which includes a cylindrical downwardly open opening (30) at its foot end (26); and a first sole plate (34) which includes a projection (32) having a head portion (36) which is arranged to extend into the opening (30) in the last (20) in order to restrict movement of the last within the mould. Polyurethane is injected into cavity (44) defined between the last and mould halves (16)/sole plate (34) to form an inner sole of an article of footwear having a hole in it in a position where projection (32) cooperated with opening (30). This opening may then be plugged prior to the formation of an outer sole using a second sole plate (which does not include a projection (32) instead of the first sole plate.
Claims8
An apparatus for manufacturing a complete article of waterproof footwear by moulding, said apparatus comprising:
- a mould having a foot end and a leg end;
- and
- a last means arranged in a cavity defined by said mould;
- wherein restrictor means is provided between a foot end of said mould and a foot end of said last means for supporting said last means and for restricting relative movement between said mould and said last means, said restrictor means comprising a male formation provided on one of said mould and said last means arranged to be engaged with a female formation provided in the other one of said mould and said last means.
A method for manufacturing a complete article of waterproof footwear by moulding from polyurethane, said method comprising:
- in a first moulding process, manufacturing a first footwear moulding with a hole therein using a mould restrictor means provided between a foot end of said mould and a foot end of a last means for supporting said last means and for restricting relative movement between said mould and said last means, said restrictor means comprising a male formation provided on one of said mould and said last means arranged to be engaged with a female formation provided in the other one of said mould and said last means, which restrictor means causes the production of said hole;
- and
- wherein said hole is plugged with a plug member prior to a second moulding process,
- in the second moulding process, covering or filling said hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.