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US 8,997,291 B2Granted
Method of custom fitting an article of footwear and apparatus including a container
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsBrian D. Baker, Alexandre Baudouin, William M. Dieter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for custom fitting an article of footwear is disclosed. A container holding the article of footwear includes a steaming assembly that allows a customer to subject the article of footwear to steam. The method can include cooling the article of footwear on the customer's foot to custom fit the article of footwear.
Claims17
A kit for custom fitting an article of footwear comprising:
- a container having a container lid being sized and dimensioned to fit onto the container, the container lid including a predetermined removable area;
- and
- an article of footwear including a upper having a throat portion that surrounds a throat opening providing access to an interior of said article of footwear;
- wherein said article of footwear is configured to fit inside the container;
- wherein the predetermined removable area is sized and dimensioned to fit the throat portion of said article of footwear;
- wherein the predetermined removable area is configured to be fully removed from the container lid so as to form a hole in a portion of the container lid;
- wherein an outer perimeter of the hole is configured to correspond with and to hold the throat portion of said article of footwear;
- wherein the predetermined removable area is offset towards one end of the container lid;
- wherein the predetermined removable area is sized and dimensioned to hold in place the throat portion of said article of footwear in an inverted position within the hole formed by removing the predetermined removable area;
- wherein the throat portion of said article of footwear surrounds the throat opening providing access to the interior of said article of footwear;
- and
- wherein the throat opening is disposed beneath the portion of the container that includes the predetermined removable area when said article of footwear is in the inverted portion within the hole.
9 more elements
A method of using a kit for custom fitting an article of footwear, the method comprising:
- providing a kit including a container having a container lid sized and dimensioned to fit onto the container, and an article of footwear including a upper having a throat portion that surrounds a throat opening providing access to an interior of said article of footwear disposed within the container;
- forming a hole sized and dimensioned to fit a throat portion of said article of footwear in the container lid;
- wherein an outer perimeter of the hole is configured to correspond with and to hold the throat portion of said article of footwear, and wherein the hole is offset towards one end of the container lid;
- placing the throat portion of said article of footwear in contact with the hole so as to hold the throat portion of said article of footwear;
- wherein the predetermined removable area is sized and dimensioned to hold in place the throat portion of said article of footwear in an inverted position within the hole formed by removing the predetermined removable area;
- wherein the throat opening is disposed beneath the portion of the container that includes the predetermined removable area when said article of footwear is in the inverted portion within the hole;
- and
- subjecting the hole and said article of footwear to a source of steam.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.