Abstract:
A contoured insole construction is a single-piece insole construction which is contoured at about a foot receiving area thereof including an integrally formed raised foot receiving base region bounded by a lower outer lip perimeter region. In an alternative embodiment, the single-piece insole construction which is contoured at about the foot receiving area thereof includes a raised outer lip perimeter region and a lowered foot-receiving base region bounded by said raised outer lip perimeter region.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a divisional utility patent application of U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 11.183,468 entitled “Contoured Insole Construction and Method of Manufacturing Same, by Guillermo Luis Palmer filed on Jul. 18, 2005. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     This application relates to footwear, and more particularly to a novel contoured insole construction and a method of manufacturing the insole construction.  
         [0004]     2. Background of Prior Art  
         [0005]     Various insole constructions and methods of manufacturing such insole constructions are well known in the art. However, there is a need for improving the manufacturing process and for providing a single piece contoured insole construction in a fast and highly productive manner.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A contoured single piece footwear construction product is formed from a sheet of continuous material transferred along a cutting path by a pair of closely spaced apart form factor rollers which simultaneously deform the sheet of continuous material, guide a flexible continuous knife belt disposed within the cutting path into cutting engagement with the continuous sheet along a desired contour formed by the pair of rollers causing the contoured single piece footwear construction to separate from the sheet of continuous material. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     The above mentioned features and steps of the invention and the manner of attaining them will become apparent, and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of the preferred embodiment(s) of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein.  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic view of a method of manufacturing a contoured insole construction in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic view of a method of manufacturing a contoured item in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a side elevational view of the method of manufacturing the contoured footwear item of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is side elevation view of a footwear item, which is constructed in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a side elevational view of another footwear item, which is constructed in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a diagrammatic view of a method of manufacturing a contoured insole construction in accordance with still yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of a holding tray taken substantially along line  7 - 7  as shown in  FIG. 6 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  is a top plane view of a blank insole form utilized in the manufacturing method illustrated in  FIG. 6 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 9  is a top plane view of the top of the holding tray illustrated in  FIG. 7 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 10  is a top plane view of the bottom of the holding tray illustrated in  FIG. 7 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 11  is a flow diagram of the manufacturing method of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 12  is a flow diagram of the manufacturing method of  FIG. 6 ; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 13  is a diagrammatic view of the intersecting relationship between a pair of sheet cutting path illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]     An apparatus and method of manufacturing a single piece contoured footwear item are disclosed. The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. For purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Descriptions of specific applications are provided only as examples. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.  
         [0022]     Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , there is shown an insole construction apparatus  10  for manufacturing a contoured single-piece insole  110  in accordance with a novel method of manufacturing  1110  as best seen in  FIG. 11 . The footwear making apparatus  10  facilitates the construction of the single-piece insole construction  110  in an extremely fast and highly efficient manner as will be explained hereinafter in greater detail.  
         [0023]     Considering now the apparatus  10  in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 1 , the apparatus  10  generally includes a sheet driving mechanism  12  and a knife belt driving mechanism  14 , which cooperate with one another to cause a sheet of foam or EVA material  15  to be driven along a sheet feeding or cutting path  16  and into cutting engagement with a continuous cutting belt  18 . The continuous cutting belt  18  is a replaceable cutting belt, which forms part of the knife belt driving mechanism  14 .  
         [0024]     As best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 13 , the continuous cutting belt  18  travels along a sheet engaging or cutting path  20  which is disposed at about an angle θ relative to the sheet-cutting path  16 . In this regard, the sheet-cutting path  16  and the sheet-cutting path  20  intersect with one another at about an angle θ, which is between about 30 degrees and 90 degrees. A more preferred angle θ is between about 45 degrees and 90 degrees, and the most preferred angle θ is about 90 degrees. Although the path  20  is described as a sheet-cutting path, it should be understood that the belt  18  does not engage the continuous sheet  15  except during those times when the belt  18  is flexed under the force of the sheet driving mechanism  12  into engagement with the sheet  15  as best seen in  FIG. 3  and as will be explained hereinafter in greater detail.  
         [0025]     Considering now the sheet driving mechanism  12  in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 1 , the sheet driving mechanism  12  is disposed between a continuous sheet supply roller (not shown) and a continuous sheet take up roller (not shown). The supply roller holds a roll of the continuous material  15 , which is pulled from a leading edge along the sheet-cutting path  16  through the sheet driving mechanism  12  and onto the take up roller to complete a continuous sheet-feeding path through the sheet driving mechanism  12 . A pair of closely spaced apart rollers, including a positive form factor roller  22  and a negative form factor roller  24  continuously engage the continuous sheet  15  with a sufficient frictional force to pull the sheet from the supply roller and drive it along the sheet cutting path  16  onto the take up roller.  
         [0026]     As best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the positive form factor roller  22  includes a pair of contoured insole forms  32  and  34 , which are removably attached to roller  22  by means not shown. The negative form factor roller  24  includes another pair of contoured insole forms  42  and  44 , which are removably attached to roller  24 . For the purpose of easy in illustrating the orientation of the rollers  22  and  24  and the forms  32 ,  34 ,  42 , and  44 , a generic positive form factor roller PFFR and a generic negative form factor roller NFFR, are illustrated in  FIG. 3  with generic positive forms PF 1  and PF 2  and generic negative forms NF 1  and NF 2  respectively. In this manner, easy reference may be made to the specific illustrations in  FIGS. 1-2  and  4  to understand the relationship between rollers and forms.  
         [0027]     As best seen in  FIG. 4 , the contoured form  32  and contoured form  42  are set apart from one another relative to their rollers  22  and  24  respectively, to engage the sheet of continuous material  15  at different times. In this regard, they are offset by about 90 degrees so that upon a ninety-degree rotation of the rollers  22  and  24  (which roll in unison), either a positive form or a negative form will be engaging the sheet  15  of continuous material. This rotational offset provides sufficient frictional force on the continuous sheet  15  to pull it from the supply roller and to drive it along the sheet-cutting path  16  to be taken up on the take up roller. Those skilled in the art will understand that by offsetting the forms  32  and  34  on the positive form factor roller  22  by about 180 degrees, a sufficient gap is provided along the continuous sheet  15  to separate individual ones of the single-piece contoured footwear items  110  produced by the cutting action of the continuous knife belt  18  as will be explained hereinafter in greater detail.  
         [0028]     Considering now the method  1110  of manufacturing the single-piece contoured footwear item  110  in greater detail with reference to  FIGS. 1, 4 ,  8  and  11 , the manufacturing process begins at a start step  1112  where an operator sets up the apparatus  10  as described earlier with the sheet of continuous material  15  in engagement with the sheet driving mechanism  12  and extending between the feed roller and the take up roller. The driving mechanism  12 , at a driving step  1114 , is then actuated to cause the sheet of continuous material  15  to be driven along the sheet cutting path  16  by the rollers  22  and  24  respectively.  
         [0029]     At about the same time as the sheet of continuous material  15  begins to be driven along the sheet cutting path  16 , the knife belt driving mechanism  14  is also actuated at a belt driving step  1116 , to cause the continuous knife belt  18  to be driven along the sheet cutting path  20 .  
         [0030]     In unison now, as the rollers  22  and  24  engage the sheet  15 , the forms  32  and  34  in an alternating rhythm flex the continuous knife belt  18  into engagement with the sheet  15 , which is simultaneously deformed in the same alternating manner by the forms  32  and  34  respectively. In this regard, as one of the forms, for example form  32  deforms a portion of the sheet  15  into a desired contoured shape, the deformed section of the sheet  15  is brought into simultaneous engagement with the cutting edge of the knife belt  18 . Accordingly, at a cutting step  1120  the cutting edge of the knife belt  18  engages the sheet  15  and deviates from the path  20  to follow along a deform path indicated generally at  82  ( FIG. 3 ) which is defined by the contoured protuberance provided by the form  32 .  
         [0031]     As the sheet  15  continues to move along the sheet cutting path  16  while in cutting engagement with the knife belt  18 , which is now traveling along the deform path  82 , the cutting action of the knife belt  18  separates the deformed section  110  from the sheet  15  at a separating step  1122 . The separated deformed section, which has been removed from the sheet  15 , is the single-piece contoured footwear item  110 .  
         [0032]     At a decision step  1124  a determination is made whether to repeat the steps  1114 ,  116 ,  1118 ,  1120 , and  1122  to manufacture another single-piece contoured footwear item  110 . This determination is made based upon the action of a trip switch (not shown) that provides an indication that there is an insufficient amount of the continuous sheet  15  to continue the manufacturing process. If there is a sufficient amount of continuous sheet  15 , the process returns to step  1114  and continues as previously described. If there is not a sufficient amount of continuous sheet  15 , the process goes to an end step  1126  that causes the sheet driving mechanism  12  and the knife belt driving mechanism  14  to be stopped. The manufacturing process  1110  is an automated process.  
         [0033]     Although in this preferred embodiment the separate deformed section is described as a single-piece contoured footwear item  110 , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other contoured items could also be manufactured in the same manner. For example, in  FIG. 2  there is illustrated an apparatus  210 , which is identical to apparatus  10  except that it includes different forms  62  and  64  respectively, which facilitate the manufacture of an article of manufacture, such as the article  310 . It is also contemplated that the forms attached to the rollers can be constructed to facilitate the manufacture of items with different contoured shapes. For example as best seen in  FIG. 4 , there is illustrated a contoured footwear item  610  which includes a raised outer lip perimeter region indicted generally at  688  and a lower contoured foot-receiving base region  690  bounded by the raised outer lip perimeter region  688 . As another example as best seen in  FIG. 5 , there is illustrated a contoured footwear item  710 , which includes a raised foot receiving base region  790  bounded by a lower outer lip perimeter region  788 . Therefore, there in no intention of limiting the scope of the preferred embodiment to the manufacturer of only footwear items as other items of manufacture having a contoured form are contemplated within the true scope and spirit of the present invention.  
         [0034]     Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to  FIG. 6 , there is illustrated an insole construction apparatus  2110  for manufacturing a contoured single-piece insole  2810  as best seen in  FIG. 7  in accordance with a novel method of manufacturing  910 . The footwear making apparatus  2110  facilitates the construction of the single-piece insole construction  2810  in a semi-automatic manner as will be explained hereinafter in greater detail.  
         [0035]     Considering now the apparatus  2110  in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 6 , the apparatus  10  generally includes a driving mechanism  2120  coupled to a pair of closely spaced drive rollers  2122  and  2124  respectively. The drive rollers  2122  and  2124  cooperate with one another to cause an insole carrier mold  2115  (which is introduced into a front nip between the rollers  2122 ,  2124  to be sandwiched therebetween and pulled along a cutting path P into proximity of a cutting blade  2118 . In this regard, as the mold  2115  is pulled and sandwiched between the rollers  2122  and  2124 , a blank insole  810  ( FIG. 8 ), carried by the mold  2115 , is distorted into a predetermined distorted shape. The predetermined distorted shape is so distorted so as to allow a portion of the blank insole  810  to engage the blade  2118  with a sufficient force to cut away a desired portion of the blank insole  810 , which in turn, results in a single-piece contoured insole, such as the contoured insole  2810 , being formed.  
         [0036]     After the distorted portion of the blank insole  810  has been cutaway and separated, the mold  2115  continues along the path P and into the nip of another pair of rollers (not shown) which in turn cause the mold  2115  and contoured insole  2810  by means (now shown) to be discharge from the apparatus  2110 .  
         [0037]     Considering now the mold  2115  in greater detail with reference to  FIGS. 7-10 , the mold  2115  generally includes a generally rectangularly shaped base member  2130  with a centrally disposed topside cutout  2132  and a centrally disposed bottom side cutout  2134 . The topside cutout  2132  and the bottom side cutout  2134  are disposed opposite to one another and are spaced from one another by a thin sheet of resilient material  2136 .  
         [0038]     The topside cutout  2132  and the bottom side cutout  2134  are configured in the shape of an insole in order to facilitate holding, deforming, and cutting the blank insole  810 . In this regard, the topside cutout  2132  that has a sufficient depth dimension to retain the insole  810  in place within the carrier mold  2115  as it passes between the rollers  2122  and  2124  as previously described.  
         [0039]     As best seen in  FIG. 7 , the bottom side cutout  2134  has a deforming member  2138  that extends along the entire perimeter of the cutout  2134 . The deforming member  2138  is composed of a hard non-resilient material that will not deform or lose its shape when the mold  2115  passes between the roller  2122  and  2134 . In this regard, the insole  810  deforms in shape when pressed against the deforming member  2138  by the rollers  2122  and  2124 . More particularly, an outer portion of the insole blank  810  is pushed under the force of the rollers  2122 ,  2124  and distorted by the distorting member  2138  to a position that extends above the upper plane of the mold carrier  2115 . In this regard, as the mold carrier  2115  passes below the cutting blade  2118 , the blade  2118  severs the distorted outer portion of the insole blank  810  that extends above the upper plane of the mold carrier  2115  from the blank  810 . As a result of removing this outer section from the blank  810  an contoured insole, such as the contoured insole  2810  is formed.  
         [0040]     Considering now the novel method of using the apparatus  2110  to manufacture a contoured insole, such as the contoured insole  610 , in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 12 , the manufacturing process begins at a start step  912  where a user activates the apparatus  2110  to cause the drive mechanism  2120  to drive the rollers  2122  and  2124 .  
         [0041]     Next, at a placing step  914 , a user places a single piece non-contoured insole blank, such as the insole blank  810 , into the mold carrier  2115 . More specifically, the user places the insole blank  810  into the upper cutout  2132  so that the blank  810  is supported from below by the thin sheet  2136  and the deforming member  2138 .  
         [0042]     The user then moves the mold carrier  2115  into the front nip between the rollers  2122  and  2124  allowing the roller to grasp and pull the carrier  2115  along the cutting path P. In this regard, the carrier  2115  is pulled between the rollers  2122  and  2124 , which in cooperation with the distorting member  2138 , cause an inner portion of the insole blank  810  to be distorted and pushed above the plane of the carrier  2115  as the carrier exits the rear nip from between the rollers.  
         [0043]     Next, at a cutting step  918 , the blade  2118 , which is positioned at the rear nip of the rollers  2122  and  2124 , slices the deformed insole blank  810  along a desired contour form resulting from distorting the blank  810  to form a single piece contoured insole, such as the contoured insole  2810 .  
         [0044]     Finally, when the carrier  2115  is discharged from the apparatus  2110 , the user, at a removing step  920 , removes the contoured insole from the carrier  2115 . The user then places another blank insole into the now empty insole cutout  2132  and repeats the process to form another contoured insole.  
         [0045]     While this invention has been shown fully and completely with special emphasis on certain preferred embodiments, it should be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.