Patent ID: 7398901

Claim:
Universal removal device allowing to remove a footwear item from a metal mould, solid or tubular, or two moulds arranged side by side, the items being socks or pairs of socks with small or very long uppers, tight legs or assembled tights, or ladies' stockings, knit with any kinds of fibres, all these items being on moulds at different heights, with normal inclination of the foot, forming an angle of about 40° with the vertical plane and having a normal heel, comprising: two pinching belts and fitted on a slider; two stripping fingers; and a horizontal belt and a succession of belts to collect the article; wherein order to remove a footwear item from a mould, the two belts, after having pinched the article in the upper portion thereof, while remaining rotationally fixed, move, guided by sliders in the same direction as axis A-A′ of the foot of the mould so as to remove the foot, aided for this purpose by the two fingers which are in contact with a lower portion of the article and which elevate it at the same speed as the displacement of the two belts in an ascending motion, along the upper, in order to avoid any tensing or folds occurring on the article, and that subsequently, the complete removal of the article, whatever the length thereof, is achieved by putting in simultaneous rotation the two belts, the horizontal belt, and the succession of belts, still aided for this purpose by the two fingers moving at the same linear speed as the two belts; wherein the horizontal belt is adjustable in height, which allows to stop the two belts, tangentially to the horizontal belt, at different positions, by means of a screw and a wheel, a framework moving vertically on pins, so as to allow, on final stripping, to align the upper of the article with the foot of the mould.