The invention relates to footwear and portions thereof having structural features and decorative designs thereon, and related systems and methods for manufacturing same. An exemplary method for providing a feature on a surface of an object includes positioning a laser proximate the surface of the object, directing a laser beam from the laser to the surface of the object to mark or engrave at least a portion of the surface of the object, and moving at least one of the laser and the object to create a pattern on the surface of the object, the pattern providing at least one of an aesthetic and a structural feature on the surface of the object.

An overlap production method of using standard coiled material, comprising the steps of: selecting a standard coiled material, designing a pattern, laser cutting according to the design pattern, cutting or reserving spaces for inserting drawn strips, forming by staggering and overlapping each layer of standard coiled material, and inserting partial materials of a standard coiled material layer into an adjacent standard coiled material and fixing it with the partial materials of the adjacent standard coiled material, or inserting the drawn strips into the spaces reserved in each layer, and combining the composition and the base clothing to make a product. The present invention produces the product with the above production method by using standard coiled materials instead of thread or strip materials, which not only achieves the goal of higher production efficiency and lower cost, but also makes the finished products have a new staggered material effect.

A method of inserting a rivet into a workpiece comprises moving the rivet and workpiece relative to one another, along a longitudinal axis of the rivet, so as to drive the rivet into the workpiece. The rivet is rotated about its longitudinal axis, relative to the workpiece, for at least part of the time during which it is in contact with the workpiece. The speed of said rotation, or the speed of movement along the longitudinal axis of the rivet, is altered at least once before driving of the rivet into the workpiece is complete. One axial end of the rivet has a tip for piercing the workpiece, and the rivet has a substantially cylindrical shank extending longitudinally from the tip. The shank has one or more surface irregularities.

A method for introducing openings into a decorative material laminated onto a carrier comprises the following steps: providing a fixing device with at least two indicator pins and at least one absorption chamber, providing a carrier with holes for receiving the indicator pins and a decorative material with holes for receiving the indicator pins, pushing the carrier onto the indicator pins and then pushing the decorative material onto the indicator pins. The indicator pins extend through the holes in the carrier and the decorative material and visible parts of the indicator pins protrude above the decorative material, and the decorative material is positioned on the carrier and laminated onto the carrier. Openings are introduced into the decorative material above the openings in the carrier by means of a laser, by detecting the positions of the indicator pins and the heights of the visible parts of the indicator pins.

The invention relates to a method for introducing a defined weakening line by means of material removal on a cover material (20) which has a visible side (22) and a rear side (21) opposite the visible side (22), in which a pulsed laser beam (31) from a laser (30) is aimed at the rear side (21) of the cover material (20) and is guided along a path (50) and at least one observation unit (11) for monitoring the weakening process is provided underneath the visible side (22) of the cover material (20), wherein a second laser beam (61) from a second laser (60) is coupled into the beam path of the first laser beam (31), wherein the first pulsed laser beam (31) is used to produce the weakening line, and the radiation from the second laser beam (61) that emerges on the visible side (22) is detected by the at least one observation unit (11).

The invention relates to a planar decorative material (11) comprising perforations (12), for interior fittings, in particular for the automobile industry, which decorative material serves to be illuminated on the rearward face (13) thereof, by an illumination means (18), and allows a portion of the light from the illumination means (18) to pass from the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11), through the perforations (12), to the visible side (14) of the decorative material (11), wherein a film (20) is adhesively bonded to the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11) and the perforations (12) extend from the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11) as far as the visible side (14) thereof, but not through the film (20). (FIG. 2)

The present invention also relates to a production method.

A method and device for producing a tear line on a planar workpiece by material removal by means of a pulsed laser, wherein machining cycles are preceded by a method step for generating and storing a reference signal curve which is formed by reference signals, causing the pulse amplitude of the laser pulses, via removal locations along the contour of the tear line. The achievement of a respective predetermined percentage of the reference signal or of an absolute distance from the reference signal by a measurement signal is used as the space-resolved deactivation criterion for each removal location, which measurement signal is obtained from a transmitted part of the pulse amplitude at the respective removal location.

The invention relates to a planar decorative material (11) comprising perforations (12), for interior fittings, in particular for the automobile industry, which decorative material serves to be illuminated on the rearward face (13) thereof, by an illumination means (18), and allows a portion of the light from the illumination means (18) to pass from the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11), through the perforations (12), to the visible side (14) of the decorative material (11), wherein a film (20) is adhesively bonded to the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11) and the perforations (12) extend from the rear face (13) of the decorative material (11) as far as the visible side (14) thereof, but not through the film (20). The present invention also relates to a production method.

A linear actuator assembly comprises a linear actuator which has a housing and an output shaft, the output shaft defining an actuator axis and being movable along the actuator axis between an extended position and a retracted position. The assembly also comprises a buffer carriage arranged in an active configuration in which it is mounted on either the housing or the output shaft. The buffer carriage has a rotary portion which is rotationally coupled to the output shaft such that rotation of the output shaft about the actuator axis requires corresponding rotation of the rotary portion. The rotary portion is rotationally restrained when the buffer carriage is in the active configuration.

A linear actuator assembly comprises a housing, an output shaft, a nose piece and a negative pressure device. The output shaft defines an actuator assembly axis, and is movable along the actuator assembly axis between an extended position and a retracted position relative to the housing. The nose piece is slidably mounted to the output shaft and movable between an extended position and a retracted position relative to the output shaft. The nose piece and the output shaft co-operatively define a chamber for containing a quantity of fluid, the volume of the chamber being smaller when the nose piece is in the retracted position than when the nose piece is in the extended position. The negative pressure device is connectable to the chamber, and is selectively operable so as to reduce the pressure in the sealed volume, thereby urging the nose piece from the extended position towards the retracted position.