Method for the production of a shoe, especially of a sports shoe

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the production of a shoe (1), especially of a sports shoe. To provide an effective and cost-efficient method for the shoe production, the invention comprises the steps: a) Production of a shoe upper (2) and of a shoe sole (3); b) Joining of the shoe upper (2) and the shoe sole (3) and inserting the joined shoe upper (2) and the shoe sole (3) into a flexible container element (4) which can be closed in an air-tight manner; c) Air-tight closing of the container element (4) and evacuating of the container element (4), so that the container element (4) presses together the joined shoe upper (2) and the shoe sole (3) within the container element (4); d) Connecting the shoe upper (2) and the shoe sole (3) within the container element (4) with another; e) Venting of the container element (4) and taking out the connected shoe upper (2) and shoe sole (3).

Claims

1. A method for producing a shoe, comprising the steps of: providing a shoe upper and a shoe sole; joining the shoe upper and the shoe sole and inserting the joined shoe upper and the shoe sole into a flexible container element, which can be closed in an air-tight manner, wherein a shoe last is arranged within the shoe upper, and wherein the shoe upper and the shoe sole are placed in a negatively shaped holding part for due adjustment between the shoe upper and the shoe sole, and to hold the shoe upper and the shoe sole together, the negatively shaped holding part also being inserted into the flexible container element; closing and evacuating the flexible container element, so that the flexible container element presses together the joined shoe upper and the shoe sole within the flexible container element; connecting the shoe upper and the shoe sole within the flexible container element by applying a microwave radiation to a contact zone between the shoe upper and the shoe sole, wherein the microwave radiation is applied from outside the flexible container element; and venting the flexible container element and taking the connected shoe upper and shoe sole out of the flexible container element.

2. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the flexible container element is a bag of a resilient material.

3. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the flexible container element is a plastic bag made of polyethylene.

4. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the flexible container element is provided with a closure element for opening and closing the flexible container element.

5. The method of claim 4, characterized in that the closure element is an air-tight zipper.

6. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the shoe sole consists of a base body and an insert, wherein the base body and the insert are connected with one another before the shoe upper and shoe sole are joined.

7. The method of claim 6, characterized in that an adhesive is provided between the base body and the insert.

8. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the flexible container element is evacuated with an evacuation pump.

9. The method of claim 8, characterized in that the connecting of the flexible container element with the evacuation pump is carried out via a valve element or pipe socket, which is provided at the flexible container element.

10. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the application of the microwave radiation is carried out between 15 and 60 seconds.

11. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the connecting of the shoe upper and the shoe sole is carried out by melting the material of the shoe upper and/or the shoe sole in a contact zone between the shoe upper and the shoe sole and letting the molten material fuse with adjacent material of the shoe upper and/or the shoe sole.

12. The method of claim 1, characterized in that, prior to the joining of the shoe upper and the shoe sole, an adhesive is provided between the shoe upper and the shoe sole.

13. The method of claim 12, characterized in that the adhesive is a hot-melt adhesive.

14. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the connected shoe upper and shoe sole is cooled between 30 and 120 seconds.

15. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the negatively shaped holding part is a deep drawn part.

16. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the microwave radiation is emitted in a direction moving from the shoe sole toward the shoe upper.

Description

(1) In the drawings an embodiment of the invention is shown.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a shoe upper and a shoe sole, still being separated, as well as a resilient bag,

(3) FIG. 2 shows the joined shoe upper and shoe sole being inserted into the bag and

(4) FIG. 3 shows the evacuated bag during the connection process of the shoe upper and the shoe sole.

(5) In FIG. 1 a shoe upper 2 and a sole 3 are shown in the left part of the figure, wherein the two components 2, 3 are still separated from another. Both components 2, 3 are separately produced by respective processes and are brought together at the beginning of the connection process as described below.

(6) To maintain the desired shape of the shoe upper 2 a shoe last 10 is inserted into the shoe upper 2.

(7) Also, the sole 3 consists presently of a first part 6 and a second part 7. More specifically, the first part 6 is a base body of the sole while the second part 7 is an insert which is placed into a respective recession within the part 6. This is shown in FIG. 1 only in a schematic manner. Of course it is possible that different shaped parts or inserts are used together with a base part of the sole to form the whole sole 3. A part of the sole can consist for example of a rubber material. It can for example be connected with the base part of the sole by means of a hot-melt powder coating process, by use of a hot-melt film or by a cement coating. The parts can be foamed or non-foamed.

(8) Specifically a midsole element can be combined with a number of rubber elements (which form the outer sole later on). The whole arrangement can be placed in a (deep-drawn) holding part 11, which holds the parts together during the subsequent connection process with the shoe upper.

(9) With respect to the different parts, which form the sole, pre-molded parts made of expanded TPU, EVA, polyurethane or other materials can be taken in consideration. Also, loose beads (especially made of expanded TPU) can be considered which are place in a sole element and which are connected with the same by suitable connection methods. Here, the mentioned holding part 11 is specifically suitable.

(10) The shoe upper 2 and the sole 3 are brought into contact as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1.

(11) Then, the (still loosely) combined or joined parts 2, 3 are put into a container element 4 (see big arrow in FIG. 1) which is a plastic bag in the present case, consisting of polyethylene (which material is not influenced by a microwave radiation).

(12) The container element 4 has a closure element 5 at one open end for an air-tight closure of the container element 4 after the components 2, 3 have been put into the element 4. After this is done the closure element 5 is closed and thus the components 2, 3 are air-tight contained within the container element 4.

(13) This situation is depicted in FIG. 2. Here, the shoe upper 2 and the sole 3 are geometrically adjusted to another and put into the container element 4 which is closed now by the closure element 5. The shoe upper 2 is supported by the shoe last 10.

(14) Now, an evacuation process is carried out as depicted in FIG. 3. The container element 4 has a valve element or pipe socket 9 which is suitable for the fluidic connection with a vacuum pump (not depicted). It is indicated in FIG. 3 that now the container element 4 consisting of a resilient material presses together the shoe upper 2 and the sole 3 due to the vacuum within the container element 4.

(15) Now, a microwave radiation—indicated by a couple of arrows in FIG. 3—is applied to the contact region between the shoe upper 2 and the sole 3 to firmly connect both components. Thereby, material in the contact zone between shoe upper 2 and sole 3 can be melted so that a deep connection is created between the components.

(16) So, the finished shoe 1 is created. After a certain time of cooling the closure element 5 is opened so that air can be vented into the inner of the container element 4. Then, the shoe 1 can be taken out of the container element 4.

(17) The bag (container element) 4 can be re-used so that specifically low costs for the production process are obtained.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

(18) 1 Shoe 2 Shoe upper 3 Shoe sole 4 Container element 5 Closure element 6 Part of the shoe sole 7 Part of the shoe sole 8 Valve element/pipe socket 9 Microwaves radiation 10 Shoe last 11 Holding part