A method and apparatus for footwear moulding

• Main Authors: Simon Paul Bradshaw, George Chi-Tangyie, Aashu Anshuman, Balasubramaniam Vaidhyanathan
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 15.11.2017
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; FOOTWEAR; HUMAN NECESSITIES; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCESIN A PLASTIC STATE; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

A method of moulding a mouldable reinforcing element of an item of footwear 12 that comprises the steps of providing a microwave heatable mouldable reinforcing element and locating said element at an appropriate location as part of an item of footwear 12; positioning the item of footwear 12 on a last 17 to hold the item of footwear 12 in an appropriate shape; locating the item of footwear 12 in a microwave field and thereby heating the mouldable reinforcing element to a temperature at which it is mouldable; and moving the appropriate location of the item of footwear 12 relative to the microwave field during said heating. A heater 1 is also disclosed for moulding footwear that comprises a chamber 2, a microwave generator (7, figure 6) that, when in use, generates a microwave field within the chamber and apparatus (6, figure 6) for moving an item of footwear 12 located in the chamber 2 relative to the microwave field.