Patent Application
20110219643
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method, and more particularly relates to a method of manufacturing an outsole with an embedded fabric layer that can provide a preferred non-slip effect and can reduce the cost of production.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional outsole is formed using plastics and rubbers. However, the conventional outsole may be slippery for lack of non-slip structures on the bottom surface of the conventional outsole. Additionally, the conventional outsole is made of plastic materials and the cost of production of the conventional plastic outsole is higher than outsoles comprising different materials including a cloth cover. Therefore, a footwear outsole is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,221, is made by a single injection mold and has an outsole, a fabric layer and a molded outsole layer. The molded outsole layer is formed between the outsole and the fabric layer by the injection mold. Although the fabric layer can reduce the cost of production, the fabric layer cannot provide a non-slip effect to the footwear outsole and this influences the non-slip effect of the footwear outsole.
In addition, a footwear outsole is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,313,876 and has a fabric layer, an outsole and multiple non-slip protrusions. The outsole is attached to a top surface of the fabric layer. The non-slip protrusions are formed integrally on a bottom surface of the outsole, are connected to each other and extend through the fabric layer and protrude out from the bottom surface of the outsole. Although the non-slip protrusions are connected to each other to form a non-slip layer on the bottom surface of the outsole, the whole non-slip layer may be separated from the outsole when one of the non-slip protrusions falls off the bottom surface of the outsole and this will influence the non-slip effect of the footwear outsole.
Furthermore, a shoe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,931,110 and has an outsole, a fabric layer and multiple non-slip protrusions. The fabric layer has a top surface and multiple through holes. The through holes are individually formed through the fabric layer. The outsole is attached to a top surface of the fabric layer. The non-slip protrusions are formed integrally on the outsole and extend through the through holes of the fabric layer and protrude out from the fabric layer. Although the non-slip protrusions can be formed on and protrude from the fabric layer via the through holes, the through holes need to be formed before the non-slip protrusions are formed on the fabric layer and this will increase the cost of production and limit the sizes and shapes of the non-slip protrusions.
With reference to
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an outsole with an embedded fabric layer and a method of manufacturing the same to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an outsole with an embedded fabric layer that can provide a preferred non-slip effect and can reduce the cost of production.
The method of manufacturing an outsole with an embedded fabric layer in accordance with the present invention includes a preparing step, a forming step and a separating step. The preparing step includes preparing two molds, a fabric layer and a melted plastic material, forming multiple recesses and protruding blocks in the lower mold, setting the depth of each one of the recesses and the height of each one of the protruding blocks at a ratio of 2:1 and dipping the fabric layer in a liquid resin. The forming step includes injecting the melted plastic material into the molds to form an outsole to enable the melted plastic material to fill into the recesses to form multiple non-slip protrusions. The separating step includes cooling the molds, separating the molds and getting the outsole with the embedded fabric layer out of the molds.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The preparing step comprises preparing a lower mold 10, 10A, an upper mold 20, 20A, a fabric layer 30 being porous and a melted plastic material 40, forming multiple recesses 11, 11A in a top surface of the lower mold 10, 10A, forming multiple protruding blocks 12, 12A on the top surface of the lower mold 10, 10A around the recesses 11, 11A to form a staircase structure, setting the depth (D) of each one of the recesses 11, 11A and the height (H) of each one of the protruding blocks 12, 12A at a ratio of 2:1 and dipping the fabric layer 30 in a liquid resin to enhance the hardness of the fabric layer 30. Preferably, the depth (D) of each one of the recesses 11, 11A is set under 0.6 millimeter and the height (H) of each one of the protruding blocks 12, 12A is set under 0.3 millimeter. In addition, each protruding block 12 has an advance angle formed between the top surface of the lower mold 10 and the protruding block 12. Preferably, with reference to
The forming step comprises mounting the fabric layer 30 between the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A, heating and keeping the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A at the temperature between 150° C.-170° C., injecting the melted plastic material 40 into the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A to form an outsole 50, 50A between the upper mold 20, 20A and the fabric 30, 10A, 20, 20A at a pressure between 50˜70 lb/ft2 to enable the melted plastic material 40 to press the fabric layer 30 abutting the top surface of the lower mold 10, 10A around the protruding blocks 12, 12A and to enable the melted plastic material 40 to fill into the recesses 11, 11A of the lower mold 10, 10A via the fabric layer 30 to form multiple non-slip protrusions 60, 60A. Additionally, during the above mentioned injecting step, the heated molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A can make the resin that is formed on the fabric layer 30 melt to enable the melted plastic material 40 to fill into the recesses 11, 11A of the lower mold 10, 10A via the fabric layer 30. Preferably, with reference to
The separating step comprises cooling the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A to room temperature, separating the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A and getting the outsole 50, 50A with the embedded fabric layer 30 out of the molds 10, 10A, 20, 20A as shown in
With the method of manufacturing an outsole with an embedded fabric layer in accordance with the present invention, the outsole with an embedded fabric layer has a fabric layer 30 and an outsole 50, 50A.
The fabric layer 30 is porous, allows melted plastic materials 40 to pass through and has a top surface, a bottom surface, multiple embedding regions and multiple un-embedding regions. The embedding regions are individually formed on the bottom surface of the fabric layer 30 and each embedding region has a shape and a depth. The un-embedding regions are formed on the bottom surface of the fabric layer 30.
The outsole 50, 50A is made of melted plastic materials 40, is attached to the top surface of the fabric layer 30 and has a bottom surface, multiple non-slip protrusions 60, 60A and multiple patterns 70A. The bottom surface is attached to the top surface of the fabric layer 30. The non-slip protrusions 60, 60A are individually formed on and protrude from the bottom surface of the outsole 50, 50A, extend out of the embedding regions of the fabric layer 30 and each non-slip protrusions 60, 60A has a height and a shape corresponding to the shape of an embedding region of the fabric layer 30. The height of each one of the non-slip protrusions 60, 60A and the depth of each one of the embedding regions of the fabric layer 30 are set at a ratio of 2:1.The patterns 70A are formed on and protrude from the bottom surface of the outsole 50A to abut the top surface of the fabric layer 30 at the un-embedding regions, and each pattern 70A has a height. The height of each one of the non-slip protrusions 60, 60A and the height of each one of the patterns 70A are set at a ratio of 2:1.
When the outsole with an embedded fabric layer in accordance with the present invention is manufactured, the depth (D) of each one of the recesses 11, 11A and the height (H) of each one of the protruding blocks 12, 12A are set at a ratio of 2:1 and the depth (D) of each one of the recesses 11A and the depth (d) of each one of the detents 13A are also set at a ratio of 2:1. Accordingly, when the height (H) of each one of the protruding blocks 12, 12A and the depth (d) of each one of the detents 13A are set under 0.3 millimeter and the depth (D) of each one of the recesses 11, 11A is set under 0.6 millimeter, the melted plastic material 40 can be well controlled to pass through the fabric layer 30 or not to form the individual non-slip protrusions 60, 60A and the patterns 70A and this can provide a preferred non-slip effect to the outsole 50, 50A and can reduce the cost of production. In addition, the fabric layer 30 is dipped in a liquid resin to enhance the hardness of the fabric layer 30 and this can avoid forming multiple gaps between the fabric layer 30 and the top surface of the lower mold 10, 10A and this also can provide preferred non-slip effect to the outsole 50, 50A.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200720148636.6 | Apr 2007 | CN | national |
The present invention is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/951,606, filed on Dec. 6, 2007.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11951606 | Dec 2007 | US |
| Child | 13110831 | US |
