Sole mold for manufacturing a sole

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10974476-B2
Application number	US-202016833255-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2020
Priority date	May 24, 2016
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A sole mold for manufacturing a sole from a plurality of particles includes at least one first opening for supplying the particles, and at least two second openings for supplying a gaseous and/or liquid medium to bond and/or fuse the particles together. At least a portion of the sole mold is manufactured by an additive manufacturing method.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A sole mold for manufacturing a sole from a plurality of particles, the mold comprising:
at least one first opening for supplying the particles;
at least two second openings for supplying a gaseous and/or liquid medium to bond and/or fuse the particles together;
wherein at least a portion of the sole mold is manufactured by an additive manufacturing method; and
wherein up to 50% of the surface of the sole mold is provided with the at least two second openings.

2. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the at least two second openings have a smaller length than the average size of the particles to be molded in the sole mold.

3. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the at least two second openings are provided with a biggest dimension of up to 5.0 mm.

4. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of sole mold comprises a thickness of equal or less than 10 mm.

5. The sole mold of claim 4 , wherein the portion is provided in the side wall of the sole mold.

6. The sole mold of claim 4 , wherein the portion comprises essentially the complete sole mold.

7. The sole mold of one of the preceding claims, wherein the sole mold comprises a top part, a bottom part and a side wall; and wherein the at least two second openings are provided in the side wall.

8. The sole mold of claim 7 , wherein the at least two second openings are further provided in the top part, the bottom part, and the side wall.

9. The sole mold of claim 1 , further comprising at least one recess and/or at least one projection to position a pre-manufactured outsole.

10. The sole mold of claim 9 , wherein the at least two second openings are arranged adjacent to the at least one recess and/or at least one projection.

11. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the at least two second openings are arranged in an essentially regular pattern.

12. The sole mold of claim 1 , further comprising a means for closing the at least one first opening.

13. The sole mold of claim 1 , further comprising a means for holding a supporting element inside the mold.

14. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the mold comprises a means for ejecting a manufactured sole from the sole mold.

15. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the sole mold comprising the at least two openings is manufactured by an additive manufacturing method.

16. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the at least two second openings are arranged in a substantially regular pattern.

17. The sole mold of claim 1 , further comprising a means for closing the at least one first opening.

18. The sole mold of claim 1 , wherein the sole mold comprises a plurality of first openings and wherein the first openings are provided with different shapes.

19. An arrangement of a plurality of sole molds of claim 1 .

20. The arrangement of a plurality of sole molds of claim 19 , wherein infrastructure for gaseous and/or liquid medium is shared among the plurality of sole molds.

Assignees

• Adidas Ag

Inventors

• Le Tru Huu Minh
• Robertson Christopher
• Holmes Christopher Edward
• Reuber Norbert
• Kurtz Maximilian Philipp
• Hubert Rene
• Richardt Christian

Classifications

• B29D35/122 Primary

  Soles · CPC title

• B29K2105/04

  cellular or porous · CPC title

• A43B13/04

  Plastics, rubber or vulcanised fibre · CPC title

• B29D35/142

  Soles · CPC title

• B29D35/0063 Primary

  Moulds · CPC title