Sole component for an article of footwear and method for making same

摘要

A sole component having a base, a toe cover and an integral line of articulation permitting the toe cover to be molded in an “open” position and moved into a “closed” position during assembly on the article of footwear. The line of articulation may include a line of reduced thickness extending laterally across the sole. The line of articulation may also include breaks defined in the sidewall of the sole in alignment with the line of reduced thickness. The present invention also provides a method of forming a sole component generally including the steps of providing a mold having bottom and top mold parts shaped to cooperatively define a mold cavity in the shape of a sole component having a toe cover joined to a base along a line of articulation, closing the mold parts, injecting a sole forming material into the cavity, removing the sole component and moving the toe cover about the line of articulation into a closed configuration for use.

主权项

1. A method of forming a sole component for an article of footwear, comprising;
providing a mold having bottom and top mold parts, the mold parts shaped to define a mold cavity in the form of a unitary sole component having a base, a toe cover in an open configuration, and an articulation joint adjacent the toe cover; closing the bottom and top mold parts to cooperatively define the cavity; injecting a sole forming material into the cavity to form the sole component; removing the formed sole component from the mold, wherein the toe cover is integrally joined to the base and is angled downwardly about the articulation joint in the open configuration, and wherein the articulation joint extends at least partially across the base; and moving the toe cover about the articulation joint into a closed configuration, wherein the toe cover would have created an undercut with respect to the mold parts had the sole component been molded with the toe cover in the closed configuration.