Manufacturing process for molded footwear

Abstract

The present disclosure describes molded footwear including a sole integrally connected to an upper. For example, a sole structure may include an insole and a strobel board. The insole may include a spacing structure that rests on a top surface of the strobel board to form a cavity between the insole and the strobel board. Further, the upper and/or strobel board may include perforations at least partially aligned with the cavity. Accordingly, the sole structure may be connected to the upper via injection molding material into the cavity formed between the insole, the strobel board, and the upper. The molding material may flow through the specifically located perforations in the shoe's upper and/or the shoe's strobel board such that the material bonds internally within the cavity, internally within the perforations, and externally to the shoe's upper and strobel board but within the mold cavity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A manufacturing process for molded footwear comprising:
 providing a shoe upper having sides and a bottom connecting the sides;   placing the shoe upper into a mold;   inserting an insole into the shoe upper to form a cavity between the insole and the shoe upper via a spacing structure that maintains the insole in a spaced apart relationship from the bottom, wherein the insole abuts an interior of the shoe upper such that the sides of the shoe upper are continuous past the insole, whereby an internal cavity is formed under the insole between the bottom, a lower region of the sides, and the insole;   forming a bond within the cavity formed between the insole and the shoe upper by flowing material into a hole in the shoe upper positioned adjacent to the cavity;   molding externally to the shoe upper an external portion of contiguous material bonded through the hole to the shoe upper; and   removing the molded footwear from the mold.   
     
     
         2 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 said forming said bond within said cavity formed between said insole and said shoe upper by flowing said material into a plurality of holes in the shoe upper positioned adjacent to the cavity. 
 
     
     
         3 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 2  wherein each of said plurality of holes has at least one opening dimension of from 0.01 millimeters to 250 millimeters. 
     
     
         4 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 3  wherein each of said plurality of holes has the at least one opening dimension, wherein each of the hole is circular and has a diameter of from 0.01 millimeters to 250 millimeters. 
     
     
         5 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 3  wherein each of said plurality of holes has a first opening dimension of from 0.01 millimeters to 250 millimeters, and a second opening dimension of from 0.01 millimeters to 250 millimeters. 
     
     
         6 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 said forming said bond within the cavity formed between said insole and said shoe upper by flowing material into another hole in the shoe upper positioned adjacent to the cavity; 
 rejoining material in said cavity flowed into said hole with material in said cavity flowed into the other hole. 
 
     
     
         7 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 said inserting said insole into said shoe upper, wherein said cavity is formed between the insole and the shoe upper via said spacing structure comprising a spacing feature on the insole. 
 
     
     
         8 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 said inserting said insole into said shoe upper, wherein said cavity is formed between the insole and the shoe upper via said spacing structure comprising a porous material in said cavity, wherein said material is bonded to said porous material. 
 
     
     
         9 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 said providing said shoe upper having sides and said bottom connecting the sides, wherein said bottom comprises a strobel board. 
 
     
     
         10 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 9  wherein said hole in said shoe upper is along a lower portion of a side edge of the shoe upper and above a peripheral edge of the strobel board. 
     
     
         11 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 9  further comprising said strobel board comprising a strobel board hole in the strobel board, wherein the hole in the strobel board is oriented to face the cavity. 
     
     
         12 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 11  further comprising said strobel board comprising:
 rejoining material in said cavity flowed into said hole with material in said cavity flowed into said strobel board hole. 
 
     
     
         13 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 11  further comprising said strobel board comprising a plurality of strobel board holes in said strobel board, wherein the plurality of strobel board holes in the strobel board are oriented to face the cavity. 
     
     
         14 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 13  further comprising said shoe upper comprising a plurality of additional holes in an overlapping portion of the shoe upper that each align at least partially with respective ones of the plurality of strobel board holes in the strobel board. 
     
     
         15 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 11  further comprising said shoe upper comprising an additional hole in an overlapping portion of the shoe upper that aligns at least partially with the strobel board hole in the strobel board. 
     
     
         16 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 15  further comprising:
 rejoining material in said cavity flowed into said hole with material in said cavity flowed into said overlapping portion. 
 
     
     
         17 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 inserting a dummy plate into the mold to form a dummy-plate-mold cavity; 
 inserting a last into the shoe upper; 
 molding an outsole within the dummy-plate-mold cavity; 
 removing the dummy plate from the mold to expose the outsole; 
 said placing the shoe upper into the mold comprising said placing the shoe upper into the mold in juxtaposition with the outsole. 
 
     
     
         18 . The manufacturing process for molded footwear of  claim 1  further comprising:
 removing a last from the shoe upper.