Nike, Inc.

Toren P Orzeck

Jeffrey L Johnson

John C Tawney

Ross A McLaughlin

David L Vattes

Donald M Remlinger

Dong Fong Chang

A method of making an article of footwear includes the steps of forming a foam shell for an article of footwear by wrapping a foam side wall around the periphery of a base, positioning the foam shell on a last, securing the last and the foam shell within a mold and closing the mold, applying heat and pressure to thereby mold the foam shell to the shape of the last, and then opening the mold and removing the molded article of footwear from the last. In a preferred embodiment, the method further includes the steps of forming an inner bootie, having an inner liner and a foam overlay, and inserting the inner bootie over the last prior to positioning the foam shell thereon. The inner bootie includes the inner liner with the foam overlay attached to selected regions thereof. The step of applying heat and pressure thereby includes molding the inner bootie with the foam shell to form the molded article of footwear.

Method of making an article of footwear

A method of making an article of footwear includes the steps of constructing an upper having an inner surface material and an outer surface material which define an upper formation cavity, disposing the upper on a mold core, positioning the mold core and the upper in a base portion of a mold such that the upper formation cavity is accessible from above when the mold cavity is open, pouring a plastic foam material into the upper formation cavity of the upper, closing a top portion of the mold onto the base portion of the mold to thereby sealingly close the mold and the upper formation cavity, curing the plastic foam material within the upper formation cavity of the upper to form a molded article of footwear upper, and opening the top portion of the mold and removing the article of footwear upper. The preferred method of the present invention further includes, prior to the steps of pouring the foam and closing the top portion of the mold, positioning a preformed sole unit on the top portion of the mold, integrally joining the preformed sole unit with the molded article of footwear upper during the curing process of the foam material, and then removing the molded article of footwear from the mold.

Method of making footwear with a pourable foam

Shoe upper

Shoe midsole periphery

Element of a shoe midsole periphery

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

Toren P Orzeck