The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 09, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 09, 1997
Daniel R Potter, Forest Grove, OR (US);
Nike, Inc., Beaverton, OR (US);
Abstract
A footwear fitting system employs a set of sample footwear items, e.g., shoes, provided in small increments of length and width. The sample shoes are tried on by the wearer and the one providing the best fit is chosen. Then, a fit component of a stock shoe is re-formed with a molding apparatus to provide a size and width identical to the selected sample shoe. A shoe store need only stock a relatively small number of standard size shoes in order to provide the wearer with a close 'custom' fit. The footwear interior is re-formed by mounting the footwear on a last having a length and width corresponding to that of the selected sample shoe. The last is heated to the softening temperature of a moldable strip of material, e.g., ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), incorporated into the shoe upper, then allowed to cool, whereby the footwear interior shape and size is reformed to correspond to the last. In an alternative embodiment, the footwear item is a shoe insert, e.g., a shoe insole. In a similar manner, the wearer is fitted to one of a set of sample shoe inserts. Then a stock insert is re-formed by molding to correspond in size and shape to the sample shoe insert providing the desired fit characteristics.