Shoe support

EP-A-0 328 923 discloses a shoe support according to the preamble of claim 1.

The invention relates to a shoe support for supporting a lasted shoe, bottom uppermost, comprising two support members spaced apart from one another and each extending in a direction lengthwise of a shoe to be supported thereby such that a cone of a last can be received between the members and the shoe be supported by shoe-supporting surface portions of said members with the shoe bottom exposed, wherein, for adjusting the spacing between the shoe-supporting surface portions of the support members to accommodate shoes of different sizes, each member is mounted for pivotal movement about an axis extending in the shoe-lengthwise direction.

One such shoe support, which is particularly useful for supporting a shoe, to the bottom of which an adhesive coating has been applied, for the purpose of enabling said coating to be subjected to a drying operation, is described in EP-A-0512772 and comprises two plate-like supporting members between which a lasted shoe can be supported, bottom uppermost, with the cone of the shoe between the members and with the sides of the shoe supported by the shoe-supporting surface portions of the members. To this end the members are each pivotable about an associated mounting, enabling the spacing between the members to be adjusted for shoes of different sizes. More particularly, the members are pivoted by an operator so as to form a trough having sloping sides and an open bottom and being of a size appropriate to the size of the shoe to be supported, and are held in position by a friction arrangement.

The use of such a shoe support has proved unsuitable for the relatively high-legged sports and leisure boots and shoes that are currently in vogue, which tend to have flared or padded "cuffs", e.g. training shoes, basketball boots and hiking boots, primarily because they require the operator, when adjusting the shoe supporting members in accordance with the size of the shoe to be supported, to pivotally open the members to a width which will permit the cuff of the shoe to pass therebetween, but which will be in excess of the spacing necessary to ensure that the shoe is supported firmly. In effect, the angle of inclination of the members with respect to the horizontal will be too large for the last to be rigidly supported and the shoe may itself roll or pitch between the members.

The problem of supporting footwear having padded or flared cuffs can be overcome by the operator adjusting the members once the shoe is seated on the members, that is, pivoting them upwards, until their edges abut against the shoe and consequently hold it firmly. Such a practice is, however, disadvantageous in that a shoe cannot be removed without again widening the spacing between the members to allow for the withdrawal of the cuff from therebetween, which is a tedious and time-consuming operation. If such a practice is not followed, however, there is a likelihood that the shoes will be improperly supported, in which case the possibility arises of operations not being satisfactorily carried out on the shoes.

It is thus one of the objects of the present invention to overcome the difficulties of supporting lasted shoes associated with the prior art by providing an improved shoe support which automatically accommodates varying sizes of shoe by self-adjustment irrespective of the side profile of the shoe, and enables a shoe to be easily placed into and removed from a supporting position.

The object is resolved in accordance with the present invention in a shoe support according to claim 1.

It will be appreciated that, in using a shoe support in accordance with the invention, as the cone of a last is inserted between the members, the resilient means urges the shoe-supporting surface portions of the members into constant contact with the surfaces of the shoe and thus the width of the opening therebetween automatically varies, with the members conforming to the width of the last between said surface portions. Consequently, if a flared cuff shoe is inserted between the members they will initially automatically be forced open to a width that will accommodate the cuff of the shoe and as the shoe is inserted further, the members will self-adjust and automatically close the opening to a distance at which the sides of the shoe are firmly clamped.

By providing rotatable shoe supporting surface portions, moreover, not only can a shoe be placed in a supporting position move readily but also, and particularly with regard to flared or padded cuff shoes, the risk of a shoe being trapped between the members, once it has been placed in a supported position, is prevented, and also the risk of frictional restraint is reduced, by the shoe-supporting surface portions being able to roll across the surface of the shoe.

The resilient means may be a tension spring connected so as to act between the two support members or may be in the form of two torsion springs, one for each member, wrapped around a supporting shaft about which the relevant member pivots and acting between that member and a stop.

The spring is preferably of a strength such that the members are self-regulating according to the lasted shoe supported thereon, that is to say, over the range of sizes of lasts to be supported, each one should, according to its mass, cause the members to pivot through angles that will mean each last will settle to a position whereby the bottom of a supported shoe will be substantially at a predetermined height, irrespective of its size. The reason for this is that the larger the lasted shoe, the heavier it will be, and hence the lower the position at which it will settle. It is particularly important, e.g. when drying a cement coating applied to the bottom of a lasted shoe, to control the heightwise position of the shoe bottom in order to ensure satisfactory drying by concentrating maximum heating effects at a particular height.

The minimum spacing of the members is preferably chosen so as to enable shoe soles to be supported by laying them across the shoe-supporting surface portions of the members. There is often a need when operating on lasted shoes, particularly when drying, not only to support the shoes themselves, but also to support soles to be used in conjunction therewith.

The shoe-supporting surface portions may, for each member, be constituted by a sleeve freely rotatable on an axle in the form of a rod. The sleeves, which are preferably cylindrical, each contact the surface of a supported shoe and run thereacross as the shoe is moved between the members. Alternatively said surface portion may be constituted by one or more wheels mounted on an axle.

The invention also provides a shoe transporter system comprising a pluraliry of shoe supports as set out above characterised in that support members forming part of adjacent shoe supports are mounted for pivotal movement about a common axis. Such a system preferably comprises two lanes of shoe supports. Shoe transporter systems of this type are commonly used in so-called shoe cement drying apparatus.

There now follows a detailed description, to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, of a shoe cement drying apparatus and of a shoe transporter system, having a plurality of shoe supports, forming part thereof, each being illustrative of the invention in its several aspects. It will be appreciated that this apparatus, this system and this shoe support have been selected for description by way of non-limiting examples of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

• Figure 1 is a side elevational view, with parts broken away, of a drying apparatus having a shoe transporter system comprising a plurality of shoe supports in accordance with the invention;
• Figure 2 is a plan view of part of the shoe transporter system shown in Figure 1, showing details of a shoe support in accordance with the invention forming part of such;
• Figure 3 is a side view of one of the shoe supports shown in Figure 2, also including an outline of a lasted shoe illustrated in the supported position; and
• Figure 4 is an end cross sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Figure 1 illustrates a drying apparatus having two drying chambers 100, 120 arranged one above the other and each comprising a plenum chamber 140 and a drying station 160 containing infra-red heaters and ceramic heaters. The drying chamber 100 is adapted for drying coatings applied to bottoms of lasted shoes and the drying chamber 120 for drying coatings applied to sole-and-heel units for subsequent attachment to the shoe bottoms. The ceramic heaters in the lower drying station 160 are arranged specifically for drying the seat and toe regions of lasted shoes.

For carrying units through the drying chamber 120, a continuous belt 180 is provided constituting a plurality of platform portions on which units may be supported; alternatively, however, individual platforms carried, for example, by a continuous chain which may be provided for this purpose. Whichever system is provided, however, the belt or chain, which constitutes a drive arrangement of said chamber 120, is driven in timed relation with a shoe transporter system generally designated 200 by which shoes are conveyed through the drying chamber 100.

The shoe transporter system 200 comprises a chain 220 entrained about two large sprockets 240 and supporting a plurality of carriers 2 each in turn supporting a shoe support in accordance with the invention. One of the sprockets (the right-hand, viewing Figure 1) is driven through a freewheel arrangement 260 by a piston-and-cylinder arrangement 280, the chain 220 being thus driven intermittently, whereby the shoe supports 1 supported by an upper reach of the chain 220 at any given time are moved from a loading station A at one end to an unloading station B at the other, the supports then being returned along a lower reach back to the loading station A.

As can be seen from Figure 2, shoe supports 1 are arranged at both sides of the carrier 2, and it will be appreciated that a shoe transporter system incorporating these supports will consist of two simultaneously conveyed parallel lanes. However for the purpose of this description, only one shoe support 1 will now be described in detail with reference to Figs. 2 to 4.

Bolted to the carrier 2 is a pair of spaced-apart upstanding support flanges 4,6, by which are supported, in support shaft-receiving orifices 8,10,12,14 formed therein, two support shafts 16,18. Each support shaft 16,18 extends through the flanges 4,6 and projects outwardly therefrom. The support shafts 16,18 are fixed, typically by welding, in the orifices 8,10,12,14.

Rotatably mounted on each of the support shafts 16,18 is a pair of spaced apart lugs 20,22;24,26, each pair forming part of a support member of the shoe support. On shaft 16, the lug 20 is spaced from the flange 6 by a collar 28 and there is a spacer 30 between the two lugs 20,22. Also rotatably mounted on the support shaft 16 is a further pair of lugs 32,34 forming part of an adjacent shoe support. Similarly, on shaft 18, the lug 24 is spaced from the flange 6 by a collar 36 and between the two lugs 24,26 there is a spacer 38. Also rotatably mounted on the support shaft 18 is a further pair of lugs 40,42 forming part of another adjacent shoe support.

Supported by the pair of lugs 20,22, remote from the shaft 16 is an elongated rod 44 which projects away from the flange 6. A freely rotating cylindrical sleeve 46 is carried on the rod 44 and extends from the lug 22, against which it abuts, to the remote end of the rod 44, at which it is retained by a push-fit cap 48. The pair of lugs 20,22, the rod 44 and the sleeve 46 together constitute a first support of the shoe support, and the sleeve 46 provides a shoe-supporting surface portion thereof. Similarly, the pair of lugs 24,26 supports an elongated rod 50 which projects away from the flange 6 and carries a freely rotating cylindrical sleeve 52 which extends from the lug 26, against which it abuts, to the remote end of the rod 50, at which it is retained by a push-fit cap 54. The pair of lugs 24,26, the rod 50 and the sleeve 52 together constitute a second support member of the shoe support, and the sleeve 52 provides a shoe-supporting surface portion thereof.

The first and second support members are mounted for pivotal movement on their respective support shafts 16,18. A tension spring 56 (typically having an overall length of 65mm, wire diameter of 1.14mm and outside diameter of 9.5mm) has one end connected to the rod 44, between the lugs 20,33, and the other end connected to the rod 50, between the lugs 24,26. It will be appreciated that the spring 56 will act to urge the two rods 44,50, and thus the two support members, together, about their respective axes provided by the shafts 16,18, towards a position at which the spacing between the shoe-supporting surface portions provided by the rods 44,50 is minimum. It will also be appreciated that in the embodiment illustrated, the spacing between the first and second members is a minimum when the axes of the rods members 44,50 lie in the same horizontal plane as the axes of the shafts 16,18.

When the shoe support is in use the cone 60 of a lasted shoe 58 is inserted between the two sleeves 46,52, the orientation of the shoe being such that a longitudinal centre line thereof extends substantially parallel to the rods 44,50. During the insertion of the shoe 58, the sides of the shoe 58 will come into contact with the shoe-supporting surface portions provided by the sleeves 46,52. As the cone 60 is inserted further and the width of the lasted shoe 58 within the spacing increases, the rods 44,50 are forced apart, against the action of the spring 56. The distance between the sleeves 46,52 is increased by the support members pivoting about the support shafts 16,18, whilst the spring 56 continually acts to urge the sleeves 46,52 against the adjacent surfaces of the shoe 58 in a direction towards their position of minimum spacing. In Figure 4 it can be seen that the support members have been forced to pivot downwards about the shafts 16,18 in order to accommodate the last 58. The sleeves 46,52 therefore follow the contours of the surface of the shoe 58 as it is inserted between the sleeves 46,52. Hence, in the case of supporting a high-legged sports shoe with a flared cuff 62, as illustrated in Figure 4, when the shoe is first inserted between the sleeves they are forced apart to a spacing sufficient to allow the flared cuff 62 to pass therebetween. Once the cuff 62 is below the plane of the sleeves 46,52, the spring 56 automatically pulls them back against the side surfaces of the shoe 58.

Downward movement of the thus inserted shoe 58 will then continue until the sleeves 46,52 are adjacent a position on the shoe 58 at which the width of the last is such that the spring 56 is stretched by to such an extent that the force urging the support members together balances the downward weight of the lasted shoe 58. In this way each lasted shoe is supported at a self-regulated height: the larger the last, the greater its weight and consequently the lower the supported position it will assume, with the result that the bottoms of all sizes of last will be supported at substantially the same height. Moreover, by selecting the strength of the spring, the height assumed by the shoe bottom can be predetermined.

By being freely rotatable, the sleeves 46,52 assist in reducing the frictional resistance that would otherwise oppose movement of the lasted shoe into and out of the spacing between the support members. This is particularly advantageous in the case of padded cuff boots, which would otherwise be very difficult to remove from between the rods 44,50 because the upward movement of the cuff would, by engagement with the sleeves 46;52 during removal, have a tendency through frictional effects to urge the support members together, thus tending to narrow the gap between the sleeves 46,52. By enabling the sleeves 46,52 to rotate freely, however, such frictional effects are overcome and the sleeves 46,52 run over the surface of the shoe, conforming to its profile, whether this involves narrowing or increasing the spacing between them, and irrespective of the direction in which the lasted shoe 58 is moved.

Although in the drying apparatus described above a separate chamber is provided for drying shoe soles for subsequent attachment to shoe bottoms, in other apparatus in accordance with the invention such additional chamber may be dispensed with, and one of the lanes of the shoe transporter system may be used instead. It will be appreciated that, to this end, the support members should be sufficiently closely spaced that when the axes of the rods 44,50 lie in the same horizontal plane as the support shafts 16,18, shoe soles can be laid across and supported by the shoe-supporting surface portion provided by the sleeves 46,52.