Articles And Methods Of Manufacturing Articles
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, comprising:
- forming at least one portion of an upper, the at least one portion of the upper being formed using a rapid manufacturing technique;
forming a midsole, the midsole being separate from the upper and including at least one midsole impact force attenuation system, the midsole being formed using the rapid manufacturing technique; and
engaging the at least one portion of the upper to the midsole.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various articles, such as footwear, apparel, athletic equipment, watchbands, and the like, and methods of forming those articles are presented. The articles are generally formed, in whole or in part, using rapid manufacturing techniques, such as laser sintering, stereolithography, solid deposition modeling, and the like. The use of rapid manufacturing allows for relatively economical and time efficient manufacture of customized articles. Portions of the articles may be manufactured using rapid manufacturing and those portions may be joined with portions formed using conventional, non-rapid manufacturing techniques. The methods may also include performing a scan of an appropriate body part of a user, such as a foot, in order to create a customized article of footwear for the user.
226 Citations
66 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, comprising:
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forming at least one portion of an upper, the at least one portion of the upper being formed using a rapid manufacturing technique; forming a midsole, the midsole being separate from the upper and including at least one midsole impact force attenuation system, the midsole being formed using the rapid manufacturing technique; and engaging the at least one portion of the upper to the midsole. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An article of footwear, comprising:
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a upper, the upper including a plurality of flat portions formed using a first rapid manufacturing technique; and a sole structure, at least a portion of the sole structure being formed using a second rapid manufacturing technique and including; a midsole including a midsole impact force attenuation system; and an outsole. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An article of footwear, comprising:
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an upper, the upper including a plurality of upper portions engaged with each other, the plurality of upper portions formed using a rapid manufacturing technique; a sole structure, the sole structure formed using a non-rapid manufacturing technique and including; a midsole having a midsole impact force attenuation type; and an outsole engaged with the midsole. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, comprising:
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forming an upper portion using a non-rapid manufacturing technique; forming a sole structure using a rapid manufacturing technique, forming the sole structure including; forming a midsole including a midsole impact force attenuation type; and forming an outsole engaged with the midsole; engaging the sole structure with the upper portion. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, comprising:
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performing a scan of a foot of a user; creating a data file including a three-dimensional design of the article of footwear based on the scan performed; manufacturing the article of footwear using a rapid manufacturing technique, the step of manufacturing including; forming an upper based on the scan; forming a sole structure based on the scan; and engaging the upper with the sole structure. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of manufacturing a wearable article, comprising:
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performing a scan of a body part of a user to obtain physical characteristics of the body part; creating a data file based on the scan, the data file including a three-dimensional design of the wearable article based on the physical characteristics obtained from the scan; and forming the wearable article from the design file using a rapid manufacturing technique. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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50. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, comprising:
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forming an upper using a rapid manufacturing technique, the upper including a plurality of generally flat upper portions configured to be joined; forming a sole structure using a rapid manufacturing process, the step of forming the sole structure including; forming a midsole having a first region, a second region and a third region, each of the first, second and third regions having a midsole thickness; and forming an outsole engaged with the midsole and having an outsole thickness; engaging the upper with the sole structure. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
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54. An article of footwear, comprising:
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an upper region forming a void for containing a foot of a wearer; a sole region integrally formed with the upper region as a single piece; and a plurality of apertures formed in the upper and sole regions, wherein the upper region, sole region and the plurality of apertures are formed using a rapid manufacturing additive fabrication technique. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A method of forming an article of footwear, comprising:
integrally forming an upper and a sole region of the article of footwear, wherein the upper and sole regions are formed using a rapid manufacturing additive fabrication technique, the step of forming the upper and sole region further including; forming a plurality of apertures in the upper and sole regions of the article of footwear. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
Specification