KR20010109309A - Shoe toe or heel end stiffener - Google Patents

Abstract

The shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement consists of a net, at least a portion of which comprises a hot melt adhesive having a spinning temperature of 50 ° C. to 80 ° C. Suitable adhesives include polycaprolactone and polyester. The reinforcement has improved hardness per unit weight compared to the conventional reinforcement.

Description

Shoe nose and shoe heel end reinforcement {SHOE TOE OR HEEL END STIFFENER}

The term "shoes" as used herein generally means outdoor shoes that can be worn during the manufacturing process.

Some shoes, for example sports, require fairly lightweight shoe heel end reinforcements (commonly referred to as "counters"). Light weight counters have been provided by those skilled in the manufacture of such counters, which are formed by, for example, compressing a rigid thermoplastic film laminated with a fabric on one or both sides and applied with an adhesive, but are very complicated to manufacture and It is also very lightweight and fairly difficult to provide sufficient strength and hardness.

It is desired to use a thermoplastic material to remove the separating adhesive layer, which is hard enough to provide stiffness but sticky at the temperature of shoe making in conjunction with the bulk fiber, so that the cured material It can be used as a hot melt adhesive for associating a counter with a shoe. These counters are described in pending PCT / GB98 / 03159, which discloses shoe reinforcements, whereby the consilidated molten spun fibers of the hot melt adhesive are fibrous reinforced in combination with the bulk fibers. Providing a film. However, these materials require hot-melt adhesives and perm reinforcements that are melt spun to achieve satisfactory mixing of the bulk fibers and adhesives.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to shoe nose or shoe heel end stiffeners, and more particularly to heel end stiffeners.

1 is a plan view of a counter;

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement.

The present invention provides a shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement consisting of a net, wherein at least some of the strands have a hot melt adhesive having a spinning temperature of 50 ° C to 80 ° C. According to the reinforcement of the present invention, all strands of the net are hot melt adhesives.

Optionally, other shoe reinforcements in the present invention comprise strands of different polymers, some of which have adhesive polymers and the remaining strands are rather rigid polymers, but are not tacky at spinning temperatures of 50 ° C to 80 ° C. For example, the net is a hot melt adhesive with parallel strands extending in one direction, the strands perpendicular to which do not have hot melt spinning temperatures below 80 ° C. (they are thermoplastic but have a fairly high melting temperature). When used in footwear, the reinforcement according to the present invention having such a net is configured such that the hot melt adhesive strands are generally perpendicular to and parallel to the shoe nose. However, if necessary, the reinforcement may be made of strands in other directions.

Nets suitable for producing the reinforcement according to the invention are produced by an extrusion process in which the molten material is extruded through the holes in the extrusion die in order to provide a large number of strands properly spaced. Such treatments are well known to those skilled in the art, and the treatments are configured such that the strands contact each other while molten to produce a net. This net in its general form has been commercialized, for example, by Conwede Plastics, Wicks Avenue 2810, 55414 Southeast Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

In another reinforcing material of the present invention, part of the strand is composed of two components, one of which is a hot melt adhesive having a spinning temperature of 50 to 80 ℃, the other component is a hot melt spinning temperature of 80 ℃ or more Has Other ingredients may be selected to give the reinforcement the necessary properties, which may or may not be quite hard and may be flexible so that the reinforcement can be easily returned to its hollow form when deformed. Has Bicomponent fibers are made by several techniques known to those skilled in the art. Preferred are two-component strands in the form of shells / cores, the shells having hot melt adhesives.

According to the invention, the strands of the net in the reinforcement have a suitable cross section or shape to provide the required performance. For example, the cross section of the strand may take a flat, circular, H-shaped cross section, multilobel, and may be selected to increase thickness to increase increased hardenability, and to print-through That is, to reduce the visible strands through the material of the upper part of the shoe that is not acceptable.

According to the invention, the dimensions of the strands in the shoe reinforcement can be selected according to the performance required, such as the size of the openings in the net. According to the invention the opening in the net in the shoe reinforcement has an area of 0,03 to 0,4 cm 2, preferably 0,06 to 0,2 cm 2.

The reinforcement according to the invention has a weight of 250 g / m 2 to 600 g / m 2 (gram per square meter (gsm), preferably 300 to 450 gsm.

The reinforcing material according to the present invention is preferably present in the form of a net after being applied to the upper portion of the shoe. Accordingly, the upper portion of the shoe is ventilated, and the shape and spacing of the strand of the net are not incorporated in the upper portion. The hot melt adhesive having a hardness and strength capable of providing the reinforcement degree required at the heel end of the upper shoe and having a spinning temperature of 50 ° C. to 80 ° C. may be used as the reinforcement material according to the present invention. Suitable materials include polycaprolactones such as poly-based (tetramethyl ediate) polyester adhesives and polyurethane adhesives. Suitable poly-based materials are sold under the trade names Esterpo or Estregran by Bostik Limit, Leicester, UK.

In the following, a shoe counter employing the present invention will be described as an exemplary embodiment. Such a shoe counter was used to describe the present invention as a short illustrative example.

The counter 8 shown is cut from the polycaprolactone net supplied by Conwede Plastics and inserted into the counter pocket at the rear of the shoe upper. Those skilled in the art will recognize that counter pockets are provided for insertion and fixing of counters during shoe manufacture.

The strand of the net from which the counter is cut generally has a circular cross section and is 1 mm in diameter. The strands are arranged to provide a generally rectangular net with a set of plunging strands 10 arranged to extend parallel to the shoe sole when the counter 8 is used in a shoe. The other set extends perpendicular to the direction of the shoe sole. The strands 12 are arranged to be 27 pieces with a length of 10 cm, and the strands 10 are spaced at a distance of 20 pieces, i.

The opening area of the net of the counter 8 shown is about 0,11 cm 2. The weight of the counter is about 340 gsm.

After the counter 8 has entered the counterpocket, it is heated and compressed to activate the polycaprolactone in an adhesive state, and the assembly is heated to a temperature of about 70 ° C. to activate the polycaprolactone adhesive. After cooling, the counter 8 provides a high hardness per unit weight of the counter with the added advantage of breathability.

Compared with a film counter of the same weight per unit area, the hardness is significantly larger in the longitudinal direction (ie, the direction in which the strands 12 extend), and the hardness in the transverse direction (ie, in the direction in which the strands 12 extends) is the same. Do. The counter shown is ventilable in terms of the opening of the net and is continuously impermeable as compared to the film counter to prevent the passage of water vapor. By the wear of the counter shown, the comfort may be somewhat improved.

The bulk of the strand improves the hardness per unit weight of the counter since the strand tends to produce a "beam" effect that is not present in the film counter. Table 1 below shows the performance of the counter 8 as compared to reinforcing materials at comparable weights known in the art per unit area.

The conventional reinforcing material that has been compared is actually used as a shoe nose end reinforcing material, and is provided by the applicant under the registered trade name of Teflon Destination E268. The two materials generally have the same weight per unit square meter (gsm). The gauge of the counter 8 shown is believed to improve curing. In Table 1 below, the hardness AL is the hardness measured in the longitudinal direction, that is, in the direction parallel to the direction of the strand 12. The hardness AX is the hardness measured in the transverse direction, ie measured in a direction parallel to the strand 10.

Table 1

Counter conventional reinforcement

Weight (gsm) 341 +/- 0.5 345 +/- 0.095 Gauge (mm) 1.10 +/- 0.0009 0.41 +/- 0.0002

Karl Franks hardness AL 62.5 +/- 1.8 21.3 +/- 0.6

AX 16.3 +/- 0.1 18.8 +/- 0.1

The counter 8 shown not only has increased hardness per unit weight compared to conventional materials, but also has a self-adhesive like polycaprolactone net that is simple in structure and provides hardness without associating with any additional fibers. Have sex.

Claims (9)

Shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement, characterized in that at least some of the strands are composed of a net having a hot melt adhesive of a spinning temperature of 50 ℃ to 80 ℃. The shoe nose or shoe heel reinforcement of claim 1, wherein all strands of the net have a hot melt adhesive. 2. The shoe of claim 1 wherein said net is a rectangular net when used in a shoe, and said hot melt adhesive strand is parallel to said shoe nose and a strand perpendicular to said shoe does not have a hot melt adhesion temperature of 80 ° C. or less. Nose or shoe heel end reinforcement. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the strand consists of two components, one of which is a hot melt adhesive having a spinning temperature between 50 ° C. and 80 ° C., and the other component is a hot melt adhesive temperature of 80 ° C. or higher. Shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement, characterized in that it has. The shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the opening formed in the net has an area of 0.03 to 0.4 cm 2. The shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the opening formed in the net has an area of 0.06 to 0.2 cm 2. The shoe nose or shoe heel end stiffener according to any one of the preceding claims, having a weight of 250 to 600 g per meter. The shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement according to claim 7, which has a weight of 300 to 450 g per meter. The shoe nose or shoe heel end reinforcement of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the hot melt adhesive comprises polycaprolactone.