A Method of Defining Programming Parameters for the Manufacture of Shoe Moulds

Summary

The main methods of shoe manufacturing presently employed by the shoe industry are handlasting, stringlasting, vulcanizing, and unit sole moulding. This paper discusses the method of defining the parameters for the manufacture of injection moulds for unit sole moulding, using computer aided manufacturing techniques. An existing digital computer compiler, (APT), can be used to describe the geometry of the unit sole moulds. The technique of Computer Aided Manufacturing can be extended into the other types of shoe production with the use of APT Sculptured Surface routines. First and second order equations are employed to define the sole and mould geometry; the shoe size, “S”, is the variable in the equations. Assigning the appropriate value to “S” will result in the geometry and associated cutter commands for the required size.