Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25351WO.DOC Prt: 06.03.1993 i(G) FILE ~1 THIS AI~L~
TE~ TRANSLATI~)N
INSTALLATION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOE INSERTS
The present invention relates to an installation for
manufacturing shoe inserts according to the preamble of
claim 1, particularly also a device for registering the
topography of feet according to the preamble of claim 2 as
well as a manufacturing device of such shoe inserts
according to the preamble of claim 8.
For the manufacture of orthopedic shoe inserts on the one
hand one needs a device for measuring the feet, particularly
the topography of the sole of the foot, and on the other
hand means for the manufacture of the shoe inserts in
accordance with the measuring, if necessary under
consideration of intended corrections. For an economical
manufacture of shoe inserts it is desirable to match the
measuring procedure and the manufacture.
From EP-A-0 071 386 an apparatus is known, in which at first
the form of the sole of the foot is detected on a measuring
device.
The measuring device mainly consists of a plurality of
measuring pins, which under the action of springs are
pressed upwards. A foot is positioned from above on that
surface which is provided with pins, in such a way that the
pins are depressed according to the form of the sole of the
foot. ~ith a clamping device the pins are blocked in that
position, so that the surface formed by the pin ends
represent a negative from the sole of the foot. The pattern
so obtained is then introduced in an apparatus that scans it
line by line in the XY-plane. Parallel to the movement of
the detector in the XY-plane a milling tool is moved over an
shoe insert blank. The height information of the pattern
detected by the detector is mechanically transmitted to the
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
~26851WO.r~OC Prt: 06.03.1993 I~G)
milling tool. Synchronously to the detection of the pattern
by means of the detector the shoe insert is milled out from
the blank.
This known appliance present different disadvantages. The
pattern with its great number of pins and its clamping
device is quite complicated. Beside other things it is
necessary that the pins all move as identically as possible,
and are subject to the same spring pressure to achieve
congruous measuring conditions on all measuring points. Due
to the direct mechanic connection to the milling tool
possible mistakes are directly transposed to the shoe insert
and must be laboriously corrected by hand, if they are
recognizable.
The patterns must be introduced in the clamped state into
the manufacturing device. This requires that the measuring
takes place in spatial neighborhood to the manufacturing
device in order to minimize the risk of an alteration of the
patterns during a transport.
The manufacture by milling line by line includes the risk
that at each end of a line, when the milling cutter leaves
the material, the blank material is broken away. Milling
machines present the additional disadvantage that for a high
quality work, they only mill in one direction and after
every milling of a line, an empty return movement of the
milling tool must be intercalated. Finally the particular
risk exists that the last remaining rib of the blank at the
edge of the blank is broken away by the milling cutter. The
so produced, bursted edge of the shoe insert must then also
be subject to a rework.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an
installation for manufacturing shoe inserts in which the
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25851WO.DOC l'rt: 06.03.1993 KG)
result of the measuring of the sole of a foot is obtained in
a form which is easier transferable and useable and which,
after a substantially automatic transfer, serves for the
control of the device for manufacturing shoe inserts.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a
measuring appliance that is of a simpler construction and
preferably delivers the result of the measuring in the form
of electric signals.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a
manufacturing device shoe inserts that avoids at least one
of the disadvantages of the known device of this kind.
Such a device is defined in claim 15. The devices for
measuring the soles of feet and for manufacturing of shoe
inserts are the objects of claims 1 and 8 resp. Preferred
embodiments are defined in the respective dependent claims.
Accordingly, the installation consists of the measuring
appliance according to the invention, the manufacturing
device for shoe inserts and a data processing unit that
transforms the data obtained from the measuring appliance
into control data for the manufacturing device and at the
same time allows a refinement, if necessary, e. g.
smoothening but also orthopedic corrections.
The measuring appliance is characterized by the fact that
the sole of the foot is scanned line by line by one or
several sensors sliding over the sole of the foot.
Advantageously there is only one passage, e. g. from the
heel to the toes, wherefor a sufficiently great number of
sensors is installed side by side.
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
~25851WO.DOC Pre: 06.03.1993 I~G)
The manufacturing device according to the invention
substantially proceeds in a spiral manner. Thereby the
described problem of the thin rib to be removed at the end
is reduced to a central, not very critical cone.
The invention shall further be described on behalf of an
exemplary embodiment with reference to Figures.
Figure 1 an isometric representation of the hole
installation for manufacturing,
Figure 2 an isometric representation of the effective
manufacturing device,
~5 Figure 3 an isometric representation of a sensor and its
surrounding,
Figure 4 an isometric representation with section of a
support model,
Figure 5 a simplified top view with indicated feet,
Figure 6 an isometric representation of the electro-
mechanical function of the manufacturing device,
Figure 7 an isometric representation of the electro-
mechanical function of the manufacturing device,
Figure 8 an isometric representation of the work routine,
Figure 9 a representation of the geometry of the tool
engagement,
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
~25851WO.DOC l?rt: 06.03.1998 KG)
Figure 10 an isometric representation of the detail of the
process on the circular table with a truncated
cone as terminal part,
Figure 11 an isometric representation of the machining from
the inner or the outer side, and
Figure 12 disadvantages occurring by linear line by line
processing on a compound table.
The external form of the measuring appliance is defined by
two lateral boxes 1, 2, the effective measuring apparatus
lying between them, and front and rear covers 3, 4,
respectively.
The two walls of the boxes 1, 2 that are directed toward
each another, support the effective measuring apparatus that
consists of the working units wire rope grid A and sensor
unit B explained below.
The wire rope grid A consists of a tensioning axle 5, a
reversing axle 6, two adjusting axles 7, 8 and a wire rope
9.
The reversing axle 6 and the adjusting axles 7, 8 rest with
their pivots in holes in the walls of the boxes 1, 2. The
tensioning axle 5 is there supported in longitudinal holes
and adjustable with regard to ribs 11, 12 at the boxes 1, 2
by means of two screws 10.
The adjustability serves the pre-tensioning of the wire rope
9 which is affixed to the tensioning and reversing axles 5,
6 respectively, and is strained to a taut grid. The
adjusting axles 7, 8 that are profiled with recesses,
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25851WO.DOC Prt: 06.01.1998 I~G)
guarantee the parallelism of the trunks of the rope 9, such
that a regular grid of rope trunks 9 and gaps is formed.
That wire rope grid A forms the measuring platform on top of
which the foot to be measured is centrally placed in such a
way that its longitudinal axis is parallel to the axis of
the wire rope. Then, the other foot of the test person is
placed on top of one of the two adjacent boxes 1, 2.
Penetrating through the gaps of the wire rope grid A,
sensors 13 measure longitudinal sections of the sole of the
foot. The sensors 13 are part of the sensor unit B lying
underneath it which processes as follows:
A basic body 14 that is formed as a slide with bearing
bushes 15, mounted on two guiding axles 16, 17 and
displaceable by a toothed belt 18, carries two bearing
plates 19 with an axle 20, onto which the twenty four
sensors 13 are rotatably mounted.
The sensors 13, separated by spacer blocks 21, are drawn
into the working position by extension springs 22. The
extension springs are predrawn to an axle 23. For measuring,
each sensor 13 is individually connected to a linear
potentiometer 25 by a linkage of bars 24.
The guiding axles 16, 17 are, at their ends, bolted on
angles 26, 27 which themselves are bolted with bolts and
nuts onto the boxes 1, 2. One of the angles 26 carries also
the step motor 28, the other 27 the deflection wheel 29 (see
figure 1).
Two levers 30, 31, which are connected by two bars 32, 33
and rotatably mounted on upright bearings 36, 37 by bolts
34, 35, are dislocated in both end positions by rollers 38,
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
~25851WO.DOC P~:t: 06.03.1995 ~G)
39 and thus lower the sensors 13 during the empty stroke of
the sensor unit B. The rollers 38, 39 are mounted onto one
of the box side walls 2 by means of screws.
The step motor 28 draws the sensor system B from the heel 41
beneath the foot beyond the toes 43, each sensor 13
transfers the foot profile of one section to the length
potentiometer 25. The measured data are read in a
synchronously to the step motor 28 clocked manner and
converted from analog to digital. The other foot is placed
on top of one of the boxes 1 or 2.
The apparatus stores the topography of a foot in the form of
the sections in a data file.
The feet can be positioned with orthopedic corrections in
the form of thin-walled support models 40 that are open on
their lower side. The sensors 13 also detect the inner form
of the support models 40 and register simultaneously the
correction.
Beside others, it is imaginable that different sensors than
the indicated electro-mechanical ones can be used, e. g.
contactless ones, using which the measuring occurs by the
reflection of light or sound, and/or different transformers
of the height values into electric signals can be used,
e. g. those working contactless, measuring incremental or
absolute values, or using inductive, optical or capacitive
principles.
It is also conceivable to use a small number of sensors, in
the extreme case only one, which then scan(s) several times
the measuring section and, thereby, at each passage scan(s)
a different line on the sole of the foot.
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(ZS851WO.~OC Prt: 06.03.~996 KG~
Instead of wire ropes 9 for the grid A, strings of different
material or thicker bars can be used.
The data provided by the measuring appliance, which at the
beginning are available in analog form, are registered by a
(not shown) data processing unit and converted into control
signals for the manufacturing device as described in the
following. For said data processing unit known standard
components as e. g. A/D converters and small computers (PCs)
can be used. In the easiest case, a PC currently purchasable
with interface boards known in the market as well for
registering measuring values and machine control can be
used. It is also conceivable to connect a processing unit to
the measuring appliance, wherein the data are stored on a
portable data carrier. Those data are read into a control
unit suitably equipped and connected to the manufacturing
device. The necessary computing and possibly postprocessing
of the data is done in the one or the other unit. Instead of
the portable data carrier, a data transfer of any type can
be used.
In addition to the pure conversion of the measuring data
into control data for the manufacturing it is possible to
provide for an optical survey on a screen, a rework in the
sense of an orthopedic correction of the foot and/or a
smoothening or any other useful manipulation of the data by
using known programs.
The manufacturing device the shoe inserts is illustrated in
Figures 6 to 12.
The support of the device, which consists of a base 101 and
two post-like mountings 102, 103 is closed by four bolted
covers 104, 105, 10~, 107 and contains the function groups
- circular table with actuator C
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25351WO.DOC Prt: 06.03.1993 I~G)
- radial axis with actuator D and
- interpolation axis with actuator E
which are bolted onto it.
Moreover, the cover 106 carries a field of control buttons
108 and behind the cover 105, the box with the electric
control unit 109 is hidden.
The circular table with actuator C is driven by a two-stage
toothed belt mechanism. A step motor 110, which is bolted
onto a support angle 111, opposite the base 101, drives the
toothed belt 113 by means of the actuating wheel 112 of the
first gear stage. A double intermediate wheel 114 is
actuated that is mounted on a fixed bearing neck 115. The
bearing neck 115 is bolted to the mounting 103 by means of
its flange. The intermediate wheel 114 is axially hold in
place by a set collar 116. In the second gear stage the
toothed belt 117 connects the intermediate wheel 114 with
the actuating wheel 118 of the axis 119 of the circular
table.
Two ball bearings 120 support the shaft 119 of the circular
table in the mounting 103. It is made in form of a hollow
shaft and at its front end, it has a plane flange 121 onto
which the circular table 122 is laid such that it is, with
its central hole, positioned over a disk with internal screw
thread 123 that can be put under tension by means of a
spindle having a star wheel 124.
In the working zone, the circular table 122 is supported by
a support roller 125 with its support 126 that is affixed to
the outer side of the mounting 103. The same support 126
carries also a sensor 127, which serves for indexing the
angle of the circular table 122 by means of a hole 171
present in the latter.
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
~25551WO.DOC l?rt: 0~.03.1999 KG)
- 10 -
The radial axle with actuator D is actuated by a step motor
128 which is mounted to the base 101 by means of its support
angle 129. The actuator consists of a trapezoidally threaded
spindle 130 and a nut 131. The first one is key-bolted to
the motor axle and supported by a axial bearing 132 on the
front side of the motor, the latter one is bolted to a
sledge 133 that guides the radial movement.
The sledge 133 slides with slide bearings 134 on two guiding
shafts 135, 136, which are bolted to ribs at the machine
base 101, and it carries, on a pillar 137, the step motor
138, which actuates the interpolation arbor E. The radial
position of the working tool is indexed on an end switch 39
by means of the sledge 33.
The interpolation arbor with actuator E consists of a rocker
140 that is hingedly mounted to one of the guiding spindles
135, 136 by means of slide bearings 134 and is axially
guided between the bearing plates 133a of the sledge 133. At
its lower end, the rocker 140 carries a platform onto which
the spindle drive motor 141 is affixed.
The shaft of motor 141 carries a flat belt wheel 142, which
actuates a belt wheel 144 on the tool spindle 145 by means
of a flat belt 143. The tool spindle 145 is hollow and by
means of roller bearings rotatably mounted in the spindle
cage 146 that is affixed to a platform 140a of the rocker
140 by means of two screws 147. The tool spindle 145
carries, in a grip at its front side, the working tool 148,
a cylindrical hard metal grinding body with spherical front,
that is pulled aginst to the spindle 145 by means of a screw
149.
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(2saslwo.Doc Prt: o~i.o~.l99a I~G)
The step motor 138, which is hingedly bolted over a fork-
shaped part 150 to the pillar 137 of the sledge 133 by means
of a shaft screw 151 and which is provided with an axial
bearing 152, drives the trapezoidally threaded spindle 153
key-bolted to it which on its part carries a pivotable nut
which is pivotably mounted to two bearings 154 at the rocker
140.
The fork-shaped part 150 on the pillar 137 carries the end
switch 155 that indexes the position of the rocker 140 and
consequently of the interpolation arbor E.
The circular table 122 can easily been taken off from the
machine to a working table to be equipped with the blanks.
The blanks 156 are positioned on the markings corresponding
to the size of the respective shoe inserts and fixed to the
circular table 122 by means of two-sided adhesive tape.
Afterwards, the circular table 122 is re-positioned into the
machine and bolted by means of spindle 124 and disk 123.
A data file containing the topography of two feet is read
into the control unit through an interface.
When the working process is started, first all axes are
reset to zero and then the control unit 109 first starts the
spindle motor 141, then the circular table 122 and finally
the radial axle D.
~hile the circular table C, carrying the two blanks 56
slowly rotates (arrow 157), the radial axle D moves from the
periphery 159 of the circular table 122 towards its center
160: the working process draws a spiral on the circular
table 122 (similar to the function of a disc player).
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25851WO.DOC Prt: 06.03.1998 KG)
As soon as the track of the tool meets the geometry of the
topographies of the soles of the feet, the interpolation
axle E starts to machine the defined foot rests into the
blanks 156.
To avoid that the working tool 148 tears the blanks 156 off
the circular table 122, the axle of the spindle 145 is
inclined by an angle 161 of at least 15~ relative to the
axle of the circular table, such that the cylindrical part
of the working tool 148 presses the blanks 156 towards the
circular table 122 by means of a component 162 of the
cutting pressure 172.
Depending on the suitability of the material, the processing
of the blanks 156 can take place either in same 157 or in
opposite 158 working directions of advance and tool
rotation.
At the end of the working process, the normally highest zone
of the pair of blanks 156, the truncated cone 163
corresponding to the arches of the two feet, is processed,
so that due to the small depth of cut there exists only a
little risk of edge tearing. Moreover, the last zone which
is processed forms an arch 164 and thus is more stable on
the blank 156 than a straight strip 165 at a line by line
processing on a cross table 166.
The processing on the circular table allows also proceeding
from the center 167 towards the periphery 159.
It is also possible to move the working tool in a spirally
way and to keep the blanks on an immobile table. The
spirally movement can also be realized by combining two
linear movements, preferably arranged perpendicularly one to
CA 02233220 1998-03-26
(25ESlWO.WC Pr~: 06.03.1993 I(G)
another. Therein, the movement of the tool and the other of
the table could be adapted, too.
From the above description of the manufacturing device the
advantage becomes apparent that now two shoe inserts can be
produced in one working process, instead of only one insert.
The above description allows the man skilled in the art to
modify the invention without leaving the scope of protection
of the invention.
