Abstract: A book mold for producing a plurality of flat footwear soles simultaneously includes opposed top and bottom molds, each of which includes a pair of mold cavities; and an intermediate mold defined by a plate connected to one end of the bottom mold by a piano hinge. The intermediate mold is closed on the bottom mold, and the top mold is clamped on the intermediate mold using a clamping cylinder. Thermoplastic material is injected into the mold cavities through a port defined by a square slot in the intermediate mold, resulting in a large sprue in the intermediate mold. The soles remained attached to the intermediate mold, and when the mold is opened all soles are removed rapidly.

Abstract: Method for making a sole for an article of footwear including an outer sole with a lightweight filler therein, an inner sole above the outer sole and a foxing strip integral with the inner sole and surrounding the periphery of the outer sole. The sole is produced using a dummy last with a recess for receiving the filler, a clamping last, mold sides and a bottom mold piston. The outer sole is molded first using the dummy last and filler, a first portion of the mold sides and the mold piston to define a first mold cavity. Then, the inner sole is molded using the clamping last, a lasted upper or the like, a second portion of the mold sides, and the outer sole on the mold piston to define a second mold cavity. By providing suitable recesses in the dummy last and in the first portion of the mold sides, one or more projections which extend through the foxing strip are molded in the first mold cavity.

Abstract: A discharge and cutting apparatus for attachment to the trailing end of a tandem sewing machine, which is used to sew footwear components and apply tape to the seam, includes a frame having a base plate contiguous with the work surface of the sewing machine for receiving the footwear components interconnected by the continuous strip of tape, a pair of opposed pressure rollers for drawing the components and tape from the sewing machine, a smaller pressure roller driven in synchronism with the first pressure rollers for maintaining the components and tape under tension, a cutting device including an electromagnetically operated blade for chopping the tape at the leading and trailing edges of the components, and a second pair of opposed small pressure rollers for receiving the components and tape from the cutting operation and discharging the components and tape from the apparatus.

Abstract: A two color shoe sole is molded onto a lasted upper by first molding the outer sole portion remote from the lasted upper, and then forming a mold cavity with the lasted upper and the outer sole portion to mold the inner sole portion, which interconnects the upper and outer sole portion. This facilitates the formation of profiled shoe soles, e.g., basketball shoes having ridges and grooves in their bottom surfaces.