Sports Footwear Closure Lever Design Versatility
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing closure devices for sports footwear with rigid outer shells, such as ski boots, face high manufacturing costs due to the need for multiple molds to produce components with different shapes and sizes, and they lack versatility in design while maintaining ease of use.
Innovation Solution
A closure device featuring a 'Y'-shaped actuating lever with ancillary elements made of metal wire, allowing for various designs without changing the lever arm's shape, which can be manufactured using a single mold and other cost-effective methods, providing ease of use and customization options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple molds are used to manufacture actuating levers with different shapes and sizes, then design versatility is improved, but manufacturing costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
A single mold is designed to manufacture actuating levers of different shapes and sizes by utilizing adjustable or interchangeable components within the mold system. This allows the same mold infrastructure to produce multiple lever variants, eliminating the need for separate molds for each design and significantly reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining design versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold system is divided into modular or interchangeable components that can be adjusted or replaced to accommodate different lever designs. This segmentation allows the base mold structure to remain constant while specific elements are modified to produce different shapes and sizes, reducing the need for complete mold replacements.
2Ease of manufacture
If a single mold is used to manufacture all actuating levers, then manufacturing costs are reduced, but design versatility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The mold incorporates dynamic or adjustable elements that can be reconfigured during or between production cycles. This allows a single mold to adapt its geometry or configuration to produce different lever designs, maintaining design versatility while avoiding the costs of multiple fixed molds.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold system allows for changing key parameters such as cavity shape, size, or positioning through adjustable mechanisms or interchangeable inserts. This enables the production of various lever designs using the same mold base, achieving design diversity without proportionally increasing manufacturing infrastructure costs.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The present invention relates to a closure device (1) for a sports footwear, more particularly of the kind comprising a substantially rigid outer shell, such ski boots and the like, as well to a sports footwear (101) provided with one or more of the above-mentioned closure devices. According to the invention, the actuating lever (3) of the closure device consists of a lever arm (19), which performs the main functional features of the lever, and of one or more ancillary elements (21; 21'; 21"), which are rigidly connected to said lever arm and significantly contribute to determine the overall appearance of said lever and, as a result, of the closure device. Advantageously the lever arm (19) can be obtained by using a single mould, always the same, and the ancillary elements can be obtained with different techniques, less expensive than moulding, and replaced each time for obtaining a different appearance. The closure device according to the invention thus allows to conjugate the possibility of obtaining closure devices with different appearance and the need for keeping the manufacturing costs as low as possible.