ROUGHING MACHINE FOR FOOTWEAR UPPER ASSEMBLIES AND A SYSTEM THAT INCLUDES THE ROUGHING MACHINE BUT TYPICALLY INCLUDES AS WELL OTHER MACHINES AHEAD OF AND FOLLOWING

摘要

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREIn an integrated system to achieve a number ofoperations on a footwear upper assembly, an automatic rougherthat includes a roughing tool adapted to remove material --and hence rough -- the cement margin (or bonding surface) ofthe footwear upper assembly to provide a cementing surfaceonto which an outer sole is later applied. The cement margin(or bonding surface),as is known in this art, typicallyfollows a closed-loop path that rapidly changes in alldirections of an X-Y-Z coordinate system and the roughing toolmust be continuously re-oriented to the many direction changesof the cement margin in order to track the margin. Accordingto the present teaching the upper assembly, and hence thecement margin thereof, is ordinarily moved in rotationalmovement, rocking movement, transverse translational movement,and, also, vertical translational movement (i.e., movementtoward and away from the roughing tool) during the course ofroughing. According to the present teaching, real-time data isassembled which may be used to achieve a later operation:e.g., the path of the cement margin is digitized and thatdigitized information is used to guide a cementer to applyadhesive unto the cement margin to adhere an outer sole to theupper assembly.