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The present invention relates to an equipment for ironing the leather of a shoe, or a part thereof, and also relates to a method for ironing the leather to be implemented on this equipment.

It should be noted that, herein and below, by the term "ironing" is meant any operation, either mechanical and/or thermo-chemical suitable to smooth out any surface irregularity, such as folds, creases, wrinkles o roughness of the leather of a shoe, or a part thereof, and accordingly the terms ironing, smoothening and levelling (or flattening) will be considered as synonyms.

Furthermore, by "leather" is generally meant not only a material of animal origin, but also any other material, also synthetic, which is suitable for manufacturing a shoe. During the various processing operations on a shoe, and particularly following the preliminary operations of stitching and shaping the upper or following the various finishing steps on the shoe, it may often occur that the leather of the same exhibits folds, wrinkles, creases or other surface irregularities, which are mainly located at the seams or geometrical or material discontinuities of the shoe, i.e. where the leather is subjected to differentiated straining deriving from previous processing. To smooth over these surface irregularities, hand-held tools are commonly used, by means of which rapid blows are struck on the leather suitably arranged on a counter- support, which mechanically level folds, wrinkles or creases. This leather ironing technique, which is normally carried out by means of a shaped hammer and an anvil, is known as the "beating" in the footwear industry. The beating, which is technologically similar to hammering, is quite effective in smoothening impervious surface areas on a shoe, but is not much suitable for smoothening extended surface areas on the shoe, it requires, like all operations carried out by hand, a considerable skill by the operator, it is time consuming and can further damage the leather. Alternatively, the shoe, or the part thereof being affected by these irregularities, is known to be subjected to jets of hot air, preferably humidified, or steam jets, whereas the shoe, or a part thereof, can be held, optionally tensioned, on a suitable last. A

subsequent cooling and drying of the leather normally results in the levelling of the surface region being treated.

In several applications of this method, for example for several types of shoes or when the irregularities are very evident, either following this step of delivering hot air and/or steam, or simultaneously therewith, a static, mechanical pressure step is provided on the leather, by means of a shaped tool, such as a roller. British Patent GB 471.918, in the name of BRITISH UNITED SHOE COMPANY LTD, describes a leather ironing device in which an ironing tool is engaged, under pressure, on a part of a shoe subjected to a jet of hot air. British Patent Application GB 540.332, in the name of UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORP., teaches to use a jet of humidified hot air to smoothen the surface irregularities of a shoe, and particularly the outer layer of a shoe, optionally subjecting the latter also to static local pressure by means of a suitable shaped tool. Patent Application EP-A-0.895.730, in the name of ELETTROTECNICA B.C., describes a particular delivery nozzle suitable to be used with shoe ironing devices by means of humidified hot air.

While ironing by means of humidified hot air, or steam, is a quite effective operation for smoothening the surface irregularities of the leather, mainly on extended or non impervious areas of a shoe, or a part thereof, it is not always capable of ironing the leather in an optimum manner such as to eliminate all the surface irregularities of the area subjected to this ironing operation.

On the other hand, when humidified air and/or steam are repeatedly applied to the leather, damages may result on the leather and thus the repeated application of this ironing operation by means of humid air and/or vapour is not recommended for a shoe whenever the surface defects have not been completely eliminated by this ironing operation.

As a consequence, a beating operation performed by hand is quite commonly carried out after the ironing by means of humidified hot air, or steam, which aims at removing any small defects on the leather which may be left after said ironing operation.

Alternatively to beating and ironing the leather by hand by means of jets of

humidified hot air, or steam, dry ironing equipment are also available that mechanically press the shoe, or a part thereof, by means of static pressure, after the shoe, or the portions thereof being subjected to pressure, has been optionally heated. In these types of equipment, the shoe is placed on a suitable last, which is preferably heated, and is then subjected to the action of a pressure tool, such as a ironing roller, which locally applies a pressure on one or more areas on the shoe in a static manner. Italian Patent IT 1.156.288, in the name of UBALDI and BELLETTI, describes a dry ironing equipment for shoes, in which a roller having a truncated-cone profile is engaged in operation on various areas of the shoe by means of a mechanical arm. The shoe is further placed on a last comprising means for heating the same.

European Patent Application EP-A-0.403.720, in the name of TESMA, describes an equipment for levelling the toe and heel areas of a shoe upper by means of a method in which these areas are only mechanically pressed using a shaped roller. The operations of dry ironing the leather not always lead to satisfying results, and further they require equipment provided with mechanically complex and advanced technology, which hardly fit the various shapes of a shoe.

An object of the present invention is thus to provide an equipment and a method for ironing a shoe, or a part thereof, which does not suffer from the drawbacks of the prior art, and which accordingly achieves a high smoothening effect on the leather surface irregularities, without requiring very sophisticate equipment and without exposing the shoe to the risk of being damaged.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a highly versatile equipment allowing the user to establish the type of ironing he desires for the shoe, i.e. whether the shoe has to be dry ironed and/or with humidified air or steam, and allowing to reduce the time taken for carrying out this ironing operation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for ironing a shoe, or a part thereof, which is particularly effective mainly when the surface irregularities on a shoe are located on small and impervious areas thereof. These and other objects are achieved by means of the equipment according to the first independent claim for the equipment, and the subsequent claims depending thereon, and by the eleventh independent claim for the method and the subsequent

claim depending thereon.

According to the present invention, the equipment for ironing at least one shoe, or a part thereof, comprises at least one device for ironing the leather being provided with means for delivering hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam to the shoe, or a part thereof, and in combination with this device, also comprises means for blow striking, i.e. means for the above-mentioned beating, said shoe, or a part thereof. By "shoe, or a part thereof here and below is meant any finished shoe or shoe portion that contributes to form the shoe, such as the upper, which may require a leather ironing operation. Furthermore, while for brevity, in the following, reference will be generally made to a shoe, it will mean to encompass any shoe, either finished or not, which has to be subjected to ironing.

By combining an ironing device by means of hot air, usually humidified, or steam, of a type known per se, with means for blow striking the shoe, such as consisting of a hammer actuated by a pneumatic jack, the operator can bring the shoe, or a part thereof, to only one equipment for processing and thus the operator can establish, in situ, what ironing operation or series of operations has to be carried out on this shoe, or a part thereof.

Furthermore, the equipment of the present invention allows the operator to carry out a new method for ironing the leather of a shoe that combines the delivery of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam with the beating, i.e. blow striking, the shoe, after the latter has been heated and humidified during the previous step. This new method has proved particularly effective in ironing a number of different types of surface irregularities on the shoe. Thereby, the method of the present invention for smoothening surface irregularities on the leather of a shoe, or a part thereof, sequentially provides the steps of: a. subjecting the shoe, or a part thereof, to at least one jet of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam; then b. locally blow striking the shoe, or a part thereof, the latter being held such as to counteract the blows, for example by placing the same on a counter- support , or anvil, or by being held in the operator's hands.

According to a preferred aspect of the method according to the present invention, the

step of delivering humidified hot air and/or steam on the shoe may further comprise a step of mechanical pressure, for example by means of an ironing roller, which is carried out prior to said step of blow striking, or beating.

Several preferred embodiments of an equipment according to the present invention and a particular ironing method to be implemented on said equipment will be described below, by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the annexed figures, in which:

Fig. 1 is an axonometric view of an ironing equipment according to a particular aspect of the present invention, in which a shoe is subjected to the delivery of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam;

Fig. 2 is an axonometric view of the equipment from Fig. 1, in which a shoe is subjected to a beating operation; and

Fig. 3 is a partial axonometric view of another embodiment of an equipment according to the present invention; With reference to the annexed Fig. 1 and 2, the equipment 1 for ironing at least one shoe 2, or a part thereof, according to a particular aspect of the present invention, comprises a column 10, optionally housing the electronic controls and at least part of the actuators of the equipment 1, a device 3, 4, 5, 6 for ironing the shoe by means of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or saturated steam, as well as means 7, 8, 9 for blow striking, or beating the latter being placed thereon.

Particularly, the ironing device 3, 4, 5, 6 can comprise a delivery head 3 for a mixture of hot air and atomized water, i.e. hot air humidified with water particles pressurized in a stream of hot air, or hot air and saturated steam, a steam boiler 6 for generating steam, a water tank 5, as well as a ambient air suction fan (known in the art, and not illustrated), channels (also not shown) for conveying the sucked air to the equipment 1, and water and/or steam channels, a device for mixing the air with steam and/or atomized water, as well as, when required, means (known per se, such as consisting of one or more electric resistances, and not shown) for heating the inlet air stream to be delivered to the shoe 2 through the head 3. The ironing device 3, 4, 5, 6 can also comprise a pressure tool for the shoe 2, or a part thereof, preferably consisting of a cylindrical roller 4 having the function of

levelling, by means of lamination, the leather of the shoe 2.

As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the equipment 1 is provided with one or more devices for controlling the flow rate, temperature, pressure and release time of the air stream, and the delivery time and conditions of temperature, pressure, flow rate of the steam and/or water to be mixed to this air stream.

Advantageously, as stated above, the equipment 1 is further provided with means 7, 8, 9 for blow striking, or beating, the shoe 2, or a part thereof, preferably comprising a striking tool driven according to a reciprocating rectilinear motion (see the arrow A in Fig. 2) by mechanic or fluidic actuators. In the particular equipment 1 such as illustrated in the figures, these means 7, 8, 9 may consist of a curved head-shaped hammer 7, which is driven according to a rectilinear reciprocating motion A by a pneumatic jack 8, which is fed by pressurized air supplied to the jack 8 from a conduit 9 that is connected to a compressor in a manner not illustrated. In the equipment illustrated, the jack 8 is suitably fastened to the column 10 of the equipment 1 by means of a rigid frame 11 such that the operator either can or cannot unfasten the jack 8 and the relative hammer 7 from this frame 11. The equipment 1 may also comprise support means (not illustrated) for the shoe 2, or a part thereof, which consist for example of a last coupled with the device 3, 4, 5, 6 and/or an anvil countering the striking means 7, 8, 9, as well as any means for conveying, or facilitating to convey the shoe 2 being processed from the device 3, 4, 5, 6 to the means 7, 8, 9, or vice versa.

In the particular and simplified embodiment of the equipment 1, such as illustrated herein in Fig. 1 and 2, however, the shoe 2, or a part thereof, can be subjected to the ironing operations by means of the device 3, 4, 5, 6 and means 7, 8, 9 while being held in the operator's hands.

Advantageously, the distance between the operative area of the ironing device 3, 4, 5, 6 and the operative area of the striking means 7, 8, 9 can range from 60 and 1000 mm. Thereby, carrying the shoe 2 from an ironing step to another is made much more easier.

The hammer 7, or any other equivalent striking tool, may be provided with heating

means, for example using the Joule effect, and in a similar manner the anvil or counter element for the shoe 2, when provided, may also comprise these heating means.

However, as will be appreciated below, said heating means intended for heating, at least partially, the area on the shoe 2 subjected to processing by means of striking, may be omitted when the operator carries out the particular processing method being the object of the present invention.

With reference now to Fig. 3, there is shown a different embodiment of an equipment 101 for ironing the leather of a shoe 2, or a part thereof, in which the operation of the ironing device by means of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam, and the operation of the striking means for the shoe 2 is governed by at least one controller, not illustrated.

The equipment 101 comprises, particularly, a frame 110, a delivery head 103 for hot air optionally mixed with atomized water or saturated steam branching therefrom, and a pneumatic jack 107, 108 for blow striking the shoe 2 according to a stroke designated with A'. The pneumatic jack of the equipment 101 comprises, similarly to the means 7, 8, 9 of the equipment 1 from Fig. 1 and 2, a suitably shaped striking tool 107 and a pneumatic jack 108. It should also be noted that the equipment 101 is not provided with the ironing roller 4 which is instead provided in the equipment 1 illustrated in Fig. 1 and 2.

The equipment 101 also comprises a sensor 112, and precisely a photocell, suitable to detect the presence of the shoe 2, or a part thereof, at the pneumatic jack 107, 108 and to generate an output signal corresponding thereto. The signal generated by the cell 112 is then sent to said control means of the pneumatic jack 107, 108, which are arranged to operate the jack 107, 108 when said signal indicating the presence of the shoe 2 is emitted by the photocell 112. Thereby, the operator can actuate the striking means 107, 108 simply by moving the shoe 2, or a part thereof, towards the means' 107, 108. A similar sensor (not illustrated) may also be provided, which is intended to notify the above-mentioned means controlling the operation of the ironing device that the shoe 2 is proximate to the delivery head 103 of the ironing device by means of

humidified hot air, and/or steam, such that the device can be operated by simply approaching the shoe 2 to the delivery head 103.

The operation of the equipment 1 or 101 is as follows.

The operator, optionally with the aid of a conveyor located upstream of the equipment 1, 101, can first bring the shoe 2, or shoe portion, to be ironed to the delivery head 3, 103 and the ironing roller 4, if required, and there he actuates the ironing device 3, 4, 5, 6 by means of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam, after the operating parameters have been set.

If the operation of the device 3, 4, 5, 6 were made automatic by means of a sensor, the device 3, 4, 5, 6 could be operated by simply approaching the shoe 2 to the delivery head 3, 103.

The operator can thus subject the shoe 2, or a part thereof, for example an upper, to traditional ironing by means of a jet of hot air, optionally humidified with saturated steam, and when provided, by means of pressure using the ironing roller 4. The shoe 2, or a part thereof, can either be held, in this operation, on a suitable last (not illustrated), or be held in the operator's hands.

Subsequently, or prior to, or alternatively to, this ironing operation by means of a jet of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or steam, which can be carried out by means of the device 3, 4, 5, 6, the operator can arrange the shoe 2, or a part thereof, at the hammer 7, 107, optionally on a counter-support, or anvil, and then operate the jack 8,

108 such that the leather of the shoe 2 can be locally struck in those areas of the latter that require to be ironed.

Also in this case, as described above with reference to the equipment 101 from Fig.

3, if a sensor 112 were provided which can detect a shoe 2 being in the vicinity of the means 7,8; 107,108, the striking means 7, 8, 107, 108 could be automatically operated.

By integrating the equipment 1, 101 with a device 3, 4, 5, 6; 103 for ironing by means of a jet of humidified hot air and/or steam, with the striking means 7, 8, 9;

107, 108 for ironing a shoe 2, or a part thereof, the equipment 1, 101 will be provided with a considerable versatility of use, while the operator will be provided with a great freedom in ironing this shoe 2.

The operator, in fact, can freely select the ironing mode or combination of modes for the shoe 2, or a part thereof, without having to change the equipment. The equipment 1, 101 described above also allows the operator to iron the leather of a shoe 2, or a part thereof, i.e. smoothening lines, creases, folds, or wrinkles, or other surface irregularities, according to a novel and innovative ironing method, which sequentially provides the steps of: a. subjecting the shoe 2 to a jet of hot air, preferably humidified with saturated steam, such that the leather is heated and hydrated at the surface irregularities to be eliminated, i.e. without having to wait for the leather to be cooled or dried, b. blow striking the shoe 2, or a part thereof, in the heated and humidified area, obviously while holding this shoe 2 such as to counteract the striking action.

Whereby, it has been observed that the ironing action carried out by the means 7, 8, 9; 107, 108 by blow striking the leather of the shoe 2, suitably hydrated and/or heated, i.e. with the fibers brought to a longer and more flexible condition, is extremely effective.

Furthermore, with this novel method, as mentioned above, the provision of any heating means for the striking tool 7, 107 or the counter-support for this striker 7, 107 for the shoe 2 is no longer required. The method of the present invention, as described above, does not exclude that, during or just subsequently to the step of ironing by means of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or vapour, a step of ironing by means of static pressure is provided, such as by means of the ironing roller 4, as well as it does not exclude that, after the striking step, one or both steps of ironing by means of hot air, optionally humidified, and/or vapour and by means of blow striking the shoe 2 can be repeated for a number of times, either partially or totally.