Patents Assigned to Nike, Inc.
  • Article of footwear with soil-shedding performance
    Patent number: 10070685
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to methods of using articles of footwear and components thereof, including outsoles, in conditions normally conducive to the accumulation of soil on the outsoles. In particular, the disclosure relates to a method of using an article of footwear having an outsole that includes a dispersion on its ground facing surface. When the outsoles are wetted with water, the outsoles can become more compliant and/or can rapidly uptake and/or expel water, which can prevent soil from adhering to the outsole and/or can assist in shedding soil present on the outsole. Thus, the methods provided herein can prevent or reduce the accumulation of soil on the footwear during wear on unpaved surfaces such as sporting fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, INC.
    Inventors: Jeremy D. Walker, Caleb W. Dyer, Zachary C. Wright, Myron Maurer, Denis Schiller, Hossein A. Baghdadi
  • Soil-shedding article of footwear, components thereof, and methods of making the article
    Patent number: 10070686
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are articles of footwear and footwear components (e.g., footwear outsoles, and the like), and methods of manufacturing articles of footwear, at least a portion of which are composed of a material that includes an ethylene-alkyl acrylate copolymer component composed of an ethylene-alkyl acrylate copolymer or a combination of two or more ethylene-alkyl acrylate copolymers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, INC.
    Inventors: Denis Schiller, Zachary C. Wright, Jeremy D. Walker
  • Sole structure with electrically controllable damping element
    Patent number: 10070689
    Abstract: A sole structure may include a damping pad. The damping pad may include a chamber, a foam element located within the chamber, an electrorheological fluid located within the chamber and at least partially permeating the foam element, and a set of electrodes positioned to create, in response to a voltage across the electrodes, an electrical field in at least a portion of the electrorheological fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Austin Orand
  • Sole structures with regionally applied auxetic openings and siping
    Patent number: 10070688
    Abstract: A sole structure for an article of footwear can include auxetic openings and sipes. The auxetic openings and sipes may be applied in a regional manner to achieve different characteristics for the sole structure in the different regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Deborah L. Lawless
  • Article of footwear including a bladder element having a cushioning component with a single central opening and a cushioning component with multiple connecting features and method of manufacturing
    Patent number: 10070691
    Abstract: An article of footwear is disclosed that comprises a sole structure having a bladder element that includes multiple cushioning components. Each cushioning component includes an enclosed fluid-filled cavity. The cushioning components may include a first cushioning component and a second cushioning component. The first cushioning component has a single central opening extending completely therethrough, and a continuous fluid-filled cavity surrounding the central opening. The second cushioning component has multiple connecting features positioned inward of an outer periphery of the second cushioning component. The connecting features connect a first side of the second cushioning component to a second side of the second cushioning component opposite the first side. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear with such cushioning components is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Pamela S. Greene
  • Cut Step Traction Element Arrangement For An Article Of Footwear
    Publication number: 20180249789
    Abstract: A traction element arrangement for a sole structure of an article of footwear is described. Traction elements include cut step features. Cut step features provide a traction element with a stepped height. Cut step features on medial rotational traction elements that have a plurality of stud elements arranged in a circular grouping include arc-shaped or straight cuts. Cut step features on traction elements disposed in a heel region are aligned laterally across the sole structure. Traction elements also include raised platform members. Cut step features can be combined with raised platform members.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2018
    Publication date: September 6, 2018
    Applicant: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Tetsuya T. Minami
  • Auxetic sole with upper cabling
    Patent number: 10064448
    Abstract: An article of footwear has an upper and a sole structure. The upper includes a base layer and one or more tensile strands. The sole structure includes an auxetic element operable to expand in two orthogonal horizontal directions in response to a tension applied in one of the directions. Each tensile strand has at least one end secured in fixed position relative to a peripheral region of the sole structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Elizabeth Langvin, Tory M. Cross, Bryant Russell Klug, Timothy K. Liles, Robert Mervar, Olivier Henrichot
  • Method of making foams using partial molds
    Patent number: 10065368
    Abstract: A method of making a foamed article, for example a foamed component for an article or footwear, comprises depositing an unfoamed, thermoplastic polymer onto a support surface in a three-dimensional printing process to form an unfoamed article; heating the article to soften the article and infusing the softened article with at least one inert gas at a first pressure greater than atmospheric pressure that is sufficient to cause the at least one inert gas to permeate into the softened article; and reducing the pressure to second pressure below the first pressure while the article is softened to at least partially foam the article, wherein a surface of a partial mold limits foam expansion in at least one direction but less than all directions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Bryan N. Farris, David Turner
  • Pick-up tool with integrated light source
    Patent number: 10065326
    Abstract: Acquisition or pick-up tools that themselves aid in improving the ease with which images of an acquired substrate may be captured, and methods of operating such pick-up tools, are provided. The pick-up tools may include a pick-up surface adapted to interface with a foreign substrate and a light source integrated with the pick-up tool such that light emitted from the light source passes through the pick-up surface to the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface to create a silhouette of the foreign substrate. A vision system may be adapted for capturing the silhouette of the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface. The substrate pick-up surface may be formed of one of a transparent, a semi-transparent, or a translucent material such that light may at least partially pass there through.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: John Matthew Farren, Dragan Jurkovic, Patrick Conall Regan, Howard Fu, Chih-Chi Chang, Kuo-Hung Lee, Chang-Chu Liao, Harsha Prahlad
  • Knitted component having an auxetic portion and a tensile element
    Patent number: 10066327
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a knitted component configured to stretch. The knitted component includes a knit element that includes an auxetic portion configured to move between a first position and a second position as the knitted component stretches. The knitted component also includes a tensile strand formed with the knit element. The auxetic portion has an area when in the first position. The tensile strand engages the knit element proximate the auxetic portion. The tensile strand is configured to be manipulated for selectively changing the area of the auxetic portion to vary a stretch characteristic of the knitted component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Tory M. Cross, Daniel A. Podhajny
  • Garment
    Patent number: D827249
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Rob Darmour, John Burlo
  • Shorts
    Patent number: D827250
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Colleen Louise Sandieson, Holly Marie Stinson
  • Garment
    Patent number: D827251
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Vivian Mong, Kevin Lancelin, Alexa Manos-Gully, Karl Pinfold
  • Shoe with illuminable heel light sequence
    Patent number: D827264
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Tiffany A. Beers, Vincent Clervi
  • Shoe upper
    Patent number: D827278
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Tamimu A. Shyllon
  • Shoe upper
    Patent number: D827282
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Ross Klein
  • Shoe upper
    Patent number: D827285
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Shane S. Kohatsu, Matthew C. Palmer, Daniel Taylor Rowe
  • Garment
    Patent number: D827979
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Vivian Mong, Kevin Lancelin, Alexa Manos-Gully, Karl Pinfold
  • Garment
    Patent number: D827986
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric R. Noll, Kevin Lancelin
  • Shoe upper
    Patent number: D828004
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Hui