Article of apparel with zonal force attenuation properties
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsKenneth Todd Craig, Hagit Ottens-Wilk, Donna L. Marchant
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An article of apparel, such as a sock or a shoe, is disclosed as having a foot-supporting area for extending adjacent to a plantar surface of a foot. The foot-supporting area has various zones of differing thickness that attenuate forces upon the plantar surface to different degrees. The apparel may be manufactured through a process that includes utilizing a force mapping device to obtain data relating to forces upon the plantar surface of the foot. The sock is then formed to have zones of different thickness located to correspond with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to different magnitudes of forces.
Claims19
A method of manufacturing a sock for receiving a foot, the method comprising steps of:
- distributing a matrix of sensors throughout a sockliner in an article of footwear;
- collecting data from the sensors relating to forces upon a plantar surface of a user's foot during an ambulatory cycle when the user is wearing the article of footwear;
- analyzing the data to determine areas of the plantar surface subjected to forces above a threshold value during the ambulatory cycle;
- and
- using the data to control a knitting machine to form a sock having zones of different thickness, one of the zones of different thickness being located to correspond with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to the forces above the threshold value.
A method of manufacturing a sock for receiving a foot, the method comprising steps of:
- distributing a matrix of sensors throughout a sockliner in an article of footwear;
- collecting data from the sensors relating to forces upon a plantar surface of a user's foot during an ambulatory cycle when the user is wearing the article of footwear;
- analyzing the data to determine areas of the plantar surface subjected to:
- a first range of forces that are below a first threshold,
- a second range of forces that are above the first threshold and below a second threshold, and
- a third range of forces that are above the second threshold;
- and
- using the data to control a knitting machine to form a sock that has:
- a first plantar zone corresponding with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to the first range of forces,
- a second planter zone corresponding with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to the second range of forces, the second plantar zone having greater thickness than the first plantar zone, and
- a third plantar zone corresponding with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to the third range of forces, the third plantar zone having greater thickness than the second plantar zone.
A method of manufacturing a first sock for a right foot and a second sock for a left foot, the method comprising steps of:
- distributing a matrix of sensors throughout a sockliner in an article of footwear;
- collecting data from the sensors relating to forces upon a plantar surface of at least one of the right foot and the left foot of a user during an ambulatory cycle when the user is wearing the article of footwear;
- analyzing the data to determine areas of the plantar surface subjected to forces above a threshold value during the ambulatory cycle;
- using the data to control a knitting machine to form a first sock and a second sock having zones of different thickness, one of the zones of different thickness being located to correspond with the areas of the plantar surface subjected to the forces above the threshold value, and the zones of different thickness of the first sock being a mirror-image of the zones of different thickness of the second sock;
- and
- incorporating a right foot identifier into the first sock and a left foot identifier into the second sock.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.