Article with at least two securable inlaid strands
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsTory M. Cross, Daniel A. Podhajny
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure, in one aspect, provides an upper for an article of footwear. The upper may include a knitted component. The knitted component may include a knit element, a first tensile strand with an exposed first end, and a second tensile strand with an exposed second end. The first tensile strand may be at least partially inlaid within the knit element, the second tensile strand may be at least partially inlaid within the knit element, and the exposed first end of the first tensile element may be secured to the exposed second end of the second tensile element.
Claims20
An article comprising:
- a knitted component comprising:
- a knit element that is configured to stretch between a neutral position and a stretched position;
- and a tensile strand that is at least partially inlaid within the knit element,
- the tensile strand including a portion that is arranged as a stretch limiter element that is configured to move between at least one of a first slack position, a second slack position, and a taut position as the knit element moves between the neutral position and the stretched position, wherein an intermediate section of the stretch limiter element extends along a serpentine path in at least one of the first slack position or the second slack position;
- wherein the tensile strand includes an exposed end that is exposed from the knit element, and wherein the exposed end is movable relative to the knit element to adjust the tensile strand between the first slack position and the second slack position.
An article comprising:
- a knitted component comprising:
- a knit element that is configured to stretch between a neutral position and a stretched position;
- and
- a tensile strand that is at least partially inlaid within the knit element, wherein the tensile strand includes a portion that is arranged as a stretch limiter element, wherein the stretch limiter element has a first linear section, a second linear section, and an intermediate section extending along a nonlinear path between the first linear section and the second linear section;
- and
- a securement device secured to the knit element and configured to selectively fix to an exposed end of the tensile strand.
An A method, comprising:
- knitting a knitted component comprising:
- a knit element that is configured to stretch between a neutral position and a stretched position;
- and
- a tensile strand that is at least partially inlaid within the knit element, wherein the tensile strand includes a portion that is arranged as a stretch limiter element, wherein a first section of the stretch limiter element and a second section of the stretch limiter element extend along a common course of the knit element, and an intermediate section of the stretch limiter element extends through different courses;
- and
- securing a securement device to the knit element after knitting the knitted component, wherein the securement device is configured to selectively fix to an exposed end of the tensile strand.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.