Self-inflating cushion and footwear including same

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A method to maintain inflation of a cushion of an article of footwear comprising forming a sealed chamber comprised of an elastomeric material within said article of footwear and combining within said chamber a first reactant and a second reactant such that said first and second reactants create an inflatant.

An article of footwear including a cushion, said cushion comprising at least one sealed elastomeric chamber, said chamber including a reactant material and a reactant gas, wherein said reactant material and said reactant gas undergo a reaction to form an inflatant at least partially inflating said cushion, and wherein a rate of said reaction is equal to or greater than a rate of diffusion of said inflatant through said sealed elastomeric chamber.

An article of footwear including a cushion, said cushion comprised of at least one chamber comprised of a barrier material, at least a first and a second solid or liquid reactant compounds disposed within said at least one chamber, wherein said first reactant compound and said second reactant compound interact to form a resultant gaseous compound pressurizing said at least one chamber to greater than about 14.7 psia. and at least partially inflating said cushion.

An article of footwear including a cushion, said cushion comprised of at least one chamber comprised of a barrier material, at least a first and a second solid or liquid reactant compound disposed within said at least one chamber, wherein said first reactant compound and said second reactant compound react to form a resultant gaseous compound, said cushion having “X” multiple chambers and having less than “X” chambers including said reactant compounds, wherein a means for gas diffusion between a reactant compound containing chamber and a chamber containing no reactive compounds is provided.

An article of footwear including a cushion comprised of at least one chamber comprised of a barrier material, said barrier material comprised of an elastomer, said elastomer being at least semi-permeable to a mobile gas, a reactant compound disposed within said at least one chamber, wherein said mobile gas and said reactant compound interact to form a captive gas, and wherein a rate of diffusion of said captive gas through said barrier material is less than the rate of diffusion of said mobile gas through said barrier material.