ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,286,733, issued on April 29, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Foamed articles and methods of making the same" was invented by Yihua Chang (Portland, Ore.), Lyle R. Hanson (Beaverton, Ore.), Petr Khlyabich (Beaverton, Ore.) and Richard L. Watkins (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Foamed articles including a foamed thermoplastic elastomeric material, methods of making the articles, and methods for manufacturing articles of footwear, apparel, and athletic equipment incorporating the articles are provided. One exemplary method for making a foamed article comprises placing an article comprising a foamable fibrous elem...