US Patent Issued to NIKE on Nov. 25 for "Three-dimensional printing along a curved surface" (Oregon, Washington Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,478,129, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Three-dimensional printing along a curved surface" was invented by Todd A. Waatti (Battle Ground, Wash.) and Yoav Sterman (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and apparatus for printing onto a curved surface of an article are disclosed. An embodiment of a method may include receiving the article and extruding a composite yarn from a nozzle. A method may include attaching the composite yarn to the curved surface by moving the nozzle in a direction aligned with a first axis and a direction aligned with second axis along the curved surface. The firs...