ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,439,998, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Footwear with externally-reinforced fluid-filled bladder" was invented by Zachary M. Elder (Portland, Ore.), Laura E. Flores Sandoval (Hillsboro, Ore.), Todd W. Miller (Portland, Ore.) and Lee D. Peyton (Tigard, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A cushioning structure includes an externally-reinforced bladder, the bladder having a first polymeric sheet and a second polymeric sheet, where each polymeric sheet includes an internal surface and an opposite external surface. A first reinforcing layer is in contact with the external surface of the first polymeric sheet...