Mirrors of time (1)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann You will find that patents are like mirrors of time, and that inventions pepper your daily experience. Remember the 1929 crepe soles patent on the first week of class? Crepe soles offering slip resistance on wet surfaces. In 1929, crepe soles came as big news in comparison to leather soles, but still too slippery to wear for viable commercial success.... Now, in 2013, here are state of the art sole structures and systems, brought to you, for example, by Nike, Inc! That is, soles with sensors to connect to all your body metric, Bluetooth-enabled, mobile devices, and peek-a-boo sole systems so that you can really see the shock absorbers in your soles! That's almost 100 years reflected in the soles of your shoes! US2013019694 - Footware having a sensor system "An article of footwear includes an upper member and a sole structure, with a sensor system connected to the sole structure. The sensor system includes a plurality of sensors that are configured for detecting forces exerted by a user's foot on the sensor. The sensor system also includes a port that is configured to receive a module to place the module in communication with the sensors. The port includes a housing with a chamber configured to receive the module and an interface engaged with the housing and having at least one electrical contact exposed to the chamber.Additional retaining structure and interface structure may be included". [Nike, Inc.] US2012324761 - Footwear with cavity viewingsystem A sole structure for an article of footwear and a method of making the sole structure is disclosed. The sole structure can include an outsole and a midsole. The midsole includes a cavity with a protruding portion. A U-shaped transparent member is configured to cover the cavity so that the protruding portion remains visible from within the cavity." [Nike Inc.]