Patents on the soles of your shoes...: fabrics

Showing posts with label fabrics. Show all posts

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Oh, patents! Fastskin swimsuits (2)

The amazing Speedo® tech swimsuits are not without a bit of controversy!

The Speedo® fastskin swimsuits were first used at the Summer 200O Olympics, in Sidney Australia, where the Australian swimming team wearing the suits won 8 gold medals! The Speedo® tech suits were then caught in a large sportswear controversy, culminating in 2010 with the FINA (Fédération International de Natation - International Swimming Federation) ban on the use of all non-textile, buoyant polyurethane swimming suits, in all competitions, and in 2015, with a ban on the use of suits covering the whole body (for men covering the torso, and for women covering below the knees). The grounds on which FINA upheld that it is “the athlete’s performance that counts in swimming” are perhaps more contested than those of the high costs of engineered suits, manufactured by large sports companies, which create an uneven playing field (Barrow, 2012; Scientific American; Steinbach, 2005).

The Speedo® Fastskin swimsuits are however approved and used for competitive swimming, while the pressure mounts from large sportswear companies for less stringent rules on the use tech fabrics for swimming.

-----

In Fiona Fairhurst’s own terms, shark skin was her inspiration! No wonder, since sharks can torpedo swim for food at 60 MPH! However, against all possible intuitions about the correlations between the texture of skin and speed, it turns out that rough skin rather than smooth skin, promotes speed, just like shark’s skin which is very rough!

Fastskin swimsuits help competitive swimmers by reducing drag (i.e.; the resistance to a fluid or fluid friction) against the water, and the amount of water entry between a suit and the body, which also causes increased drag. Thus, the suits are made of a knitted elasticated fabric that is less water absorbent. More importantly, the panels of fabric and the position of the seams are researched according to muscle anatomy and activity, both to create compression and to also prevent water entry by making the fabric even more high-tension fitting on the body. Seams are thus used to both reduce the stretchability of the fabric, and to increase tensioned fit in specific areas, such as the lower back and abdominal areas. The tighter tensioned fit of the fabric, resulting in muscle compression, also causes less muscle vibration, which otherwise uses more oxygen, causing more fatigue and drag.

In addition to the researched position of seams and paneling of the fabric, Fastskin suits include ridges in the fabric called “surface flow modifiers”. These structures, placed longitudinally to the body, on the surface of the suit, are designed to create turbulence which reduces the overall amount of drag.

For the many aspects of the Fastskin swimsuit invention, Fiona Fairhurst and her colleagues are the recipients of at least 26 US, Australian, German, British and Austrian patents listed below:

AU20017234000 (A) ― 2001-06-21 - Articles of clothing

AU2002100223 (A4) ― 2002-05-02 - Articles of clothing

AU2005248944 (A1) ― 2006-02-02 - Articles of clothing

AU2009200188 (A1) ― 2009-02-12 - Articles of clothing

DE60007002 (T2) ― 2004-06-03 - Swimsuit

EP1110464 (A3) ― 2001-08-16 - Articles of clothing

EP1250858 (A1) ― 2002-10-23 - Close fitting article of clothing with highly tensioned fit

EP1110464 (B1) ― 2008-07-16 – Swimsuit

ES2207626 (T3) ― 2004-06-01 – Swimsuit

ES2310510 (T3) ― 2009-01-16 -Swimsuit

GB2361409 (A) ― 2001-10-24 - Close-fitting garment - e.g. swimsuit - consisting of panels of fabric joined by flat seams

GB2361409 (B) ― 2003-11-26 – Swimsuits

GB2411816 (A) ― 2005-09-14 - Surface flow modifiers and swimsuits

US2001014981 (A1) ― 2001-08-23 - Articles of clothing

US6446264 (B2) ― 2002-09-10 - Articles of clothing

USD456111 (S) ― 2002-04-30 - Garment

USD456110 (S) ― 2002-04-30 - Garment

USD456109 (S) ― 2002-04-30 – Garment

USD456588 (S) ― 2002-05-07 – Garment

USD460242 (S) ― 2002-07-16 – Garment

USD461034 (S) ― 2002-08-06 – Garment

USD462154 (S) ― 2002-09-03 - Garment

USD461033 (S) ― 2002-08-06 – Garment

USD541008 (S) ― 2007-04-24 - Swimming costume

AT255338 (T) ― 2003-12-15 - Swimsuit

AT401012 (T) ― 2008-08-15 - Swimsuit

References

Speedo USA

http://www.speedousa.com/

Scientific American – Swimsuit controversy… again!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/media/multimedia/0812-olympics-swimsuit/index.html

Steinbach, P. (2005)

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/Aquatics/swimsuit-issues.html

Barrow, J. (7-25- 2012) Why ban full-body Olympic swimsuits: A scientist explains polyurethane – The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/25/why-ban-full-body-olympics-swimsuits-a-scientist-explains-polyurethane.html

FINA-approved swimwear

http://www.fina.org/content/fina-approved-swimwear

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Velcro US2717437 (4)

Visit www.velcro.com too!

Screenshot of of Products page @ www.velcro.com

Velcro US2717437 (3)

G. de Mestral
Velvet fabric and method of producing same Filed Oct 15, 1952

Granted Sept. 13 1955

Assignor to Velcro, S.A. A corporation in Fribourg, Switzerland

“My novel fabric distinguishes from the other similar fabrics by the fact that the raised pile is made of artificial material, while at least part of the threads in said pile is provided near its end with material-engaging mean, as required for adhering to a similar fabric or for scouring purposes.”

“Each small bar 5 is provided with a longitudinal groove 7 in which is guided a knife 8 adapted to cut the loop 6 open and to form thus the raise pile threads. However, with a view of obtaining the hook 4, I heat the bar 5 before the cutting of the loops 6, so that the thread extending over the bar may assume and retain the shape imparted to it by the latter.”

Source: US US2717437

Friday, February 15, 2013

Velcro US2717437 (1)

You are listening to Velcro from Sound of Stereo by the group EP Zipper…

Of course you would never suspect that one side of Velcro(R) is called the hook-side and the other side is called the loop side and that this is a translation of the original components of the word Velcro fusing “velours” and “crochet” in French. Velcro(R) was invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer, George de Mestral....

This is one of the advantages of being a patent translator; you will never again look at the most mundane objects with the same eye or innocence. In fact you may never look at the world in the same manner… Almost EVERYTHING is a patent! You already know about your Nike or Addidas sports shoes with shock-absorbing sole systems, but how about your wick-away shirts, your warm Synchilla(TM) jacket and your Gortex(TM) windbreaker to prevent you from getting soaked in the rain? What about your toothbrush and its 8,800 rotations and 20,000 pulsations per minute of brushing, giving you a dentist teeth clean every morning, noon and evening, your dental floss, the Zip-lock bag for your sandwhich at lunch, or all the zippers on your pants and dresses, the no-tear shampoo for your baby? If the item is not “patent-pending” it is surely already patented in the US, or elsewhere. Look at labels and you will start to notice that we live in a patented world!

Oh BTW, just in case you are wondering about Velcro(R): the “hook side” is the smooth side, and the fuzzy pile side is the “loop side”. :-)