Oh, patents! Kidrobot® Dunny™ collectibles (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in 2002 by the serial entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, designer, and programmer, Paul Budnitz, Kidrobot® is a custom, limited edition, collectible-designer-toy company that also produces signature apparel and lifestyle accessories. Dunny™, launched in 2004, is a blank platform toy, that was originally given to street artists to customize, and then sold as limited edition collectibles, ushering in the world 3D designer maker toys.

The name Dunny™ is a portmanteau term that combines “Devil + Bunny”, used in street art. The rest is history, because Kidrobot® Dunny™ collectable designer toys have sold worldwide, in partnership with mega toymakers such as Sanrio, Disney, and Hasbro,; as well as museums, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for whom more than 150 Dunny™ art designer toys were produced. Additional blank designer collectible toys were made in partnership with famous fashion designers such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Hermes, and Karl Lagerfeld. In fact, the original Kidrobot® company was acquired in 2014 by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association Inc., after having written the book on designer collectible toys in the adult world.  

Kidrobot® Dunny™ brings together art, creativity, 3-D printing and maker entrepreneurship, which means that such opposites are no longer conflicting forces for the founder of Kidrobot® and his friends. The artists commissioned to make the collectibles, and everyone else who has followed suit, making designer toys for personal or more lucrative purposes, or who have worked to customize the original blank Dunny™.

Below, the patented doll, with the head that rotates 360-degrees, and mobile arms, infinitely customisable, with big bunny ears for Dunny™, softer vinyl movable parts like Munny™, and lately the Superplastic®, superlimited, designer figures that are 3D rendered, becoming animated in videos. 

The recently expired US design patent  USD569454S, titled Doll, was originally awarded on May 20, 2008.   Below, the patent Figure 1 drawing, together with eight collector Dunny™ toys.  the dotted lines are not part of the claimed design. 

References

Kidrobot® website

www.kidrobot.com

Kidrobot® – About us

https://www.kidrobot.com/pages/about-us 

Kidbobot® blog

https://www.kidrobot.com/blogs/kidrobot-blog 

Paul Budnitz

https://budnitz.com/

What is a Dunny™?

https://www.kidrobot.com/pages/what-is-a-dunny 

Kidrobot® Dunny™ collections

https://www.kidrobot.com/collections/dunny

Superplastic®

https://superplastic.co/

Terminology - Face shields (visières de protection) (6) MIT

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The disposable MIT face shield is laser die-cut from a single sheet of polycarbonate plastic. It was designed, using low-cost materials, and high-precision machinery for high-velocity mass-production, to meet the critical demand for PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), within the context of the COVID 19 emergency (Gallagher, 2020).

The single-sheet, MIT face shield, design includes a protective foam strip for the forehead, and two smaller foam strips, used to secure two strop-bent elastics, on each side of the headband. The elastics are ouchless (hair-band type).

The assembly, consisting of bending and folding the polycarbonate plastic sheet, strop-bending the elastics, and securing them to the headband with foam pieces, takes less than 60 seconds. The side of the polycarbonate sheet, without a peel-off protective film, has an anti-fog coating. The MIT face shield includes forehead and chin flaps designed to provide 40% more protection than typical disposable face shields. The sides of the shield are also articulate to enable the use of non-wireless stethoscopes. 

The first, 100,000, face shields were donated to hospitals, emergency medical management facilities, and emergency care services, in Boston, MA.

Below, drawings of the flat sheet and assembled MIT face shield, extracted from the Technical specifications, together with a Youtube video demonstration, showing how the MIT face shield is folded and assembled.  

 

 

References

Gallagher, M. B. (March 31, 2020) MIT initiates mass manufacture of disposable face shields for Covid-19 response. MIT News.   http://news.mit.edu/2020/face-shield-ppe-manufacture-covid-19-0331

Learn about and obtain the MIT COVID-19 face shield.  https://project-manus.mit.edu/fs-health

MIT COVID 19 face Shield Folding Instructions and Technical Specifications.   https://project-manus.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Faceshield-Instructions_v1.14b-and-Tech-SpecsEUA-1.pdf

YouTube: Folding instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydr0a7P63zY

Terminology - Face shields (visières de protection) (5) Ratnayake (Studio Lo)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

 Ratnayake
Pano Chair (2008)

Aruna Ratnayake, the well-known, Studio Lo  designer-maker of the folded Pano Chair (2008), also posted a free downloadable face shield design, in response to shortages of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), arising out of the COVID 19 emergency situation. The Ratnayake face shield design is called the Folded Face Shield (2019). 

Widely used, fabricated, and distributed to individuals-in-need by the Fab City Metropolitan Paris makers’ lab, in France, and elsewhere, the Aruna Ratnayake face shield is a laser-cut only design. The face shields are fabricated and assembled super swiftly, using a laser cutter to cut out the double headbands, which are then folded and assembled, together with the visor and elastic band. 

The  Ratnayake Folded Face Shields  are made out of: 

• a cutout sheet of PET or polypropylene (0.5 -1.5 mm thick, 720 x 250 mm) for 11 double headbands
• a sheet of Rhodoid plastic (A4) for the visor
• an elastic band

Below, the GitLab specifications for the Ratnayake Folded Face Shield design, and a Volumes YouTube video showing the production and assembly lines of the Ratnayake face shields.

Ratnayake
Folded Face Shield (2019) 

References

Aruna Ratnayake and  Eva Guillet (2013) In Green Design: Creative Sustainable Designs for the Twenty-First Century  by Marcus Fairs, p. 100-101, London, UK: Carlton Bks Ltd.`

Fab City Paris: http://fabcity.paris/en/home

GitLab - Folded Face Shield - Project ID 17819258: https://gitlab.com/volumes1/visi-re-plexi-volumes

Studio Lo: http://www.studiolodesign.fr/

Volumes: http://volumesparis.org/

Oh, patents! Plae’s Mulberry INNERSPACE™ sole system (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Makers, have fun! 

Plae’s hi-tech Mulberry sneakers are also equipped with a trademarked and patented INNERSPACE™ sole system. The INNERSPACE™ sole system comprises two swappable inner soles: the SPACEFOAM™ sole that comes with the sneaker, and the SPACEFRAME™ sole, which is included as a downloadable template for 3D printing, and customization.  The SPACEFOAM™ sole offers cushy comfort. The 3D printable SPACEFRAME™ sole offers more bounce, which is a patented “trampoline" effect.  

The INNERSPACE™ sole system is recited in the family patent applications WO2017147490 (A1) / US2017245591 (A1), both titled Insole with suspended mesh surface.  The patent recites a mesh insole stretched and suspended across an inner cavity of the shoe. The cavity has a foam base and a rigid frame on the bottom. The air that circulates, between the mesh sole and the foam base on a rigid frame, creates an air chamber that generates the bounce called the “trampoline" effect.  The patent also recites a 3D knitting process for manufacturing the mesh inner sole. In Plae's Mulberry marketed product, the 3D knitting process is transferred to the buyer who receives the 3D template for the mesh SPACEFRAME™ inner sole, as an option for customizing the INNERSPACE™ of the sneakers.

The abstract of the INNSERSACE™ sole system invention is included below, together with a patent drawing of the mesh insole for the full length of the shoe.  An image of the INNERSPACE™ sole system options is included above.

An insole is provided that is constructed out of a mesh material that is stretched and suspended over a cavity formed in a shoe. The mesh surrounds a foam base and a rigid frame positioned under the foam base. The foam base is shaped so that a cavity is formed between the top surface of the foam base and the mesh positioned over the foam base to provide a “trampoline” effect for  a  wearer's foot. 

[Abstract WO2017147490A1 / US2017245591A1]

References

Plae Inc.

www.plae.co 

Downloadable SPACEFRAME 3D model (for adult men and women)

https://www.plae.co/open-source/spaceframe-3d-model

Plae Inc. INNERSPACE™ (video)

https://vimeo.com/234764607

Oh, patents! Nike’s FlyKnit climate tech

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Flyknit is Nike’s climate shoe tech! After Nike’s many revolutions in cushioning soles, Nike's Flyknit uppers are a revolution in sustainable manufacturing processes in a bid to reduce the company's overall emissions of CO2 by 20% per unit [ Nike (1)]

 FlyKnit is micro-engineered knitting, where the types of yarn and the knit or stitches can be changed and adapted for each type of shoe and sport. Thus, for example, you will find Nike flyknit  running shoes, soccer cleats, and basketball hi- and lo- tops. Each upper is knitted separately as a single seamless piece with exactly the right amount of yarn, which means  no leftovers from any materials that are otherwise templated and cut-out of a sheet. 

Indeed, since 2012, when Flyknit became available for the general public, Nike production claims to have reduced its waste by an estimated 2 million pounds (i.e.; the weight equal to three 600-passenger-seat jets!) [Nike (2)]. Nike FLyknit Lunar 1 running shoes are also claimed to have reduced waste by 80% compared to other Nike running shoes [Nike (3)], all of which epitomizes the company's general reduce waste targets [Nike (4)]. 

In addition to transforming shoe manufacturing into greener, more sustainable, maker-oriented  and customizable processes, Flyknit also offers all the athletic-based performance advantages of being unbelievably light (the Nike Flyknit Racer shoe upper weighs 1.2 ounces or 34 grams) breathable, form-fitting (sock-like) and supportive in all the right places as it is engineered -- at no extra weight -- with Nike’s flywire technology too! [Kinitting Industry]

Nike’s Flyknit climate technology is also a highly patented technology at the intersection of programming, engineering, and design.There are an estimated 500 Nike patents disclosing flyknit climate technology, whether it is, for example:

•  the industrial processes invoked in producing a seamless knitted “bootie” (US20150342284,  US20150342285, US20150342286) or the flatknit technology (US20080110048)
• the technology invoked in making the flyknit materials water-repellent  (US20150237948)
• the technology to combine tensile flywire ribs with flyknit (US20160090670)
• the knitting process for a monofilament heel and body (US20160058099)
• the knitting process to incorporate an ankle cuff, 
• the computerized design tools that enable virtual 3D prototyping of the flyknit uppers (WO2015200320)  to avoid costly single run prototype
• the knitting process to incorporate the tongue with the rest of the upper (US20150216257)
• the technology that connects the flyknit upper to the rest of the shoe (US20150208753) 
• the knitting of the knitted component (US20150272261)
• the incorporation of tensile threads to adjust auxetics - the perpendicular resistance of threads (US20160058098)
• the technology for obtaining the brilliant “lenticular” visual effect of different color, depending on the angle from which you look at the flyknit upper (US20160088894)
• plus, many, many more patented details.

  -----

      So, if you are looking for climate tech sports shoes, loaded with patented technologies --not only on the soles of your feet -- but for the uppers too, then check out Nike flyknit models! There are walking, running, cross-training, soccer cleats and basketball lo- and hi-top flyknits -- in dazzling colors too!

References   

Nike (1) Nike energy cut targets

http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/targets

Nike (2) Innovations

http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/better-world/flyknit/innovation

Nike (3) Nike Flyknit More haste, Less waste

http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/content/chapter/waste

Nike (4) Reduce waste

http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/targets/present/waste

Knitting industry - FlyKnit a seamlessly knitted running shoe

http://www.knittingindustry.com/nike-flyknit-a-seamlessly-knitted-running-shoe/