US Patent Issued to NIKE on June 30 for "Vacuum locking for article of athletic equipment" (Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,667,772, issued on June 30, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Vacuum locking for article of athletic equipment" was invented by Todd W. Miller (Portland, Ore.) and Matthew D. Nordstrom (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A locking structure for an article includes a bladder including a first barrier element attached to a second barrier element to define a chamber having an interior void. A locking system includes locking elements that each attach to at least one elastic element. The locking elements each include at least one interface surface. The interior void of the bladder operable between a first pressure to mo...