Impact Force Attenuating Bladder Components Having Controlled Re-Expansion Rates And Methods Of Making and Using Such Components

Abstract: bladder components and footwear uppers and/or articles of footwear that include such bladder components attenuate impact forces incident on an upper and/or a wearer's foot. such bladder components, uppers, and footwear may dampen impact forces applied by a game ball to the footwear upper (and thus to the wearer's foot) and/or reduce the energy returned to the game ball from the footwear upper. these features may better enable ball control (e.g., by limiting the ball's rebound force/distance off the foot) and/or improve wearer's comfort. further, delayed re-expansion of the bladder chamber and/or foam material may keep the bladder chamber and/or foam in a compressed configuration as the wearer kicks the ball in further play. in this manner, the force applied to the ball during the kick will not be substantially reduced due to the presence of the bladder chamber and/or foam material in the upper.

Inventor(s): Isaac Farr, Oliver McLachlan, Levi J. Patton, Christian Alexander Steinbeck

CPC Classification: A43B7/32 (CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR)

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