Patent ID: 11884005
Assignee: NIKE, INC.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  A  C  Y | IPC A  B  C

Claim 0:
1. An article comprising:
a structure formed of a plurality of affixed foam particles, wherein
each individual foam particle of the plurality of affixed foam particles is formed of a thermoplastic elastomer material having a coating, wherein the coating comprises a monomeric or polymeric binder, wherein, in an interior region of the structure, the individual foam particle of the plurality is affixed to one or more adjacent foam particles by one or more binding regions including the coating and excluding the thermoplastic elastomer of the foam particle, wherein a plurality of affixed foam particles have one or more gaps between adjacent foam particles and wherein the gaps are between the one or more binding regions of the individual foam particle separating the individual foam particle from the one or more adjacent foam particles to which it is affixed, the gaps occupying at least 10 percent of a total volume of the structure,
the one or more adjacent foam particles comprise the thermoplastic elastomer material having a coating, wherein the coating comprises a monomeric or polymeric binder,
the binding regions include a portion of coating from the individual foam particle, a portion of coating from at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, a portion of the coating from the individual foam particle intermingled with a portion of the coating from at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, or any combination thereof.