Nike LDV with "waffle" sole
date: label: date made
content: ca 1979
name: label: maker
content: Nike, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: The modern running shoe took shape in the 1960s and 1970s, when running enthusiasts at shoe companies started experimenting with improved designs. In 1972, Bill Bowerman applied for a patent on “an athletic shoe suitable for use on artificial turf . . . the sole has short multi-sided polygon shaped studs. . . which provide gripping edges that give greatly improved traction.” The sole’s design was inspired by his wife’s waffle iron which Bill subsequently ruined while using it to form his experimental rubber soles. Bowerman received his shoe patent number 3,793,750 on February 26, 1974 and Nike began producing the “waffle” trainers the same year.
label: Description
content: This example is a Nike LDV (Long Distance Vector ) shoe in blue suede and nylon mesh fabric upper with the orange Nike "Swoosh" on left and right sides of the shoe. The shoe is covered by two of Bowerman's US patents: 3,793,750 (1974) and 4,098,011 (1978). The patent numbers appear on the bottom of the sole. In the later patent the original "waffle" shoe was modified to address some weaknesses in the earlier design including undue wear of the sole and lateral instability.
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.3088.01
label: catalog number
content: 2014.3088.01
label: nonaccession number
content: 2014.3088
label: patent number
content: 4098011
label: patent number
content: 3793750
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shoes, pair of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: suede (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: nylon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/4 in x 9 1/2 in x 13 5/8 in; 13.335 cm x 24.13 cm x 34.6075 cm