Nike Air Technology – The History and Secrets of Technology Storage
Nike has been hiding one of its most terrible secrets right in front of our eyes for almost four decades. To keep secrets Nike has huge buildings behind brick facades in Beaverton, Oregon, where the patented AIR Nike technology was developed and is being improved. Another Nike plant, which is also one of the main innovation centers, according to some sources, is located in St. Louis, Missouri, and both of these giants are responsible for producing more than 3.5 billion Nike Air units each year. How does this mysterious process happen, many readers ask? First, let’s go back a bit and recall the story of the invention of the AIR block.
Nike Air Technology – The History and Secrets of Technology Storage
Many of you have repeatedly seen and even bought yourself sneakers marked “Air,” without even going into details what this inscription actually means. Let’s change this and get acquainted with one of the most popular depreciation systems among athletes. Nike Air Technology is a rugged and flexible shell filled with compressed air. The AIR unit was originally developed by a NASA engineer named Frank Rudy in the late 60s to make ski boots more comfortable. Only in 1978 was the Air Airbag technology first used at the Nike TAILWIND and since then it has been changing and improving to this day. Rudy’s innovations have focused on aeronautical techniques called rubber blow molding.
The technology was once used to create helmets for astronauts on missions on Apollo, later allowing Rudy to design an intermediate sole into which he placed polyurethane cushions filled with dense gases. Factories are responsible for the production and delivery of several types of elements that are used in Air Max, Zoom sneakers, and the new Nike VaporMax model, which uses a new resonant air chamber. The Tuned AIR unit is the most sophisticated AIR Nike technology that has ever been introduced; it consists of 39,000 different parts.
Tuned Air combines the use of air and mechanical shock absorption. Hemispherical inserts made of lightweight polymeric material allow you to adjust the stiffness of the required cushioning (depending on the sport) and provide additional stability and support. Provides maximum level of balanced depreciation. 140 innovative engineering professionals and eight PhDs are committed to creating the perfect product to help the company maintain leadership in the shoe industry. The larger the NIKE AIR airbag size used in shoes, the more foam is replaced. This leads to a decrease in the weight of the shoe, while maintaining stability, support and improving the cushioning properties.
Each sole undergoes a rigorous inspection and a series of tests, one of which is the Kim machine, named after the daughter of inventor Frank Rudy. The machine ensures that the shoe that successfully passes the test can withstand a total of 640 km of running or other physical activity. If a certain pair does not pass the test on the Kim machine, it is sent for recycling and will be approved for sale only if the result is positive during the next test.
Thousands of specialists work at Nike’s closed factories, and this number is likely to grow. As of today, each research laboratory covers an area of 40,000 m². In the future, they plan to expand them to 60,000 m² by 2018. Who would have thought that AIR Nike technology was and remains so complex and intricate to develop.
