142024

Nike Files Patent for Auto-Lacing System – Possible Nike Air Mag Release

Nike Files Patent for Auto-Lacing System – Possible Nike Air Mag Release

Nike Patent Mcfly Self Zip 04

Here’s a piece of Sneaker News that’s as shocking as 1.21 gigawatts!  We showed you an auto-lacing Nike ACG Baltoro back in July, and while the sneaker/boot did just what its name would suggest, the bulky servo motor attached to the heel was not so aesthetically pleasing.  Creator Brett Brefin was inspired by Marty McFly’s Nike Mag from Back to the Future II, and he built the lacing motor because Nike had to that point only done McFly 2015 colorways, never the actual shoes.  But that might change if this patent application from Tinker Hatfield and company gets approved.  With drawings that detail a rechargeable lacing system where the kicks are juiced up in a special dock, we’re left to wonder about the possibility of something that just yesterday seemed unthinkable.  And whether the Nike Mags hit in 2015 or anytime between now and then, stick with Sneaker News for updates. via Dime.

Nike Patent Mcfly Self Zip 05

Nike Patent Mcfly Self Zip 01

Nike Patent Mcfly Self Zip 03

Nike Patent Mcfly Self Zip 02

Also check out one of the Air Mag prototypes from Back To The Future on the next page…

Here’s what the seller and original Electronics Technician has to say about these:

Back in 1989 I worked in the Nike Sport Research Lab as the Electronics Technician. The original BTF2 shoes for the movie were built by hand in the Nike Sample Room, and I was the one who designed and installed the electronics for them.The lights in the side of the midsole and the Nike logo on the ankle strap are electro-luminescent panels, and there is an array of six randomly flashing LEDs on the side of the heel that were never visible in the movie

They were originally called “Slamball Shoes,” and that’s what most people called them around Nike. There was supposed to have been a scene in the movie in which Marty plays Slamball, a game like 3D racquetball where the participants wear magnetic shoes which allow them to climb up the walls. That scene was never shot because the cost of building a huge room on gimbals to create the effect was too great.

The REAL name of the shoes in Marty McFly’s world of 2015 was the “Nike Mag” because of their magnetic properties, and that’s what is molded in the back of the heel.
The shoe is in “good” condition for what it is, but since the polyurethane midsole and fabric body of the shoe were simply spray-painted in the suggested color, some of the paint has flaked off over time. The LEDs, the E-L panel on the ankle strap, and one of the two E-L panels on the midsole still work. The other midsole panel comes on if you flex the shoe slightly. I originally thought I could get away with a rigid connection between those two panels, but it turned out that the flexing of the shoe during wear broke the connection. It might be fixable with some delicate surgery, but I never had the guts to try it.

The included power/electronics pack is hard-wired to the shoe, and requires two 9 volt batteries to operate.

I believe the shoe was built as a men’s size 9, although I couldn’t swear to it. It is whatever size Fox was at the time.

The shoe comes with a color photocopy of the original design drawing by Nike’s Tinker Hatfield (the designer of all of the Air Jordans, among many other things).

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototye

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototye

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototye

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

Nike Mag - Marty McFly’s - Back to the Future II Prototype

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