1987 was a big year for Nike by all accounts. We were reminded of that just a bit during this 25th anniversary with bringbacks like the Nike Air Safari, but one no doubt more momentous model from that pivotal year has been relatively quiet. That model is the Nike Air Max 1, the Tinker Hatfield designed masterpiece that first introduced the world to the concept of Visible Air which has stayed stuck on the bottom of countless sneakers ever since. And yeah you’ve heard the stories of Tinker’s travels out to France and the skeletal structure of the Pompidou Centre that inspired its bare-all design, but have you seen the building blocks that got the Air Max technology on shelves?
We have. Pictured here is the original patent request for the innovation, described at wordy length without title we know it by today (Although we appreciate the switchup-Nike Viscoelastic Unit Comprised Of A Resilient Gas Inflated Insert Within A Shock Absorbing Foam Material just doesn’t doesn’t have the right ring to it). Interestingly enough it’s not Tinker’s name on the patent papers but first and foremost that of another powerful Nike name: Mark Parker. Click through with us to check out the original sketches that built a legacy of so many sneakers afterwards, complete with the original rationale for the Nike Air Bag that serves as a reminder that once upon a time your Nike Air Max 1′s and the like truly were state of the art and intended for the purposes of running.
