Michael Jackson anti-gravity lean shoes (US Patent 5,2554,52)
October 2, 2009
By Miguel Taveras, Noro IP Patent Division Director
Have you ever wondered how Michael Jackson ever did his anti-gravity lean? Well it turns out The King of Pop was more than just a talented singer, dancer and artist, he also invented and patented one of the most unique shoes ever. His shoe allowed the wearer to lean forward beyond their center of gravity by hitching a rod projecting through a stage surface.
Images from his patent can be seen below:
As shown in the images the shoes had a special slot cutout of the bottom of the shoes so that Michael could seem to defy gravity, while really just hanging on by a peg protruding from the stage floor that inserts into the cutout slit in the bottom of the performer's shoes.
The question arises though, why would Michael Jackson get a patent for his special shoes? Well as is the case in most patents Michael would have wanted one of two things. The first would be exclusive rights to sell his shoes to the public. But seeing as I have yet to see any MJ shoes on the market that don’t belong to His Airness (Michael Jordan), that is probably not the case. Instead Michael Jackson probably wanted to make sure that no other performer could steal his anti-gravity lean and use it in their performances.
For those looking to find his shoes in action, check out the video below.
Comments
toad
10/03/2009 09:31:07 AM
The hole in the bottom of the shoes doesn't look secure enough to hold a person leaning that far to me.
Robertbaxley
10/03/2009 09:41:06 AM
looks like the peg would lock in place to me.
tt
10/03/2009 09:45:36 AM
Maybe the reason you can't see the peg in the video is because he altered the way his shoes worked sometime after he got the patent. It could be magnetic locking or something else.
Gena777
10/24/2009 05:52:44 PM
Even in the unlikely event that there had been patent infringement, there's no way another performer could have filled MJ's shoes.
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patentinspector
10/03/2009 08:19:44 AM
I looked at the video and I slowed it down as much as possible but I couldn't see the "pegs" in the ground that attached to their shoes.