Per the United States Patent office, Fillmore Moore of Farmington Connecticut technically built the first inflatable shoe. The technology is described as a “rubber bag made air tight and provided at one end with a stem which encircles a steel tube which is turned at right angles and on the other end thereof is arranged an inflation valve which may be the same or substantially the same as that used for inflating footballs.” The patent goes on to say that “when the screw plug is turned so as to be lifted above the packing, air can be blow into and out of the bag.” It ends with “I claim a shoe having an elastic air tight bag between the insole and the outsole, a stem on the bag, an inflating tube and valve accessible for the purpose of inflation, the inflating valve and stem being located in a channel made in the upper side of the outsole at or near the instep of the shoe, substantially as set forth.” You can also check out a Reebok Patent for the Pump which Cites the Pneumatic sole first. With that said, we should thank our lucky feet that Reebok evolved Moore’s technology into the pump we know and love today.
