4,174,717, the patent women's sports should be most grateful for

On January 19, 1982, the USPTO published an invention patent named "Atheltic Brassiere", patent application number 06/094,318, which is a continuation of a patent application filed on November 13, 1979. The inventors are three women, Hinda Miller, Polly Smith, and Lisa Lindahl. It is this invention patent that eliminates the obstacles caused by chest discomfort during sports for all women who love sports. It has become a necessity for female athletes and a staple of modern fashion.

(Hinda Miller, Polly Smith, and Lisa Lindahl)

Lindahl is now 71 years old. She is now an entrepreneur, writer, artist, and a women's health advocate. When she was 24 years old, she ran 30 miles a week. She knew the troubles that breast discomfort caused to women's running. She wondered, why is there no running clothing suitable for women? Coincidentally, her childhood friend Polly is a service designer, and Hinda is a sports coach. They found that they could improve the discomfort caused by breasts to running by moving the weight closer to the center of gravity to support the breasts.

(The left picture is the design sketch drawn by Polly; the right picture is the specification drawing of patent application No. 06/094,318)

They then co-founded the first women's sporting goods company, Jogbra Inc., filed a patent application with the USPTO on November 20, 1979, and obtained trademark No. 1205,532 in 1982.

In the following years, Lindahl devoted a lot of time to popularizing women's sports bras and worked hard to differentiate his products from ordinary women's products. The sales of sports bras reached 500,000 US dollars in the first year.

They went on to apply for several other related patents: U.S. Design 259,370 and Utility Patent 4,311,150 and Sports Shirt No. 260,445. They created more jobs for many women. Jogbra Inc. was renamed JBI Inc. in the early 1980s and acquired by Playtex Apparel Inc. in 1990, and the company grew to about 200 people. Hinda did not stop innovating. In 2000, she was granted patent 6083080 for The protective brassiere with local energy absorption. In 2011, patent 7,922,682 for The method of providing compressive forces to a human torso was granted.

"What I'm most proud of is that we are the generation that started sports and fitness for women," Hinda said. "Our vision is that every woman and girl has the right to enjoy the benefits of exercise, no matter your shape, size or age." Hinda Miller, Polly Smith, and Lisa Lindahl were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022 for their outstanding contributions to women's sports.