Michael Jackson Had a Patent

June 26, 2009

The news of Michael Jackson's death yesterday threw me off. At first I thought it was a rumor. But alas, no. I grew up with his music and have many favorite songs. Indeed, I consider him the King of Pop. His death was a big surprise, but then this morning, another surprise: Jackson had a patent.

The title: Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion.

It's a system that consists of a special shoe that has a hitch designed to attach to a projection in a stage. When the shoe engages with the component in the stage, the performer can lean forward beyond his or her center of gravity.

Why did he invent it? According to the patent, he had dance steps in his video performances where he and members of his dance crew would appear to lean forward beyond the center of gravity. This illusion was achieved by using cables attached to each dancer's waist. But the set up required stage hands to help out and was too clumsy for use during live performances.

The solution: The shoes. The video shows the anti-gravity shoes in action, live:

What an amazing performer. A genius musician and this idea shows that his intelligence and creativity went beyond music.