SlashGear

We’ve kept quiet about Michael Jackson here at SlashGear, but all that has to change: we’ve been reminded about the King of Pop’s one and only patent.  Jackson is a named inventor on patent 5,255,452: “Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion.”  The document describes a set of special dance shoes and stage apparatus, which allowed Jackson and his dancers to perform the distinctive Smooth Criminal anti-gravity lean in live performances.

In the video for the song, Jackson and the dancers were strapped into waist harnesses and lowered forward, something not feasible during a live dance routine.  Instead, the patented system uses a notched bracket that rises from the floor of the stage, and into which specially designed shoes can latch.  The patent refers to similar arrangements on astronauts’ shoes, for use in zero-gravity.

Oddly enough, I thought this story was apocryphal when I first heard it many years ago, so it’s a pleasant surprise that Jackson leaves behind not just a huge back-catalog but a nifty invention.  I imagine we’ll see plenty of “tribute” anti-gravity leans in live stage performances over the next few months.

[via Popbitch]