Patent Application
20050277497
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances for striking baseball or the likes, more particularly, to an improved bat for baseball or the likes, which has an enlarged sweet striking area and a superior shock-absorbing capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
When playing a game needed appliances to strike or hit balls, such as baseball, wooden bats are most popularly used because they are the cheapest ones. However, wooden bats have numerous drawbacks, such as small sweet striking area, heavy weight and bad equilibrium. Furthermore, a wooden bat is weak and easy to break, and produces severe shocks when hitting the ball.
In comparison to wooden bats, an aluminum bat is relatively lighter in weight, and has an ideal equilibrium. Therefore, the performance of an aluminum bat is superior to conventional wooden bats, and an aluminum bat is more durable than conventional wooden bats. Further, the price of aluminum bats is reasonable. However, an aluminum bat produces shocks, noises and dents at barrel when hitting the ball. Specially, the sweet striking area of the aluminum bat as that of the wooden bat is small.
The recently developed bats made of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) material have the ideal counterweight and equilibrium and high performance in hitting. In addition, a FRP bat has a strong structural strength, and does not break easily. However, The problems are that the FRP bat is too expensive to get a popular use, also has a small sweet striking area, and cannot absorb effectively the shock produced when hitting the ball.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved bat having an enlarged sweet striking area, a superior shock-absorbing capability, a lightweight, a good equilibrium, and a high structural strength.
Thus, the bat according to the aspect of the present invention comprises a handle portion, a tubular core, a middle device and a striking portion. The handle portion is made of plastics or wooden materials and has a front end, a rear end and a body between them. The body of the handle portion has an outer diameter increasing gradually from the front end to the rear end. The tubular core is made of fiber reinforced plastic materials or metal and is embedded in the body of the handle portion. The striking portion is made of fiber reinforced plastic materials or metal and has a front end, a rear end and a body between them. The middle device has a predetermined weight and elasticity and is arranged between the front end of the handle portion and the rear end of the striking portion such that the handle portion and the striking portion can be connected to be a whole bat.
This and other objects of the present invention will become more clear upon a through study of the following description of the best mode for carrying out the present invention, particularly when reviewed in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
With reference first to
The handle portion 12 may be made of plastic materials, such as polyurethane (PU), or wooden materials. The handle portion 12 has a front end 121, a rear end 122 and a body 123 between them. The outer diameter of the body 123 is increased gradually from the front end 121 to the rear end 122.
The tubular core 14 is made of rigid and lightweight materials, such as composite materials, metals and plastics. In this embodiment, it is a carbon-fiber reinforced epoxy resin. The core 14 is longitudinally embedded in the axis of the handle portion 12. Generally, the length of the core 14 is longer than that of the handle portion 12 such that the core 14 has an exposed section 142 protruding the rear end 122 of the handle portion 12. A front and rear plugs 20, 22 are inserted respectively inside the two ends of the core 14.
The middle device 16 may be made of wooden, plastic or rubber materials. In this embodiment, it is a wooden ring and is penetrated through by the exposed section 142 of the core 14.
The striking portion 18 may be made of metals, such as aluminum, titanium, or composite materials, such as fiber reinforced plastics. Generally, the striking portion 18 is a barrel with a front end 182 and a rear end 184. The middle device 16 with the exposed section 142 penetrating therethrough is inserted inside the front end 182 of the striking portion 18. A first annular shoulder 162 is formed on the surface of the middle device 16. A second annular shoulder 186 being complementary to the first annular shoulder 162 is formed on the inside surface of the striking portion 18 to attach to the first annular shoulder 162 such that the handle portion 12 can connect tightly with the striking portion 18 to form the whole bat 10.
In this embodiment, the bat 10 further includes two shock-absorbing members 26,28, which are cylindrical members respectively made of shock-absorbing materials such as foamed plastic, cloth or cork, are tightly inserted into the inside of the tubular core 14 at selected locations. The shock-absorbing members 26,28 can be made having a certain weight to work as weight devices for adjusting the center of gravity of the bat 10.
As mentioned above, the bat according to the present invention is combined by two portions. Each portion can be made of different materials according to the needs thereof. Thus, a baseball bat, which has a shock-absorbable, resilient and lightweight handle portion and a rigid striking portion, can be provided. For embedding therein a reinforced core, the handle portion of the bat has a high structural strength.
In addition, for having the middle device positioned between the handle portion and striking portion, the bat has a relatively lower specific gravity than conventional bats such that the sweet striking area thereof is enlarged. Furthermore, the middle device can absorb shocks arisen from the striking portion hitting a pitched ball.
According to the aspect of the present invention, there are other embodiments described as follows:
Lastly referring to
