This invention relates to a ball drying implement for use by an official to dry such game balls as footballs or soccer balls and more particularly to a wearable pouch with an interior of water absorbing material.
A football player or fan will be familiar with an official's use of a towel to dry the game ball when a game is being played in rain or snow.
The use of a pouch for the purpose of drying footballs has been suggested known in the art. One such pouch is shown in a Stephenson U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,769. That pouch has an outer waterproof covering and an interior, removable moisture-absorbent liner. The pouch has at its top an opening closable by a flap and held closed by hook and loop fasteners. In use the pouch's sides are tied closed by laces. Insertion and retrieval of the football is through the upper opening so that it appears one hand would be needed to pull back the closure flap and the remaining hand of the wearer would be needed to insert or retrieve the football. The pouch is supported by a strap hung from the official's neck and shoulders.
In another U.S. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,287 to Martin, a pair of stretchable bag-like ball carriers are attached by a long cord to be draped over the wearer's shoulders. The ball carriers stretch about the exterior of a pair of footballs to hold extra footballs for a game, and they protect those footballs from the weather. There is no, mention of drying the football once it has been in use. Other patents such as those to Hendren U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,080 and Lamonakis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,414 relate to towels that can be worn for the purpose of drying a ball and include multiple layers. In the Hendren patent, an outer layer of toweling is separated from an inner chamois layer by a water impervious layer. The Hendren arrangement is not a pouch for holding a ball, but rather a multilayer towel. The Lamonakis et al. patent shows a bell-shaped “skirt” of water repellent material that is placed over a towel to keep dry the towel. Lamonakis et al. contemplate inverting the entire arrangement to expose the towel so that a ball can be wiped. The arrangement is not a pouch that can carry a ball or enclose a ball as it is being dried.
There remains a need, therefore, for a ball drying pouch for use, e.g., with footballs or soccer balls in wet conditions wherein the ball can be inserted easily and one handedly and similarly easily retrieved once the ball has been rubbed dry by an interior water-absorbent liner.
In accordance with the present invention a ball drying pouch has an exterior layer of substantially water impervious flexible sheet material and an inner lining layer of water absorbent material. The exterior and interior layers are formed, as by sewing or folding, into a pouch capable of containing a ball to be dried. The top and bottom of the pouch so fashioned is closed. One or both side edges of the pouch form openings into which the ball can be inserted. Because the bottom of the pouch is permanently closed, there is little likelihood that an official using the pouch will drop the ball, but only one hand is needed to insert the ball from the side into the pouch to be briefly rubbed, and then retracted, again by a single hand. A busy on-field official can thus readily accomplish drying the ball without diverting his or her attention from other activities on the field.
In a preferred exemplary embodiment the interior layer of the pouch is chamois. Also in the exemplary preferred embodiment the pouch has attachment provisions for securing the pouch to the official's person or clothing. Typically in the preferred embodiment the pouch is secured to the wearer's belt at two locations along the top of the pouch. One preferred attachment arrangement includes strap loops that receive a wearer's belt to hold the pouch in place. The strap loops can have fasteners that open and close to open and close the loops about the wearer's belt. The strap loops are in one exemplary embodiment sewn to the pouch body. Similarly in one exemplary embodiment the interior water absorbent layer is sewn to the exterior water repellent or impervious layer.
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While a particular exemplary and preferred embodiment has been shown, it will be appreciated that many changes, modifications or revisions in the described ball drying pouch may be made as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.