Patent Application
20220331674
The present invention is generally related to the field of baseball and softball and more specifically to a baseball or softball bat.
High performance non-wood baseball and softball bats, hereinafter referred to simply as “baseball bats” or “bats”, are primarily made from metal alloys, composite materials, or some combination thereof. These bats are tubular (hollow inside) so as to optimize their weight and they consist of three sections: a relatively narrow handle portion for gripping, a relatively wider distal portion for hitting, and a tapered mid-section connecting the handle and hitting portions. Originally metal alloy bats were fabricated as a single piece in that they solely consisted of a frame with nothing occupying the space within the frame. It was found that these bats outperformed traditional wooden bats because of a “rebound” effect present in metal alloy and composite bats. As the ball impacted the bat, the bat wall would absorb the energy from the impact by elastically deforming the wall at the point of impact. As the ball began to leave the bat the energy absorbed by the elastic deformation would be released by the wall returning to its original structure, in effect giving the ball an extra “push”, thus the rebound effect.
When a ball forcibly impacts a bat, the bat will vibrate. A downside of the metal alloy and composite bats is the efficiency with which the vibration is transferred from the barrel of the bat to the handle gripped by the batter. Since the handle has a smaller diameter as compared to the barrel, the vibration may be amplified in the handle, causing a stinging sensation for the batter. Energy absorbed as vibrations also adversely affects bat performance. Vibration energy directly subtracts from flexing energy in that the more energy absorbed by vibration the less energy is available to be absorbed for flexing. Vibrations also adversely impact the rebound effect of multi-wall composite and aluminum bats by actively working against the wall flexing. Various patents have discussed this features and proposed solutions to dampen the vibration, as for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,628 to Brandt, incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention describes a handle assembly that isolates the vibration transferred from the barrel to the handle portion of the bat from a grip held by the batter.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention are depicted and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention.
Referring to the cross sectional view of
The small diameter handle inner shaft 18 is generally less than 0.65 inches in diameter and is preferably in the range of 0.40 inches to 0.65 inches in diameter. The outer diameter 26 of the grip sleeve 22 may range from about 0.7 inches up to about 1.2 inches depending on whether the bat is for youth sports, junior or adult sports. Bats for men may have a slightly larger diameter than bats made for woman. These factors inform the dimensions of the space or gap between the inner surface 24 of the grip sleeve 22 and the inner shaft 18. Preferably, the width of the space or gap is in the range of at least 0.05 and up to about 0.3 inches. The grip sleeve 22 may be spaced from the handle inner shaft 18 by a pair of rings 28 inside the proximal and distal ends of the grip sleeve 22. The rings 28 are preferably formed from a soft plastic or nylon material or a semi rigid elastomeric material that does not transmit vibration energy from the handle inner shaft 18 to the grip sleeve 22. The ring 28 at the proximal end of the bat 10 preferably isolates the grip sleeve 22 from the knob 20. The rings 28 and grip sleeve 22 isolate the players hands from the vibration energy transferred from the barrel portion 14 to the inner shaft 18.
In a second embodiment depicted in the cross-sectional view of
The embodiments disclosed herein are understood to be illustrative and not limiting in any sense. It is intended that the scope of the present invention is not limited by the above described embodiments but by the claims and it covers all modifications equivalent to the claims.
