Patent Application
20230264083
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
There are many known types of pickleball paddles, including the paddles described in USPTO Document ID US 20210252356 A1. None afford unimpaired transparency through the hitting part. Transparency is the singular important feature of the invention covered by this application.
The present invention generally relates to improvements in a pickleball paddle used in playing the game known as pickleball.
The game of pickleball was developed in 1965 in the state of Washington. It is currently believed to be the fastest growing sport in the United States. Pickleball is a paddle sport that resembles a combination of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. The pickleball court is like a tennis court or a badminton court. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, like a whiffle ball, over a net. The pickleball paddle is shaped like, albeit larger than, a table tennis “bat” or paddle. Good players are always looking for a better pickleball paddle that improves a player’s performance and/or confidence. Pickleball paddle manufacturers provide the United States Amateur Pickleball Association (USAPA) with their paddles to test and approve them for use in tournaments. Generally, pickleball paddles are required to be rigid, flat, non-abrasive and within a specified height and width. There are no requirements for pickleball paddle manufacturers to use specific materials or manufacturing techniques. It must, however, comport with applicable paddle material specifications’ rules issued by the International Federation of Pickleball, The USAPA, or similar pickleball authority.
According to USAPA specifications, pickleball paddles must be produced with materials that are comparatively stiff and non-compressible, and no stringed racquet may be used while playing the game. The hitting part of the paddle must not have any hole, indentation, coarse texture, sticky tape, mirror, or object that lets a player convey supplementary or augmented rotation on the pickleball.
The ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle is unique because it is constructed with a hitting part made with transparent materials. The benefit from a pickleball paddle with a hitting part that is fully transparent became clear to me one day whilst I was playing pickleball, the game. I noticed that my opaque paddle was blocking or obscuring my vision from time to time during critical moments in play. This usually happened when the paddle was at head height in a position to return the pickleball using what is often referred to as the “blocking” technique. I realized that a transparent pickleball paddle would fix the problem. This is not an obvious invention because the visual impairment is brief — almost the blink of an eye — and is not readily appreciated by the player.
There is one sheet of drawings included with the instant application.
The ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle is different from all other pickleball paddles because the entire hitting part, which may be a single piece or be made with components such as a core, surface film, surface sheet, and surface faceplate, is made with a plastic or other material that is transparent, enabling the player to see through the entire hitting part of the paddle. The word transparent as used in this application means there are no obstructions visible to the naked eye viewing the paddle from either the front or back when the paddle is used in the ordinary course of playing pickle ball, other than embellishments that are (1) used to enhance paddle performance, like cell walls in a honeycomb structure, or (ii) used to provide information, like name brand signs, with the stipulation that any embellishment does not affect overall transparency to an extent that is material or significant to the player. The three essential parts of the paddle, as shown in the accompanying drawing, are a handle, an optional rim or frame, and the hitting part. The hitting part may consist of either a single piece or components such as a core, surface sheet, surface film, and surface faceplate. No other pickleball paddle has an entire hitting part that is transparent. There are various materials that can be used to produce the transparent hitting part. Candidate materials are polyethylene terephthalate glycol, clear polycarbonate, and clear acrylic. Transparent wood, glass fiber and carbon fiber are also candidates. To be transparent, the hitting part may be formed using one or a combination of different transparent materials alone or by using a micro layer-by-micro layer additive manufacturing process, or both. The use of a known material for an application is patentable; accordingly, a new use for a known material may be patented. That is the case here, where the transparent materials used are known and the new use is to employ them in to make a pickleball paddle that is transparent.
The ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle gives pickleball players the opportunity to add a new stroke to their arsenal by enabling them to swing the pickleball paddle in front of their faces without blocking their vision. The ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle also makes the game safer for players because they can use the paddle more accurately than opaque paddles to block high velocity shots aimed at their faces by opponents. Also, it gives players blocking a head shot an advantage -- a good player can adjust the paddle’s angle by a slight degree to change the pickleball’s return arc and make the pickleball more difficult for the opponent to hit. The ability to fine tune that adjustment is enhanced by the ability to see through a paddle that is transparent. Conversely, when a paddle’s hitting part is opaque, one must guess more and rely more on memory to determine the pickleball’s position, trajectory, and speed. Eliminating that guesswork is a tremendous advantage gained by using the ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle. Still another advantage is that the ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle allows the player to observe opponents’ movements and gestures that might otherwise be momentarily or partially obscured by an opaque pickleball paddle. Just a microsecond of additional visibility afforded by the ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle could make an important and significant difference in winning a point in the game.
The ClearShot Transparent Pickleball Paddle is different from all other pickleball paddles because the entire hitting part, which may be a single piece or consist of components such as a core, surface film, surface sheet, and surface faceplate, is made with a transparent material, thereby giving the player the ability to clearly see through the hitting part of the paddle.
Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application number 63/474,598 filed on Oct. 27, 2022.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63474598 | Oct 2022 | US |
