1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for making a bat for playing softball or baseball. To increase performance and cause a ball to travel further after impact, the bat is provided with a reactive hitting surface which includes either a metallic sleeve or a metallic coating that surrounds an area of reduced wall thickness of the barrel.
2. Background Art
Metal bats have long been used to play baseball and softball. Conventional metal bats are typically manufactured from a hollow shell that runs continuously between the handle at which the bat is gripped to the barrel to which a ball is hit. Because of this continuous bat construction, there is no way to localize the hitting area of the bat so as to isolate the hitting area from other regions (i.e., the handle) of the bat. What is more, there is no particular region at which the barrel of the conventional metallic bat may easily flex in response to its impact with a ball, such that the entire bat remains relatively stiff during the batter's swing and subsequent contact with the ball.
As a consequence of the foregoing, conventional metal bats are typically inefficient and require the batter to exert a relatively large swinging force to drive the ball. In addition, such conventional metal bats do not readily dissipate the impact forces that are created during contact with the ball and, therefore, are undesirably susceptible to denting.
What is more, in order to generate maximum power using a conventional metal bat, the ball must strike the heart of the sweet spot which is typically located at the center of the barrel. In cases where the ball strikes the barrel at a location other than the sweet spot, the bat will be less reactive, whereby energy will be lost such that the distance traveled by the ball following impact will be reduced. Consequently, such conventional metallic bats having a limited hitting area of the barrel are generally ineffective when the ball is struck off center.
What would be desirable is a high-performance bat for playing baseball or softball having a highly-reactive hitting surface which extends over at least some of the barrel so as to drive a ball farther even when the ball strikes the barrel off center.
A method for making a high performance metal bat is disclosed of the kind to be used for playing the game of baseball or softball. The bat includes a continuous hollow metallic shell having a relatively wide barrel at one end thereof for striking a ball, a relatively narrow handle at the opposite end at which to grip the bat, and a tapered intermediate portion between the barrel and the handle. To enhance the performance of the bat so as to drive a ball farther without the user having to modify his swing, the barrel of the bat is surrounded by a reactive hitting surface or launch pad. The hollow metallic shell is initially thinned such that each of the barrel, handle and intermediate taper has a reduced thickness relative to a conventional metallic bat shell. According to a first preferred embodiment, the reactive hitting surface is an external cylindrical metallic sleeve that is mechanically affixed (e.g., by swaging, gluing or brazing) in surrounding face-to-face engagement with the thinned barrel. According to a second preferred embodiment, the reactive hitting surface is an external metallic (e.g., nickel-iron) nanostructured coating that is chemically bonded (e.g., electroplated) over and around the thinned barrel. The reactive hitting surface and the barrel function as a single surface and flex in unison in response to a ball striking the bat. To evenly distribute the weight of the bat along the length thereof, a (e.g., steel) plug is located inside the handle. The plug has a weight to compensate for the weight that is removed from the metallic shell during thinning.
The reactive hitting surfaces herein disclosed may surround the metallic shell of the bat at a localized area of the barrel or extend the entire length of the barrel. A set of spaced, parallel-aligned strength-reinforcing ribs surround the metallic shell adjacent the reactive hitting surface to reduce the possibility of damage when a ball strikes the bat away from the barrel.
Referring initially to
However, the shell 3 of the bat 1 shown in
To increase performance, at least the barrel 10 of the bat 1 is surrounded by a reactive hitting surface 14 or launch pad that is adapted to cause a ball which strikes the bat 1 at the hitting surface 14 to travel a greater distance after impact than the distance that would otherwise have been traveled had the ball struck the barrel of a conventional metal bat. The reactive hitting surface 14 which surrounds the barrel 10 of the shell 3 is preferably an external cylindrical sleeve that is manufactured from metal (e.g., aluminum). The thickness of the hitting surface sleeve 14 surrounding the barrel 10 can be varied depending upon the application of the bat and the requirements of the user. However, the reactive hitting surface sleeve 14 must be sufficiently thick to provide reinforcement and thereby prevent the barrel 10 from denting when a ball strikes the bat. By way of example only, the hitting surface sleeve 14 can, in most situations, have a thickness of approximately 0.040 inches.
As an important detail in the method for manufacturing the bat 1, the hitting surface sleeve 14 is directly affixed in surrounding engagement with at least the barrel 10 of the shell 3. By way of one example, the hitting surface sleeve 14 can be press fit (i.e., swaged) to lie in face-to-face contact against the barrel 10. By way of another example, the hitting surface sleeve 14 can be affixed to the barrel 10 by means of an adhesive or by a heating (i.e., brazing) technique. Regardless of the method of affixation, the external reactive hitting surface sleeve 14 and the internal barrel 10 will function as a single integral surface (rather than as a pair of independent walls that are known to separate from one another during use) and flex in unison in response to a ball striking the bat 1. In the present case, and unlike a conventional double-walled bat shell, the shell 3 of bat 1 would be destroyed if the sleeve 14 were separated from the barrel 10.
In other words, the weight removed from the metallic shells 3 and 3′ of the bats 1 and 1′ after being thinned is greater than the weight that is added to the shell following the reactive hitting surface sleeve 14 or 14′ being applied in surrounding engagement with at least the barrel 10 or 10′. To compensate for this net weight loss at the barrel, an equivalent weight is added to the opposite end of the bat at the hollow handle 7. Turning in this regard to
It is to be understood that the reactive hitting surface sleeves 14 and 14′ illustrated in
There is also shown in
In order to improve the performance and balance of the bat, a reactive hitting surface is applied over at least the barrel of the thinned shell. In this case, the reactive hitting surface is an external metallic coating that is formed from a nanostructured nickel-iron material. By way of example, the coating which forms the hitting surface has an ideal thickness of approximately 0.003 inches and is chemically bonded to the shell so as to cover at least the barrel by means of a conventional electroplating process. One example of a nickel-iron coating to be bonded to the shell to form the reactive hitting surface is available by referring to Published United States Patent Application No. US2008/0234076. The reactive hitting surface coating may be applied to the barrel as a single relatively thick layer or as successive thinner layers applied one over the other.
Appearing below is a table to illustrate one example of the typical thickness in inches of the metallic shell of a conventional commercially-available bat of the kind used by an adult where the shell has not been subjected to thinning, the thickness in inches of the shell after being thinned according to the present embodiment, the ideal thickness in inches of the coating applied to the thinned barrel of the shell, and the final thickness in inches of the shell after the barrel has been coated in the manner described above to establish the reactive hitting surface thereover.
The coating applied to the barrel of the thinned shell may vary in thickness and/or in shape. As shown in
The metal bat having a reactive hitting surface coating as just described may also include a set of spaced, parallel-aligned strength-reinforcing ribs or struts (designated 30 in
The reactive hitting surfaces have been disclosed as being applied directly to a metallic bat shell. However, it is within the scope of this invention to apply the hitting surfaces to at least the barrel of a non-metallic bat having a non-metallic (e.g., composite) shell.