Patent Application
20240181312
This invention relates to structures knows as racquets, paddles or bats (hereinafter “paddles”) for the use in ball games. It specifically relates for use in table tennis or ping pong (hereafter “table tennis”).
I will first define some table tennis terms to make explanation of the invention and history easier. These terms will apply throughout this documents.
A conventional paddle is made of an oval piece of plywood called the ‘blade’ with a ‘tail’ extension of about 25 mm wide by about 90 mm long from one end on to which wood is fixed to form an oval cylinder structure called the ‘handle’.
The ‘front’ of the paddle blade is the side that the thumb resides on, this is true of all of the grips described here.
The ‘tip’ of the blade is the end furthest from the handle.
The ‘tail’ of the blade is the end where the handle is attached.
The ‘left’ side of the blade is the side on the left when looking at front of the paddle holding the handle.
The ‘longitudinal’ axis of the blade is a line from tip to tail half way between the left and right.
The ‘lateral’ axis of the blade is the line from left to right half way between the tip and the tail of the blade.
A traditional table tennis paddle is designed to be held in a ‘shakehand’ style grip and players who use this grip are termed ‘shakehanders’. A shakehander places the fingers and thumb around he paddle usually with the forefinger stretched out on the back of the blade.
Since the early days of the game some players have preferred to use the ‘penhold’ grip in which the thumb and forefinger grip the base of the handle, presenting at the front and the other three fingers are placed on the back of the paddle.
Both styles have advantages and disadvantages. A shakeholder must decide to change between forehand and backhand whereas a ‘traditional penholder’ uses the front of the bat only.
A ‘modern penholder’ can also use the back of the paddle on the backhand to play a ‘reverse penhold backhand’ (RPB) shot and a few modern penholders can also use the back of the paddle on a forehand shot a style known as ‘reverse penhold forehand’ (RPF).
Many players would agree that main advantage of the shakehand grip is the ability to play powerful back hand top-spin shots, particularly when reaching. Traditional penhold players (penholders) find it difficult to get top-spin on the ball on the bankhand because their wrist is already fully twisted clockwise. Modern penholders fair better because they can use RPB but even this shot is difficult or impossible when reaching. This is because the handle of the bat prevents the blade from following the line of the forearm and therefore the forearm must be bent in order to play an RPB short using a standard paddle.
The main advantage of a penhold grip is that it is easier to get a lot of spin on the ball because the human wrist moves up and down more than it can move side to side. Many believe this gives the grip and advantage close the table and when serving or reaching.
Beginners can usually perform a shakehand grip without coaching whereas they typically find a penhold grip harder to master because it is not obvious where to place your fingers on the back of the paddle. There are several variations on how to do this but they generally require moving your fingers in an awkward fashion to achieve certain shots.
A better understanding of the invention can be gained by reference to the drawings and diagrams accompanying this document. The drawing represent example implementations of the invention and insubstantial modifications to the basic structure and dimensions shown can be made within the scope of the invention.
A “Pincer Paddle” gets its name from the way the thumb and forefinger form a pincer arrangement in the usual Pincer grip.
The Pincer Paddle has the best features of both shakehold and penhold grips with some additional benefits as I will describe next.
Because the handle is at an angle to the blade, the blade can follow the line of the forearm and therefore an RPB or RPF type shot can be played even when reaching. It allows a player to make push shots with both sides of the paddle.
A push with the back of the paddle is extremely restricted when using a penhold grip and a push with the front of the paddle is restricted to the forehand with a shakehold grip.
Since different rubbers can be added to the front and back side of the blade a player used a Pincer Paddle can choose the surface with which to hit the ball most of the time. For instance, it is possible to use a fast, high spin rubber on the front of the paddle to achieve power shots with maximum spin and to use a long pimpled rubber on the back of the paddle to counter or reverse the opponents spin.
The Pincer Paddle grip allows the player to use their wrist in an up and down direction to impart more spin on the ball without the paddle turning in the hand.
The Pincer Paddle has two types of grip available that a player can easily switch between during play: the standard ‘pincer grip’ is used for most shots but a ‘pushing grip’ can also be used to make push shots with the front of the paddle particularly when reaching.
Because of the Pincer Paddle's intuitive ergonomic design it is easy to pick and use straight away for both beginners and for experienced players who use other paddle designs.
Although there are many possible variants on the basic theme I will describe two versions of the paddle here, a Basic Pincer Paddle with the minimum features and an Advanced Pincer Paddle with all the features.
The Basic Pincer Paddle has a narrow rectangular handle attached at 60° to the bottom of the blade tail sloping along the longitudinal axis and at right angles to the blade laterally. It also has a forefinger grip on the top of the blade tail continuing the handle upwards in the same 60 degree line. The stripped down version has the advantage of being lighter and symmetrical so that both left and right handed players can use the same paddle.
The addition of a rectangular handle allows the player to use their middle, ring and little ringers to firmly grip the paddle in a shakehold type way. The handle is rectangular to prevent rotation of the handle in the hand. The forefinger grip allows the player to grip the paddle by curing forefinger around it at the same time as gripping the blade between the forefinger and middle finger. The Thumb can rest on the top of the forefinger grip or around the side depending on the shot to be played.
The Advanced Pincer Paddle has additions to the Basic Pincer Paddle. The blade is extended at one side of the forefinger grip so that the forefinger and middle finger can feel and guide the blade into the correct position. Without this extension of the blade aiming might be more difficult since the blade has more freedom to move out of the line of the forearm. The additional features also prevent paddle displacement by rotation when strong spin is applied. Lastly a thumb grip allows the player to grip the paddle firmly when playing power or high spin shots without having to grip so hard or worry about displacement of the grip.
The main disadvantage of this design is that both left and right handed version of the paddle would be necessary since the extensions must be added to the left or right side of the blade depending on whether the right or left hand grips the handle.
When used for table tennis the blade is made of minimum 85% wood mixed with up to 15% of some other material by thickness. Prototypes of the paddle blade were made with 6 mm birch plywood. The handle and forefinger and thump grips would generally be made of wood or plastic and screwed or glued in position with epoxy resin. For table tennis the playing area of the blade will be covered in ITTF approved rubber coating glued with rubber solution contact adhesive.
