Information
-
Patent Grant
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6540626
-
Patent Number
6,540,626
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Date Filed
Wednesday, April 3, 200223 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, April 1, 200322 years ago
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Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
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US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 473 543
- 473 539
- 473 540
- 473 522
- 473 524
- 473 520
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International Classifications
-
Abstract
Racket structure with ball-striking racket face, including a racket frame having an inner and an outer frame faces respectively formed on two radially opposite sides of the racket frame. The racket frame is formed with multiple through holes forming openings on the inner and outer frame faces. Multiple hollow stringing pins are respectively coaxially fitted in the corresponding through holes. At least one strip made of resilient material with a predetermined thickness is fixedly attached to the inner frame face. The strip is formed with several perforations having a predetermined diameter and communicating with the holes of the corresponding stringing pins. The diameter of the perforation can be changed within a certain range when suffering an external force. A string having a hardness greater than that of the strip is sequentially conducted through the stringing pins and the perforations of the strip to form a checkered mesh in the racket frame. The diameter of the string is larger than the diameter of the perforation. When conducted through the perforation, the edge of the perforation is pressed by the harder string so that the diameter of the perforation is enlarged and the edge thereof tightly embraces the string.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a sport implement, and more particularly to an improved racket structure with ball-striking racket face.
There is an existent racket frame structure which is free from any stringing pins. Such racket frame structure includes a racket frame body. The inner circumference of the frame body is formed with an accommodating channel in which a trapezoid resilient member is integrally fixedly accommodated. The frame body is formed with multiple stringing holes passing through the frame body from the inner circumference to outer circumference thereof. A string is sequentially conducted through the stringing holes to form a tensioned mesh-like racket face in the frame body.
The above racket structure has no conventional stringing pin. Therefore, when conducted between the inner and outer circumferences of the frame body, the string is not guided. This leads to inconvenience in stringing operation. Moreover, in order to more easily pass the string through the resilient member, the stringing hole is often designed with a diameter larger than that of the string for facilitating stringing operation. Accordingly, the string only contacts with the resilient member and is not tightly held thereby. When the racket face strikes a ball and suffers an impact, the reaction force transmitted by the string can be hardly effectively absorbed by the resilient member. In other words, the resilient member is unable to achieve optimal buffing effect.
There is another type of racket structure composed of two halves of frame body, which are mated with each other to form the racket frame. A cushion material is sandwiched between the two halves of frame body for absorbing shock. Such structure leads to poor strength of the frame body. Moreover, it is troublesome to process and combine the two halves into the frame body and thus the production efficiency is reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved racket structure with ball-striking racket face, which has excellent shock-absorbing and buffing effect.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above racket structure with ball-striking racket face, in which the stringing pins are truly located to facilitate stringing operation.
According to the above objects, the racket structure with ball-striking racket face includes: a racket frame including an annular frame body having an inner frame face and an outer frame face respectively formed on two radially opposite sides of the frame body, the frame body being formed with multiple through holes passing through the frame body to form corresponding openings on the inner and outer frame faces; a handle having a predetermined length, one end of the handle being connected with the racket frame; multiple hollow stringing pins respectively coaxially fitted in the corresponding through holes; at least one strip made of resilient material and having a predetermined thickness, one face of the strip being fixedly attached to the inner frame face of the racket frame, the strip being formed with several perforations having a predetermined diameter, the perforations communicating with the holes of the corresponding stringing pins, whereby the diameter of the perforation can be changed within a certain range when suffering an external force; and a string having a hardness greater than that of the strip. The string has a predetermined diameter and is sequentially conducted through the stringing pins and the corresponding perforations of the strip to form a checkered mesh in the racket frame. The diameter of the string is larger than the diameter of the perforation, whereby when the string is conducted through the perforation, the edge of the perforation is pressed by the harder string so as to enlarge the diameter of the perforation and the edge of the perforation tightly embraces the string.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a sectional view taken along line
2
—
2
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is a sectional view according to
FIG. 2
, showing that the string is not yet conducted through the perforation of the strip;
FIG. 4
is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 5
is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Please refer to
FIGS. 1
to
3
. According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the racket structure
10
is composed of a racket frame
20
, a handle
30
, multiple hollow stringing pins
40
, a strip
50
with a certain length and a string
60
with a certain hardness.
The racket frame
20
includes an elliptic frame body
21
having an inner frame face
22
and an outer frame face
23
respectively formed on two radially opposite sides of the frame body
21
. The inner frame face
22
is formed with an accommodating channel
24
which extends along the circumference of the frame body
21
. The frame body
21
is formed with multiple through holes
25
inward extending from the outer frame face
23
to the bottom of the accommodating channel
24
.
The handle
30
has a certain length and is integrally connected with the racket frame
20
for a user to hold.
The stringing pins
40
are sequentially upright fixedly arranged on a seat plate. The pins
40
have a certain length and a hollow cross-section. The pins
40
are respectively coaxially fitted in the corresponding through holes
25
.
The strip
50
has a length approximately equal to the length of the circumference of the inner frame face. The strip
50
is made of resilient material and has a certain thickness. The strip
50
is fully inlaid in the accommodating channel
24
in flush with the inner frame face of the frame body. The strip
50
is formed with several perforations
51
having a certain diameter. The perforations
51
communicate with the holes of the corresponding pins
40
.
The string
60
is conducted through the racket frame
20
to form a tensioned racket face in the frame body
21
.
It should be noted that the diameter of the perforation
51
can be changed within a certain range when suffering an external force. The diameter of the string
60
is larger than that of the perforation
51
. When the string
60
is conducted through the perforation
51
, due to the hardness of the string
60
, the edge of the perforation
51
is pressed and displaced so as to enlarge the diameter of the perforation
51
. Accordingly, the edge of the perforation
51
tightly embraces the string
60
to integrally connect therewith. Moreover, when the diameter of the perforation
51
is enlarged by the string
60
and the displaced edge
511
of the perforation tightly embraces the string
60
, the density of the edge
511
is increased due to compression. Therefore, the density of the edge
511
is slightly greater than the average density of the strip
50
.
Furthermore, the edge
511
of the perforation
51
tightly embraces the string
60
to integrally connect therewith. Accordingly, the strip
50
is able to integrally distribute the force applied to the racket face formed of the string
60
. In other words, when striking the ball, the impact force applied to the racket face can be properly buffed and compensated by the strip
50
. Moreover, the edge
511
of the perforation embracing the string
60
is compressed to increase the density thereof to a certain extent. Therefore, the action force is transmitted from the string
60
through the edge
511
with higher density to the entire strip
50
. This increases the shock-absorbing ability of the strip
50
and prolongs using life of the racket.
In addition, it should be noted that by means of changing the diameter of the perforation
51
, the tightness between the string
60
and the edge of the perforation
51
can be changed. Further by means of cooperatively setting the elastic coefficient and thickness of the strip
50
, different buffing and shock-absorbing effects can be achieved. Accordingly, different requirements of different users can be optimally satisfied.
FIG. 4
shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the racket structure
10
′ is basically identical to the first embodiment. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the strip
50
′ further has a groove
52
′ formed on one face of the strip
50
′ facing the bottom of the accommodating channel
24
′. The groove
52
′ extends along the length of the strip
50
′, whereby the bottom of the groove
52
′ and the bottom of the accommodating channel
24
′ define therebetween a receiving space.
One end of each pin
40
′ extends out from the opening of the corresponding through hole
25
′ and is accommodated in the receiving space, whereby the respective pins
40
′ can be conveniently fitted into the corresponding through holes
25
′. Prior to stringing operation, the pins
40
′ can be preliminarily located to facilitate stringing operation. Accordingly, the string can be truly conducted through the pins
40
′ without being deflected due to deflection of the pins. The second embodiment can achieve the same function as the first embodiment.
Moreover, by means of the groove
52
′, the total weight of the strip
50
′ is reduced so as to decrease the total weight of the racket.
FIG. 5
shows a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the perforation
51
″ of the racket structure
10
″ has a diameter smaller than that of the string
60
″ as in the first embodiment. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the inner frame face
22
″ is a smooth arch face free from the accommodating channel of the first embodiment. The strip
50
″ is directly fixedly adhered to the inner frame face
22
″. Such structure can achieve a buffing effect the same as the first embodiment. In practice, a user can additionally adhere the strip
50
″ onto a conventional racket. Depending on whether the pins
40
″ protrude from the inner frame face
22
″, strips with different cross-sectional shapes can be selected and partially or entirely attached to the inner frame face
22
″ to enhance the shock-absorbing effect of the conventional racket. The number and position of the strip
50
″ are not limited and are variable with the actual requirement. Therefore, the present invention can be widely applied to various rackets.
The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
Claims
- 1. Racket structure with ball-striking racket face, comprising:a racket frame including an annular frame body having an inner frame face and an outer frame face respectively formed on two radially opposite sides of the frame body, the frame body being formed with multiple through holes passing through the frame body to form corresponding openings on the inner and outer frame faces; a handle having a predetermined length, one end of the handle being connected with the racket frame; multiple hollow stringing pins respectively coaxially fitted in the corresponding through holes; at least one strip made of resilient material and having a predetermined thickness, one face of the strip being fixedly attached to the inner frame face of the racket frame, the strip being formed with several perforations having a predetermined diameter, the perforations communicating with the holes of the corresponding stringing pins, whereby the diameter of the perforation can be changed within a certain range when suffering an external force; and a string having a hardness greater than that of the strip, the string having a predetermined diameter, the string being sequentially conducted through the stringing pins and the corresponding perforations of the strip to form a checkered mesh in the racket frame, the diameter of the string being larger than the diameter of the perforation, whereby when the string is conducted through the perforation, the edge of the perforation is pressed by the harder string so as to enlarge the diameter of the perforation and the edge of the perforation tightly embraces the string.
- 2. Racket structure with ball-striking racket face as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end of each stringing pin proximal to the inner frame face is not protruded from the inner frame face.
- 3. Racket structure with ball-striking racket face as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner frame face of the racket frame is formed with at least one accommodating channel in which the strip is inlaid.
- 4. Racket structure with ball-striking racket face as claimed in claim 3, wherein the strip has a groove formed on one face of the strip facing the bottom of the accommodating channel, whereby the bottom of the groove and the bottom of the accommodating channel define therebetween a receiving space in which one end of the stringing pin is accommodated.
- 5. Racket structure with ball-striking racket face as claimed in claim 1, wherein the edge of the perforation embracing the string is compressed to enlarge the diameter of the perforation and increase the density of the edge of the perforation, whereby the density of the edge of the perforation is slightly greater than the average density of the strip.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 421950 |
Apr 1991 |
EP |
| 2186804 |
Aug 1987 |
GB |