Patent Application
20090170643
Bat and ball sports can benefit a child's development by improving their hand and eye coordination. One problem with conventional bat and ball sets is that the bats and the balls are relatively hard and can be dangerous if they hit a person or an item that may be easily damaged. Another problem is that the bats and the balls are relatively heavy, making them difficult to handle by a young child. An additional problem is that the bat of a conventional bat-and-ball set may be too narrow for a beginner, such as a toddler, to easily hit a ball with. A further problem is that a bat and the ball may often be separated from each other during storage, making it difficult to find a complete bat and ball set once the individual pieces are stored or played with. Another problem is related to the effort required to bend over to pick up a ball by hand.
A toy bat and ball set is provided. The bat may include a shell having a proximate portion formed as a handle, and a distal portion formed in the shape of a barrel with an outer hitting surface, the distal portion including an opening on a distal end leading to a void formed in an interior region of the shell of the bat, the opening being bounded at least partially around a perimeter of the opening by a lip. The ball may be a resiliently deformable ball able to be deformed to a reduced diameter that is smaller than the opening, such that the ball can be inserted through the opening into the void in the shell of the bat, and expanded within the void, to thereby be secured within a ball-receiving region of the void by the lip. Loop patterns of reinforcing ribbing may be provided on the barrel and handle of the bat to provide the bat with a visual similarity to the ball, and to make the bat sufficiently strong in the handle and barrel, even with the opening formed in the distal portion.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
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A wide variety of materials may be used for the ball 104 and bat 102. For example, the resiliently deformable ball 104 may be made of a material, such as plastic, rubber or foam. The material of the ball 104 may have a durometer hardness between about 70 A and 90 A, allowing the ball 104 to be crushed or deformed to the reduced diameter by the hand of even a child. Further, the bat 102 is typically formed of a plastic. Specifically, the bat 102 may be at least partially made of a vacuum-formed plastic such as polyethylene. For example, the bat 102 may be vacuum-formed from a single piece of plastic and then a hole may be cut in the end to form opening 112, making it relatively inexpensive to fabricate.
The bat 102 and ball 104 may be produced in a wide variety of sizes. In one example, the inner diameter C of the barrel 110 is between about 3.9 and 4.7 inches, adjacent a ball-receiving region 115 of the void 114. The inner diameter A defined by the lip 118 may be sized to be large enough to allow the resiliently deformable ball 104 to enter the void 114, yet small enough to be able to secure the resiliently deformable ball 104 within the void 114. Thus, in one example, the opening diameter A defined by the lip 118 of the bat 102 may be formed to be between about 3.6 and 4.4 inches. The outer diameter of the barrel 110 of the shell 106 may be relatively wide, making it easier for a beginner or a toddler to hit a ball. Thus, in some embodiments, the outer diameter of the barrel 110 of the bat 102 may be between about 4.6 and 5.6 inches adjacent the ball receiving region 115 of the void, but other embodiments are not so limited. Further, in some embodiments, the overall longitudinal length of the bat may be between about 22 and 28 inches, or about 25 inches, but other embodiments are not so limited. Such a length enables a taller child or parent, for example, to pick up the resiliently deformable balls 104 using opening 112 on the distal end of the bat 102 without having to bend over as far otherwise would be required to retrieve the ball 104.
Regarding the properties of the resiliently deformable balls 104, the resiliently deformable ball 104 is formed of a structure that may change in shape and substantially or completely return to an original shape. For example, resiliently deformable ball 104 may be crushed by a hand, and after the hand releases the ball 104, the ball may return to its previous shape. In the depicted embodiment, the resiliently deformable ball 104 includes a mesh including a plurality of loop structures 121, each loop structure having a curved inside perimeter surface, the loop structures forming the surface of the ball. The plurality of loop structures may have cooperative mating surfaces 123 disposed at least partially around an outer perimeter of each loop structure. The plurality of loop structures 121 typically have substantially curved inside perimeter surfaces, to facilitate gripping by the hand, for example, of a child. The cooperative mating surfaces 123 of adjacent loop structures are configured to couple together for a distance along their lengths. It will be appreciated that the loop structures form the surface of the ball 104 when the cooperative mating surfaces 123 are coupled with each other. Examples of suitable balls that may be used with the subject bat and ball set 100 are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,984, entitled TOY BALL APPARATUS, which issued May 4, 2004, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. It will be appreciated that other resiliently deformable balls 104, such as foam balls or rubber balls may also be used with the bat 102.
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In one example use of the toy ball 104 and bat 102 set, it will be appreciate that a user may swing the bat 102 to cause the ball 104 to exit the void 114 in the bat 102. In such embodiments, the lip 118 may be sized such that if enough momentum is imparted to the resiliently deformable ball 104 in the void 114 during a swing of the bat, the ball 104 can overcome the gripping strength of the lip 118 and exit the opening 112 of the bat 102 in a desired direction.
In another example use of the toy ball and bat set, the resiliently deformable ball 104 may be pitched from one player to a second player with a second bat 102. A game similar to tennis may be played with two (or more) players, each with their bat 102, where the resiliently deformable ball 104 may be struck by the second player after it is pitched from the bat 102 of the first player. The resiliently deformable ball 104 may be returned by the second player hitting the resiliently deformable ball 104 with the bat 102 to the first player either before it hits the ground (a “volley”) or after it has bounced off the ground.
The above described toy ball and bat set may be used for solo play or group play as described above, and further offers the advantages of convenient storage of balls within the bat and ease of picking up of balls with the bat for taller users.
It should be understood that the embodiments herein are illustrative and not restrictive, since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the description preceding them, and all changes that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embraced by the claims.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. provisional patent application, Ser. No. 61/018,478, entitled A BAT AND BALL SET, filed on Jan. 1, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61018478 | Jan 2008 | US |
