U.S. patent application number 10/073164 was filed with the patent office on 2003-08-14 for polyurethane ball for games and sports.
Invention is credited to Lee, Hwang-Pao.
Application Number | 20030153418 10/073164 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27659620 |
Filed Date | 2003-08-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030153418 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lee, Hwang-Pao |
August 14, 2003 |
Polyurethane ball for games and sports
Abstract
A polyurethane ball for games and sports includes a core portion
made of relatively heavy and low-cost materials and in the shape of
a regular spherical body, and an outer portion made of a
polyurethane material and having a predetermined thickness to
enclose the entire core portion. The ball is manufactured by way of
centering a pre-molded core portion in a mold and filling the mold
with the polyurethane material to produce an integral ball. The
materials for the core portion include rubber or foamed rubber,
plastics or foamed plastics, or recycled wood materials. A
heavy-weight filler, such as powdered calcium carbonate, may be
blended into the materials for the core portion, so as to
effectively control an overall weight of the polyurethane ball.
Inventors: |
Lee, Hwang-Pao; (Hsin Chu
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DAVID E. DOUGHERTY
DENNISON, SCULTZ & DOUGHERTY
612 CRYSTAL SQUARE 4
1745 JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY
ARLINGTON,
VA
22202
US
|
Family ID: |
27659620 |
Appl. No.: |
10/073164 |
Filed: |
February 13, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/601 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 37/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/601 |
International
Class: |
A63B 037/02 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A polyurethane ball for games and sports, comprising a core
portion and an outer portion; said core portion being a regular
spherical body separately molded from relatively heavy and low-cost
materials; and said outer portion being made of a polyurethane
material and having a predetermined thickness to enclose said core
portion therein by centering said core portion in a mold and
filling said mold with said polyurethane material to produce an
integral unit of said core portion and said outer portion.
2. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
1, wherein said core portion is made of rubber or foamed rubber
material.
3. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
1, wherein said core portion is made of plastics or foamed plastic
material.
4. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
1, wherein said core portion is made of recycled wood
materials.
5. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
1, wherein said core portion includes a heavy-weight filler added
and blended into materials for forming said core portion.
6. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
5, wherein said heavy-weight filler is powdered calcium
carbonate.
7. The polyurethane ball for games and sports as claimed in claim
1, wherein said outer portion has a thickness within the range from
5 mm to 20 mm or more.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a polyurethane ball for
games and sports, and more particularly to a ball having a core
portion made of relatively weight and low-cost materials, and an
outer portion made of a polyurethane material and having a
predetermined thickness to enclose the core portion. The ball is
formed by centering the core portion, which is separately molded
first, in a mold and filling the mold with a polyurethane material,
so that the ball has desired weight and elasticity without
increasing the amount of polyurethane material that is
expensive.
[0002] Polyurethane (PU) balls are available in various sizes from
as small as a baseball to a ball as large as 8 inches in diameter,
so as to meet different demands in the markets and be used in
different games and sports. There are times when a polyurethane
ball preferably has an increased weight. A conventional way to
increase the weight of the polyurethane ball is to lower the
foaming power of the polyurethane material used to form the ball.
However, this will relatively increase the amount of polyurethane
material in forming the ball, particularly in the case of the
8-inch ball. Since the polyurethane material is three or four times
as expensive as other plastic materials, such as polyethylene (PE),
polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), increased amount
of polyurethane material will largely increase the manufacturing
cost of the polyurethane ball. This fact inevitably prevents the
weight-increased polyurethane balls from being widely accepted in
the markets and brings troubles to the manufacturers in selling the
same.
[0003] It is therefore desirable to develop a polyurethane ball
that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
polyurethane ball that has a core portion made of relatively weight
and low-cost materials, and an outer portion made of a polyurethane
material and having a predetermined thickness to enclose the core
portion. The ball is formed by means of centering a pre-molded core
portion in a mold and filling the mold with a polyurethane
material, so that the ball may have desired weight and elasticity
without increasing the amount of polyurethane material that is
expensive.
[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
polyurethane ball for games and sports having an integrally molded
outer portion enclosing a core portion that is separately molded
with low-cost materials, such as rubber or foamed rubber, plastics
or foamed plastics, or recycled wood materials. A heavy-weight
filler, such as powdered calcium carbonate, may be added into the
materials for forming the core portion, so as to effectively
control the final molded weight of the polyurethane ball.
[0006] A further object of the present invention is to provide a
polyurethane ball for games and sports having a core portion
enclosed in a layer of polyurethane material, on an outer surface
of which differently colored or patterned decorative areas or a
plurality of raised small dots are provided through molding to
create good appearance and hand feeling.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description of
the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings,
wherein
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a polyurethane ball for
games and sports according to the present invention, wherein a part
of the outer portion of the ball is cut away to show an internal
structure thereof;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the
present invention; and
[0011] FIG. 4 is a sectioned side view showing the forming of the
present invention in a mold.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0012] Please refer to FIG. 1. The present invention relates to a
polyurethane ball 1 for games and sports. The ball 1 mainly
includes a core portion 10 and an outer portion 20. The outer
portion 20 is molded from a polyurethane material, while the core
portion 10 maybe made of rubber or foamed rubber, various types of
plastic materials or foamed plastic materials, or recycled wood
materials, that all are low-cost materials, to have a properly
controlled net weight. An adequate amount of heavy-weight filler,
such as powdered calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3), may be added and
blended into the materials of the core portion 10 to effectively
control a final weight of the molded core portion 10, and
accordingly, of the whole polyurethane ball 1.
[0013] The core portion 10 is a separately molded regular spherical
body, a diameter and a net weight of which are determined depending
on actual usages or manufacturers' specifications. Taking a
polyurethane ball 1 having a diameter of 8 inches (8") as an
example, there are usually two specifications available, namely,
5-pound (lb) and 2.5-pound (lb) balls. There are multiple
combinations of diameter of core portion 10 and thickness of outer
portion 20 available for users. It is most preferable the outer
portion 20 has a thickness as small as possible to decrease the
amount of polyurethane material used to make the ball 1 and
therefore reduce the manufacturing cost thereof. The outer portion
20 may have a thickness within the range from 5 mm to 20 mm or
more. Generally, an outer portion 20 of 5 mm is thick enough to
provide desired surface texture and sufficient elasticity.
[0014] FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the polyurethane ball 1
of the present invention. In this first embodiment, the ball 1 is
formed on an outer surface of the outer portion 20 with differently
colored or patterned decorative areas 21. This can be achieved
through mold design. And, FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the
polyurethane ball 1 that has a plurality of raised small dots 22
evenly distributed over an outer surface of the outer portion 20 to
create changes in the appearance of the ball 1 as well as a
different hand feeling. Such changes in the appearance of the
polyurethane ball 1 enable the ball 1 to meet different demands in
the markets.
[0015] The polyurethane ball 1 is produced by way of molding. FIG.
4 is a sectioned side view of a mold 30 for forming the ball 1. The
core portion 10 in the form of a regular spherical body is
separately molded first and then disposed at a center of the mold
30. Thereafter, the polyurethane material is filled into the mold
30, so that the core portion 10 and the polyurethane material
together form an integral unit. Since the core portion 10 is
initially a separately molded spherical body, it basically has a
middle parting line 11 formed thereon to facilitate stripping of
mold. When the molded core portion 10 is disposed on a locating pin
31 in the mold 30, aligning of the middle parting line 11 on the
core portion 10 with a mold joint 32 of the mold 30 could ensure
accurate centering of the core portion 10 in the mold 30 and
accordingly good quality of the molded polyurethane ball 1.
[0016] The present invention has been described with preferred
embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and
modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out
without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention as
defined by the appended claims.
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