U.S. patent application number 10/713148 was filed with the patent office on 2004-07-22 for disposition introduced in sports ball.
Invention is credited to Estefano, Roberto.
Application Number | 20040142780 10/713148 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32686688 |
Filed Date | 2004-07-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040142780 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Estefano, Roberto |
July 22, 2004 |
Disposition introduced in sports ball
Abstract
The present invention refers to sport balls, such as soccer
balls, basketballs, volleyballs and others, provided with an
external pattern applied all over their outer surface, being said
pattern composed by plurality of cavities equally spaced apart and
of identical dimensions, with the purpose of improving the
aerodynamic characteristics of the ball along it's trajectory, with
no deviations, leading to great precision of its movement. The ball
is provided with an outer surface (1) comprising circular cavities
or depressions (2), equally spaced apart and uniformly distributed
along the outer surface (1) of said ball. Adjacent to said cavities
(2) are defined protruding areas (3), of convex surface and which,
along with said cavities or depressions (2), define the outer
surface (1) of the sports ball.
Inventors: |
Estefano, Roberto; (Sao
Paulo, BR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STITES & HARBISON PLLC
1199 NORTH FAIRFAX STREET
SUITE 900
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Family ID: |
32686688 |
Appl. No.: |
10/713148 |
Filed: |
November 17, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/604 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 37/14 20130101;
A63B 2243/0025 20130101; A63B 41/085 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/604 |
International
Class: |
A63B 041/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 20, 2003 |
BR |
MU 8300122-0 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. "DISPOSITION INTRODUCED IN SPORTS BALL", comprising an
inflatable body, provided with an outer surface (1), in synthetic
material, rubber or leather, characterized by comprising cavities
or depressions (2), equally spaced apart, of identical dimensions
and uniformly distributed along the outer surface (1) of said ball;
the region adjacent to said cavities (2) comprises protruding areas
(3) of smooth, convex surface which, along with said cavities or
depressions (2), define the outer surface (1) of the sports ball;
the spacing (e) existing between two adjacent cavities (2) defines
the existence of said protruding areas (3), being said spacing (e)
not substantially smaller than the outer opening (d) of the
cavities (2) themselves, being also possibly bigger than the outer
opening (d) of said cavities (2); said opening (d) of the cavities
(2) is variable, being a function of the kind of sports ball, as
well as the quantity of cavities (2) per area unit.
Description
[0001] The present invention refers to sport balls, such as those
for use in soccer, basketball, volleyball and others, which may be
sewn, vulcanized or processed by matrix, featuring an external
pattern applied to its entire outer surface, being said pattern
made up of a plurality of equally spaced apart cavities with
identical dimensions, with the purpose of improving the aerodynamic
characteristics of the ball along its trajectory, with no
deviation, imparting great precision to it's movement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0002] The current state of the art includes several spot balls
featuring protrusions or cavities over its surface, specially those
that require improved performance regarding grip precision upon
handling by the sport player, such as basketballs, footballs,
baseballs and others.
[0003] Basketballs, for instance, usually feature several
protrusions or crests spread over its outer surface, which purpose
is to enhance friction between the ball and the player's hand.
Other basketballs feature cavities or recesses in their outer
surface, with the purpose of improving the grip of spherical balls
and consequently enhance precision upon the launching of said
balls.
[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,197, by Grechko, discloses a ball with a
plurality of cavities positioned over part of its outer surface,
with the purpose of allowing its curved launching. One example of
such application is a baseball.
[0005] The main purposes of the cavities applied on the balls
disclosed by said patents is to enhance the ball's friction and
grip upon contact with the player's hands (firmness), such as for
example in basketballs, or allow their launching into a curved
trajectory, such as for example in baseballs. Therefore, the above
indicated patents aim for solutions which enhance precision in the
contact between the ball and the player's hands, and also changing
the ball's trajectory, such as in baseball. None of these patents
presents a convenient solution for one of the drawbacks of the
present state of the art regarding the precision and stability of
the ball's trajectory, for instance when there are external
interference with its movement, such as wind action, among
others.
[0006] Other patterns applicable to sport balls which are largely
widespread regard those used in golf balls. Golf balls employ
several cavity configurations applied over the ball's outer
surface, for the purpose of enhancing it's range when compared to
that of a smooth surface ball, or even offer more or less control
to the athlete during the launching. Therefore several cavities are
usually employed, practically tangent to each other and positioned
in groups of cavities inserted in imaginary, polygonal areas over
the ball's surface.
[0007] The main purpose of said configurations is to reduce the
ball's drag along its trajectory, which makes possible, for
instance, a longer range of shooting. However, larger dimension
balls, such as for example inflatable soccer balls, basketballs,
volleyballs, among others, present a much less stable behavior
along its path in the air, even because said balls feature a much
lower density if compared to solid balls such as golf balls. Thus,
one of the main problems presently encountered regards the possible
deviations in trajectory which occur by action of external
elements, such as wind action or even the ball's imprecision and
flotability, thwarting a straight trajectory, being that shooting
range not the main characteristic to be improved upon.
[0008] Therefore, the main performance characteristics in
inflatable sport balls such as it's stability, trajectory precision
and lower flotability with the smallest possible deviation have not
yet been significantly improved.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The main object of the present invention is to provide a
sports ball, with high performance and quality, featuring cavities
all over its outer surface, which improve the ball's aerodynamic
characteristics along it's trajectory, with no deviations due to
wind action, reducing the air friction over the ball, leading to
great precision in its movement, with higher stability and less
flotability.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The present invention will be described in more detail based
on an execution example which is depicted in the Figures, in
which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a front view of a sports ball, for instance a
soccer ball, provided with cavities uniformly distributed along its
outer surface, example of execution of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a detail of a partial cross section, based on the
detail A of FIG. 1, illustrating the cavities of the present
invention;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a front view of another sports ball with the
cavities on its surface, another execution example of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE ANNEXED FIGURES
[0014] Making now reference to the annexed Figures, on FIGS. 1 and
3 are execution examples of the present invention, where the sports
ball is provided with an inflatable body (hollow), with a convex
outer surface (1), usually made of synthetic material, rubber or
leather and which can be formed respectively by means of sewing,
vulcanization or else processing by matrix.
[0015] Over said outer surface (1) are provided cavities or
depressions (2), equally spaced apart, of identical dimensions and
uniformly distributed along the convex outer surface (1) of said
ball.
[0016] The region adjacent to said cavities (2) comprises
protruding areas (3), of smooth, convex surface and which, along
with said cavities or depressions (2) define an outer surface (1)
of the sports ball. Said protruding areas (3) are more clearly
visualized in FIG. 2.
[0017] The spacing (e) existing between two adjacent cavities (2)
defines the existence of said protruding areas (3), being said
spacing (e) not substantially smaller than the external opening (d)
of the cavities (2) itself, being also possibly bigger than the
external opening (d) of said cavities (2). Therefore it is possible
to obtain a pattern over its outer surface (1) with a higher or
lower number of cavities (2) per area unit. Said more or less
spaced-apart configurations may vary according to the kind of sport
for which the ball is designed, resulting in an aerodynamic
performance which is optimized for each application.
[0018] The pattern defined by the set of cavities (2) results from
the alignment between lines of cavities positioned parallel to each
other or from the staggering of lines which are parallel and
interspersed with each other.
[0019] The opening (d) of the cavities (2) varies according to the
kind of sports ball, as well as the quantity of cavities (2) per
area unit, as well as the disposition of said cavities over the
ball's surface (1). This way, a soccer ball may feature a
distribution of cavities over its surface, whereas a basketball or
volleyball may feature another one, which affords a better
performance for each kind of sport.
[0020] On practical tests performed with conventional sport balls
with smooth outer surface and balls provided with cavities
according to the present invention, the aerodynamic response of the
ball with cavities proved to be way better, regarding the
steadiness of trajectory during its flight path and regarding the
launching precision, based on a longitudinal axis starting on the
ball's launching point.
[0021] Thus, on tests where the same energy was applied to a
conventional, smooth ball and to a ball with cavities according to
the present invention, the latter suffers much less interference of
external actions along it's trajectory, being said trajectory much
more straight and with a much smaller deviation from the
longitudinal launching axis if compared to a conventional ball.
[0022] Similarly, with launchings to higher altitudes, it was
observed also that, applying the same energy, the ball provided
with cavities along its outer surface reaches a higher altitude
when compared to a conventional, smooth surface ball. That is due
to the fact that the drag of the ball with cavities is reduced, as
well as the resistance of the air over said ball, resulting in
better performance.
[0023] Therefore, said functional improvement may be applied to any
kind of sport balls with a hollow, spherical body, such as those
for practicing soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, court or
society soccer, among other sports.
* * * * *