U.S. patent application number 11/796450 was filed with the patent office on 2008-10-30 for method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball.
Invention is credited to Chuan-Hsin Lo.
Application Number | 20080263867 11/796450 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39885298 |
Filed Date | 2008-10-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080263867 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lo; Chuan-Hsin |
October 30, 2008 |
Method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball
Abstract
A method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball includes
the steps of: (a) thermal-pressing a transparent sheet and a
covering sheet together within a mold having an embossing surface
so that anti-slip protrusions are formed by the embossing surface
on a surface of the transparent sheet opposite to the covering
sheet and so that the transparent sheet is adhered to the covering
sheet; (b) tailoring each of the transparent sheet and the covering
sheet; and (c) sewing the covering sheet around a ball bladder,
thereby covering the ball bladder.
Inventors: |
Lo; Chuan-Hsin; (Hua-Lien
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FROMMER LAWRENCE & HAUG
745 FIFTH AVENUE- 10TH FL.
NEW YORK
NY
10151
US
|
Family ID: |
39885298 |
Appl. No.: |
11/796450 |
Filed: |
April 27, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
29/899.1 ;
112/154; 264/238 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 29/49714 20150115;
A63B 45/00 20130101; A63B 41/08 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
29/899.1 ;
112/154; 264/238 |
International
Class: |
B21K 1/02 20060101
B21K001/02 |
Claims
1. A method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball,
comprising: (a) thermal-pressing a transparent sheet and a covering
sheet together within a mold having an embossing surface so that
anti-slip protrusions are formed by the embossing surface on a
surface of the transparent sheet opposite to the covering sheet and
so that the transparent sheet is adhered to the covering sheet; (b)
tailoring each of the transparent sheet and the covering sheet; and
(c) sewing the covering sheet around a ball bladder, thereby
covering the ball bladder.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transparent sheet is made of
a material selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic
rubber (TPR), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and polyvinyl chloride
(PVC).
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the covering sheet is made of
cloth, and has a patterned surface covered by the transparent
sheet.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein: the mold has two flat mold parts
one of which has the embossing surface; the transparent sheet and
the covering sheet are thermal-pressed together between the flat
mold parts before being tailored; no adhesive is used between the
transparent sheet and the covering sheet during thermal-pressing;
and the transparent sheet and the covering sheet are tailored
together after thermal-pressing.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising a calendering process
to form the transparent sheet, wherein the transparent sheet has a
thickness ranging between 0.3 and 0.6 mm.
6. The method of claim 4, further comprising an injection-molding
process to mold the transparent sheet directly over the covering
sheet within the mold and to thermal-press the transparent sheet
and the covering sheet.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein: the covering sheet, after being
tailored, is sewn around the ball bladder; the mold is a
ball-shaped mold having an inner side provided with the embossing
surface; the covering sheet sewn around the ball bladder and the
transparent sheet which is tailored are placed within the
ball-shaped mold during thermal-pressing; and the pressure inside
the ball bladder is increased during thermal-pressing so that the
anti-slip protrusions are formed on the transparent sheet and the
transparent sheet is adhered to the covering sheet.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising attaching the
transparent sheet which has been tailored to the covering sheet
which is sewn around the ball bladder before thermal pressing.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising attaching temporarily
the transparent sheet which has been tailored to the inner side of
the ball-shaped mold before the covering sheet and the ball bladder
are placed in the ball-shaped mold.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to a sports ball, more particularly
to a method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Conventional inflatable balls are generally made from a
material, such as leather, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or
polyurethane (PU). Some conventional inflatable balls are provided
with patterned designs printed on outer surfaces thereof. The
patterned designs of such conventional inflatable balls, however,
easily fade, peel off, or discolor after a short period of use.
[0005] A typical method of producing a conventional inflatable ball
is described below.
[0006] In the first step, a back side of a thin film that is about
0.1 mm in thickness is printed with a design through a printing
roller. The thin film is made of thermoplastic polyurethane
(TPU).
[0007] In the second step, glue is heated and is coated on the
printed back side of the thin film, and the printed back side of
the thin film is adhered to a covering sheet that is made of
ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) and that is used to cover a
ball bladder.
[0008] In the third step, the covering sheet together with the thin
film is cut and is then sewn around the ball bladder.
[0009] The conventional inflatable ball produced from the
aforementioned method has the following drawbacks:
[0010] 1. The printing roller for printing the design on the back
side of the thin film must be specially made which is costly and
ultimately results in the high cost of production of the
conventional inflatable ball. Further, the high cost of the
printing roller makes it impractical to manufacture the inflatable
balls in a small batch of a particular design.
[0011] 2. The outer surface of the conventional inflatable ball has
no anti-slip surface, so that only minimal frictional forces are
generated between the conventional inflatable ball and an athlete's
hand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide
a method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball that is
capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior
art.
[0013] According to this invention, a method of producing a
non-slip patterned sports ball comprises the steps of: (a)
thermal-pressing a transparent sheet and a covering sheet together
within a mold having an embossing surface so that anti-slip
protrusions are formed by the embossing surface on a surface of the
transparent sheet opposite to the covering sheet and so that the
transparent sheet is adhered to the covering sheet; (b) tailoring
each of the transparent sheet and the covering sheet; and (c)
sewing the covering sheet around a ball bladder, thereby covering
the ball bladder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] Other features and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent in the following detailed description of the
preferred embodiments of the invention, with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the steps involved in a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the steps involved in the
method of producing the sports ball according to the first
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the sports ball
of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the steps involved in a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the steps involved in the
method of producing the sports ball according to the second
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the steps involved in a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sport ball according to
the third preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0021] FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the steps involved in the
method of producing the sports ball according to the third
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating the steps involved in a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
[0023] FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the steps involved in the
method of producing the sports ball according to the fourth
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0024] Before the present invention is described in greater detail,
it should be noted that same reference numerals have been used to
denote like elements throughout the specification.
[0025] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the steps involved in a method of
producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to the first
preferred embodiment of the present invention. These steps will be
described in greater detail below, in combination with FIG. 3.
[0026] In step (A), pellets 41 are heated and formed into a
thermoplastic substrate 4 having a thickness of about 1 mm. The
substrate 4 is made of a material selected from the group
consisting of thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic elastomer
(TPE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Preferably, the substrate 4 is
made of TPR or TPE.
[0027] In step (B), the substrate 4 is sent to a calendering device
91 so that the substrate 4 is formed into a thermoplastic
transparent sheet 5 having a thickness less than that of the
substrate 4. The calendering device 91 has a plurality of rollers
911 that press the substrate 4 therebetween. The thickness of the
transparent sheet 5 ranges between 0.3 and 0.6 mm.
[0028] In step (C), the transparent sheet 5 is placed onto a
surface 61 of a covering sheet 6 that has a pattern on one side
thereof. The covering sheet 6 is made of cloth. The cloth may be a
woven or non-woven fiber cloth. The transparent sheet 5 and the
covering sheet 6 together are placed within a flat mold 92, which
has two flat mold parts 921, 922. The flat mold part 921 has an
embossing surface. The covering sheet 6 and the transparent sheet 5
together are thermal-pressed between the flat mold parts 921, 922.
During thermal pressing, the thermoplastic material of the
transparent sheet 5 is softened and is forced to penetrate the
fiber texture of the covering sheet 6, thereby adhering the
transparent sheet 5 to the covering sheet 6 without using an
adhesive. As such, the transparent sheet 5 has an adhering surface
51 penetrating the patterned surface 61 of the covering sheet 6,
and an anti-slip surface 52 opposite to the patterned surface 61.
The anti-slip surface 52 is formed with anti-slip protrusions 53
(see FIG. 3) through the embossing surface of the flat mold part
921.
[0029] In step (D), the transparent sheet 5 and the covering sheet
6 together are tailored and are sewn around a ball bladder 7,
thereby covering the ball bladder 7.
[0030] From the aforementioned description, the advantages of the
sports ball produced using the method according to the first
preferred embodiment of the present invention can be summarized as
follows:
[0031] 1. The patterned surface 61 of the covering sheet 6 is
protected by the transparent sheet 5, so that after the sports ball
of the present invention is used for a period of time, only the
anti-slip surface 52 of the transparent sheet 5 will wear away
while the patterned surface 61 remains unaffected. As such, the
fading, peeling off, and discoloration problems encountered in the
conventional sports ball are resolved.
[0032] 2. The covering sheet 6 is made of cloth, which can be
easily printed and which does not require printing of a single
design in large batches. Hence, high printing flexibility is
provided, and the printing price is low, thereby lowering the cost
of production to a minimum.
[0033] 3. The anti-slip surface 52 of the transparent sheet 5
allows for large friction to be generated with an athlete's hand,
so that the sports ball of the present invention may be easily
gripped.
[0034] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, in combination with FIG. 3, a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown
to be similar to the first preferred embodiment. The difference
between the first and second preferred embodiments resides in the
sequence of the processing steps. In this embodiment, after the
substrate 4 is calendered (step B) and is formed into the
transparent sheet 5, step (D) is executed, i.e., the covering sheet
6 and the transparent sheet 5 together are tailored, but only the
covering sheet 6 is sewn around the ball bladder 7. The tailored
transparent sheet 5 is coated with an adhesive, and is then adhered
to the patterned surface 61 of the covering sheet 6.
[0035] Step (C) is executed after step (D). In step (C), the
covering sheet 5, which is sewn around the ball bladder 7, and the
transparent sheet 5, which is adhered to the covering sheet 5, are
placed within a ball-shaped mold 93, which has an inner side
provided with the embossing surface, and are thermal-pressed. A
release sheet (not shown) is adhered to the inner side of the
ball-shaped mold 93. The pressure inside the ball bladder 7 is
increased so that the transparent sheet 5 is pressed against the
inner side of the ball-shaped mold 93 and so that the anti-slip
protrusions 53 are formed on the anti-slip surface 52 of the
transparent sheet 5. The release sheet is removed after the
ball-shaped mold 93 is opened. The advantages of the first
preferred embodiment are similarly achieved using the second
preferred embodiment.
[0036] Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, in combination with FIG. 3, a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the third preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown to
be similar to the second preferred embodiment. However, in step (D)
of this embodiment, after the covering sheet 6 and the transparent
sheet 5 together are tailored, the covering sheet 6 is sewn around
the ball bladder 7, whereas the transparent sheet 5 is temporarily
adhered to the inner side of the ball-shaped mold 93 instead of
being attached to the covering sheet 6. The covering sheet 6 and
the ball bladder 7 are placed in the ball-shaped mold 93, and the
pressure inside the ball bladder 7 is increased so that the
patterned surface 61 of the covering sheet 6 contacts the
transparent sheet 5. To carry out step (C), the ball-shaped mold 93
is subjected to a high frequency or ultrasonic heating, and the
pressure inside the ball bladder 7 is further increased. As such,
the anti-slip protrusions 53 are formed on the anti-slip surface 52
of the transparent sheet 5. The advantages of the first preferred
embodiment are similarly achieved using the third preferred
embodiment.
[0037] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, in combination with FIG. 3, a
method of producing a non-slip patterned sports ball according to
the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown
to be similar to the first preferred embodiment. The difference
between the first and fourth preferred embodiments resides in that
the transparent sheet 5 is injection-molded and that steps (A) and
(B) are not included in this embodiment. In particular, for
thermal-pressing, the covering sheet 6 is first placed between the
flat mold parts 921, 922 of the flat mold 92 with the patterned
surface 61 thereof facing the flat mold part 921. Then, the
transparent sheet 5 is injection-molded over the covering sheet 6
within the flat mold 92. The transparent sheet 5 is therefore
adhered to the patterned surface 61 of the covering sheet 6, and
the anti-slip protrusions 53 are formed by the flat mold part 921.
In step (D), the covering sheet 6 and the transparent sheet 5 are
tailored together and are sewn around the ball bladder 7 after
thermal-pressing. The advantages of the first preferred embodiment
are similarly achieved using the fourth preferred embodiment.
[0038] While the present invention has been described in connection
with what are considered the most practical and preferred
embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to
the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various
arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest
interpretations and equivalent arrangements.
* * * * *