Ball bat including multiple failure planes
AssigneeEaston Sports, Inc.
InventorsHsing-Yen Chuang, Dewey Chauvin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A composite ball bat includes multiple failure planes within a barrel wall. By including multiple failure planes in a barrel wall, the bat exhibits a drop in performance when subjected to rolling or other extreme deflection, with no temporary increase in barrel performance. Because the barrel performance does not increase, the ball bat is able to comply with performance limitations imposed by regulatory associations.
Claims20
A ball bat extending in a longitudinal direction from a handle to a barrel, with the barrel comprising:
- a plurality of composite plies, wherein the barrel includes an external surface and an internal surface such that a neutral axis defining a primary failure plane is located between the external and internal surfaces;
- a first feature located between the external surface and the neutral axis of the barrel creating a first additional failure zone;
- a second feature located between the internal surface and the neutral axis of the barrel creating a second additional failure zone, wherein at least one of the first and second features comprises a gap or a butt joint located between longitudinally neighboring composite plies.
A ball bat extending in a longitudinal direction from a handle to a barrel, with the barrel comprising:
- a plurality of composite plies, wherein the barrel includes an external surface and an internal surface such that a neutral axis defining a primary failure plane is located between the external and internal surfaces;
- a first gap located between longitudinally neighboring composite plies in the barrel creating a first additional failure zone, wherein the first gap is located between the external surface and the neutral axis of the barrel, or between the internal surface and the neutral axis of the barrel.
A ball bat extending in a longitudinal direction from a handle to a barrel, with the barrel comprising:
- a plurality of composite plies, wherein the barrel includes an external surface and an internal surface such that a neutral axis defining a primary failure plane is located between the external and internal surfaces;
- a first butt joint located between longitudinally neighboring composite plies creating a first additional failure zone, wherein the first butt joint is located between the external surface and the neutral axis of the barrel, or between the internal surface and the neutral axis of the barrel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.