Relating to tennis balls
AssigneeJ.Price(Bath)Limited
InventorsDerek Price, Louise RAINBOW
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tennis ball comprising a hollow core and a cover, the core being formed from a composition including rubber, in which the composition comprises recycled tennis ball material.
Claims17
A tennis ball comprising a hollow core and a fabric cover, the hollow core comprising two molded ball core half shells joined to form the ball, the half shells being formed from a composition comprising a proportion of recycled rubber content and a proportion of unrecycled, new or virgin rubber, in which the recycled content is present in a range 5% to 80%, and in which the tennis ball conforms to one or more of the following criteria:
- i) a diameter of between 6.35 cm and 6.86 cm;
- a weight of between 56.0 g and 59.4 g;
- and a rebound height of between 135 cm and 147 cm;
- ii) a diameter of between 6.54 cm and 6.86 cm;
- a weight of between 56.0 g and 59.4 g;
- and a rebound height of between 138 cm and 151 cm;
- iii) a diameter of between 6.54 cm and 6.86 cm;
- a weight of between 56.0 g and 59.4 g;
- and a rebound height of between 135 cm and 147 cm;
- and
- iv) a diameter of between 7.00 cm and 7.30 cm;
- a weight of between 56.0 g and 59.4 g;
- and a rebound height of between 135 cm and 147 cm,
- in which at least some of the recycled rubber content is derived from recycled tennis balls.
A tennis ball comprising a hollow core and a fabric cover, the hollow core being formed from a composition including rubber, in which the composition comprises recycled rubber, wherein at least some of the recycled rubber is derived from recycled tennis balls.
A process of making a hollow rubber ball which incorporates recycled rubber balls comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a batch of said recycled rubber balls and reducing it to granules by maceration and/or grinding;
- b) combining the recycled granules with virgin rubber and, optionally, other additives to form a core formulation;
- c) producing ball core half shells by forming the core formulation in a suitable mould;
- d) curing the formulation at a temperature of from 120-180° C.;
- and e) joining the half shells to form a ball core and curing the ball core.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.