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US 4,305,589 AGranted
Shuttlecocks
AssigneeDunlop Limited
InventorFrank W. Popplewell
Life of this patent
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AssigneeDunlop Limited
InventorFrank W. Popplewell
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to moulded plastics shuttlecocks and aims to provide a moulded shuttlecock that resembles a Feather shuttlecock in appearance and simulates feather shuttlecock flight properties more closely than conventional moulded shuttlecocks. The visible effect is achieved by moulding a skirt structure having a diverging array of stems (5) and a vane area (4) at the outer part of the skirt, the vane area being a series of half leaves (7) and part half leaves (8), one attached on either side of each stem, the leaves being shaped to appear as overlapping feathers but without any actual overlap occurring. The desired flight properties are achieved by separating each half leaf and its associates part half leaf along part of the boundary line (10) where they would otherwise appear to overlap and forming these separated portions in different planes.
An integrally-moulded shuttlecock skirt having an end ring, an array of diverging stems extending from the end ring to form a generally conical skirt structure, the skirt being composed of an upper skirt and a lower skirt, the lower skirt being furthermost from the end ring and constituting the vane area of the skirt and the surface of the lower skirt being formed of a series of connected half leaves and complementary-shaped part half leaves, each stem in the vane area supporting a half leaf to one side and a part half leaf to the other side, whereby a visual effect of overlapping leaves is achieved, each half leaf and its associated part half leaf being separated along part of the boundary line where they would otherwise appear to overlap, the separated portion of each half leaf being formed in a different plane to its corresponding separated portion of part half leaf.
A shuttlecock having a striking cap and an integrally-moulded skirt, the skirt having an end ring, an array of diverging stems extending from the end ring to form a generally conical skirt structure, the skirt being composed of an upper skirt and a lower skirt, the lower skirt being furthermost from the end ring and constituting the vane area of the skirt and the surface of the lower skirt being formed of a series of connected half leaves and complementary-shaped part half leaves, each stem in the vane area supporting a half leaf to one side and a part half leaf to the other side, whereby a visual effect of overlapping leaves is achieved, each half leaf and its associated part half leaf being separated along part of the boundary line where they would otherwise appear to overlap, the separated portion of each half leaf being formed in a different plane to its corresponding separated portion of part half leaf.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.