Soft reboundable amusement ball and outer skin material

Abstract

An amusement ball is provided which has both a soft, pliable surface texture and good rebound characteristics. The ball has a resilient inner body at its core which is surrounded by at least one layer of foam. The foam imparts softness to the exterior of the ball. An outer layer of covering material surrounds the foam. The outer layer includes at least a portion of stretchable cloth fabric which allows the outer layer to stretch when the ball is rebounded. That reduces the loss of rebounding energy which would otherwise occur due to compression of the foam surrounding the core. As a result, the ball bounces higher and is generally more lively. An improved outer layer material for soft skin inflated balls is also disclosed. The skin is preferably a stretchable knitted fabric which stretches at least twenty-five percent (25%) in all directions in the plane of the fabric. The invention also includes an amusement ball having a specified thickness of polyurethane foam surrounding the core.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.