Composite baseball bat with cavitied core
AssigneeThe Baum Research & Development Company, Inc.
InventorCharles S. Baum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A baseball bat or the like comprises a tube formed with an outer layer of wood-like veneer covering a layer of fiber reinforced resin, with the tube layers being impregnated with and bonded to one another with a cured resin. The ends of the tube are closed off with caps adhered to the tube and preferably molded in place. The tube preferably has a foam or aluminum core including a central cavity, said core having sufficient resiliency to allow the tube to resiliently deform during impact with a baseball. The product is formed by molding over a form which may constitute the cavitied foam core or, alternatively, a forming mandrel which is removed after the resin is cured. The cavity may be filled with a material which is less dense than the core.
Claims12
A baseball bat comprising a tube having a cylindrical outer layer of veneer overlying a cylindrical resin reinforced fiber layer formed of a plurality of sheets of fiber fabric, the fiber layer overlying a core including a central cavity formed therein, the surface of the veneer overlying the fiber layer and each of said plurality of sheets of fiber fabric being impregnated with and adhered to one another with resin such that the veneer layer is bonded to the fiber layer with said resin.
A baseball bat comprising a tube tapering from a relatively small cross-sectional handle and to a relatively large cross-sectional barrel end, the tube consisting of a cylindrical outer layer of veneer overlying a cylindrical resin reinforced fiber layer formed of a plurality of sheets of fiber fabric and overlying a core disposed within said tube and .defining a cavity in a region of the bat underlying a sweet spot coninciding with a desired striking region on the surface thereof to provide improved local deformation and radial deformation of said bat upon impacting a baseball, said veneer layer and said fiber layer being impregnated with resin so as to bond said veneer layer to said fiber layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.