Back to results
US 5,888,157 AGranted
Football
AssigneeWilson Sporting Goods Co.
InventorsDouglas G. Guenther, Bradley Lee Gaff
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A football includes an elongated bladder and a plurality of longitudinally extending rubber strips which are secured to the bladder. Each of the rubber strips has a longitudinally extending groove. A plurality of cover panels surround the bladder and the rubber strips. Each of the cover panels has a pair of longitudinally extending tapered edges which extend into grooves in the rubber strips and which abut against edges of adjacent cover panels.
Claims5
A football comprising:
- an ellipsoid shaped bladder having a longitudinal axis and a generally circular transverse cross section,
- a plurality of rubber strips secured to the bladder and extending in a longitudinal direction, each of the rubber strips having an outer surface, a pair of longitudinally extending side edges, and a longitudinally extending V-shaped groove which extends generally parallel to the side edges, and
- a cover surrounding the bladder and the rubber strips, the cover being formed by a plurality of cover panels which are secured to the bladder, each cover panel having outer and inner surfaces and a pair of longitudinally extending tapered edges which taper downwardly from the outer surface to the inner surface, the tapered edges of each cover panel extending downwardly into a V-shaped groove of a rubber strip and abutting tapered edges of adjacent cover panels to form V-shaped indentations in the cover.
A method of making a football comprising the steps of:
- forming an ellipsoid shaped bladder having a longitudinal axis and a generally circular transverse cross section,
- securing a plurality of rubber strips to the bladder so that the bladder extends in a longitudinal direction,
- molding the bladder and the rubber strips to form a carcass, the mold forming a generally V-shaped groove in each of the strips,
- securing a plurality of cover panels to the bladder, each cover panel having outer and inner surfaces and a pair of longitudinally extending tapered edges which taper inwardly from the outer surface to the inner surface, and
- positioning each of the tapered edges of each panel in one of said V-shaped grooves so that each tapered edge of a panel abuts a tapered edge of an adjacent panel.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.