Back to results
US 7,029,407 B2Granted
Game ball cover with improved stripes and/or logos
AssigneeWilson Sporting Goods Co.
InventorsMing Hsin Lee, Douglas G. Guenther, Kevin L. Krysiak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inflatable game ball including a carcass, a cover and at least one thin member. The cover has inner and outer surfaces. The inner surface of the cover is coupled to the carcass. At least one recess is formed into the outer surface of the cover. At least one thin member is coupled to the cover at the at least one recess. The member substantially fills the recess. The member has inner and outer portions. The outer portion is formed of a highly gripable material.
Claims26
An inflatable game ball comprising:
- a carcass;
- a cover having inner and outer surfaces, the inner surface of the cover coupled to the carcass, at least one recess formed into the outer surface of the cover, each recess extending over only a portion of the circumference of the game ball;
- and
- at least one thin sheet-like member fixedly coupled to the cover at the at least one recess, the member substantially filling the recess, the member having inner and outer portions, the outer portion being formed of a compressible, resilient material that is highly grippable when directly contacted by a user's hands, the frictional interaction between the outer portion of the member and the user's hands being greater than or equal to the frictional interaction between the outer surface of the cover and the user's hands.
1 more element
An inflatable football comprising:
- a cover having an outer surface, at least first and second recesses formed into the outer surface of the cover, each recess extending over less than 360 degrees around the game ball, each recess having a depth within the range of 0.2 to 2.0 millimeters;
- and
- at least first and second stripes fixedly coupled to the cover at the first and second recesses, respectively, the first and second stripes substantially filling the first and second recesses, respectively, each of the first and second stripes having inner and outer portions, the outer portion of each of the first and second stripes being formed of an outer material that is compressible, resilient, and tactile when directly contacted by the hands of a user, the frictional interaction between the outer portion the stripes and the user's hands being greater than or equal to the frictional interaction between the outer surface of the cover and the user's hands.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.