Ball bat including a focused flexure region
AssigneeEaston Sports, Inc.
InventorsWilliam B. Giannetti, Dewey Chauvin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A ball bat includes one or more focused flexure regions located predominantly or entirely in the transition section between the barrel and the handle of the ball bat. One or more of the focused flexure regions may additionally or alternatively be located partially or entirely in the barrel and/or the handle of the ball bat. The one or more focused flexure regions each include a radially inner structural region and a radially outer dampening region for reducing the local axial stiffness, and improving the flexure, of the ball bat at the location of the focused flexure region.
Claims21
A one-piece ball bat, comprising:
- a handle comprising a first structural material;
- a barrel comprising a second structural material;
- and
- a transition section continuous with the barrel and the handle to form the one-piece ball bat, with at least a portion of the transition section including:
- a radially innermost region comprising a third structural material and being devoid of slits and perforations, and
- a radially outermost region abutting the third structural material, with the radially outermost region devoid of slits and perforations and comprising a dampening material having a lower axial elastic modulus than that of at least one of the first, second, and third structural materials, wherein the dampening material has a radially outer surface that is continuous with radially outer surfaces of longitudinally neighboring structural regions in the ball bat.
A one-piece ball bat including a barrel, a handle, and a transition section joining the barrel and the handle, each comprising at least one structural material, the ball bat comprising:
- a focused flexure region devoid of cut fibers and located in at least one of the handle and the transition section, with the focused flexure region including:
- a radially outermost region comprising a dampening material having a lower axial elastic modulus than that of the at least one structural material, wherein no portion of the dampening material is located radially between structural regions of the ball bat and wherein the dampening material has a radially outer surface that is continuous with radially outer surfaces of longitudinally neighboring structural regions in the ball bat;
- and
- a radially inner structural region abutting the radially outermost region and having smaller outer and inner diameters than, and approximately the same radial thickness as, longitudinally neighboring structural regions in the ball bat.
A one-piece ball bat including a barrel, a handle, and a transition section joining the barrel and the handle, comprising:
- a flexure region in at least one of the handle and the transition section including:
- a radially innermost region comprising a structural composite material devoid of cut fibers, and
- a radially outermost region abutting the radially innermost region, with the radially outermost region comprising a dampening material devoid of cuts, wherein the dampening material has a radially outer surface that is continuous with radially outer surfaces of longitudinally neighboring structural regions in the ball bat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.