US20170165545A1

US20170165545A1 - Safety bat for striking balls or the like

Info

Publication number: US20170165545A1
Application number: US14/994,309
Authority: US
Inventors: Jung-Shih Chang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-12-09
Filing date: 2016-01-13
Publication date: 2017-06-15
Also published as: JP2017104478A; CN106853286A

Abstract

A safety bat for striking balls or the like comprises a tubular body and a safety means. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets. The safety means is disposed on the tubular body to eliminate the danger of damage caused by projectiles from the bat that breaks or shatters during use and such a safety means does not alter the bat's strength or performance.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bats for striking balls or the like and more particularly to a bat with a safety means for linking broken portions of the bat when it breaks during use which otherwise would become dangerous projectiles.
2. Description of the Related Art
It was known that the conventional ball bats are generally made of wood, metal, fiber-reinforced resin material, or a combination of them. Yet for having good performance and durability, the bat constructed entirely with fiber-reinforced resin materials predominated over the other conventional ball bats. However such bats usually has a tubular body including a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets and shaped with a handle portion, a barrel portion, and a tapered transition portion between the handle portion and the barrel portion. The result is that the tapered transition portion is prone to break because the stress producing during use will be concentrated thereon. In other words, when the bat is broken or shattered during use, the barrel portion constantly becomes a dangerous projectile to injure both players and spectators.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a fiber-reinforced resin bat which includes a safety means to eliminate the danger of damage caused by projectiles from the bat that breaks or shatters during use and such a safety means does not alter the bat's strength or performance.
Thus, the present invention can be a bat which comprises a tubular body and a safety means. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets. The tubular body can be separated into a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting the front section and the rear section. The safety means is disposed on the tubular body and preferably on the middle section thereof in such a way that it can link broken portions resulted from the bat that breaks or shatters during use.
A preferred embodiment according to the present invention can be a bat which comprises a tubular body and a safety means disposed on the tubular body. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets, a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting the front section and the rear section. The safety means is disposed on the middle section of the tubular body and between two adjacent layers of the tubular body.
A further preferred embodiment according to the present invention can be a bat which comprises a tubular body and a safety means disposed on the tubular body. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets, a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting the front section and the rear section. The safety means is disposed on the middle section of the tubular body and attached to the inner wall of the tubular body.
Another preferred embodiment according to the present invention can be a bat which comprises a tubular body and a safety means disposed on the tubular body. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets, a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting the front section and the rear section. The safety means is disposed on the middle section of the tubular body and between two adjacent layers of the tubular body. The safety means comprises a first separating member, a second separating member and a safety member. The first separating member is attached to one of the two adjacent layers of the tubular body. The second separating member is attached to the other one of said two adjacent layers of the tubular body. The safety member has a side portion disposed between the two adjacent layers of the tubular body and a main portion placed between the first and second separating members. For having such arrangement, the safety member is firmly attached to the tubular body and the resin material of the layers of the tubular body is prevented from seeping into the safety member by the separating members so that the safety member will not be hardened during curing process and can retain fragments from the body that breaks or shatters during use.
Another preferred embodiment according to the present invention can be a bat which comprises a tubular body and a safety means disposed on the tubular body. The tubular body extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets, a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting the front section and the rear section. The safety means is disposed on the middle section of the tubular body and between two adjacent layers of said tubular body. The safety means comprises a first separating member, a second separating member and a safety member. The first separating member is attached to one of the two adjacent layers of the tubular body. The second separating member is attached to the other one of said two adjacent layers of the tubular body. The safety member includes a bundle of filaments with a side portion disposed between the two adjacent layers of the tubular body and a main portion placed between the first and second separating members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a section view of a baseball bat according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention taken along the longitudinal axis of the baseball bat;

FIG. 2 is a section view of the bat body and the safety means of the bat of FIG. 1 taken along the longitudinal axis of the bat body;

FIG. 3 is a portion of FIG. 2 drawn to an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a perspective schematic view of the baseball bat of FIG. 1 when it is broken into two portions during use;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of a baseball bat according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows a portion of the bat taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a section view of a baseball bat according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention taken along the longitudinal axis of the baseball bat; and

FIG. 8 is a portion of FIG. 7 drawn to an enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 10 generally designates a baseball bat according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. The bat 10 includes a tubular body 12, a barrel portion 14, a handle portion 16 and a tapered portion 18. The barrel portion 14 is generally made of wooden materials. The handle portion 16 and tapered portion 18 are made of PU materials. The bat 10 further includes a safety means 20.
The tubular body 12 extends along a longitudinal axis X-X′ and includes a plurality of layers 22 made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets. Here, the fiber-reinforced resin sheet means a sheet made of a material of fiber reinforcement impregnated in a resin matrix. The resin matrix can be a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin. Generally, the fibers of the fiber reinforcement are long fibers selected from the group consisting of glass fiber, boron fiber, carbon fiber and aramid fiber.
The tubular body 12 includes a front section 26 corresponding to the barrel portion 14, a rear section 28 corresponding to the handle portion 16, and a middle section 30 corresponding to tapered portion 18. The sections, as shown in FIG. 2, are separated by two break lines.
The safety means 20, in this embodiment, is disposed on an inner wall 302 of the middle section 30 of the tubular body 12. In other words, the safety means 20 is disposed on the outerface 222 of the innermost layer of the layers 22.
The safety means 20 comprises a separating member 32 and a safety member 34. The work of the separating member 32 is to prevent the resin material of the innermost layer 222 of the tubular body 12 from seeping into the safety member 34 so that it will not be hardened during curing process and can retain fragments from the tubular body 12 that breaks during use. The separating member 32 can be a film made of high-temperature-resistant and anti-resin-seep into materials or release agents. In this embodiment, the separating member 32 comprises a film made of “ETFE”. The separating member 32 has a first surface 322 and a second surface 324. The first surface 322 is attached to the inner wall 302 of the middle section 30 of the tubular body 12. The safety member 34 is a sheet made of fabric materials which has an upper side 342, a lower side 344 and a body portion 346. The upper side 342 and lower side 344 are directly attached to the inner wall 302 of the middle section 30 of the tubular body 12. The body portion 346 is attached to the second surface 324 of the separating member 32 so that the resin material of the innermost layer 222 of the tubular body 12 is prevented from seeping into the body portion 346 of the safety member 34. Of course, the safety member 34 also can be a strip made of fabric materials or at least a bundle of filaments.
For having such an arrangement mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 4, when the bat 10 is broken at the tapered portion 18 during use, the barrel portion 14 is linked to the handle portion 16 by the body portion 346 of the safety member 34 so that the barrel portion 14 will not be a dangerous projectile to injure both players and spectators
Next, please referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, these drawings show a baseball bat 40 embodied according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. The bat 40 includes a tubular body 50 and a safety means 60. The tubular body 50 is the same as the tubular body 12 of the bat 10 but the safety means 60 is different from the safety means 22 of the bat 10.
The safety means 60, in this embodiment, includes three separating members 62 and three safety members 64. The separating members 62, as shown in FIG. 5, are disposed on the inner wall 502 of the middle section of the tubular body 50 in a way that each of the separating members 62 remains an equal distance apart. In other words, the separating members 62 are evenly spaced with each other. Each of the safety members 64 is attached respectively to each of the separating members 62.
Speaking detailedly, in this embodiment, the separating members 62 are the same as the separating member 32 of the safety means 20 of the bat 10. However, the safety member 64 is different from the safety member 34 of the bat 10. The safety member 64 is a bundle of filaments which has an extending direction being parallel with the longitudinal axis Y-Y′ of the tubular body 50. The safety member 64 has an upper side 642, a lower side 644, and a body portion 646. The upper side 642 and the lower side 644 are adhered directly to the inner wall 502 of the middle section of the tubular body 50. And the body portion 646 is attached to the separating members 62.
Lastly, please referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the drawings here show a baseball bat 70 according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The bat 70 includes a tubular body 72, a top cap 74, a butt 76 and a safety means 80. The inside of the tubular body 72 can be filled with PU materials or the like to absorb the vibration during use.
The tubular body 72 extends along a longitudinal axis Z-Z′ and includes a plurality of layers 82 made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets. The tubular body 72 can be also divided into a front section 722, a rear section 724 and a middle section 726. In this embodiment, the safety means 80 is disposed between two adjacent layers 82 of the middle section 726 of the tubular body 72.
The safety means 80 comprises a first separating member 84, a second separating member 86, and a safety member 88.
The first separating member 84 has a first surface 842 attached to one of the two adjacent layers 82. The second separating member 86 has a first surface 862 attached to the other one of the two adjacent layers 82. The safety member 88 has a front side 882, a rear side 884 and a main portion 886. The sides 882, 884 are disposed directly between the two adjacent layers 82 and the main portion 886 is placed between the second surface 844 of the first separating members 84 and the second surface 864 of the separating members 86.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A safety bat for striking balls or the like, comprising:

a tubular body extending along a longitudinal axis and including a plurality of layers made of fiber-reinforced resin sheets, and

a safety means disposed on said tubular body for linking broken portions of said bat together when it breaks during use.

2. The bat of claim 1, wherein said tubular body includes a front section, a rear section, and a middle section connecting said front section and said rear section;

said safety means is disposed on said middle section.

3. The bat of claim 1, wherein said safety means is disposed between two adjacent layers of said tubular body.

4. The bat of claim 3, wherein said safety means comprises a first separating member attached to one of said two adjacent layers, a second separating member attached to the other one of said two adjacent layers, and a safety member having a side portion and a main portion, said side portion disposed between said two adjacent layers, said main portion placed between said first and second separating members, whereby the resin material of said layers of said tubular body is prevented from seeping into said safety member by said separating members so that said safety member will not be hardened during curing process and can retain fragments from said body that breaks during use.

5. The bat of claim 4, wherein each of said separating members comprises a film made of high-temperature-resistant and anti-resin-seep into materials.

6. The bat of claim 4, wherein said safety member includes a sheet made of fabric materials.

7. The bat of claim 4, wherein said safety member includes a strip made of fabric materials.

8. The bat of claim 4, wherein said safety member includes a bundle of filaments.

9. The bat of claim 4, wherein said safety member includes a plurality of bundles of filaments.

10. The bat of claim 9, wherein said bundles of filaments are evenly spaced with each other.

11. The bat of claim 9, wherein said bundle of filaments extends parallel with the longitudinal axis of said tubular body.

12. The bat of claim 1, wherein said safety means is disposed on the inner wall of said tubular body.

13. The bat of claim 12, wherein said safety means comprises a separating member attached to the inner wall of said tubular body, a safety member having a side portion and a main portion, said side portion disposed directly on the inner wall of said tubular body , said main portion disposed on said separating member, whereby the resin material of the layers of said tubular body is prevented from seeping into said safety member by said separating member so that said safety member will not be hardened during curing process and can link fragments from said body that breaks during use.

14. The bat of claim 13, wherein said separating member comprises a film made of high-temperature-resistant and anti-resin-seep into materials.

15. The bat of claim 13, wherein said safety member includes a sheet made of fabric materials.

16. The bat of claim 13, wherein said safety member includes a strip made of fabric materials.

17. The bat of claim 13, wherein said safety member includes a bundle of filaments.

18. The bat of claim 13, wherein said safety member includes a plurality of bundles of filaments.

19. The bat of claim 18, wherein each of said bundles of filaments is evenly spaced with each other.

20. The bat of claim 18, wherein said bundle of filaments extends parallel with the longitudinal axis of said tubular body.