Game ball carcass, a game ball, and methods of making same

• US 7,645,203 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Frank I Teh Chang
• Original Assignee: Frank I Teh Chang
• Inventors: Tang, Ya Fang, Chang, Margaret Yuen Yuen
• Primary Examiner(s): WONG, STEVEN B
• Application Number:
  US11/049,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20050277499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,803 Days
• Field of Search: 473603-605, 473607-611, 473/599
• US Class Current: 473/604
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 41/085 Closures

Abstract

A carcass of a soccer ball or other inflatable game ball has a bladder with a valve for introducing air into said bladder; a fabric pocket layer located outside said bladder composed of a plurality of fabric pieces sewn to form a spherical shape, with a hole for the valve, the sewing thread for sewing said fabric pieces and the sewn margin being located in the inner side of said fabric pocket, and an opening being cut for reversing and placing the bladder being located on one of the fabric pieces; and an opening-cover adhered solidly on said opening for enclosing said opening. The surface of the manufactured ball is soft, with good tactility and the performance of ball-controlling is good. At the same time because there is no sewn margin left on the out side of the fabric pocket layer, no slight unevenness will exist on the surface of the fabric pocket layer, the ball will have a substantially perfect spherical shape, and can be easily controlled by athletes during a game.

Claims

1. A carcass of a ball for a ball game, comprising:

a bladder with a valve for introducing air into said bladder;

a fabric pocket layer located outside said bladder composed of;

a plurality of fabric pieces sewn to form a spherical shape, with a hole for the valve, wherein the sewing thread for sewing said fabric pieces and the sewn margin are located at an inner side of said fabric pocket;

an opening located on one of the fabric pieces for reversing the fabric layer and placing the bladder in an inside of the reversed fabric layer;

a reinforcing member having a surface area greater than an area of said opening and less than a surface area of said one of the fabric pieces, said reinforcing member having a hole for the valve and is adhered to an inside surface of said fabric layer about a periphery of said opening; and

an opening-cover formed in said one of said fabric pieces and adhered to said reinforcing member for closing said opening,

wherein said hole for the valve is located in same position as said hole for the valve of said reinforcing member.

2. A carcass according to claim 1, wherein said hole for the valve is located at the position of the opening-cover.

3. A carcass according to claim 2, wherein the opening is a cut opening which is ring-shaped, and said valve opening of said fabric pocket layer is located in said opening-cover.

4. A carcass according to claim 3, wherein a cutting line forming said opening is an unclosed ring so that the opening-cover has a base connecting to the fabric piece.

5. A carcass according to claim 2, wherein the opening is formed by cutting lines, the cutting lines forming said opening having multiple cross cutting lines hence forming several pieces of opening-cover connected to the fabric piece on the base, and said valve opening of said fabric pocket layer being located at the cross point of said cutting lines.

6. A carcass according to claim 1, wherein sewing lines are pre printed on the fabric pieces.

7. A carcass according to claim 1, wherein a counter weight of similar weight as the weight of the valve and valve house is placed oppositely to the valve in the fabric pocket layer of the bladder.

18. A carcass according to claim 1, further comprising a valve cloth positioned on the bladder about the valve and said reinforcing member is adhered to said cloth.

8. A ball for a ball game, from inner to outer side in sequence comprising:

a bladder with a valve for introducing air into said bladder,

a fabric pocket layer located outside said bladder, and

a skin layer comprising a plurality of panels;

wherein said fabric layer includes,

a plurality of fabric pieces sewn to form a spherical shape, with a hole for the valve, wherein the sewing thread for sewing said fabric pieces and the sewn margin are located at an inner side of said fabric pocket;

an opening located on one of the fabric pieces for reversing the fabric layer and placing the bladder in an inside of the reversed fabric layer;

a reinforcing member having a surface area greater than an area of said opening and less than a surface area of said one of the fabric pieces, said reinforcing member having a hole for the valve and is adhered to an inside surface of said fabric pocket layer about a periphery of said opening; and

an opening-cover formed in said one of said fabric pieces and adhered to said reinforcing member for closing said opening,

wherein said hole for the valve is located in same position as said hole for the valve of said reinforcing member.

9. A ball according to claim 8, wherein said skin layer is a skin layer of an adhesion structure formed by a plurality of skin pieces adhered onto the fabric pocket layer.

10. A ball according to claim 8, wherein said skin layer is a skin layer of a sewn structure sewn by a sewing machine.

19. A ball according to claim 8, further comprising a valve cloth positioned on the bladder about the valve and said reinforcing member is adhered to said cloth.

11. An inflatable game ball comprising:

an inflatable bladder with a valve for introducing air into the bladder,

a reinforcing layer surrounding the bladder, and

a skin surrounding the reinforcing layer,

wherein the reinforcing layer comprises;

a plurality of pieces sewn together along seams to form a spherical shape,

an opening located on one of the pieces for reversing the reinforcing layer;

a reinforcing patch having a hole for a valve, a surface area of said reinforcing patch being greater than an area of said opening and less than a surface area of said one of the fabric pieces, such that said reinforcing patch is adhered to an inside surface of the reinforcing layer about a periphery of said opening, and

an opening-cover formed in said one of said fabric pieces and adhered to said reinforcing patch for closing said opening, said opening-cover includes a valve hole;

wherein said opening is spaced from the seams for accommodating reversing of the spherical shape so that all the seams face inwardly, said opening also accommodating insertion of the inflatable bladder, and

wherein said valve hole of said opening-cover is located in same position as said hole for the valve of said reinforcing member.

12. A ball according to claim 11, wherein the opening is formed by cutting said one of said pieces to form said opening-cover from said one of said pieces,

and wherein said at least one opening-cover is adhered at the opening to said reinforcing patch after insertion of said bladder.

13. A ball according to claim 11, wherein said pieces are fabric pieces which are machine sewn together along said seams.

14. according to claim 11, wherein the skin comprises leather or imitation leather.

15. A ball according to claim 14, wherein the skin is adhesively connected to the reinforcing layer.

16. A ball according to claim 15, wherein the skin includes a plurality of skin pieces connected together.

17. A ball according to claim 14, wherein the skin includes a plurality of skin pieces sew together.

20. A ball according to claim 11, further comprising a valve cloth positioned on the bladder about the valve and said reinforcing patch is adhered to said cloth.