Ball for ball game

• US 9,272,191 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Inventors: Saegusa, Hiroshi, Kitazaki, Tsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): WONG, STEVEN B
• Application Number:
  US14/235,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20140194233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 473/570, 473/594, 473/577, 473/595, 473600-605, 473/351, 473359-362, 473/372, 473/373
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/18 Baseball, rounders or similar games
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 37/00 Solid balls; Rigid hollow balls; Marbles heavy throwing balls A63B65/06
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 43/004 electrically conductive, e.g. for automatic arbitration

Abstract

A hard baseball ball is configured including a core layer, an intermediate layer, and the cover layer. The intermediate layer is formed on a spherical body by winding yarn having radio wave transmissivity, which allows radio waves to pass through, in a spherical shape around the core layer. The cover layer covers the intermediate layer, and is formed from a material with radio wave transmissivity. The hard baseball ball also includes the reflecting portion. The reflecting portion is formed on a spherical surface whose center is the center of the spherical body, and has radio wave reflectability. The reflecting portion is configured using yarn from which the intermediate layer is formed. At least a portion of the yarn from which the intermediate layer is formed is given radio wave reflectability, and the reflecting portion is configured from the portion of the yarn that has been given radio wave reflectability.

Claims

1. A ball for a ball game, comprising:

a spherical body formed by winding a yarn having radio wave transmissivity into a spherical shape; and

a radio wave reflectability-given reflecting portion that is formed from a portion of the yarn having the radio wave transmissivity and an electrically conductive material, thereby to be reflective to radio waves, wherein

the reflecting portion is disposed on a spherical surface whose center is the center of the spherical body.

2. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the yarn having the radio wave transmissivity is a knitting yarn or a cotton yarn and the reflecting portion of the yarn is formed from a metal wire or carbon fiber.

3. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion of the yarn is impregnated with the electrically conductive material, or, the electrically conductive material is vapor deposited on the reflecting portion of the yarn, or, the reflecting portion of the yarn is plated with the electrically conductive material.

4. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the surface resistance of the reflecting portion of the yarn is 130 Ω

/sq. or less.

5. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the mass of the reflecting portion of the yarn is 10% of the total mass of the ball for a ball game or less.

6. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion is formed on the surface of the spherical body, and the percentage of the surface occupied by the reflecting portion is 10% or more.

7. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion is formed on the surface of the spherical body, and the percentage of the surface occupied by the reflecting portion is 20% or more and 60% or less.

8. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion is formed on the surface of the spherical body, and

the number of turns of the portion of the yarn from which the reflecting portion is configured is 5 to 500.

9. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion is formed on a spherical surface located inward from the surface of the spherical body.

10. The ball for a ball game according to claim 9, wherein the percentage of the surface occupied by the reflecting portion is 10% or more.

11. The ball for a ball game according to claim 9, wherein the percentage of the surface occupied by the reflecting portion is 20% or more and 60% or less.

12. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the ball for a ball game is a hard baseball ball, and

a cover layer is provided covering the spherical body.

13. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting portion is formed on the surface of the spherical body, and

the number of turns of the portion of the yarn from which the reflecting portion is configured is 20 to 200.

14. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein a mass of the reflecting portion of the yarn is not more than 10% of a total mass of the ball.

15. The ball for a ball game according to claim 14, wherein the mass of the reflecting portion of the yarn is from 0.5% to 5% of the total mass of the ball.

16. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the radio wave reflectability Γ

and a surface resistance R of the reflecting portion of the yarn are related by the formulas;

Γ

=(377−

R)/(377+R); and

R=(377(1−

Γ

))/(1+Γ

).

17. The ball for a ball game according to claim 16, wherein the radio wave reflectance Γ

is not less than 0.5 and the surface resistance R is not more than 130 Ω

/sq.

18. The ball for a ball game according to claim 16, wherein the radio wave reflectance Γ

is not less than 0.9 and the surface resistance R is not more than 20 Ω

/sq.

19. The ball for a ball game according to claim 12, wherein cover layer is a cowhide cover layer.

20. The ball for a ball game according to claim 1, wherein the spherical surface on which the reflecting portion is disposed exists between a core layer and a cover layer.