Pile-Surfaced Ball and Method of Making the Same

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a pile-surfaced ball which may or may not have a tail and the method of making such a ball.

2. Prior Art

The Judkins U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,276, issued Dec. 26, 1978, discloses a ball having a central core 18 from which arms 24 of plastic foam material extend radially outward. The ends 32 of such arms are of rectangular configuration and are spaced apart substantial distances. Consequently, the surface of such ball is quite different from the ball of the present invention.

The Mitchell, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,158, issued Aug. 5, 1969, shows a tennis ball having a slit in it and a rod 13 extending from such tennis ball with a knob 14 housed in the tennis ball. The attachment of the rod to the tennis ball is somewhat similar to the attachment of a tail to the ball of the present invention.

The Lindgren U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,268, issued Nov. 28, 1978, shows a solid rubber ball having a tail, and Lerner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,253, issued Apr. 14, 1987, also shows a solid elastomer ball having a tail. The balls of these patents are considerably different from the ball of the present invention.

The Topliffe U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,888, issued Mar. 30, 1982, also shows a ball with tails, but, again, both the ball and the manner in which the tails are attached to it differ considerably from the ball of the present invention.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a ball that can be used as a toy for dogs or children that is light, yet durable, and has a surface that is soft and rugged.

It is also an object to provide such a ball to which a tail can be attached in secure fashion.

A more specific object is to provide a ball having a dense pile surface that is firm, while being resilient.

The foregoing objects can be accomplished by providing a ball having a conventional tennis ball as a core on which rope stubs are mounted projecting radially outward from the core and having the strands at their outer ends untwisted and frayed to form tight strand clusters producing a dense pile.

FIG. 1 is a top perspective of a ball according to the present invention having a rope tail, and FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the core of the ball and the tail shown in exploded relationship.

FIG. 3 is a diametral section through the ball at an intermediate stage of its manufacture, one component of the ball being shown in exploded relationship, and FIG. 4 is a similar diametral section showing the completed ball.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of a portion of a component of a modified type of ball, and FIG. 6 is a similar view of such component in expanded condition.

FIG. 7 is a top perspective of a component of the ball made of material such as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 8 is a diametral section corresponding to FIG. 4 through a ball having a modified construction and utilizing components such as shown in FIG. 7.

The ball 1 of the present invention has a dense but velvety and resilient pile surface, as shown in FIG. 1. Such ball may be made in different sizes and have a pile surface of different depths depending upon the particular use for which it is intended. The size of the ball can range from a diameter of 2 or 3 inches (5.1 cm or 7.6 cm) to a diameter of 10 of 12 inches (25.4 cm to 30.48 cm), but a convenient practical size is a ball having a diameter of 5 or 6 inches (12.7 cm or 15.24 cm).

the ball 1 has a core in the form of a hollow rubber ball 2 which conveniently can be a tennis ball. The pile surface shown in FIG. 4 is made of strand clumps formed by rope stubs 3, having their butts butting the periphery of the ball 2 in closely spaced arrangement and bonded to each other and to such ball. Such bonding can be effected by dipping an end of each of the rope stubs in adhesive such as hotmelt to form a gob 4 of adhesive around its inner end, then pushing the stub endwise against the surface of the ball 2 in closely spaced arrangement with other rope stubs and repeating this operation until the entire surface of the ball 2 is bristling with such rope stubs. It is preferably for such rope stubs to be of material which will melt and fuse, such as nylon or polyethylene. In such case the inner rope ends are fused to prevent untwisting before they are dipped in hotmelt.

The size of the ball would, of course, be determined by the size of the core ball 2 and the lengths of the stubs 3, but the lengths of the stubs shown in FIG. 3 are approximately equal to the ball diameter. Also, the softness of the surface will depend on the diameter of the rope stubs. For a ball 5 or 6 inches (12.7 cm or 15.24 cm) in diameter, it is desired to use rope stubs of 1/2 inch (1.27 cm), 5/8 inch (1.57 cm) or 3/4 inch (1.91 cm) in diameter.

When the rope stubs 3 have been affixed to the ball 2 with their butts in closely spaced relationship, as shown in FIG. 3, the hotmelt 5 will form a coating interconnecting the inner ends of the rope stubs to a substantial depth, perhaps as much as one-half of the length of the stubs, as shown in FIG. 3.

When the hotmelt 5 has solidified, the outer end portions of the rope stubs 3 are untwisted and frayed or fluffed to form tightly packed strand clusters producing deep nap or pile tassels or tufts 6, as shown in FIG. 4. Such untwisting and fraying or fluffing can be accomplished in various ways, such as by tumbling the ball or balls in a drum or by combing or raking the twisted outer end portions of the rope stubs to fray them and produce the surface nap. The pile can be made more dense and uniform by shearing the outer ends after such tumbling or combing.

If desired, a tail 7 may be provided for the ball which preferably is of twisted rope. Near the end of such tail remote from the ball, a knot 8 is formed in the rope and the end portion of the rope beyond the knot is untwisted and frayed or fluffed to form a tassel 9.

To attach the tail 7 to the ball having a core made of a tennis ball 2, a diametral or great circle slit 10 is cut in the ball over approximately one-half of its circumference and one end portion of such slit is split or the end of such slit is connected to an aperture 11 in the ball of a size to receive the tail 7 which may be a rope of 1/2 inch (1.27 cm), 5/8 inch (1.57 cm) or 3/4 inch (1.91 cm) in diameter. The opposite sides of slit 10 can be pried apart to the broken line position shown in FIG. 2 so that a knot 12 in the end of tail 7 of a size to fill the major portion of the ball interior cavity can be moved through the spread slit, as indicated in FIG. 2, in a direction transversely of the length of the tail until the knot has been received within the cavity of the core ball 2, as shown in FIG. 3. If desired, hotmelt may be inserted into the ball interior cavity through the slit 10 to bond the knot 12 to the interior of the ball.

The construction of the ball 1' shown in FIG. 8 is similar to the construction of the ball shown in FIG. 4, except in this instance the stubs or strand clumps are different. The stubs 3' in this instance are made of slit webbing or plastic film material that can be spread from the condition shown in FIG. 5 to the condition shown in FIG. 6 to form expanded film similar to the structure of expanded metal. Initially, the slit film will be folded or roller to the form of the strand clumps or stubs shown in FIG. 7, cut to desired length and the inner end portions of the clumps dipped to form a hotmelt coating 4'. The butt portions of the stubs 3' are applied to the surface of the tennis ball 2, as described in connection with the ball shown in FIG. 3. The outer end portions of the stubs 3' are then frayed or fluffed to rupture the slits in the material and form tightly packed strand clusters producing a dense pile or nap surface similar to the pile formed by the rope stubs, as described in connection with FIG. 4.

The slit plastic film material 3' is like the material used to form artificial turf.

While the rope stubs 3 can all be of the same color, an attractive pile finish effect can be obtained by using rope stubs of different colors to provide a mottled color effect or, in fact, any desired colored design.