AU2004235645B2 - Cricket bat - Google Patents

Abstract

The cricket bat comprises a blade and a handle. The blade has a front surface for striking a ball and a rear 5 surface. The rear surface is arcuate in cross-section along a substantial length of the blade. H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 NO Shoulders 5 Round NOT PITCHE jl More Willow @ base Front Side Round Back Edges Top view, includes handle

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant: MATTHEW JOHN NIELD Invention Title: CRICKET BAT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: - 2 CRICKET BAT This invention relates to a cricket bat having an improved shape that enhances the power of the bat when 5 used to hit a ball. The cricket bat has substantially remained a consistent shape since the conception of the game in England in the 19th century. Numerous modifications to the 10 handle and to the pitched blade have been proposed but not received well by cricketing aficionados. Modifications or improvements are usually sought in the attempt to create a lighter but more powerful bat that is easier to wield into a hitting position and that also has a wide "sweet spot" 15 on the striking surface to propel a cricket ball as far as possible. Similar outcomes are sought with the cricket bat of the present invention. 20 Accordingly, one aspect of the invention provides a cricket bat having a blade and a handle, the blade having a front surface for striking a ball and a rear surface, wherein the rear surface is arcuate in cross-section along 25 a substantial length of the blade. The arcuate rear surface preferably directly meets the front surface at rounded side edges of the blade thereby avoiding an intermediary side face between the 30 front and rear surfaces, as is common to regular cricket bats. The centre of mass of the blade is preferably located in the centre to lower half of the blade. 35 At the top of the blade near the handle the width of the blade preferably begins at substantially the same H,\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 3 width of the handle and diverges diagonally to the width of the rest of the blade. This construction removes the square shoulders associated with regular cricket bats. 5 The handle preferably has a portion that is oval in cross-section wherein the longer width of the oval handle portion lies in a perpendicular plane to the width of the blade. 10 The rear surface is also preferably curved along its length wherein the apex of the curve is located just below the longitudinal center of the blade and in the direction of the bottom of the bat. 15 According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making a cricket bat including: manually passing a cleft over a stationary sanding tool to shave wood from the block in a manner to form the shape of a cricket blade; 20 progressively replacing sandpaper on the sanding tool with paper of finer coarseness to more finely shave the features of the blade; and cutting a splice from an end of the blade and splicing a handle to the blade. 25 Preferably the blade is coated with a polyurethane coating. Preferably the block of wood is kiln dried and is 30 English willow. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of 35 which: H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 -4 Figure 1 is a front view of the cricket bat in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the cricket bat; 5 Figure 3 is an end view of the cricket bat; Figure 4 is a front view of yet another embodiment of a cricket bat in accordance with the invention; 10 Figure 5 is a side view of the cricket bat of Fig. 4; Figure 6 is a front view of yet another embodiment of the invention; and 15 Figure 7 is a front perspective view of the cricket bat. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED 20 EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The figures illustrate a cricket bat 10 having improved features to enhance the outcome of the impact of a ball and to improve a user's performance when using the bat to play cricket. 25 The cricket bat 10 comprises a blade 11 and a handle 12 which is spliced to the blade 11 at splice 13. The blade has a front surface 14 for striking a ball 30 and a rear surface 15. The rear surface of cricket bats are usually pitched to a triangular peak. With the present cricket bat the rear surface 15 is instead rounded, or domed, so that in cross-section the profile of the rear surface forms an arc along the width of the 35 blade. This design allows the rear surface 15 to join directly to the front surface 14 at side edges 20. Side H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 -5 edges 20 are rounded and extend directly into the front and rear surfaces. This is in contrast to known cricket bats which are 5 provided with straight side faces located inbetween the front and rear surfaces. The side faces are important in known cricket bats in order support the blade's pitched rear surface and to generally strengthen the edges of the blade. However, the straight side faces of known bats 10 lead to the occurrence of a ball being hit "off the edge", which results in the ball hurtling behind and/or to the side of the batsman. In fielding strategies fieldmen are specifically positioned behind and to the side of a player in order to catch a ball "hit off the edge". 15 With the arcuate nature of the rear surface of the present cricket bat the front and rear surfaces can be connected directly without any intervening side faces. Aside from distributing more evenly the weight of the 20 blade across the width of the blade this construction results in a useful game advantage. Specifically, the elimination of straight side faces greatly reduces, and may even eliminate balls hit "off the edge". Additionally fielding strategies could be reassessed and it may not be 25 necessary with the present cricket bat to position a fieldsman behind the batsman because balls are much less likely to strike the reduced size of the edge and hurtle behind the batsman. A hit at the edge of the present bat significantly alters the angle or direction of the path 30 taken by the ball to what players are used to. Figures 1 to 3 illustrate a cricket bat with no so called "shoulders" on the blade extending laterally from the handle. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate an embodiment 35 where the shoulders are present on the cricket bat. Figures 6 and 7 illustrate an embodiment similar to that H.\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 6 of Figures 1 to 3 but having distinguishing features applied to the top of the blade. As illustrated in figures 2 and 4 cricket bat 10 5 carries more weight towards the bottom 21 of the blade, which is furthest from the handle 12. Not only is the height, or thickness, of the blade larger at the bottom 21 than the top 22 of the blade, but the rear surface 15 is curved longitudinally with the greater mass of the blade 10 being carried between the longitudinal centre 24 and the bottom 21. The apex 23 of the longitudinal curve is located approximately just below the longitudinal center in the direction of the bottom of the blade. 15 The design of the blade during play reduces jarring almost to the point of eliminating it altogether. Jarring is the vibration that travels up through the handle to the user's hand when the ball hits down at the bottom of the blade. This in turn broadens the "sweet spot" on the 20 striking surface thereby creating one big "sweet spot" from the bottom of the splice to the bottom of the blade. Ideally, the bat is made of wood and preferably English Willow although any other wood may also be used. 25 The official laws of cricket dictate that the blade be made solely of wood, but does not specify any particular wood. The cricket bat 10 as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, 30 6 and 7 has no shoulders. Rather, the top 22 ofthe blade 11 begins at substantially the width of the handle 12 and diverges diagonally down along the length of the blade by about 1/4 to 1/3 of the blade length to arrive at the intended width of the blade. This feature is more clearly 35 seen in figure 1. Removing the shoulders from the top of the blade removes unnecessary material, and weight, and allows for the transfer of this excess timber back into H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 7 the "meat" of the blade. This creates a chunkier, thicker bat without adding to its weight. The shoulders are rarely used in play except unintentionally. 5 However, for the traditionalists the present cricket bat may still be provided with shoulders, as illustrated in the embodiment of Figures 4 and 5. In this embodiment the rear surface 15 is still substantially longitudinally curved but the apex 23 is located more centrally of the 10 blade length than the non-shoulder version and specifically at or about longitudinal centre 24. Along its width the rear surface is arcuate as in the non shoulder embodiment. 15 The shaped features of the cricket bat 10 and the lower centre of mass on the blade results in a relatively light cricket bat but capable of delivering powerful hits on account of its design. The design also reduces jarring that vibrates back to the batsman. Furthermore, there is 20 less likelihood of the ball hitting the side of the blade and veering of at an uncontrollable angle. The bat 10 is light and easy to use. The handle 12 is mostly round but takes on an oval shape 12a in cross 25 section towards the 25% of the handle closest to the blade (as illustrated in figure 3). The handle is oval in the direction perpendicular the width of the blade. This makes the bat more comfortable for the player to grip the bat. 30 The front and rear surfaces of the bat may also be covered by a protective gloss coating to add more strength to the face and edges of the bat. The protective coating is applied following a two pack process using a 35 polyurethane paint. This protective exterior layer assists in preventing cracking of the blade in high stress areas. H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 8 The bat 10 complies with the official Laws of Cricket, as codified by the Marylebone Cricket Club. Namely, the laws provide that the blade be made solely of 5 wood and that it shall not exceed 10.8cm at the widest part of the blade. In length the bat shall not be more than 96.5cm. The official laws further provide that any protective 10 covering that may be applied to the blade shall not exceed 1.56mm in thickness, and shall not be likely to cause unacceptable damage to the ball. The coating on the present blade complies with this. 15 The present cricket bat is easily made within the limits of these official requirements. The process of making the cricket bat 10 begins with a raw block of willow. Unlike conventional techniques, 20 the willow does not need to be cut or sliced or even shaved before refining the shape of the blade. In conventional techniques the block of willow is clamped stationary and a manual or electric tool is passed 25 over the initially shaved block to sculpt it into a blade. With the present manufacturing process the main tool remains stationary and it is the block of willow that is manually turned and rotated to form the shape of a blade. The tool used is an electric belt sander mounted on a 30 stationary surface. To begin the process the belt sander is set with very coarse sandpaper that tears away at the raw block to obtain a basic cricket blade shape. Greater control is 35 obtained by having the tool stationary and manually moving the block of wood over the tool. H.\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 9 When the basic cricket blade shape is created the coarse sandpaper is replaced with a mid-range grade sandpaper to cut the block more finely into the form of the desired shape. To obtain the final blade shape the 5 sandpaper is replaced once more with one of a fine grade coarseness. The cleft is then cut to size and a splice removed from the top of the blade with an electric scroll saw. A 10 handle is attached to the blade at the splice. Distinguishing features to the blade are added by, this time, keeping the blade still while a hand sander is used to finely finish off the surfaces of the bat and to 15 remove any excess weight, create decorative notches, etc. Such decorative notches 30 are illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. An electric hand sander is also used to achieve a slight curvature on the front surface of the back and finish off the bottom end of the bat with a curve. 20 Finally, the blade surfaces are smoothed by hand sanding with fine sandpaper. The handle is then gripped and taped into the splice and attached with glue and wrapped with twine or string from the top to the bottom of 25 the handle. A grip is placed over the handle and then taped. The protective coating may then be applied if desired using a two pack painting process. 30 Further advantages and benefits can be derived even before the raw block of willow is cut and formed into a cricket bat. 35 The beginning of the life of a cricket bat begins with the willow tree. The willow tree is chopped down and then cut into clefts: raw blocks having a length of H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 10 approximately 6in by 5in by 32in. The clefts are stacked inside a building shielded from weather conditions, and allowed to dry. This natural process of air drying lasts for about twelve months by which time the moisture in the 5 timber is removed to allow the timber to become as dry as possible. This process leaves approximately 25% of moisture in the cleft. It has been found that if even more moisture was to 10 be removed the properties of the bat would be enhanced and particularly its strength would be increased. Further moisture can be removed from the cleft by accelerating and enhancing the drying process in a kiln. 15 Kiln drying comprises stacking the clefts in a continuously running kiln over the course of a couple of weeks. The temperature inside the kiln is constant and at an appropriate level so as not to burn the wood but to effectively accelerate the removal of moisture from the 20 timber. It is found that by this kiln drying technique only 8-12% of moisture remains in the cleft compared with 25% by natural drying. This lower amount of moisture makes the willow extremely hard and very strong, which strength is imparted during play. 25 Additionally, drying the clefts to the low level measure of moisture achieved by kiln drying eliminates the time consuming and frustrating need to "knock in" a bat. Before using a bat for the first time serious players use 30 a wooden mallet to hammer the front face of the bat or have the face of the bat "rolled" to strengthen the striking surface thereby "knocking it in". Accordingly, a kiln dried bat has a more solid 35 structure, and can withstand larger impact forces which in turn provide greater hitting power. H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04 - 11 The present cricket bat is shaped and designed with playing convenience in mind. The bat is light but equally capable of delivering more power over a greater area of the blade's front surface. The bat is therefore more 5 enjoyable to use and highly effective in its purpose. It will be understood to persons skilled in the art of the invention that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the 10 invention. H:\Karen\Keep\NIELD - CRICKET BAT.doc 3/12/04

Claims (10)

1. A cricket bat comprising a blade and a handle, the blade having a front surface for striking a ball and a 5 rear surface, the rear surface being arcuate in lateral cross-section along a substantial length of the blade and the arcuate rear surface meeting the front surface at rounded side edges on the blade, and wherein the width of the blade at a top handle-end of the blade is 10 substantially the same as the width of the handle and wherein the blade diverges diagonally down a portion of the blade to assume the main width of the blade.

2. The cricket bat claimed in claim I wherein the centre 15 of mass of the blade is located in the centre to lower half of the blade.

3. The cricket bat claimed in either claim 1 or 2 wherein the diagonally diverging portion occurs at the top 20 quarter to top third of the blade length.

4. The cricket bat claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the handle has a portion that is oval in cross-section, the longer width of the oval handle portion 25 lying in a plane perpendicular to the width of the blade.

5. The cricket bat claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the rear surface is curved longitudinagly along its length. 30

6. The cricket bat claimed in claim 5 wherein an apex of the longitudinl~ curve is lo :cated at or just below a longitudinal centre of the blade. 35

7. A method of making a cricket bat according to any one of the preceding claims including: manually passing a cleft over a stationary standing 2719841_1 (GHMatters) P51313.AU.I 24/06/11 - 13 tool to shave wood from the block in a manner to form the shape of a cricket blade;i n progressively replacing sandpaper on the sanding tool with paper of a finer coarseness to more finely shave the features of the blade; and cutting a splice from an end of the blade and splicing a handle to the blade.

8. The method claimed in claim 7 wherein the blade is coated with a polyurethane coating. 10

9. The method claimed in'claim 7 wherein the block of wood is kiln dried before shaving.

10. A cricket bat substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompany drawings. 2719841_1 (GHMatters) P51313.AU. 24/06/11