CA1069957A - Tennis racket frame - Google Patents
Tennis racket frameInfo
- Publication number
- CA1069957A CA1069957A CA268,056A CA268056A CA1069957A CA 1069957 A CA1069957 A CA 1069957A CA 268056 A CA268056 A CA 268056A CA 1069957 A CA1069957 A CA 1069957A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- channel
- wall
- walls
- racket frame
- members
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
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Abstract
A B S T R A C T
A tennis racket frame having a pair of identical channel-shaped members each with spaced walls and grooves therealong, the channel-shaped members being interengaged in inverted relationship with each other so that walls of one member are received in grooves of the other, the walls having spaced elongated slots therein in spaced relation which, when the channel members are in inverted relationship, provide substantially round stringing holes by the overlapping of the elongated slots.
A tennis racket frame having a pair of identical channel-shaped members each with spaced walls and grooves therealong, the channel-shaped members being interengaged in inverted relationship with each other so that walls of one member are received in grooves of the other, the walls having spaced elongated slots therein in spaced relation which, when the channel members are in inverted relationship, provide substantially round stringing holes by the overlapping of the elongated slots.
Description
- ~6~ 7 SPEC IFI CATL ON
This invention is in the field of tennis rackets made up of essentially two channel-shaped members which have inter-engagillg portions within their geometries so that they can be rece~ved in tight interengaging relationship.
All are familiar with ~he conventional tennis rackets which for years have been made o~ wood and provided with gut or nylon strings. The playing characteristics of such wood - rackets, however, unavoidably vary because o~ differen~es in ~he character of the wood, humidil:y and age. Such changes rnay ~end to cause the head of the racket to warp due to variations in string tension.
The prior art is also replete with suggestions relating to steel and aluminum tennis racketæ which do not have some of the noted disadvan~ages of the wood rackets but they are never-thëless difficult to fabricate an~ quilte èxpensive.
The prior art also contains numerous disclosures"
some of them quite incidental, dealing with the use oE synthetic resins as materials for tennis racket manufacture, either alone - - or in combination with rnetal. The following discussion refers to som o~ such prior art disclosures but is meant to be illustrative only and is certainly not exhaustive, Ill the late 1920's Robinson in his U.S. Patent No.
1,636,867 disclosed a tennis racket which included a truss-type structure which could be u~ilized alone or embedded in a suitable material such as a "Bakelite" thermosetting resin.
Panker U.S. PatentNo. 1,954,327which issued in 1934 re~erred \
This invention is in the field of tennis rackets made up of essentially two channel-shaped members which have inter-engagillg portions within their geometries so that they can be rece~ved in tight interengaging relationship.
All are familiar with ~he conventional tennis rackets which for years have been made o~ wood and provided with gut or nylon strings. The playing characteristics of such wood - rackets, however, unavoidably vary because o~ differen~es in ~he character of the wood, humidil:y and age. Such changes rnay ~end to cause the head of the racket to warp due to variations in string tension.
The prior art is also replete with suggestions relating to steel and aluminum tennis racketæ which do not have some of the noted disadvan~ages of the wood rackets but they are never-thëless difficult to fabricate an~ quilte èxpensive.
The prior art also contains numerous disclosures"
some of them quite incidental, dealing with the use oE synthetic resins as materials for tennis racket manufacture, either alone - - or in combination with rnetal. The following discussion refers to som o~ such prior art disclosures but is meant to be illustrative only and is certainly not exhaustive, Ill the late 1920's Robinson in his U.S. Patent No.
1,636,867 disclosed a tennis racket which included a truss-type structure which could be u~ilized alone or embedded in a suitable material such as a "Bakelite" thermosetting resin.
Panker U.S. PatentNo. 1,954,327which issued in 1934 re~erred \
-2- :~
~06~57 to a method of making tennis rackets by embedding a previously tightly stxetched network in a frame consisting of a material which during ernbedding was rendered plastic and which hardened after being shaped to the desired shape to secure the strings 5 firmly in position.
Hatton U.S. Patent No. 2,274,788 issued in 1942 described a composite ~ennis racket in which a central metal tube was encased in a suitable plastic material such as a cellulose base material or a thermosetting resin.
Robinson U.S. Patent No. 2,593,714 issued in 1952, describes in connection with Figure 170 a method for manufac~ur-ing a ~ennis racke~ in which plastic tubes are inserted into a prepared mold, utilizing tapered insert pins inserted between the oppo~ed plastic tubes to form ~e stxinging holes.
lS In more recent times, Eshbaugh in U.S. Patent No.
~06~57 to a method of making tennis rackets by embedding a previously tightly stxetched network in a frame consisting of a material which during ernbedding was rendered plastic and which hardened after being shaped to the desired shape to secure the strings 5 firmly in position.
Hatton U.S. Patent No. 2,274,788 issued in 1942 described a composite ~ennis racket in which a central metal tube was encased in a suitable plastic material such as a cellulose base material or a thermosetting resin.
Robinson U.S. Patent No. 2,593,714 issued in 1952, describes in connection with Figure 170 a method for manufac~ur-ing a ~ennis racke~ in which plastic tubes are inserted into a prepared mold, utilizing tapered insert pins inserted between the oppo~ed plastic tubes to form ~e stxinging holes.
lS In more recent times, Eshbaugh in U.S. Patent No.
3,483,055 which issued in 1969 described a method of producing ~ennis racket frames from flexible winding materials which involYed the winding of such winding materials about a suitable form and then heat curing the materials to a rigid condition Z0 while under pressure.
Howe U.S. Paten~ No. 3,690,658 described a tennis racket cons~ruction having a central dampening core sandwiched between skins of high strength material which served as the racket faces. The bow portion of the racket had at least one 25 web having higher strength characteristics than the core, and extending normal to the skins. Layers of elastomeric material ~L~69~S'7 were ucilized between the skins and the core to assist in lamina~ing the core, skins and web into a unitary struc~ure.
Erwin et al U.S. Patent No. 3,75S,037 which issued in 1973 described a racket composed of a head portion and a S handle portion in~egrally formed by a tubular member composed of helically wa~nd fibers of high tensile strength embedded in a hardened binder having a preformed reinforcing member defining the base of l:he oval head portion and bounded on opposite sides to the tubular member, the handle portion being defined in part ~y generally parallel extending portions of the tubular member surrounded by a grip. The racket was produced by helically winding high strength fibers around the core, removing the core and finally hardening ~he binder.
Regardless of the method employed for making tennis rackets frorn synthetic resinous ma~erials, the punching and drilling o~ ~tring holes in volume p:roduction is quite an expensive procedure because of ~he COSt9 of the tooling and the drilling time required. To our knowledge, no one has successfully molded in holes into a synthe~ic resin frame because of the complexity ~0 reguired in the mold.
The present invention overcomes the difficulty of the prior art and provides a tennis racket frame utilizing readily moldable parts having generally uniform wall thicknesses, the geometry of the parts being such that they can be identical in ~5 cross-section and by Inverting one par~ with respect to the o~her, the various ribs and walls are made to engage with each other !4 ~1069~S~
, lnto firm integrated relationship.
The present invention provides a tennis racket frame comprising a pair of channel-shaped members7 the two channel-shaped members preferably having identical cross-sectional conflgurations so that all of the members can be made from a single mold. Each channel-shaped member preferably has a marginal rib, a first upstanding wall portion spaced from the marginal rib by a fllrst groove, a second upstanding wall portion adjacent the other nnarginal edge of the member, and a second groove inwardly of the second wall portion.
In a particularly preferred form of the present invention, we provide a tennis racket frame in which each of t~ channel-shaped members has flat base portion, a marginal rib of equal or greater thickness than the base po~iQl at each marginal edge thereof, the marginal ribs having depending portions defining a ~ `
flat recessed portion at the underside of the base portion, a flrst wall extending perpendicular to the base portion and spaced from one of said marginal ribs by a distance slightly less ~han the width of the firs~ wall, a second wall ex~ending from the base ZO portion in -parallel spaced relation to the first wall, the second ~ :
wall having a wid~h and height dimension the same as those of the first wall, and means extending from the base portion to define ` ;;
a groove inwardly of the second wall and having a width slightly les~ than that of one of the walls. The channel-shaped members Z5- are interengaged with one channel member being in inverted rela-tion with respect to the other, one wall of one channel member ~\ . 'I:
\rS - ¦
~8~91 5'7 being received between the marginal rib and a wall of ~he other channel member, and the other wall of the channel member being bottomed in the aforementioned groove. Each of the walls of the channel members may have a tapered end porti-on to facilita~e wedge locking engagement between the two channel members.
Each of the channel-shaped members is provided with slots there-in which are ar~nged to be aligned with slots in the other channel .member so that the slots when in registry define string holes ~or ~he frame.
The rackets of the present invention may also be pro-vided with facing strips on both faces thereo~ for purposes of inc~easing the st~ffness and strength.
ON IH E DRAWINGS
.. .
Other objects, features and advantage.s of the invention ~ ;`
will be readily apparent.f.rom;.the folllow-ing description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction w~h the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effec~ed without departing from the spirit and scope of ~he novel concepts of the disclosure, and in which:
~0 ~7igure 1 is a plan view of a tennis racket produced aocording to the present invention;
Figure Z is an enlarged cross-sec~ional view taken sub-stantially along the line II-II of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the two channel mem-bers before the two members are assembled into interengaging relationship to form the finished racket;
' 6 -~IL06~9~
~igure 4 is an enlarged cross-secti~nal view of the handle portion taken substantially along the Iine IV-IV of Figure l;
Figure 5 is an enlarged elevational view illustrating the manner in which ~he slo~s in the two interengaging channel mem-b~rs cooperate to define stringing holes; and Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectionat view taken substantially along the line Vl-VI o~ Figure 5.
In Figure 1, reference numeral 10 indicates genarally a tennis racket produced according to the present invention and inc~uding a head portion 11, a throat portion 1Z and a handle portion 13. The head of the racket is provided with the usual strings 14 extending along and across the oval-shaped portion 11.
Turning now to Figures Z and 3 it will be seen that the lennis racket of the present invention involves ~he interengagernent oP two channel-shaped members generally identified at reference numerals 15 and 16, respectively. For convenience, since the two channel members 15 and 16 are identical in cross-sectional configuration, corresponding por~ions of these two channel mem-~0 ber~ will be given the same subscripts. Thus, the channel~
shaped mernber 15 has a flat base portion 15a while the channel-shaped member 16 has a similar llat base portion 16a. The ~ .
channel-shaped member 15 is provided with a marginal rib 15b at one marginal edge thereof a.nd a second marginal rib 15c along Z5 ~ts o~her marginal edge. The ribs lSb and 15c have a thickness equal to or greater than the thickness of the flat base portion lSa.
\ -7 -~I C1699~7 Similarly, the channel member 16 has corresponding marginal rib portions 16b and 16c. The marginal rib portions 15b and 15c (as well as rib portions 16b and 16c) are formed with flat recessed portions 15d and 16d, respectively, for receiving flat facing strips 17 and 18. These facing strips may be strips o~ ~ynthetic resin containing steel, fiberglas/ graphite, aluminum, titanium, boron, or other high modulus fibers, or they may be strips of high strength, high m~odulus metals which-add stiffness and strength to the frame assembly The channel-shaped members themselves may be made of a reinforced plastic material such as a nylon which is reinforced wi~ short fibers of glass, steel, aluminum or other sti~f material. While the use of facing strips 17 and 18 will be desirable in most instances, they may not be required if the body of the channel-mem~ers is-composed of an-exc-epti~nally ~-strong composite material such as one containing "Kevlar 49"
which is the Du Pont Company's trademark for its lightweight, high strength, hlgh modulus organic reinforcing fibers contained in an, epoxy or polyester matrL~
The channel-shaped member 15 includes a first wall 15e which is spaced from the marginal rib 15c by a distance slightly less than the width of the wall 15e. Similarly, a wall 16e extends perpendicular to ~e flat base portion 16a of the channel mernber 16. ~ second wall 15f extends perpendicular to the base portion 15a in generally parallel spaced relation to the wall 15e, the second wall 15f having a width and height dirnension the same as those of the firs~ wall 15e. The ~;9~57 corresponding wall por~ion on channel member 16 has been ldentified at reference numeral 16f. An angular rib 15g is provided on ~he base portion 15a in spaced relation to the wall por~ion 15f to define a groove therein inwardly of ~e wall 15f, the groove having a width slightly less than the width of the wall 15e or 15f. The channel member 16 is provided with a corresponding rib 16g, as shown in Figure 2. The walls 15e and l5f as well as the walls 16e and 16f are provided with tapered end portions such as ~hose indicated at 15h and 16h, respectively, to facilitate a wedge locking engagement between ~ I
the ~wo sections when they are mated in the position shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. In other words, the wall 16f is fitted in wedged engagement in the groove which exists between the wall lSe and the rib 15c and the wall 15e has a tapered end portion lSh which facilitates wedge locking en-gagement in r the groove provided be~ween the rib 16g and ~he wall 16f.
The same is true, o~ course, in the opposite side where the wall 16e is received in wedged engagement between the rib 1.5g and the rib 15b and the wall 15f is likewise received in the grooYe provided between the web 16c and the wall 16e.
Turning next to Figure 3, it will be seen that the walls 15e and 15f cooperate to define the oval string receiving head portion of the racket and their extremities define the handle portion of the racket. At the throat portion of the racket, there may be provided additional brace members 15i, lSj, lSk and 151 which cooperate with corresponding base members on ~e cbannel-shaped member 16 to provide additional rigidity in 1~957 the throat section.
The channel-shaped member 15 may also include a centrally extending wall 15m in that portion of the channel-shaped member which extends from ~he throat of the racket through the handle portion,as best illustrated in Figure 4. The wall 15m is received in a groove provided by an angular rib lSn which is spaced from the corresponding centrally disposed wall 16m of the channel section 16. The end portion of the wall 16m is, in turn, received in the groove provided between the wall 15m ~:
and an angular rib 15n formed in the base portion of the channel member 15.
~e manner in which the string holes are provided is best illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings. As there illustrated, the wall member 15e (as well as the wall member lfie) is provided with a series of spaced slots 150 which are arranged to be ali~ned wi~h correspondingly shaped slo~s 160 provided in the wall 16f and thereby defining a plurality of spaced string aper~ures 19 as best seen in Figures 5 and 6.
As bes~ seen in Figure 6, ~e apertures 19 which extend betvveen the abutting walls 15f and 16e are aligned with the apentures 19 which extend between the abutting walls 15e and 16f. It should also be noted that the walls in the vicinity of the slo~s l5o and 16_ can be rounded off to give a relatively wide radius (a 1/16 inch or so) to avoid any sharp edges at 2S the string hole areas. The extremity of the slot 160, identified at 16p, may be provided with a double wall thickness to create a flush face at the resulting hole when the two sections are mated.
\ 10- 1 " ~ILO~i9~7 The channel members lS and 16 are assembled as shown in Figures 2 and 4 and may be secured together with a suitable adhesive or otherwise secured ~ogether. Then7 the handle portion 13 may be provided in the usual manner, as by S applying a pair of palle~s to the frame structure and winding a layer of leather over the assembled pallets.
The tennis racket assembly of the present invention has unique advantages as compared with other tennis racket assemblies composed of plastic material~. For one, the two channel setions are readily moldable in a single mold. The string holes are achieved without drilling as a natural resul~
of ~he geometry employed. Furthermore, ~e cross-section of the channels can be shaped to create string protection charmels. The mating sections are also such that it is virtually impossible to detect that the frame is made of two sections.
Howe U.S. Paten~ No. 3,690,658 described a tennis racket cons~ruction having a central dampening core sandwiched between skins of high strength material which served as the racket faces. The bow portion of the racket had at least one 25 web having higher strength characteristics than the core, and extending normal to the skins. Layers of elastomeric material ~L~69~S'7 were ucilized between the skins and the core to assist in lamina~ing the core, skins and web into a unitary struc~ure.
Erwin et al U.S. Patent No. 3,75S,037 which issued in 1973 described a racket composed of a head portion and a S handle portion in~egrally formed by a tubular member composed of helically wa~nd fibers of high tensile strength embedded in a hardened binder having a preformed reinforcing member defining the base of l:he oval head portion and bounded on opposite sides to the tubular member, the handle portion being defined in part ~y generally parallel extending portions of the tubular member surrounded by a grip. The racket was produced by helically winding high strength fibers around the core, removing the core and finally hardening ~he binder.
Regardless of the method employed for making tennis rackets frorn synthetic resinous ma~erials, the punching and drilling o~ ~tring holes in volume p:roduction is quite an expensive procedure because of ~he COSt9 of the tooling and the drilling time required. To our knowledge, no one has successfully molded in holes into a synthe~ic resin frame because of the complexity ~0 reguired in the mold.
The present invention overcomes the difficulty of the prior art and provides a tennis racket frame utilizing readily moldable parts having generally uniform wall thicknesses, the geometry of the parts being such that they can be identical in ~5 cross-section and by Inverting one par~ with respect to the o~her, the various ribs and walls are made to engage with each other !4 ~1069~S~
, lnto firm integrated relationship.
The present invention provides a tennis racket frame comprising a pair of channel-shaped members7 the two channel-shaped members preferably having identical cross-sectional conflgurations so that all of the members can be made from a single mold. Each channel-shaped member preferably has a marginal rib, a first upstanding wall portion spaced from the marginal rib by a fllrst groove, a second upstanding wall portion adjacent the other nnarginal edge of the member, and a second groove inwardly of the second wall portion.
In a particularly preferred form of the present invention, we provide a tennis racket frame in which each of t~ channel-shaped members has flat base portion, a marginal rib of equal or greater thickness than the base po~iQl at each marginal edge thereof, the marginal ribs having depending portions defining a ~ `
flat recessed portion at the underside of the base portion, a flrst wall extending perpendicular to the base portion and spaced from one of said marginal ribs by a distance slightly less ~han the width of the firs~ wall, a second wall ex~ending from the base ZO portion in -parallel spaced relation to the first wall, the second ~ :
wall having a wid~h and height dimension the same as those of the first wall, and means extending from the base portion to define ` ;;
a groove inwardly of the second wall and having a width slightly les~ than that of one of the walls. The channel-shaped members Z5- are interengaged with one channel member being in inverted rela-tion with respect to the other, one wall of one channel member ~\ . 'I:
\rS - ¦
~8~91 5'7 being received between the marginal rib and a wall of ~he other channel member, and the other wall of the channel member being bottomed in the aforementioned groove. Each of the walls of the channel members may have a tapered end porti-on to facilita~e wedge locking engagement between the two channel members.
Each of the channel-shaped members is provided with slots there-in which are ar~nged to be aligned with slots in the other channel .member so that the slots when in registry define string holes ~or ~he frame.
The rackets of the present invention may also be pro-vided with facing strips on both faces thereo~ for purposes of inc~easing the st~ffness and strength.
ON IH E DRAWINGS
.. .
Other objects, features and advantage.s of the invention ~ ;`
will be readily apparent.f.rom;.the folllow-ing description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction w~h the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effec~ed without departing from the spirit and scope of ~he novel concepts of the disclosure, and in which:
~0 ~7igure 1 is a plan view of a tennis racket produced aocording to the present invention;
Figure Z is an enlarged cross-sec~ional view taken sub-stantially along the line II-II of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the two channel mem-bers before the two members are assembled into interengaging relationship to form the finished racket;
' 6 -~IL06~9~
~igure 4 is an enlarged cross-secti~nal view of the handle portion taken substantially along the Iine IV-IV of Figure l;
Figure 5 is an enlarged elevational view illustrating the manner in which ~he slo~s in the two interengaging channel mem-b~rs cooperate to define stringing holes; and Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectionat view taken substantially along the line Vl-VI o~ Figure 5.
In Figure 1, reference numeral 10 indicates genarally a tennis racket produced according to the present invention and inc~uding a head portion 11, a throat portion 1Z and a handle portion 13. The head of the racket is provided with the usual strings 14 extending along and across the oval-shaped portion 11.
Turning now to Figures Z and 3 it will be seen that the lennis racket of the present invention involves ~he interengagernent oP two channel-shaped members generally identified at reference numerals 15 and 16, respectively. For convenience, since the two channel members 15 and 16 are identical in cross-sectional configuration, corresponding por~ions of these two channel mem-~0 ber~ will be given the same subscripts. Thus, the channel~
shaped mernber 15 has a flat base portion 15a while the channel-shaped member 16 has a similar llat base portion 16a. The ~ .
channel-shaped member 15 is provided with a marginal rib 15b at one marginal edge thereof a.nd a second marginal rib 15c along Z5 ~ts o~her marginal edge. The ribs lSb and 15c have a thickness equal to or greater than the thickness of the flat base portion lSa.
\ -7 -~I C1699~7 Similarly, the channel member 16 has corresponding marginal rib portions 16b and 16c. The marginal rib portions 15b and 15c (as well as rib portions 16b and 16c) are formed with flat recessed portions 15d and 16d, respectively, for receiving flat facing strips 17 and 18. These facing strips may be strips o~ ~ynthetic resin containing steel, fiberglas/ graphite, aluminum, titanium, boron, or other high modulus fibers, or they may be strips of high strength, high m~odulus metals which-add stiffness and strength to the frame assembly The channel-shaped members themselves may be made of a reinforced plastic material such as a nylon which is reinforced wi~ short fibers of glass, steel, aluminum or other sti~f material. While the use of facing strips 17 and 18 will be desirable in most instances, they may not be required if the body of the channel-mem~ers is-composed of an-exc-epti~nally ~-strong composite material such as one containing "Kevlar 49"
which is the Du Pont Company's trademark for its lightweight, high strength, hlgh modulus organic reinforcing fibers contained in an, epoxy or polyester matrL~
The channel-shaped member 15 includes a first wall 15e which is spaced from the marginal rib 15c by a distance slightly less than the width of the wall 15e. Similarly, a wall 16e extends perpendicular to ~e flat base portion 16a of the channel mernber 16. ~ second wall 15f extends perpendicular to the base portion 15a in generally parallel spaced relation to the wall 15e, the second wall 15f having a width and height dirnension the same as those of the firs~ wall 15e. The ~;9~57 corresponding wall por~ion on channel member 16 has been ldentified at reference numeral 16f. An angular rib 15g is provided on ~he base portion 15a in spaced relation to the wall por~ion 15f to define a groove therein inwardly of ~e wall 15f, the groove having a width slightly less than the width of the wall 15e or 15f. The channel member 16 is provided with a corresponding rib 16g, as shown in Figure 2. The walls 15e and l5f as well as the walls 16e and 16f are provided with tapered end portions such as ~hose indicated at 15h and 16h, respectively, to facilitate a wedge locking engagement between ~ I
the ~wo sections when they are mated in the position shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. In other words, the wall 16f is fitted in wedged engagement in the groove which exists between the wall lSe and the rib 15c and the wall 15e has a tapered end portion lSh which facilitates wedge locking en-gagement in r the groove provided be~ween the rib 16g and ~he wall 16f.
The same is true, o~ course, in the opposite side where the wall 16e is received in wedged engagement between the rib 1.5g and the rib 15b and the wall 15f is likewise received in the grooYe provided between the web 16c and the wall 16e.
Turning next to Figure 3, it will be seen that the walls 15e and 15f cooperate to define the oval string receiving head portion of the racket and their extremities define the handle portion of the racket. At the throat portion of the racket, there may be provided additional brace members 15i, lSj, lSk and 151 which cooperate with corresponding base members on ~e cbannel-shaped member 16 to provide additional rigidity in 1~957 the throat section.
The channel-shaped member 15 may also include a centrally extending wall 15m in that portion of the channel-shaped member which extends from ~he throat of the racket through the handle portion,as best illustrated in Figure 4. The wall 15m is received in a groove provided by an angular rib lSn which is spaced from the corresponding centrally disposed wall 16m of the channel section 16. The end portion of the wall 16m is, in turn, received in the groove provided between the wall 15m ~:
and an angular rib 15n formed in the base portion of the channel member 15.
~e manner in which the string holes are provided is best illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings. As there illustrated, the wall member 15e (as well as the wall member lfie) is provided with a series of spaced slots 150 which are arranged to be ali~ned wi~h correspondingly shaped slo~s 160 provided in the wall 16f and thereby defining a plurality of spaced string aper~ures 19 as best seen in Figures 5 and 6.
As bes~ seen in Figure 6, ~e apertures 19 which extend betvveen the abutting walls 15f and 16e are aligned with the apentures 19 which extend between the abutting walls 15e and 16f. It should also be noted that the walls in the vicinity of the slo~s l5o and 16_ can be rounded off to give a relatively wide radius (a 1/16 inch or so) to avoid any sharp edges at 2S the string hole areas. The extremity of the slot 160, identified at 16p, may be provided with a double wall thickness to create a flush face at the resulting hole when the two sections are mated.
\ 10- 1 " ~ILO~i9~7 The channel members lS and 16 are assembled as shown in Figures 2 and 4 and may be secured together with a suitable adhesive or otherwise secured ~ogether. Then7 the handle portion 13 may be provided in the usual manner, as by S applying a pair of palle~s to the frame structure and winding a layer of leather over the assembled pallets.
The tennis racket assembly of the present invention has unique advantages as compared with other tennis racket assemblies composed of plastic material~. For one, the two channel setions are readily moldable in a single mold. The string holes are achieved without drilling as a natural resul~
of ~he geometry employed. Furthermore, ~e cross-section of the channels can be shaped to create string protection charmels. The mating sections are also such that it is virtually impossible to detect that the frame is made of two sections.
Claims (7)
1. A tennis racket frame comprising a pair of identical channel shaped members each having spaced walls and grooves therealong, said channel-shaped members being interengaged in inverted relationship with each other so that walls of one member are received in grooves of the other, said walls having spaced elongated slots therein in spaced relation, the slots in said walls cooperating when said channel members are in said inverted relationship to provide spaced substantially round stringing holes by the overlapping of said elongated slots, said holes being on centerlines extending transversely to the planes of the walls.
2. A tennis racket frame according to claim 1 in which said channel members have substantially identical configurations, including a looped head portion defining a stringing plane, a throat portion and a rectangular shank and handle portion, each of said channel-shaped members having a base portion parallel to the stringing plane of said racket, a marginal rib at least as thick as said base portion and constituting each marginal edge thereof, a first wall extending perpendicular to said base portion and spaced from one of said marginal ribs by a distance slightly less than the width of said first wall thereby defining a first groove therebetween, a second wall extending from said base portion in parallel spaced relation to said first wall, said second wall having width and height dimensions the same as those of said first wall, and angular rib means extending from said base portion to define a second groove inwardly of said second wall and having a width slightly less than that of one of said walls.
3. The racket frame of claim 2 in which said channel-shaped members are interengaged with one channel member being in inverted relation with respect to the other, one wall of said one channel member being received in said first groove between said marginal rib and a wall of the other channel member, and the other wall of said one channel member being bottomed in said second groove.
4. The racket frame of claim 2 in which each of the walls of the channel members has a tapered end portion to facilitate wedge locking engagement within the grooves defined by each of said angular rib means.
5. The racket frame of claim 1 in which said channel members are composed of a synthetic resin.
6. The racket frame of claim 5 in which the channel-shaped members are composed of a fiber reinforced synthetic resin.
7. The tennis racket frame of claim 2 in which the exterior faces of said bases have a flat recessed portion running therealong, and a facing strip secured within each of said recesses.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA268,056A CA1069957A (en) | 1976-12-16 | 1976-12-16 | Tennis racket frame |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA268,056A CA1069957A (en) | 1976-12-16 | 1976-12-16 | Tennis racket frame |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1069957A true CA1069957A (en) | 1980-01-15 |
Family
ID=4107520
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA268,056A Expired CA1069957A (en) | 1976-12-16 | 1976-12-16 | Tennis racket frame |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1069957A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6702697B1 (en) | 2000-10-23 | 2004-03-09 | 2946-6380 Quebec Inc. | Hollow wooden hockey stick |
-
1976
- 1976-12-16 CA CA268,056A patent/CA1069957A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6702697B1 (en) | 2000-10-23 | 2004-03-09 | 2946-6380 Quebec Inc. | Hollow wooden hockey stick |
| US6942587B2 (en) | 2000-10-23 | 2005-09-13 | 2946-6380 Quebec Inc. | Hollow wooden hockey stick |
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