GB1603834A

GB1603834A - Racquets

Info

Publication number: GB1603834A
Application number: GB23405/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-05-26
Filing date: 1978-05-26
Publication date: 1981-12-02

Description

(54) RACQUETS (71) 1 JONATHAN CHRISTOPHER MOTH, a British subject, formerly of 17 Latch.

wood Lane, Lower Bourne, Famham, Surrey, and now of Granary Cottage, Dunsfold Road, Loxhill, Near Godalming, Surrey, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to racquets, and is more particularly but not exclusively concerned with tennis racquets.

One well known type of tennis racquet comprises an approximately oval frame, typically of wood, having a plurality of holes extending substantially radially therethrough, the stringing of the racquet being directly secured to the frame by passing individual strings thereof through the holes: typically a given string is threaded outwardly through a respective hole in the frame and then inwardly through an adjacent hole. This known type of racquet suffers from a number of disadvantages.

For example, parts of the stringing are at least partly exposed at the radially outer surface of the frame (i.e. between adjacent holes in the frame), and are thus subject to damage as a result of impacts, e.g. with the ground. Also the strings tend to fret against the frame, especially where they pass over the edges of the radially outer ends of the holes in the frame, this fretting eventually leading to breakage of the strings. Additionally, it is difficult to significantly vary the rigidity and weight of the frame of this type of racquet, in order to vary the "feel" of the racquet in use, since the rigidity and weight of the frame are largely dictated by strength requirements.

Another known type of tennis racquet comprises an approximately oval metal frame, the strining of the racquet being secured to a suitably bent securing wire which is disposed entirely inside, and extends around the internal circumference of, the frame. The string-securing wire is in turn secured to the frame by a further wire, which is spirally wound around both the frame and the string-securing wire and which extends round the entire circumference of the frame.This type of racquet, although its "feel" can more readily be varied, suffers from the disadvantage that it does not have an aesthetically pleasing appearance: it also has the further disadvantage that the spirally-wound wire stands proud of the frame, and can therefore be broken or distorted by impact, e.g. with the ground, and can even be dangerous in some circumstances, e.g. if the racquet accidentally strikes another player.

It is an object of the present invention to provide racquets, particularly but not exclusively tennis racquets, in which at least some of the aforementioned disadvantages of the known types of racquet are alleviated.

According to the present invention, there is provided a racquet comprising a frame and stringing secured thereto, wherein the stringing is secured to the frame by means of a plurality of approximately U-shaped securing members each of which extends through a respective hole passing substantially radially through the frame, the base of the U-shape of each securing member projecting radially inwardly of the internal surface of the frame from its respective hole to form a loop which receives and positions at least one string of the stringing, and the respective extremities of the limbs of the U-shape of each securing member being bent over to engage the radially outer surface of the frame.

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, a plurality of adjacent ones of said securing members are integrally joined together by their respective bent-over positions, said integrally joined securing members preferably extending around the greater part of the circumference of the frame.

Conveniently, the securing members are made from wire, for example steel wire. The wire may typically be 18 s.w.g. wire.

Said integrally joined securing members are conveniently formed by suitably bending a single piece of wire, which may then be mounted on the frame by passing the respective bases of the U-shapes of the securing members through their respective holes in the frame from the external surface of the frame.

Each U-shaped member may lie substantially in a common plane parallel to the plane of the frame, or in a respective plane inclined at a common angle, e.g. 45" or 90 , to the plane of the frame.

The external surface of the frame is preferably provided with a groove or grooves extend ing around the greater part of its circumference and within which the respective frameengaging portions of the securing members substantially wholly lie.

The frame may be made from wood, in which case said groove or grooves preferably follow a zig-zag path around the circumference of the frame. Alternatively, the frame may be tubular and made from metal, for example aluminium, or made from synthetic resin reinforced with glass or carbon fibre, in which case the groove or grooves preferably lie in a common plane extending radially of the frame (i.e.

if there is one groove, it is straight, while if there is a plurality of grooves, they are substantially aligned).

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic representation of a tennis racquet in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view of the frame of the racquet of Figure l; Figures 3 and 4 are more detailed views of part of the racquet of Figure 1 at two different stages in the manufacture of the racquet; and Figure 4A and 4B show alternative embodiments of part of the racquet of Figure 1.

The tennis racquet illustrated in Figure 1 is indicated generally at 10, and comprises a substantially oval planar frame 12 made from a single length of extruded aluminium tubing 14 bent to form the oval shape of the frame, the opposite ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14 extending beside and parallel to each other from one end of the major axis of the oval shape of the frame to form the basis of a handle 20. A sleeve member 22 of plastics, wood or other suitable material fits over the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14 to secure them together and complete the handle 20, while a suitably braced throat member 24, typically of aluminium, is secured between the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14, at the point where they begin to diverge to form the oval shape of the frame 12, in order to complete the oval shape.

The cross-sectional shape of the tubing 14 is shown in Figure 2, from which the tubing 14 can be seen to comprise two similar approximately rectangular section tubing portions 26, 28 which extend parallel to each other, with a longer side 30 of the rectangular section of the tubing portion 26 facing and parallel to a longer side 32 of the rectangular section of the tubing portion 28. The tubing portions 26,28 are joined together along their entire length by two parallel webs 34, 36, which extend perpendicularly between the adjacent sides 30, 32. The webs 34, 36 are disposed slightly inwardly of the opposite extremities of the respective sections of the tubing portions 26,28, to form two oppositely disposed grooves or channels 38, 40, the groove 38 being slightly deeper than the groove 40.Each of the webs 34,36 contains a plurality of holes spaced apart along its length, each hole in the web 34 being aligned with a corresponding hole in the web 36 along a common axis parallel to and equidistant between the adjacent sides 30, 32 of the tubing portions 26, 28: two such aligned holes are indicated at 42 and 44 in Figure 2.

When the tubing 14 is bent to form the oval frame 12, it is bent such that the adjacent sides 30, 32 of the tubing portions 26, 28 lie in respective planes parallel to the plane of the frame, with the deeper groove 38 extending around the external circumference of the frame in the radially outer surface 46 thereof and the shallower groove 40 extending around the internal circumference of the frame in the radially inner surface 48 thereof: the holes such as 42, 44 of each pair of aligned holes are thus aligned in a direction extending approximately radially of the frame, and can be regarded as a single hole extending approximately radially through the frame.

The racquet 10 also comprises stringing, which is indicated generally at 50 in Figure 1 and is composed of nylon, gut or other suitable stringing material. The individual strings of the stringing 50, such as that indicated at 52, are secured to the frame 12 by passing them through respective loops, such as that indicated at 54, which project into the interior of the frame from the radially inner surface 48 thereof: the stringing 50 is thus disposed wholly within the frame 12.

Figures 3 and 4 are more detailed views of part of the frame 12, showing how the loops such as 54 are mounted in the frame: in Figures 3 and 4, the respective bases of the grooves 38, 40 are shown at 56, 58 by dotted lines, but for the sake of simplicity, each pair of holes 42, 44 is shown as a single hole, again by dotted lines, and the webs 34, 36 of Figure 2 are not shown.

Each loop 54 forms part of a respective approximately U-shaped securing member 60, the loop being constituted by the base of the U-shape of its respective securing member. The loops 54 defined by the respective bases of the U-shapes of the securing members 60 project radially inwardly of the frame 12 from their respective pair of holes 42, 44, which open into the centre of the groove 40. The limbs of the U-shape of each securing member 60 pass radially outwardly through their pair of holes 42, 44, and their extremities 62, 64 are bent over in the plane of the U-shape, in opposite directions, to engage the radially outer surface 46 of the frame 12 within the groove 38. The separation of the limbs of the U-shape of each securing member 60 is arranged to be as small as is consistent with the loops 54 being of sufficient size to receive the string 52, so that the diameters of the holes 42, 44 can be minimized.

The bent-over extremities 62, 64 of adjacent ones of the securing members 60 are integrally joined together, so that all the securing members 60 around the entire circumference of the frame 12 (except that portion of the circumference constituted by the throat member 24) are integrally joined together and can therefore be made by suitably bending a single length of steel wire, typically of 18 s.w.g. Part of this single length of wire, after bending but prior to its mounting in the frame 12, is indicated at 66 in Figure 3, from which it can be seen that it is relatively easy to mount the wire 66 in the frame 12 by passing each loop 54 through its respective pair of holes 42, 44 until the wire lies in the position shown in Figure 4.

The two extremities of the wire 66 can be secured to the frame 12 in the region of the throat member 24 in any convenient manner: for example, they can be provided with bentover portions which engage in holes or grooves provided in the frame 12 for that purpose, or they can be clamped to the frame. Alternatively, they can simply be bent into respective loops or the like which are sufficiently large that they cannot be drawn through a pair of the holes 42, 44 and which lie in the groove 38.

The stringing 50 can be secured to the portion of the frame 12 defined by the throat member 24 in a conventional manner, or alternatively the throat member 24 can be provided with a securing member similar to the securing members 60, also made from a suitably bent single length of steel wire.

The depth of the groove 38 is selected, in accordance with the diameter or gauge of the wire 66, to ensure that the bent-over integrally joined extremities 62, 64 of each securing member 60 lie wholly within the groove.

It will be appreciated that all the loops 54 lie substantially in a common plane parallel to plane of the frame 12. However, if desired, each loop 54 may lie in a respective plane perpendicular or inclined at some other common angle, e.g. 45 , to the plane of the frame: these two possibilities are illustrated in Figure 4A and 4B respectively, which are views of the radially outer surface 46 of the frame 12 and which show how the integrally joined extremities 62, 64 of each securing member 60 follow a sinuous or zig-zag path round the outer circumference of the frame 12 between each pair of holes 42,44.

The tennis racquet 10 described above has a number of significant advantages. In comparison with the aforementioned known type of metal-framed tennis racquet, it is easier to assemble and uses less wire: additionally, it is aesthetically more pleasing in appearance, less subject to breakage or distortion of the wire and safer in use, by virtue of the fact that the portions of the wire 66 which engage the radially outer surface 46 of the frame 12 are wholly contained in the groove 38 and are therefore both visually inconspicuous and protected from impacts.In comparison with the aforementioned known type of wooden-framed tennis racquet, the racquet 10 requires less string for the stringing 50 and does not expose the strings at the external surface 46 of the frame 12, by virtue of the fact that the stringing 50 is disposed wholly within the frame 12, and is less likely to cause fretting of the strings of the stringing 50 by virtue of the circular cross-section of the wire 60 from which the loops 54 are formed.

Another advantageous feature of the racquet 10 is the particularly simple and aesthetically pleasing way in which the throat member 24 is secured between the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14. Thus each side of the throat member 24 is provided with two generally laterally extending tabs (only one of which is shown in Figure 1, in dotted lines) which projects into a suitably shaped slot provided in the base of the groove 40 (i.e. in the web 36). As can be seen in Figure 1, each tab has a portion projecting substantially circumferentially of the frame 12, away from the handle 20, to define a lead-in edge which engages the surface of the web 36 inside the hollow space defined between the webs 34, 36.

Since the stringing 50 is secured to the throat member 24, the tension of the stringing tends to hold the throat member 24 firmly in position while also pulling the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14 together.

Several modifications can be made to the embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore. In particular, the frame 12 and handle 20 can be made from synthetic resin reinforced with carbon fibre or fibre glass, or from wood. In the last case, the use of the steel wire 66 serves to strengthen and brace the wooden frame, and in the event that the wooden frame breaks, would tend to keep the frame in one piece and thus prevent jagged edges of the break in the frame from being exposed.With a wooden frame, it is desirable for strength reasons that the groove in the radially outer surface of the frame (i.e. the groove corresponding to the groove 38) should follow a zig-zag path, rather than a straight path, around the circumference of the frame, so it is necessary to correspondingly bend the wire 66 so that it zig-zags between the loops 54, for example as illustrated in Figure 4A and 4B.

Although the invention has been described with reference to its application to tennis racquets, it can also be applied to badminton, squash and other racquets. In the case of squash racquets, where the racquet frame must usually be wooden for safety reasons, the use of the steel wire 66 is particularly advantageous for the reasons outlined above.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A racquet comprising a frame and stringing secured thereto, wherein the stringing is secured to the frame by means of a plurality of approximately U-shaped securing members each of which extends through a respective hole passing substantially radially through the frame, the base of the U-shape of each securing

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. joined together, so that all the securing members 60 around the entire circumference of the frame 12 (except that portion of the circumference constituted by the throat member 24) are integrally joined together and can therefore be made by suitably bending a single length of steel wire, typically of 18 s.w.g. Part of this single length of wire, after bending but prior to its mounting in the frame 12, is indicated at 66 in Figure 3, from which it can be seen that it is relatively easy to mount the wire 66 in the frame 12 by passing each loop 54 through its respective pair of holes 42, 44 until the wire lies in the position shown in Figure 4. The two extremities of the wire 66 can be secured to the frame 12 in the region of the throat member 24 in any convenient manner: for example, they can be provided with bentover portions which engage in holes or grooves provided in the frame 12 for that purpose, or they can be clamped to the frame. Alternatively, they can simply be bent into respective loops or the like which are sufficiently large that they cannot be drawn through a pair of the holes 42, 44 and which lie in the groove 38. The stringing 50 can be secured to the portion of the frame 12 defined by the throat member 24 in a conventional manner, or alternatively the throat member 24 can be provided with a securing member similar to the securing members 60, also made from a suitably bent single length of steel wire. The depth of the groove 38 is selected, in accordance with the diameter or gauge of the wire 66, to ensure that the bent-over integrally joined extremities 62, 64 of each securing member 60 lie wholly within the groove. It will be appreciated that all the loops 54 lie substantially in a common plane parallel to plane of the frame 12. However, if desired, each loop 54 may lie in a respective plane perpendicular or inclined at some other common angle, e.g. 45 , to the plane of the frame: these two possibilities are illustrated in Figure 4A and 4B respectively, which are views of the radially outer surface 46 of the frame 12 and which show how the integrally joined extremities 62, 64 of each securing member 60 follow a sinuous or zig-zag path round the outer circumference of the frame 12 between each pair of holes 42,44. The tennis racquet 10 described above has a number of significant advantages. In comparison with the aforementioned known type of metal-framed tennis racquet, it is easier to assemble and uses less wire: additionally, it is aesthetically more pleasing in appearance, less subject to breakage or distortion of the wire and safer in use, by virtue of the fact that the portions of the wire 66 which engage the radially outer surface 46 of the frame 12 are wholly contained in the groove 38 and are therefore both visually inconspicuous and protected from impacts.In comparison with the aforementioned known type of wooden-framed tennis racquet, the racquet 10 requires less string for the stringing 50 and does not expose the strings at the external surface 46 of the frame 12, by virtue of the fact that the stringing 50 is disposed wholly within the frame 12, and is less likely to cause fretting of the strings of the stringing 50 by virtue of the circular cross-section of the wire 60 from which the loops 54 are formed. Another advantageous feature of the racquet 10 is the particularly simple and aesthetically pleasing way in which the throat member 24 is secured between the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14. Thus each side of the throat member 24 is provided with two generally laterally extending tabs (only one of which is shown in Figure 1, in dotted lines) which projects into a suitably shaped slot provided in the base of the groove 40 (i.e. in the web 36). As can be seen in Figure 1, each tab has a portion projecting substantially circumferentially of the frame 12, away from the handle 20, to define a lead-in edge which engages the surface of the web 36 inside the hollow space defined between the webs 34, 36. Since the stringing 50 is secured to the throat member 24, the tension of the stringing tends to hold the throat member 24 firmly in position while also pulling the ends 16, 18 of the tubing 14 together. Several modifications can be made to the embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore. In particular, the frame 12 and handle 20 can be made from synthetic resin reinforced with carbon fibre or fibre glass, or from wood. In the last case, the use of the steel wire 66 serves to strengthen and brace the wooden frame, and in the event that the wooden frame breaks, would tend to keep the frame in one piece and thus prevent jagged edges of the break in the frame from being exposed.With a wooden frame, it is desirable for strength reasons that the groove in the radially outer surface of the frame (i.e. the groove corresponding to the groove 38) should follow a zig-zag path, rather than a straight path, around the circumference of the frame, so it is necessary to correspondingly bend the wire 66 so that it zig-zags between the loops 54, for example as illustrated in Figure 4A and 4B. Although the invention has been described with reference to its application to tennis racquets, it can also be applied to badminton, squash and other racquets. In the case of squash racquets, where the racquet frame must usually be wooden for safety reasons, the use of the steel wire 66 is particularly advantageous for the reasons outlined above. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A racquet comprising a frame and stringing secured thereto, wherein the stringing is secured to the frame by means of a plurality of approximately U-shaped securing members each of which extends through a respective hole passing substantially radially through the frame, the base of the U-shape of each securing

member projecting radially inwardly of the internal surface of the frame from its respective hole to form a loop which receives and positions at least one string of the stringing, and the respective extremities of the limbs of the Ushape of each securing member being bent over to engage the radially outer surface of the frame.

2. A racquet as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of adjacent ones of said securing members are integrally joined together by their respective bent-over portions.

3. A racquet as claimed in claim 2, wherein said integrally joined securing members extend around the greater part of the circumference of the frame.

4. A racquet as claimed in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the securing members are made from wire.

5. A racquet as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, wherein said integrally joined securing members are formed by suitably bending a single piece of wire, which is then mounted on the frame by passing the respective bases of the U-shapes of the securing members through their respective holes in the frame from the external surface of the frame.

6. A racquet as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5, wherein said wire is steel wire.

7. A racquet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each U-shaped member lies substantially in a common plane parallel to the plane of the frame.

8. A racquet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein each U-shaped member lies in a respective plane inclined at a common angle to the plane of the frame.

9. A racquet as claimed in claim 8, wherein said common angle is 45

10. A racquet as claimed in claim 8, wherein said common angle is 900.

11. A racquet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the external surface of the frame is provided with a groove or grooves extending around the greater part of its circumference and within which the respective frame-engaging portions of the securing members substantially wholly lie.

12. A racquet as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the frame is made from wood.

13. A racquet as claimed in claim 11 and claim 12, wherein said groove or grooves follow a zig-zag path around the circumference of the frame.

14. A racquet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the frame is tubular and made from metal.

15. A racquet as claimed in claim 14, wherein said metal is aluminium.

16. A racquet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the frame is made from synthetic resin reinforced with fibre glass or carbon fibre.

17. A racquet as claimed in claim 11, and any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the groove or grooves extend parallel to the plane of the frame.

18. A tennis racquet substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

19. A tennis racquet substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, as modified by Figure 4A, of the accompanying drawings.

20. A tennis racquet substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 as modified by Figure 4B, of the accompanying drawings.