JPS6113899Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a moisture regulating device for a wooden vat.

In the past, even if the same type of wooden bat was used in the United States, where the air temperature is low, and Japan, where the air temperature is high, there was a difference in the flight distance of the ball, with the ball flying well in the United States but not in Japan.

Conventionally, there has been no known device for simply drying wooden bats and adjusting their moisture content in stadiums and the like.

The present invention was developed in light of these points, and it makes it possible to make the ball flight distances in the United States and Japan the same when using the same type of bat, and to further compare baseball records such as the number of home runs between Japan and the United States. To provide a simple device that can dry wooden bats and reduce the moisture content to the same level as in America, so that they can be enjoyed as fair products.

In order to achieve this purpose, the moisture regulating device for wooden bats according to the present invention has a drying chamber that has an insertion window at the top or side, into which only the ball-hitting part of the wooden bat can be inserted and pulled out. The insertion window is formed inside a box that can be carried freely, and the insertion window is provided with a sealing tongue that tightly adheres to the inserted wooden bat to maintain airtightness, and the grip side of the wooden bat is separated from the sealing tongue. Air is projected outward to be exposed to the outside air, and air heated to a predetermined temperature by a fan, an electric heater, and a temperature controller installed inside the box is sent into the drying chamber, and only the ball hitting section is heated. Further, a weighing device for measuring the weight of the wooden bat before and after drying was attached to the box.

With this configuration, the following effects can be obtained.

The difference in weight of wooden bats before and after drying can be determined using a weighing device. This allows the weight of water removed by drying to be known, and by approaching the weight of water to be dried determined in advance (see FIG. 3, which will be described later), the desired moisture content can be adjusted.

The entire box can be carried around and easily moved to the baseball field or practice field, making it easy to use.

The sealing tongue on the insertion window prevents the hot air inside the drying chamber from escaping.

Fan 17, electric heater 24, and temperature controller 2
3 allows air at an appropriate temperature to be sent into the drying chamber.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the illustrated embodiments.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 is a hollow rectangular parallelepiped box, and has wheels 2, 3, etc. such as casters on the bottom wall 4 side to make the whole unit easier to move. A right vertical partition wall 5 is provided therein, and a ventilation wall 6 such as a perforated plate or a mesh is provided horizontally at a predetermined distance above the bottom wall 4. A hollow drying chamber 11 is formed by the ventilation wall 6, the left outer wall 7, the front and rear outer walls 8, 9, and the top plate 10. Reference numeral 12 denotes a wooden bat, and an insertion window 14 into which only the ball hitting part 13 of the bat 12 is inserted vertically from above is connected to the top plate 10 of the drying chamber 11.
There are multiple locations in two rows, front and back. Moreover, the insertion window has a sealing tongue piece 15 for keeping the drying chamber 11 airtight, and specifically, it is made of an elastic band-like material such as rubber or plastic with rice-shaped cuts made at a predetermined pitch. The sealing tongues 15 are attached to the elongated windows 16, 16 of the top plate 10, and the rice-shaped cut forms the insertion window 14, and at the same time, the sealing tongues 15 are formed in a triangular shape. As is clear from FIG. 2, the sealing tongues 15 come close to close the cut when the wooden batt 12 is not inserted, and come into close contact with the batt 12 when the wooden batt 12 is inserted. This is to always prevent air leakage and outside air inflow into the drying chamber 11, and to reliably maintain airtightness. Although not shown in the drawings, holes such as circular holes are arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch on the top plate 10, each hole is used as the insertion window, and a seal tongue piece is fixed to each hole.
Be free.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a drying air supply fan, which is housed in the box body 1 between the partition wall 5 and the right side outer wall 18, and has a flow path 19 in the partition wall 5 to supply air to the drying chamber. Air is sucked in from inside 11 in the direction of arrow A. Further, an air passage 20 is formed over the entire bottom of the box 1. That is, the space between the bottom wall 4 and the ventilation wall 6 is defined as the ventilation path 20. Reference numeral 24 denotes an electric heater, which is attached to a position close to the fan 17 in the air passage 20 and heats the air sent from the fan 17 as shown by arrow B.

Although the flow velocity is low because the cross-sectional area of the air passage 20 is large, it is accelerated through the ventilation wall 6 having a large number of holes and is ejected into the drying chamber 11 as shown by arrow C. Although detailed illustrations are omitted, in order to equalize the amount of air ejected throughout the ventilation wall 6, the size of the holes 21 in the ventilation wall 6 is sequentially changed upwind and downwind, or It is also preferable to provide a plurality of rows of deflection plates within the air conditioner 20. And arrow C
The hot air blown up in the direction dries the bat hitting part 13 in the drying chamber 11, is blown into the fan 17 again from the flow path 19 of the partition wall 5, and sequentially circulates inside the box body 1 as shown by the arrow. 22 is a thermometer inserted into the air passage 20, which measures the temperature of the heated air and controls ON/OFF the electric heater 24, which transmits a signal to the temperature controller 23, to control the temperature of the heated air that is refluxed. The temperature of the air is maintained at a predetermined value. Also, box body 1
A measuring device 25 is attached to a part of the upper surface, and is used to check whether or not the moisture content inside the bat hitting portion 13 has been reduced to a predetermined value by drying. The vat 12 is placed on the weighing stand 26 and weighed.

Further, as is clear from FIG. 1, the grip portion 27 side of the vat 12 is always held vertically so as to protrude above the drying chamber 11 and be exposed to the outside air.

Due to the characteristics of the wood, wooden bats for baseball have a high moisture content in high humidity air and low moisture content in low humidity air, but in Figure 3, the horizontal axis shows the humidity of the air. This is an equilibrium moisture content curve that shows the equilibrium moisture content inside the vat on the vertical axis.When the air temperature is 20 degrees Celsius, the humidity in the United States is 40 to 45%.
In contrast, in Japan, the humidity is 60% to 65% and the moisture content of batts is 10.2 to 11%. Convert this to the weight of the actual bat. If the dry weight of the bat is 900g, America 900 x (1.074 - 1.08) = 966.6 - 972g Japan 900 x (1.102 - 1.11) = 991.8 - 999g, resulting in a difference of 25.2 - 32.4g. In other words, when a 966.6g bat purchased in the United States is brought to Japan and used, the weight increases to 991.8g. It is said that a 10g change in the batting weight will make a subtle difference to professional batting. Also,
The surface hardness of the bat, which is made of wood, increases as the moisture content decreases, and decreases as the moisture content increases, and the repulsive force of the ball is large in the former case and small in the latter case.

The surface hardness and repulsive force of the bat affect the flight distance of the ball, so even if the same bat is used, it will fly well in the United States due to the differences in climate and humidity between Japan and the United States.
The absurdity of not flying in Japan is that
it is obvious.

The moisture regulation device for wooden bats according to the present invention has been designed to eliminate this inconvenience with the above-mentioned structure.
For example, if the outside temperature is 20 degrees Celsius and the relative humidity is 60%,
At 80% and 100%, the temperature of the heated air is
If you set it to 26.5, 31, or 35 degrees Celsius, the relative humidity will be 40%.
This moisture content is the same as the conditions for using bats in America. However, in reality, at such a heated air temperature, the difference in drying steam partial pressure is small, and the drying time becomes very long, which is inconvenient. Therefore, in actual operation, the temperature of the heated air for drying is set to about 60-70 degrees Celsius, and after a predetermined drying time, the bat 12 is removed from the drying chamber 11 and weighed by the weighing device 25. When the weight of the bat is close to the weight when it was purchased in America, or the weight at the equilibrium moisture content of the bat at the average humidity in America calculated in advance, it can be considered that the conditions for the bat to be used in America are the same. Incidentally, the grip portion 27 has the greatest strength and elasticity when it is at the equilibrium moisture content of the natural conditions of the land, and therefore the grip portion 27 is preferably fixed to the drying chamber 11.
It is very reasonable to expose the grip part 27 to the outside air instead of putting it inside. Furthermore, since the grip part 27 has a small diameter, it is prone to over-drying, which can lead to a significant decrease in elasticity and strength, which can cause breakage. However, in the present invention, by exposing the grip part 27 to the outside air as described above, such accidents can be effectively prevented.

In addition, the present invention is free to change the design other than the illustrated embodiment, and the insertion windows 14 may be arranged so as to insert the butts 12 in a single row, or may be arranged in three or more rows. , insertion window 14...
Butt 12 from one side or both sides with
... can be freely inserted into the drying chamber 11. It is also preferable to insert the butts 12 from diagonally above to facilitate insertion and withdrawal.

The present invention is constructed as described above, and the drying chamber 11, fan 17, heater 24, and temperature regulator 23 are all housed in the box 1 as a compact unit, making it easy to carry and place it on the bench side as desired. It can be placed in In addition, the weighing device 25
is attached to the box body 1, the weight of the vat can be easily and quickly measured before and after drying the vat, and the amount of moisture loss can be determined. Furthermore, in particular, only the ball hitting part 13 of the wooden bat 12 is inserted into the drying chamber 11 and dried, and the grip part 27 is exposed to the outside air, so the part (ball hitting part) that requires moisture adjustment.
At the same time, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of breakage accidents due to a decrease in elasticity and strength due to overdrying of the grip portion 27. Also, during or just before an actual baseball game, you can easily dry and remove the moisture inside the wooden bat 12, check it with the measuring device 25, and then grasp the grip part 27 and quickly pull it out to use it immediately. I can do it.
Furthermore, since the ball will travel the same distance whether the same bat is used by the same player in a foreign country such as the United States or in Japan, there is the advantage that international comparisons of baseball records can be made fairly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially sectional plan view, and FIG. 3 is an equilibrium moisture content curve diagram. 11...Drying room, 12...Wooden vat, 13...
...Ball hitting portion, 14...Insertion window, 15...Seal tongue piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A drying chamber 11 having an insertion window 14 at the top or side, into which only the ball hitting part 13 of the wooden bat 12 can be inserted and pulled out, is formed inside the portable box 1, and the insertion window 14 is provided with a sealing tongue piece 15 that tightly adheres to the inserted wooden bat 12 to maintain airtightness, and the grip portion 2 of the wooden bat 12 is
7 side is made to protrude outward from the seal tongue piece 15 and exposed to the outside air, and is heated to a predetermined temperature by the fan 17, electric heater 24, and temperature controller 23 provided inside the box body 1. The air is sent into the drying chamber 11 to dry only the ball hitting part 13, and the wooden bat 12 is
Weighing device 25 for measuring the weight before and after drying
A moisture regulating device for a wooden vat, characterized in that the above-mentioned box body 1 is attached to the above-mentioned box body 1.