US2207062A - Grip for handles - Google Patents

Description

July 9, 1940- E. B. LAMKlN- GRIP FOR HANDLES Filed April v1'?, 1959 (jg-13. J0 j@ Patented July 9, 1940 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEv GRIP FOR HANDLES Elver B. Lamkin, Chicago, Ill.

Application April 17, 1939, Serial No. 268,229

7 Claims.

My invention relates to grips for the handles of golf clubs, rackets, and the like. It is especially concerned with the type of grip which comprises a strip of leather wrapped spirally about, and secured to, the handle with thelateral edges of successive convolutions forming butt joints.

In one type of such a grip the margins of the back sides of the strip have been skived to present marginal bands of lesser thickness with a medial band of full thickness intermediate them. When applied to a handle with the skived bands as well as the land band pressed against the handle and adhered thereto, the exposed or face side of the grip presents a shallow spiralled groove with generously i'llleted shoulders. The groove, by its physical conformation, gives more traction to the hand than would a plain unskived strip. The groove is thus obtained without cutting into the grain surface.

One objection to such a. grip has been that the "thumbing" of the grip has pulled the skived edges free from the handle, permitting the edges to curl and become uncomfortable to the hand as Well as unsightly.

The chief object of my present invention is to improve upon this type of grip by eliminating the tendency of the lateral edges to work loose and curl, without, however, sacricing the advantages of this type of grip nor add to its cost of manufacture or of application.

In general, I realize the foregoing object by running the skiving as a medial band, rather than as a pair of marginal bands, along the back side of the strip. This leaves a pair of marginal land bands. The butt contact between adjoining lateral edges of the successive convolutions then comes along full thickness edges which, because of their greater thickness, are less apt to be pulled loose and start to curl. Other advantages also attend this arrangement, as will later be pointed out.

The foregoing, together with further objects, features and advantages of my invention are set forth in the following description of specific embodiments thereof.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the handle of a golf club provided with the grip of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the back side of one end of the grip strip used on the handle of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the strip taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a diametrical section of a fragment of the handle of Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the handle of a tennis racket showing a modified form of grip strip; and

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the grip strip of Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 1, the grip is formed byv a strip III-preferably of leather-spirally wrapped around the handle II of a golf club I2. In practice the strip may be adhered directly to the handle portion of the golf stick, or to a paper listing wrapped about the handle portion to increase its diameter and to augment itslflare.

The grip strip I0 is a single long strip of leather with parallel lateral edges (see Fig. 2). Its outer face is natural or simulated top grain treated in the usual manner to render itsemitacky.

vA central longitudinal region is skived out of the back side, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to form a medialskived band I3 which is about onefourth of the width of the strip (in the instance of the usual golf club grip). This leaves a pair of lands I4 of full thickness along the respective lateral margins of the strip with the skived band I3 of about half thickness lying between the lands. The junction of the skived band with the lands is preferably square cut to leave square shoulders I5 facing each other.

The strip I0 is spirally wrapped upon the handle and adhered thereto, the lateral edges I 6 of one convolution abutting the adjoining lateral edges of neighboring convolutions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.1 The medial region of the strip is pressed radially inwardly to adhere the skived band I3 to the handle. This may conveniently be done by the thumb or by a crowned roller. The result, viewed from the exterior, is a spiral depression I1, of somewhat arcuate cross section, on the outside of the skived `band I3. The square cut shoulders I5 tend to give theA depression Il more defined obtusely angled corners I8 where they meet the cylindrical external surface I9 of the gripv outwardly of the lands I4.

The following are some of the advantages of my grip as compared with the marginally skived type mentioned in the introduction:

(a) The inter-convolutional joints come at the edges I 6 of the lands I4 which are of full thickness. The thicker leather, being stiier, is less likely to work loose from its adherence along the joints, and less apt to curl if it should be thumbed loose.

(b) There is less tendency to pull the skived region free from adhesion to the handle. This is because the transverse internal strain on the skived band (set up by its transverse stretching in pressing it out of its normal line and inwardly against the handle) tending to pull it transversely toward the adjacent land, is resisted by the integral anchorage of the skived band in the other adjoining land. In the type where the interconvolutional joint comes in skived regions, the lateral strain or pull is resisted only by the imperfect adherence of the skived band to the handle, and tends to strip it from the handle.

(c) Relatively little harm is done in my construction even if the skived band should, here and there,or even everywherebe pulled loose from adhesion to the handle. It frees no edge of the strip, cannot cause peeling or curling, and still presents a spiral depression at least under pressure of the hand.

I might here mention that in either type, there is an imperfect adherence of the skived band; rst, because its adherence cannot extend throughout the full width to the shoulder; second, because the skived leather, having been pressed inwardly out of its normal position, tends to move outwardly to its normal position; and third, because an axial thrust of the lingers of the players hand against the depression edges I8 tends to rock or shift the leather at that region longitudinally of the handle and thereby exert a transverse pull on the skived band tending to strip the skived portion from the handle.

(d) My construction makes it feasible to form a narrower depression in the exposed surface of the grip. In the marginally skived construction of the prior art, each marginal skving must be wide enough to be pressed in against, and adhere to, the handle, and the resulting depression will be twice that wide. My medial skiving does not have to be so wide.

(e) It is feasible to get a deeper spiral depression in the grip because the back side can safely be skived deeper, since no raw edge of the skived band is exposed.

(f) It is easier for workmen to apply the strip to the handle, because the thicker lateral edges of the strip are less apt to overlap and, being stiffer, may be more easily guided into abutting position.

(y) The spiral groove may start and stop wherever desired along the length of the strip. This cannot be done with a marginally skived strip, because then a thin skived edge would abut a thick edge between the last skived convolution and the adjoining unskived convolution.

Despite these advantages, my construction retains the advantages of a grip surface which is all top grain, free from exposed raw edges, and which has a spiral depression affording a more secure traction for the hands. My stripis no more expensive to make-in fact it involves only one skiving operation-and it involves no more time or skill inapplication to the handle.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown my invention applied to the handle I I of a tennis racket. Because of the greater diameter of the handle, in order to avoid too steep an angle of lead for the spirally wrapped grip strip, I use a wider strip in accordance with the usual practice. Because of the wider strip I prefer to use a pair of spaced medial skived bands I3 leaving not only the marginal lands I6' but a central land I6" between the skived bands I3. The land I6" ls about twice the width of each land I6. In this way the width of the depressions Il' and the space between them is kept comparable to that in the golf club grip of Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. A grip for the handle of a golf club, racket,

or the like, comprising a parallel edged onepiece single-thickness strip of grain leather of suillcient length to be wrapped spirally about the handle throughout its grip portions with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting. the grain face being unskived, but the back side having a skived band extending longitudinally thereof with a full single thickness land band along each lateral margin, substantially as described, the width oi' the skived band being4 at least several times its depth.

2. A grip for the handle of a golf club, comprising a parallel edged one-piece single-thickness strip of grain leather of suicient length to be wrapped spirally about the handle throughout its grip portion with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting, the grain face being unskived but the back side having a single band skived to about half thickness and of width several times its depth and in the order of onefourth the width of the strip extending medially ofthe strip, leaving on either side thereof a land band of full single thickness margining the respective lateral edge of the strip, whereby the lateral edges of the strip are of unfolded full thickness.

3. A grip for the handle of a golf club, comprising a strip of grain leather wrapped spirally about, and adhered to, the handle with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting and the grain exposed, a single medial band skived into the back side of the strip along at' least a considerable portion of its length, leaving a full thickness band on either side thereof extending to the lateral edge of the strip, the grain face being pressed inwardly along the region of the skived band to bring the latter against the handle, thereby representing a spiralled shallow groove in the grain face exterior of the grip.

4. A grip for the handle of a golf club, racket or the like, comprising a strip of grain leather Wrapped spirally about, and adhered to, the handle with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting and the grain exposed, one or more medial bands skived into the back side of the strip along a plurality of convolutions, and unskived bands along the respective lateral margins of the strip extending transversely to the lateral edges, the grain face being pressed inwardly to the handle along the skived region to present a spiral groove in the external surface of the grip.

5. A grip according to claim 3, wherein the skived band is adhered to the handle.

6. A grip for the handle of a racket, comprising a strip of grain leather of sufficient length to be wrapped spirally about the handle throughout its grip portion with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting, the grain face being unskived, but the back side having a plurality of spacing bands skived into the back side and extending longitudinally of the strip throughout a plurality of convolution lengths thereof, leaving longitudinally extending unskived bands of full thickness, one unskived band lying between each adjacent pair of skived bands and one lying between each marginal edge and the adjacent skived band and extending to the marginal edge whereby to present full thickness lateral edges.

'7. A grip for the handle of a racket comprising a strip of grain leather wrapped spirally about, and adhered to, the handle with the lateral edges of successive convolutions abutting and the grain exposed, a pair of laterally spaced medial bands skived into the back side of the strip and extending longitudinally thereof through a plurality of convolution lengths, an unskived land band extending between the skived bands and a. pair of marginal unskived land bands extending from the respective lateral edges to the adjacentskived band whereby the lateral edges of the strip are of full thickness, the grain face being pressed inwardly to the handle alon the skived region to present a pair of spiral grooves in the external surface of the grip.

ELV'ER B. LAMKIN.

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