US3450407A - Anti-fumble trainer football - Google Patents

Description

June 17,- 1969 A. J. RUSSO J 3,450,407

ANTI-FUMBLE TRAINER FOOTBALL Filed Jan. 26, 1967 IN VENTOR ALBERT J Russo United States Patent O 3,450,407 ANTLFUMBLE TRAINER FOOTBALL Albert J. Russo, 21 South College Ave.,

Salem, Va. 24153 Filed Jan. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 612,001 Int. Cl. A63b 41/00 U.S. Cl. 273-65 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An inflated football includes a liquid fluid whose quantity, weight, and ability to shift is such that it makes the football significantly more 'diflicult to handle than a football lacking said fluid.

This invention relates to footballs, and more particularly, to a football especially designed and constructed so as to train the user to fumble less, or eliminate fumbling when it is used in training football players. It is used mostly for backfield men, ends and centers, punt receivers, the players who handle the ball during a game.

This invention consists of a typical football constructed of material so as to prevent any of the water, or any other fluid used, from leaking out when the football is in play.

The purpose of the fluid or water is to make the ball difficult to handle because of the second-to-second shifting of the fluid or water to different parts of the ball. The ball, and the shifting weight, become hard to control.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an anti-fumble trainer football of the character herein-described that will always change its weight second-tosecond according to the flush of the water or fluid to different parts of the ball as it is passed or handled. Efficiency in handling a regular air-filled ball is rendered simpler because of the training with a heavier, difficult to handle, water or fluid contained ball. The player learns to grip the ball more firmly with his fingers. This grasping or seizing act is called prehension. The diflicult, wobbly, fluid ball trains the fingers and hands to grasp tightly, and thus the player fumbles less. It is this involuntary and voluntary grasping or prehensive faculty of the hands and fingers which is transferred to the air-filled ball during practice sessions or a regular football game. The player fumbles less because he has learned to grip the ball more firmly because the ball he trained with is so much heavier and has a variable, gravitational pull according to the second-to-second location of the shifting fluid or water.

Another object of this invention is to provide an antifumble trainer football that is of the same configuration and size as any other football.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an anti-fumble trainer football of the character hereindescribed that can readily be manufactured by any company already producing footballs without the necessity of adding new and expensive equipment to its factory.

Other and further objects of this invention will no doubt come to mind as the reading of this specification proceeds and the appended drawing is examined.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a typical anti fumble trainer football, made according to this specification.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of this invention, taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, and viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows.

In the drawing, the reference number 5 indicates a typical football made according to this specification, the football consisting of an inner lining 6 of any suitable waterproof flexible material. The aforesaid inner lining 6 being made as a water holding bag according to the usual methods in this art. While the aforesaid inner lining 6 is provided with a filler tube in order that both air and Water may be placed in the same, the filler tube is not shown in any of the views of the appended drawing for reasons of clarity.

The previously mentioned inner lining 6 is encompassed by the usual covering 7 of a football, the covering being normally made in four pieces that are indicated in the two views of the drawing by the reference numbers 8, 9, 10, and 11. Each of the four pieces of covering is provided with an inturned edge 12 that has a surface 13 that fits, and is suitably secured, tightly against another one of the aforesaid surfaces 13, as one can readily see by examining 'FIGURE 2 of the appended drawing. Here both inside surfaces of each joint are indicated by one lead line and the reference number 13. An inner flap 14 is placed overtop of the portion 15 of the aforesaid inner lining 6 in order to protect the portion of the football from the lace 16, used to secure together that portion of the football 15 which is indicated by the reference numbers 8 and 11.

From the foregoing, it is seen that I have herein described the detailed construction of this novel invention of an anti-fumble trainer foot-ball that can be modified in so long as any modifications made do not conflict with the construction of this invention of mine as set forth in the appended claims.

What I now claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An anti-fumble trainer football of prolate spheroidal shape comprising a bladder of flexible waterproof material, said bladder including a gaseous fluid maintaining said bladder in a prolate spheroidal shape and a predetermined quantity of a liquid fluid, the liquid fluids quantity, weight and ability to shift to different parts of said bladder being such as to make said ball significantly more diflicult to handle by football players during football training sessions than a similar football lacking said predetermined quantity of liquid fluid.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said bladder is encased in an outer protective cover.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,531,931 3/1925 Hart 275- 2,670,206 2/1954 Brewster 27358 X FOREIGN PATENTS 390,690 4/ 1933 Great Britain.

GEORGE I. MARLO, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

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