US958117A - Base-ball mitt. - Google Patents

Description

J. HARTMAN'.

BASE BALL MITT APPIJIUATION FILED AUG.- 13, 1908.

Patented May 17, 1910.

INVENTOR QuQ? [74447 ATTORNEYE \MITNEEEEE a 6 W'- s'ra S ATENT @FFI@E.

JOSEPH HARTMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WALTER T. STALL, 0F BROOK- ION, MASSACHUSETTS, AND CHARLES H. DEAN, OF CHICAGQ, ILLINOIS.

BASE-BALL MITT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOsEPI-I I-IARTMAN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Base'Ball Mitts, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to pads for mitts used by baseball catchers, the pad to which my invention relates being formed for insertion in a leather casing forming the exterior or skin of the mitt, the pad being formed to fill the leather casing so that the pad and casing together constitute an operative mitt having a depression or pocket in the front or palm side adapted to facilitate the retention of a ball striking the mitt.

The invention has for its object to provide certain improvements in the construction of the pad whereby a durable, and at the same time, a sufficiently deep and flexible ball-engaging pocket is formed.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,-Figure 1 represents a view of the front or palm side of a mitt pad embodying my invention. Fig.

2 represents a view of the opposite side of the pad. Fig. 8 represents a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

My improved pad comprises a single facing piece a of fibrous, flexible material, preferably felt, the margin of said piece being shaped to conform to the marginal portions of the palm and thumb of the usual skin or casing in which the pad is inclosed. The margin of the facing piece is offset outwardly, or toward the palm side, to form a ridge 12 having a convex outer side. The said facing piece is also offset to form a concavo-convex central portion 18 the palm side of which is dished, and presents a concave outer side which is surrounded by the ridge 12, excepting at the gap between the palm and thumb portions, the said ridge 12 and depression 13 collectively forming a ball-engaging pocket which, as shown in Fig. 3, is of considerable depth, and is inclined inwardly from the highest portion of the ridge to the central portion of the depression.

The described form of the facing piece is Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 13, 1908.

Patented May 17, 1910?. Serial No. 448,312.

preserved and made permanent by the following means, namely: first, a cloth backing 1 1, the outer edge of which .is secured by stitches 15 to the outer edge of the ridge 12, and the inner edge of which is secured by stitches 16 to the inner edge or portion of the ridge, and secondly, the cushion 17 which may be composed of loose hair or other fibrous material compressed closely in the pocket formed by the ridge 12 and the cloth backing 14: so as to preserve the margin of the felt body in the convex form described. The cushion 17 is under sufficient compression to maintain the ridge 12 and backing 14: in a tense condition, and the central portion 13 in concavoconvex form the backing supporting the cushion, which, in turn, supports the ridge, so that the latter, while flexibly supported, is permanently maintained in the desired predetermined shape.

In assembling the described parts, provision is made for a suitable fullness of the portion of the facing piece which constitutes the depression 13, so that said depression has the dished form represented in Fig. 3.

The impact of the ball against the mitt is supported in part by the depression 13, and in part by the ridge 12, a considerable outward or radial pressure being exerted against the ridge by the ball when it strikes the mitt. Owing to the fact that the ridge is integral with the depression, there is no liability of permanent outward displacement of the ridge by the radial pressure of the ball against it, the tensile strength of the material composing the facing piece being utilized to prevent such stretching of the facing piece as would be required to cause a permanent outward displacement of any part of the ridge.

I prefer to make the facing piece from a single sheet of felt of suitable thickness. If desired, however, the facing piece may be made of any suitably flexible fibrous material, such as layers of cloth superimposed upon each other, and united by quilting stitches. In any case, my aim is to provide a facing piece which constitutes a ridge and a depression, the tensile strength of the facing piece being utilized to prevent outward displacement of the outer portion of the ridge y the pressure of the ball against it. Provision is thus made for preserving the desired predetermined form of the inner portion of the ridge which forms the marginal portion'of the pocket. If the material forming the inner portion of the ridge were free to be displaced outwardly, there would be liability of the enlargement of the margin of the pocket by the outward pressure of the ball against it. This liability does not exist in my improved pad.

Owing to the fact that there are two lines of stitching l5 and 16 which serve to pull the facing piece against the pressure caused by the filling 17, the marginal portion of the facing piece is distorted out of the plane of the central portion of the facing piece. The structure of the pad therefore, including the backing ll and the filling and the two lines of stitches, results in giving and preserving a form of the pad which presents a palm side or surface of a continuous single piece having a dished or concaved central portion and a surrounding marginal ridge, which depression and marginal portion meet in a gradual and easy curve which will avoid any ha bility of the inner portion of the ridge being displaced outwardly by the impact of a ball.

I claim:

A mitt pad comprising a single facing piece of fibrous flexible material forming the entire front side of the pad, and having its margin offset outwardly to form a ridge, and its central portion offset inwardly and dished to form a concave depression, said ridge and depression constituting a pocket on the front of the pad, and means for making the said ridge and depression permanent, said means including a cloth backing stitched at its inner and outer edges to the inner and outer edges of the ridge, and a cushion confined between said backing and ridge, the tensile strength of the material of the facing piece being utilized to prevent distortion of the margin of the pocket.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH HARTMAN.

lVitnesses CLARENCE B. ALDRICH, CHARLES E. JOHNSON.

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