Weight for a ball bat

A weight member to be mounted on a ball bat to be used in making practice swings prior to becoming a batter in a ball game, has two substantially symmetrical relatively dense members each having a hole therein aligned with the hole in the other for passage of a baseball bat therethrough. The members are fastened together in fixed spaced positions with an intermediate resilient member fixed in spaced relation with each of them and having a hole therethrough aligned with the holes in the dense members for passage of the bat therethrough and for frictionally engaging the bat to removably secure the weight member to the bat. The weight member can be mounted on the ball bat by pushing the handle-end of the bat through the holes in one of the dense members and the resilient member until the flanged-handle end of the bat is disposed below the resilient member, rotating the bat about a horizontal axis end-over-end until the weight member slides over the surface of the bat and becomes lodged where the handle flares outwardly into the hitting portion of the bat or on the hitting portion. The weight member is removed from the bat by rotating it end-over-end until the handle-end of the bat is below the hitting portion of the bat and the weight slides downwardly over the handle end.

This invention relates generally to equipment for a ball game and more 
particularly to an improved weight member for installation on a ball bat 
to be used for practice swings and to a method for positioning a weight 
member on a ball bat and for removing it from the bat. 
The equipment required for playing a baseball game or the like includes a 
bat which is used to strike a ball thrown by a pitcher. The conventional 
ball bat is an elongated generally cylindrical implement of varying 
cross-section and is used by a batter to hit a ball thrown by another 
player known as a pitcher. The ball travels at a relatively high velocity 
as it approaches the batter and it is necessary for him to react quickly 
and swing through the path of the ball as it travels over the "plate". In 
order to adapt the muscles of the batter to react quickly and to swing the 
bat into the path of the ball, it has been the practice to swing a 
plurality of bats before taking a position in the batter's box. By taking 
practice swings with the heavier assembly of bats, the batter's arms tend 
to react more easily and to swing the single bat more quickly after all of 
the bats but one have been discarded. 
In order to eliminate swinging of a plurality of bats which is awkward, it 
has been proposed to substitute a single weighted member in the shape of a 
ring or collar on a single bat for the extra bats. For example, a single 
ring having a frustoconically shaped cross-section is disclosed in U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,521,883. The ring has a hole therethrough for passage of the 
bat and is supported on the bat by friction or by circumferentially spaced 
set screws extending through radially extending holes in the ring member. 
Other types of weighted baseball bats are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,116,926; 3,136,546; 3,578,801 and 3,971,559. Weighting of the bat in 
accordance with the disclosures in these patents involves drilling a 
longitudinally extending bore in the bat and installing the weight in the 
bore permanently which, of course, results in the bat being unsuitable for 
hitting a baseball. 
It is an object of this invention to provide a device for increasing the 
weight of a ball bat which is devoid of the foregoing disadvantages. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a device of higher density 
than that of a ball bat adapted to be removably mounted on a ball bat 
without excessive exertion for converting the bat into one which can be 
used for taking practice swings in preparation for assuming a position to 
attempt to hit a ball thrown by another. Still another object of the 
invention is to provide a ball bat and a substantially symmetrical member 
adapted to be mounted in surrounding association on a ball bat to increase 
the weight of the bat.

The foregoing objects and others which will become apparent from the 
description herein are accomplished in accordance with this invention, 
generally speaking, by providing a substantially symmetrical device having 
two rigid members of higher density than that of a conventional baseball 
bat and an intermediate resilient member, each having a hole therethrough, 
fixed together in face-to-face relation with the resilient member spaced 
from each of the rigid members and with the holes through the members 
being aligned with each other and adapted for passage of a bat 
therethrough with the resilient member frictionally engaging the surface 
of the bat and removably securing the device to the bat. The rigid members 
are preferably ring shaped but they may be square or polygonal or any 
other suitable shape which results in the weighted member being 
substantially symmetrical and the weight substantially uniformly 
distributed when the device is mounted in surrounding association on the 
bat. The bat can be made of any suitable material such as wood, aluminum, 
plastic or the like. The rigid members of the weight may be cast or molded 
of any castable or moldable material having a density higher than that of 
the bat such as, for example, iron, lead or other suitable metal, resin or 
the like. The rigid members are preferably encapsulated in a polymeric 
shell such as, for example, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, 
polyurethane, polyamide (nylon) or the like. The resilient member disposed 
between the rigid members of the weight may be any suitable flexible 
synthetic polymer such as polyvinyl chloride or the like but preferably 
polyurethane having a flexibility and hardness which adapt it to 
frictionally engage the bat and removably secure the weight member to the 
bat. 
Referring now to the drawing, one embodiment of the resilient member of the 
ball bat weight provided by the invention is illustrated in a plan view in 
FIG. 1 and in combined longitudinal section and phantom lined views in 
FIG. 2. As illustrated, the weight has two doughnut like ring members 10 
and 11 disposed one above the other in face-to-face relation with aligned 
openings 12 and 13. 
Ring members 10 and 11 are cast iron encapsulated in polyvinyl chloride 
polymer shells 14 and 15. These ring members have an inner surface 
surrounding a hole therethrough which is substantially nonyieldable and 
adapted to resist deformation by a bat or other object inserted in the 
hole. Ring members 10 and 11 are frusto-triangularly shaped in 
cross-sections and the bases 16 and 17 are secured in spaced relation by 
screws 18. The heads 19 of screws 18 are disposed in countersunk holes 20 
originating at the frusto-apex of ring member 11. Screws 18 are secured in 
threaded holes in ring 10. Spacing washers 21 and 22 are disposed about 
the shanks of screws 18 and against the base surfaces 23 and 24 of ring 
members 10 and 11. 
A resilient substantially nonporous polyurethane elastomeric ring member 25 
has a centrally disposed opening 26 and is fixed in spaced relation 
between rigid ring members 10 and 11 against washers 21 and 22 by screws 
18. Circumferentially spaced teeth or flaps 27 of ring member 25 provide 
an inner serrated edge which facilitates passage of a ball bat through 
opening 26 as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 2 to mount the weight 100 on 
the bat 101. The mass of weight 100 is distributed substantially 
symmetrically about the longitudinal axis "a" of the bat. 
One of the principal advantages of the weight member provided by this 
invention is that it can be mounted in place on the bat with a minimum of 
effort. The weight member may be resting on the ground or other surface 
with its open top or bottom facing upwardly and at a level near the level 
of the batter's feet. The weight member is mounted on the bat without the 
batter bending at the waist or stooping to pick up the weight member which 
is especially advantageous for one having a large waist line like that of 
the late George Herman "Babe" Ruth. To place the weight member on the bat, 
the weight member is disposed with one of its faces facing upwardly and 
the bat handle is forced through opening 26 in member 25 until flange 29 
of the bat handle is disposed below member 25 as illustrated in FIG. 2. 
The bat is then rotated end-over-end whereby the weight member 100 will 
slide along the bat handle to a point on the bat where it flares outwardly 
to the bell portion of the bat as illustrated in FIG. 3. The weight member 
moves along the bat under centrifugal force towards its striking surface 
until it becomes firmly secured about the bat by centrifugal force as the 
batter swings. The smallest inner diameter of the weight 100 is such that 
is cannot slide off the end of the bat. To remove the weight member, the 
bat is turned to a handle-end down position. The weight member slides 
downwardly and off the bat over the flanged bat handle end. The sliding 
action may be initiated by striking the flanged end of the bat on the 
ground, if necessary. 
This invention provides a bat and weight assembly for hitting a baseball, 
soft ball or other ball of the type conventionally struck by a batter. 
Any suitable polyurethane may be used for making ring member 25 such as the 
substantially nonporous polyurethane elastomers disclosed by Saunders and 
Frisch in the two-book set of Vol. XVI Polyurethanes: Chemistry and 
Technology published by Interscience Publishers, copyright, 1964. One 
commercially available product which is particularly well suited for 
making ring member 25 is "Tool-A-Thane" urethane marketed by Urethane 
Tooling and Engineering Corporation, 16520 South Vincennes Avenue, South 
Holland, Illinois 60473. The polyurethane preferrably has a durometer of 
about Shore A 95, a tensile strength of about 5200 psi, an elongation of 
about 400%, a tear strength of about 150 ASTM D-470, lb/in. split or 600 
ASTM D-624, lb/in., Die C, an abrasion resistance of NBS-275, a 
compression set of about 45%, Method B (22 hours at 158.degree. F.), a 
resilience of about 40% (Yersley %) and a brittleness temperature of 
-90.degree. F. 
Although the invention has been described in detail for the purposes of 
illustration, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for the 
purpose of illustration and that variations can be made therein without 
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as it may be 
limited by the claims.