Patent Publication Number: US-2003224865-A1

Title: Tubular sport items

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates to a tubular sport item and includes a durable reinforcement outer casing onto which a veneer lamination is wrapped.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] Due to the negative affection by temperature and humidity for the wooden sport items such as billiard cues, golf clubs or handles of rackets, manufacturers developed the latest sport items made of fiber or compound material. Taking the billiard cue as an example, however, the billiard cues are expensive and lack the right feeling when impacting the balls. Another conventional billiard cue is developed and shown in FIG. 9 and generally includes a wooden core  60  with epoxide resin spread on the wooden core  60  and fiber strips soaked with resin are wrapped around the wooden core  60  according to a pre-determined angle. Pressure is applied to the fiber strips and the fiber strips are heated to securely combine the resin and the strips. Therefore, for the shaft of billiard cue, the billiard cue has a solidified fiber layer  600  which maintains the wooden core  60  from deformation. Nevertheless, the billiard cue with a fiber layer has to be proceeded by a grinding process to smooth the outer surface of the fiber layer or even print patterns on the fiber layer. Besides, protection of the forest source is a main trend so that it is more and more difficult to have suitable trees to make to be the wood core  60  for the billiard cues.  
       [0003] The present invention intends to provide a sport item which has a foam core with a reinforcement layer wrapped around the foam core and a veneer lamination on the outer surface of the reinforcement layer.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a billiard cue which includes a tubular reinforcement layer wrapped around the core. The reinforcement layer includes fiber strips and a veneer lamination is wrapped around said reinforcement layer.  
       [0005] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a tubular sport item that is light in weight and has a veneer lamination on its outside.  
       [0006] These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0007]FIG. 1 is a perspective view to show a billiard cue having the structure of the present invention;  
     [0008]FIG. 2 shows the core, the reinforcement layer and the veneer lamination for the billiard cue of the present invention;  
     [0009]FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view to show the billiard cue having the structure of the present invention;  
     [0010]FIG. 4 is an exploded view to show another embodiment of the structure of the billiard cue of the present invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view to show the billiard cue as shown in FIG. 4 of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 6 is a perspective view to show a golf club having the structure of the present invention;  
     [0013]FIG. 7 shows the shank of the racket has the structure of the present invention;  
     [0014]FIG. 8 shows that the shank of the billiard cue has no foam core;  
     [0015]FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view to show a conventional billiard cue. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0016] Referring to FIGS.  1  to  3 , taking a billiard cue as an example for interpreting the present invention, the billiard cue comprises a shaft  100  with a tip  101  and a butt  102  on two ends of the shaft  100  respectively. The shaft  100  includes a core  10  made of foam material and the core  10  has suitable density so as to have absorb shocks when striking the balls. A reinforcement layer  20  is wrapped around the core  10  and includes compound material such as fiber strips  21  or other suitable material. The reinforcement layer  20  is applied by heating and set the shape under high pressure so as to form a solid reinforcement layer  20 . The reinforcement layer  20  protects the core  10  and prevents the core  10  from being deformed. Furthermore, the reinforcement layer  20  keeps the core  10  to be straight as desired.  
     [0017] A veneer lamination  30  includes wooden plates  220  soaked by resin and securely wraps around the reinforcement layer  20 .  
     [0018] The foam core  10  absorbs shocks when striking the balls and the veneer lamination  30  remains the nature of the wooden billiard cue such that when the player holds the billiard cue, he or she feels like holding a wooden billiard cue.  
     [0019]FIGS. 4 and 5 show that the veneer lamination  30  is replaced with a one-piece tubular casing  300  which has a passage defined longitudinally therein so that the core  10  together with the reinforcement layer  20  are securely received in the passage of the tubular casing  300 . The one-piece tubular casing  300  includes a veneer lamination  301  on an outer surface of the tubular casing  300 .  
     [0020] The casing  300  can be made of any known material which is light and durable. The veneer lamination  301  provides the billiard cue to have the same feeling of touch as the wooden billiard cue.  
     [0021] Referring to FIG. 6, the structure of the present invention can be used to make the shank of a golf club  40  and the shank  51  of a tennis racket  50  as shown in FIG. 7. The structure can be used in any sport item that has a tubular shank portion.  
     [0022] As shown in FIG. 8, the billiard cue of the present invention may also be made not to include the foam core  10  as shown in FIG. 2 as the weight of the billiard cue without the foam core reaches the range of standard weight of the billiard cue. In this case, the reinforcement layer  20  can be wrapped around a mandrel (not shown) so as to form the tubular shank of the billiard cue. However, it is not suitable for the manufacturing the tennis racket  50  because the head of the tennis racket  50  has to be drilled for the strings and debris may drop in the hollow tube of the head and generates noise when swing. Therefore, foam material is filled in the hollow tube of the head to set the debris in position.  
     [0023] While we have shown and described the billiard cue in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments such as gold clubs, bows, fishing rods, or bicycle frames may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.