Patent Publication Number: US-2004053715-A1

Title: Variable weight end structure for sporting equipment handles

Description:
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  
     [0001] None 
    
    
     
       CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0002] Provisional Patent 60/395,022 Jul. 12, 2002  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003] 1. Field of Invention  
       [0004] This invention relates to an improvement for tennis racquets, golf clubs, and other sporting equipment that employ a handle. Specifically, the improvement is a means to add variable weights to the tail end of a racquet or club. The tail end refers to the end of the handle of a racquet or club.  
       [0005] 2. Description of Prior Art  
       [0006] The addition of weight to improve playability and feel is a common way to customize racquets or clubs. In fact, many professional players employ some type of custom weighting to improve their racquet or clubs performance. While weighting a racquet/club can have dramatic effects, the placement of the weight is critical to achieve improved performance. For example, application of weight at the tail-end of a racquet or club increases power and control, reduces shock, and maintains swing weight. In contrast, a weight placed at the head or side of a racquet reduces power and control, increases shock, and increases swing weight. Therefore, the preferred placement of a weight to achieve optimum performance is at the tail-end of a racquet or club handle. The amount of weight depends on the particular racquet characteristics, physical ability of a player along with his/her specific desires. The ideal weight would be different for each player. In addition, in a sport such as tennis, a player matches his skill against opponents whose playing styles and physical abilities greatly vary. A successful player is one who will be able to adjust his game to counter that of his opponent. Therefore, it is very desirable for a player to vary the weight placed on a racquet/club so as to ‘tune’ his game to current conditions. To be able to vary the weighting of a racquet quickly and efficiently, even during a match, is a great asset.  
       [0007] Unfortunately, no methods currently exist that allow a player to easily attach variable weight to the tail-end of a racquet or club. Current techniques promoted by the sporting industry, involve disassembly of the racquet handle (removing grip and butt cap) and adding weight along with cotton padding inside the handle. Not only is this method cumbersome and time consuming, the method requires a racquet/club with a hollow handle to hold the weight. If a handle is solid, the player must gouge out a cavity or not use a weight.  
       [0008] Another technique used and sited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,421, “Counter-weighting handle grip”, requires the player to wrap lead/felt tape beneath a golf club handle grip. This method is cumbersome, increases grip size, and doesn&#39;t place the weight at the ideal tail-end location of a handle.  
       [0009] In U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,902 to McCutchen (1991), a static distal butt weight for a tennis racquet handle, for the purpose, among others, of extending the center of percussion, absorbing shock, and increasing the momentum of the racquet. This method is not a variable weighting method, but rather adds one fixed weight to the racquet handle  
       [0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,453 to Douglas et al. (1992) shows a tennis racquet with a solid butt weight attached to its handle end by means of an “acorn shaped weighted extension” (4) attachable to the end of the handle by welding or screwing it on (5:8). Once again this is not a variable method to add weight to the tail end of a racquet or club.  
       [0011] U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,793 to Chen (1991) teaches an elongated rubber sheath over a conventional butt cap, the sheath extending up the handle with numerous recesses for containing small individual optional weights under the player&#39;s hand. This method does not provide a means to quickly and easily change weight. Additionally, the weight placement is in the handle not at the optimum location of the tail-end.  
       [0012] In conclusion, solutions of prior art for weighting the tail end of a racquet or club, all pertain to fixed or static weighting and do not address the fundamental difficulty of allowing a player to efficiently and easily change the weight on the fly or even during play. Insofar as we are aware, no sporting racquet/club handle mechanism formerly developed provides a means to quickly and easily vary the weight located at the tail end of a handle.  
       OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES  
       [0013] Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:  
       [0014] 1. to provide custom tail-end weighting;  
       [0015] 2. to provide variable weighting;  
       [0016] 3. to provide rapid user-friendly weight adjustments;  
       [0017] 4. to provide weighting in an economical manner.  
       [0018] Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a study of the following description and the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS AND FIGURES  
     [0019]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the variable weight end structure for tennis racquets.  
     [0020]FIG. 2 is a exploded view of the variable weight end structure constructed in accordance with the invention, showing the interface element, weighting element, and securing mechanism.  
     [0021]FIG. 3 is a side view of the interface element.  
     [0022]FIG. 4 is a side view of the weighting element.  
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS  
     [0023] 10  Variable weight end structure  
     [0024] 11  Cap  
     [0025] 12  Cap Slot  
     [0026] 13  Locking tab (outside cap)  
     [0027] 14  Plug  
     [0028] 15  Sleeve  
     [0029] 16  Locking tab (inside cavity)  
     [0030] 17  Interface Element  
     [0031] 18  Weight Element  
     [0032] 19  Cavity  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION  
     [0033] A typical embodiment of the variable weight end structure  10  is illustrated in FIG. 1 (perspective view). FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the variable weight end structure  10  showing the interface element  17 , weight element  18  and securing mechanism. In this embodiment the interface element  17  is comprised of a sleeve  15 , and cavity  19 . The sleeve  15  is tapered and notched to slide over a racquet handle or club. The sleeve  15  is secured to a handle using glue or staples. At the other side of interface element  17  is the cavity  19  that holds the weight element  18 . The securing mechanism to hold weight element  18  inside cavity  19  is a cap  11 . The cap  11  has a slot  12  that is used to rotate cap during plug  14  removal and replacement. There are locking tabs  13 / 16  on the outside of cap  11  and inside of cavity  19  to firmly secure cap to interface element  17  and hold weight element  18  firmly in place. The weighting element  18  in this embodiment is a solid plug  14 . A set of plugs  14  can be made each having a different weight by using materials with different densities (lead, brass, pewter, or plastic) or removing varying amounts of material from the center of plug  14 .  
     [0034] There are various embodiments with regard to the securing mechanism of weight element  17  to interface element  18 . A second embodiment uses a threaded screw and nut through the center of cap  11  and plug  14  in place of locking tabs  13 / 16 . Additionally, the weight element  17  could consist of round or disk-shaped sub-elements attached or stacked together.  
     DESCRIPTION—OPERATION  
     [0035] In operation a player uses the variable weight end structure  10  in a manner similar to current tennis racquet butt caps. The variable weight end structure  10  replaces the standard butt cap and is attached using the same techniques employed for standard butt caps making installation very easy. The variable weight end structure  10  maintains the same shape and form fit as a standard butt cap so that a player feels no difference in his grip.  
     [0036] The player, when desired, may change the performance characteristic of his racquet by changing the plug weight  14  at the end of the racquet. This is done by replacing the plug  14  with a second plug  14  of different weight. If desired the player can choose not to tail-weight by not placing a plug  14  in the sleeve  15 .  
     [0037] When changing out a plug  14  the player uses slot  12  to rotate cap  11  counterclockwise to release locking tabs  13 / 16 . Once released, the cap  11  and plug  14  are removed from the sleeve  15 . A new different weight plug  14  or no plug may be placed in the sleeve  15 . The cap  11  is placed over the plug  14  and rotated to engage locking tabs  13 / 16  to secure plug  14  and cap  11 .  
     [0038] A player can change the plug  14  quickly and easily so that weight changes can be performed even during play. A player therefore can make rapid adjustments to his racquet to optimize his play against opponents or current playing conditions.  
     SUMMARY, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE  
     [0039] Accordingly, the reader will see that the invention, a variable weight end structure  10 , has an interface element  17  and a weighting element  18 . The variable weight end structure  10  attaches to sporting equipment handles so that a player can quickly and easily add and vary tail-end weighting.  
     [0040] Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention.  
     [0041] Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given