Patent Publication Number: US-2022219057-A1

Title: Artificial Shuttlecock and Feather and Preparation Method Thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to an artificial shuttlecock, and more particularly, to a feather of an artificial shuttlecock and a preparation method thereof. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Badminton is a common and popular ball game, in which players hit a shuttlecock as a way to play the game. The main structure of a traditional shuttlecock comprises natural feathers connected to a ball head. The natural feathers are mostly goose feathers or duck feathers, which are screened and processed to make a shuttlecock. However, it is getting more and more difficult to obtain natural feathers, and the screening procedures are complicated and labor-intensive. Therefore, there are also artificial shuttlecocks on the market, trying to solve the problem of shortage of natural feathers and complicated screening procedures. 
     However, most artificial shuttlecocks use a soft ball skirt made of nylon instead of natural feathers, and the structure of the soft ball skirt allows the shuttlecock to flow with the airflow generated when the shuttlecock is hit. However, the shuttlecock made of such a soft ball skirt demonstrates a lower flight performance and lesser sense of hitting impact when compared to a shuttlecock made of natural feathers, making it difficult for users to accept. 
     At present, there are also kite-shaped feather made of plastic with holes or cuts made on the feather to simulate the flight performance and sense of hitting impact of a natural feather-made shuttlecock. The arrangement of feather on the head of this type of artificial shuttlecock is based on the arrangement of a natural shuttlecock. The short axis of the kite shape overlaps with the adjacent feather. However, since the feathers made of plastic are thicker than natural feathers, there is still room for improvement in the flight performance of this type of artificial shuttlecock when it is hit. 
     SUMMARY 
     In view of the above-mentioned problems, the main object of the present disclosure is to provide an artificial shuttlecock, a feather and a preparation method thereof, which forms a novel concave in the feather to solve the problem of poor flight performance when the conventional artificial shuttlecock is hit. 
     In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure provides a feather fir an artificial shuttlecock The artificial shuttlecock comprises a ball head, a plurality of stems and a plurality of feathers, each one of the plurality of stems has one end inserted into the ball head and another end connected to one of the plurality of feathers respectively, each one of the plurality of feathers comprising: a connecting portion, a first portion, a second portion, a first opening, and a concave. The connecting portion is connected to one of the plurality of stems. The first portion and a second portion are disposed on the opposite sides of the connecting portion respectively. The first opening is disposed in the first portion. The concave is located at an outer edge of the second portion. Furthermore, the concave is formed by the following steps of: defining an overlapped outline, which is the outline of the adjacent feathers overlapping on the second portion; defining a reference point, which is a point where the overlapped outline is closest to the connecting portion; defining a shifting reference line, which passes through the reference point and is parallel to the connecting portion; defining a reference outline in the second portion, wherein the reference outline has the same configuration as that of an outline of the first portion, and the reference outline is located outside the shifting reference line; and cutting the reference outline to form the concave. 
     In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure also provides a method for preparing a feather for an artificial shuttlecock. The artificial shuttlecock comprises a ball head, a plurality of stems and a plurality of feathers, each one of the plurality of stems has one end inserted into the ball head and another end connected with one of the plurality of feathers respectively. The method for preparing the feathers comprises the following steps of: obtaining the feather having a kite shape, wherein the feather comprises a connecting portion, a first portion, and a second portion, the connecting portion is connected to one of the plurality of stems, the first portion and the second portion are disposed on the opposite sides of the connecting portion respectively; piercing through the first portion to form a first opening; defining an overlapped outline in the second portion, which is the outline of the adjacent feathers overlapping on the second portion; defining a reference point, which is a point where the overlapped outline is closest to the connecting portion; defining a shifting reference line in the second portion, which passes through the reference point and is parallel to the connecting portion; defining a reference outline in the second portion, wherein the reference outline has the same configuration as that of an outline of the first portion, and the reference outline is located outside the shifting reference line; and cutting the reference outline to form a concave. 
     In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure also provides an artificial shuttlecock comprising a ball head, a plurality of stems, and a plurality of feathers. Each one of the plurality of sterns having one end inserted into the ball head. Each one of the plurality of feathers is connected to another end of each one of the plurality of sterns respectively. Each one of the plurality of feathers comprises a connecting portion, a first portion and a second portion, a first opening, and a concave. The connecting portion is connected to one of the plurality of stems. The first portion and second portion are disposed on the opposite sides of the connecting portion respectively. The first opening is disposed in the first portion, and the concave is located at an outer edge of the second portion. Furthermore, the concave is formed by the following steps of defining an overlapped outline, which is the outline of the adjacent feathers overlapping on the second portion; defining a reference point, which is a point where the overlapped outline is closest to the connecting portion; defining a shifting reference line, which passes through the reference point and is parallel to the connecting portion; defining a reference outline in the second portion, wherein the reference outline has the same configuration as that of an outline of the first portion, and the reference outline is located outside the shifting reference line; and cutting the reference outline to form the concave. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reference outline is the outline of the first portion being shifted to the second portion, so that the reference outline is parallel to the outline of the first portion. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reference outline is the outline of the first portion shifted upwards or downwards after being shifted to the second portion. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reference outline is the outline of the first portion being rotated by a predetermined angle after being shifted to the second portion. 
     According to ant embodiment of the present disclosure, the predetermined angle is between 3 degrees and 10 degrees. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a long axis of the first opening is parallel to the connecting portion, the connecting portion has a first length, the first opening has a second length, and the ratio of the second length to the first length is between 0.22 and 0.31. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the feather further comprises a second opening disposed in the second portion and not in contact with the concave. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the feather is originally in a kite-shaped configuration, and after the second portion is cut to form the concave, the feather turns into an irregular configuration. 
     As described above, according to the artificial shuttlecock, the feather, and the method for preparing the feather of the present disclosure, the opposite sides of the connecting portion of the feather are formed into a first portion and a second portion respectively. By forming an (first) opening in the first portion and a concave formed in the outer edge of the second portion, the feathers are formed into an irregular shape. Furthermore, the concave is formed by first defining an overlapped outline and then cutting along a reference outline. After performing a hitting impact test on the artificial shuttlecock of the present disclosure, it can be found out that the artificial feather consisted of irregular feathers (with concaves) has better aerodynamic stability than that of the conventional artificial shuttlecock, that is, it has better flight performance. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an artificial shuttlecock according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic plan view of the feather shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart of a method for preparing a feather according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a schematic view of the feather shown in  FIG. 2  made by the method for preparing the feather shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic plan view of a feather according to another embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic view of an overlapped Outline shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  illustrate schematic views of another embodiment of step S 60  shown in  FIG. 3 ; and 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a schematic view of another embodiment of step S 60  shown n  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     In order to make the structure and characteristics as well as the effectiveness of the present disclosure to be further understood and recognized, the detailed description of the present disclosure is provided as follows along with embodiments and accompanying figures. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an artificial shuttlecock according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and  FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic plan view of the feather shown in  FIG. 1 . Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . The artificial shuttlecock  1  includes a plurality of feathers  10 , a ball head  20 , and a plurality of stems  30 . The plurality of stems  30  is arranged on the ball head  20  at intervals, and one end of each stem  30  is inserted into the ball head  20 , and the other end is connected with a feather  10 . It should be noted that this embodiment uses the special structure of the feather  10  to improve the flight performance of the artificial shuttlecock  1  when it is hit. In this embodiment, each feather  10  is connected to each stem  30 , that is, the feather  10  is connected to the stem  30  respectively. In addition, each feather  10  can be connected to a stem  30 , or two feathers  10  can be connected to two opposite sides of a stem  30 . Therefore, the present embodiment can have different connecting configurations. 
     In this embodiment, the feather  10  includes a connecting portion  11 , which refers to the place where the feather  10  and the stem  30  are connected to each other, that is, the connecting portion  11  is connected to one of the plurality of stems  30 . In this embodiment, glue can be applied to the stem  30  first, and then the feather  10  is placed on the glue-coated stem  30 , and the feather  10  and the stem  30  are connected by hot press bonding. And the part where the feather  10  is adhered to the stem  30  is the connecting portion  11 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart of a method for preparing a feather according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and  FIG. 4  illustrates a schematic view of the feather shown in  FIG. 2  made by the method for preparing the feather shown in  FIG. 3 . Please refer to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 4 , the details of each step of the method for preparing feather  10  are described, and the structural features of the feather  10  of this embodiment are also described. 
     Step S 10 : obtaining a kite-shaped feather  100 . 
     The feather  10  in this embodiment is cut from the kite-shaped feather  100  (please refer to  FIG. 4 ). The kite-shaped feather  100  has long and short diagonal lines. The connecting portion  11  and the long diagonal line of the kite-shaped feather  100  overlap each other. In this embodiment, opposite sides of the connecting portion  11  of the feather  10  (kite-shaped feather  100 ) are defined as the first portion  12  and the second portion  13  respectively. In other words, the feather  10  (the kite-shaped feather  100 ) of this embodiment includes the connecting portion  11 , the first portion  12 , and the second portion  13 , and the connecting portion  11  is connected to the stem  30 , the first portion  12  and the second portion  13  are respectively located on the opposite sides of the connecting portion  11 . 
     In this embodiment, the feather  10  is also an artificial feather, which is used to replace natural feathers. In this embodiment, the feather  10  is made of plastic with a density between 0.9 g/cm 3  and 1.48 g/cm 3 , and the type of plastic can be, for example, but not limited to, low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), aciylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polyamide (PA), and extruded polyethylene (EPE). Preferably, the feather  10  may be a combination of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). 
     Step S 20 : Piercing through the first portion  12  and the second portion  13  to form a first opening  14  and a second opening  15  respectively. 
     Each feather  10  (the kite-shaped feather  100 ) includes at least one opening. In this embodiment, two openings are taken as an example for illustration. The first opening  14  is disposed in the first portion  12 , and the second opening  15  is disposed in the second portion  13 . Moreover, the first opening  14  and the second opening  15  can be substantially the same. In other embodiments, only the first opening  14  is disposed in the first portion  12 , however, the present disclosure is not limited to these configurations. As shown in  FIG. 5 , in which a schematic plan view illustrates a feather according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The feather  10   a  may have only one opening (that is, the first opening  14 ), and it is located in the first portion  12 . Correspondingly, step S 20  can also be to form a first opening  14  in the first portion  12 . 
     The first opening  14  and the second opening  15  are elongated structures, preferably rectangular, and the long axes of the first opening  14  and the second opening  15  may be parallel to the connecting portion  11 . Specifically, a cutter can be applied on the first portion  12  and the second portion  13  to cut a part of the plastic foam material of the feather  10  (the kite-shaped feather  100 ). The cutter preferably has a rectangular structure, and the long axis of the cutter is arranged in parallel with the connecting portion  11  and corresponds to the first portion  12  and the second portion  13 . Then the feather  10  is cut to form a rectangular cut, thereby forming the first opening  14  and the second opening  15 . 
     Preferably, the first opening  14  and the second opening  15  can be symmetrically arranged in the feather  10  with the connecting portion  11  being the axis of symmetry. Moreover, the first opening  14  and the second opening  15  can have substantially the same configuration. However, it should be noted that the second opening  15  can&#39;t be disposed at the position of the concave  16  (explained further below). 
     Preferably, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the connecting portion  11  has a first length L 1 , and the first opening  14  has a second length L 2 . Specifically, the length of the first opening  14  along the long axis is the second length L 2 . In this embodiment, the ratio of the second length L 2  to the first length L 1  is limited to be between 0.22 and 0.31. Since the feather  10  (the portion excluding the first opening  14 ) is mainly an area consisted of a high density of plastic foaming material, and the first opening  14  is an area where no plastic foaming material is formed, during the flight of the artificial shuttlecock  1 , different wind resistances are generated due to the difference in material density between the first opening  14  and other areas of the feather  10 . 
     Step S 30 : Defining an overlapped outline R 1  in the second portion  13 , which is the outline  101  of the adjacent feathers (that is, the kite-shaped feather  100   a ) overlapping on the second portion  13 . 
     First, the present disclosure defines an overlapped outline R 1  in the second portion  13 . Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which illustrates a schematic view of an overlapped outline shown in  FIG. 4 . It should be noted that the overlapped outline R 1  is a virtual reference line, which is used to evaluate an outline  101  of the second portion  13  when the plurality of feathers  100  is inserted in the ball head  20  (as shown in  FIG. 6 ) and the adjacent feathers  100   a  overlaps on the second portion  13 . Because the arrangement of the feather  100  on the ball head  20  resembles the arrangement of a natural badminton, the kite-shaped feather  100  partially overlaps the adjacent feather  100   a  near its short axis. In step S 30 , a computer simulation method or a conventional artificial shuttlecock (as shown in  FIG. 6 ) can be directly used to draw the outline  101  of the adjacent feather  100   a  overlapping the second portion  13 , thereby defining the outline  101  as an overlapped outline R 1  (virtual reference line as shown in  FIG. 4 ). 
     Step S 40 : Defining a reference point, which is a point where the overlapped outline R 1  is closest to the connecting portion  111 . 
     Refer to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  again. Because the overlapped outline R 1  is an arc-shaped curve (that is, a part of the kite shape), the point closest to the connecting portion  11  can be found and defined as the reference point RP. In other words, the reference point RP is a virtual reference point (such as the triangular square in  FIG. 4 ), which is the point on the overlapped outline R 1  that is closest to the connecting portion  11 . 
     Step S 50 : Defining a shifting reference line R 2  in the second portion  13 , which passes through the reference point RP and is parallel to the connecting portion  11 . 
     Next, a parallel line of the connecting portion  11  is drawn at the reference point RP as a shifting reference line R 2 , so that the reference point RP is parallel to the connecting portion  11 . Similarly, the shifting reference line R 2  is a virtual reference line, which is the shifting reference of other reference line drawn in the subsequent steps (that is, the reference outline R 3 ). 
     Step S 60 : Defining a reference outline R 3  in the second portion  13 , wherein the reference outline R 3  has the same configuration as that of an outline  121  of the first portion  12 , and the reference outline R 3  is located outside the shifting reference line. 
     Next, the outline  121  of the first portion  12  is replicated and shifted to the outside of the reference line R 2  as the reference outline R 3 . It should be noted that the outside of the shifting reference line R 2  refers to the portion of the shifting reference line R 2  farther away from the connecting portion  11 . Taking the kite-shaped feather  100  as an example, the outside of the shifting reference line R 2  refers to the portion between the shifting reference line R 2  and the outer edge of the second portion  13 . In this embodiment, the reference outline R 3  is formed by shifting the outline  121  of the first portion  12  to be partially aligned with the shifting reference line R 2 , so that the other part of reference outline R 3  is located outside of shifting reference line R 2 . 
     In other words, the reference outline R 3  is the outline  121  of the first portion  12  horizontally shifted to the second portion  13 , so that the reference outline R 3  is parallel to the outline  121  of the first portion  12 . In other embodiments, the reference outline R 3  can also be the outline  121  of the first portion  12  horizontally shifted to the second portion  13  to be further adjusted with respect to position or angle (described further below) according to the requirements of the disclosure, and is not limited to any specific adjustment. 
     Step S 70 : Cutting the reference outline R 3  to form a concave  16 . 
     Finally, the reference outline R 3  is cut to form a concave  16  in the second portion  13 , thereby obtaining the feather  10  of this embodiment. In other words, the concave  16  of the feather  10  is located at the outer edge of the second portion  13 . In other words, the feather  10  was originally in the shape of a kite (that is, the kite-shaped feather  100 ) and turned out to have an irregular configuration after the second portion  13  is cut to form the concave  16 . 
     In general, the concave  16  of the feather  10  is formed by the following steps: Defining an overlapped outline R 1  in the second portion  13 , which is the outline  101  of the adjacent feathers (or the kite-shaped feather  100   a ) overlapping on the second portion  13  (Step S 30 ); defining a reference point, which is a point where the overlapped outline R 1  is closest to the connecting portion  11  (Step S 40 ); defining a shifting reference line R 2  in the second portion  13 , which passes through the reference point RP and is parallel to the connecting portion  11  (Step S 50 ); defining a reference outline R 3  in the second portion  13  wherein the reference outline R 3  has the same configuration as that of an outline  121  of the first portion  12 , and the reference outline R 3  is located outside the shifting reference line (Step S 60 ); and cutting the reference outline R 3  to form the concave  16  (step S 70 ). 
       FIG. 7A and 7B  are schematic views of another embodiment of step S 60  shown in  FIG. 3  please refer to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 7A , and  FIG. 7B . In this embodiment, moving the reference outlines R 3   a,  R 3   b  to he located outside the shifting reference line R 2  in step S 60  includes shifting the outline  121  of the first portion  12  to the second portion  13  (the shifted outline  121   a  is represented by a dashed line), moving it upwards to define it as the reference outline R 3   a  (as shown in  FIG. 7A ), or moving it downwards to define it as the reference outline R 3   b  ( FIG. 7B ). In other words, the reference outlines R 3   a,  R 3   b  of this embodiment is the outline  121  of the first portion  12  being shifted to the second portion  13  (that is, the shifted outline  121   a ), and then moved upwards (as shown in  FIG. 7A ), or downwards (as shown in  FIG. 7B ). 
       FIG. 8  is a schematic view of another embodiment of step S 60  shown in  FIG. 3 , please refer to both  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 8 . In this embodiment, moving the reference outline R 3   c  to be located outside the shifting reference line R 2  in step S 60  includes shifting the outline  121  of the first portion  12  to the second portion  13  (such as the shifted outline  121   a ), rotating a predetermined angle to define it as the reference outline R 3   c  ( FIG. 8 ). In other words, the reference outline R 3   c  of this embodiment is the outline  121  of the first portion  12  being shifted to the second portion  13  (that is, the shifted outline  121   a ) and then rotated by a predetermined angle. Preferably, the predetermined angle can be between 3 degrees and 10 degrees. Furthermore, it should be noted that the shifted outline  121   a  shown in  FIG. 7A ,  FIG. 7B , and  FIG. 8  is the reference outline R 3  shown in  FIG. 4  (in the aforementioned embodiment). 
     Furthermore, the artificial shuttlecock  1  of this embodiment is consisted of an irregular feather  10  (that is, a feather  10  having a concave  16 ), while compared with a kite-shaped feather  100  regarding to hitting impact, the artificial shuttlecock  1  has better flight performance than that of the conventional artificial shuttlecock. 
     Table 1 is a test report of the hitting impact of the artificial shuttlecock (from A to C) of various structures. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Artificial 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Shuttlecock 
                   
                 Flight Control 
                 Overall Evaluation 
               
               
                 Number 
                 Structural Features 
                 (9-point scale) 
                 (9-point scale) 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 A 
                 (1)kite-shaped 
                 2.7 
                 3.0 
               
               
                   
                 feather 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 (2)two openings 
                   
                   
               
               
                 B 
                 (1) feather of 
                 5.3 
                 5.7 
               
               
                   
                 irregular shape 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 (2) an opening 
                   
                   
               
               
                 C 
                 (1)feather of 
                 6.0 
                 6.7 
               
               
                   
                 irregular shape 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 (2) two openings 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     It should be noted that number A is the conventional artificial shuttlecock consisted of kite-shaped feathers and has the first opening  14  and the second opening  15  of the aforementioned embodiment; number B is an artificial shuttlecock consisted of irregular feathers (feather  10   a  with a recess  16  in  FIG. 5 ) with one opening (that is, the first opening  14 ); number C is the artificial shuttlecock  1  of the aforementioned example consisted of irregular feathers (such as feather  10  with concave  16  in  FIG. 2 ) with two openings (that is, first opening  14  and second opening  15 ). 
     Furthermore, the “drop shots in front of the net (9-point scale)” field is the evaluation of the flight performance of the artificial shuttlecocks A to C when the user uses the drop shot skill to play the shuttlecock, with a score of 0 to 9. When the user hits the artificial shuttlecocks A to C, these artificial shuttlecocks are evaluated based on the number of turns and the number of rotations of the artificial shuttlecocks, or the elasticity and softness felt by the user when hitting. The higher the score, the closer the flight performance is to a natural shuttlecock. In addition, the “Overall Evaluation (9-point scale)” field is fir the overall evaluation of the flight conditions and performance of the artificial shuttlecocks A to C when they are hit. Similarly, the better the flight performance, the higher the score will be. 
     From the results of the hitting impact test shown in the above table, it can be seen that the artificial shuttlecocks B and C consisted of irregular feathers are performing better than the artificial shuttlecock A consisted of kite-shaped feathers regarding to flight control (drop shots in front of the net) or overall evaluation. 
     As described above, according to the artificial shuttlecock, the feather, and the method for preparing the feather of the present disclosure, the opposite sides of the connecting portion of the feather are formed into a first portion and a second portion respectively. By forming an (first) opening in the first portion and a concave formed in the outer edge of the second portion, the feathers are formed into an irregular shape. Furthermore, the concave is formed by first defining an overlapped outline and then cutting along a reference outline. After performing a hitting impact test on the artificial shuttlecock of the present disclosure, it can be seen that the artificial feather consisted of irregular feathers (with concaves) has better aerodynamic stability than that of the conventional artificial shuttlecock, that is, it has better flight performance. 
     It should be noted that many of the above-mentioned embodiments are given as examples for description, and the scope of the present invention should be limited to the scope of the following claims and not limited by the above embodiments.