Patent ID: 8388476

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a sports ball, comprising the steps of: (1) providing a ball body, which has a true roundness shape, having a valve stem formed thereat; (2) overlapping a plurality of carcass panels on said ball body to form a roundness ball carcass in a stitch-less manner, wherein said carcass panels are integrally bonded with each other edge-to-edge to enclose said ball body inside said ball carcass, wherein one of said carcass panels has a valve hole aligning with said valve stem of said ball body; (3) forming a ball cushion, which is constructed to have a true roundness, to receive said ball body therein, wherein said ball cushion is formed between said ball body and said ball carcass in such a manner that an outer surface of said ball cushion is unattached to an inner surface of said ball carcass; and (4) forming a plurality of channels on said ball carcass to create a panel-stitching appearance of said ball carcass, wherein each of said carcass panels has a slanted edge portion arranged in such a manner that when said carcass panels are bonded edge-to-edge, said slanted edge portions of said carcass panels form said channels of said ball carcass.