Patent ID: 7935286

Claim:
A process for forming at least a portion of a frame for a sports implement, said process comprising the steps of: (a) providing a prepreg tube having a hollow interior, said prepreg tube having a central axis and an axial location which includes opposed first and second wall portions and opposed third and fourth wall portions positioned between said opposed first and second wall portions, and wherein said wall portions include an outer surface; (b) placing an inflatable bladder within said hollow interior; (c) placing said prepreg tube inside a mold which, when closed, forms a mold cavity in the desired shape of said outer surface; (d) placing in said mold cavity a mold member having a first surface which presses a first part of said first wall portion into contact with an opposed portion of said second wall portion, and a port-forming annular surface which extends from said first surface outwardly beyond the outer surface of non-pressed in portions of said first wall portion; (e) pressurizing said bladder to inflate said prepreg tube so that a second pressed-in part of said first wall portion, which connects said first pressed-in part and said non-pressed in portions of said first wall portion, conforms to the shape of said port-forming surface and such that the non-pressed in portions of said first wall portion conform to the shape of the mold, thereby forming a string port hole blank having a sidewall; wherein at axial locations on either side of said string port hole blank, said inflated tube is hollow in cross-section, and wherein the sidewall of said port hole blank is spaced laterally from said third and fourth portions; (f) heating said mold such that said prepreg tube cures to form a tubular frame wall having a thickness, and such that said pressed together portions are fused together; and (g) removing the portions of said pressed-together portions which block said string port hole blank, thereby to form an open port hole which extends through the hollow interior of the racquet frame between opposed outer surfaces, while leaving portions of said pressed together portions lying outside of said string port hole to complete the sidewall of said string port hole.