Hand exercisers are available in a variety of styles and designs. In general hand exercisers are intended to allow a user to contract the fingers of a hand to exercise the muscles of the hand. Exercising the hand can be useful for physical therapy to strengthening the hand after an injury has been sustained. Hand exercisers can also be helpful in relieving stress.
Squeeze balls are a type of hand exerciser that provides a ball that can be squeezed by contracting fingers around the ball. Different types of squeeze balls have been produced. One type of squeeze ball used small beads, sand or beans contained in a fabric or rubber-type shell. The contents of these balls are not very resilient and do not provide an appealing texture. An alternate ball construction used a silicon material contained in a latex or rubber shell. Often two latex shells are used to prevent oil from the silicon material from leaking. Although fabric material can be desired because of its "feel",silicon material in fabric shells are typically not used because oil from the silicon material can leak through the weaving of the fabric. Also, it is common for people to have allergic reactions to latex material.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a silicon based squeeze ball that has a fabric-type exterior shell.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds