This invention relates generally to a ball racket, and more particularly--but not exclusively--to a tennis racket.
Tennis rackets are known in which the frame wherein the strings form the ball hitting surface, defines a closed oval from which a handle extends in the direction of the longer axis of the oval. Other tennis rackets also usually have oval frames which are formed of one piece from a rod that is bent to the appropriate shape at its center section and the end sections of which converge in generally V-shaped configuration and are then extended in parallel to one another to form the handle. This leaves at the junction of the hitting surface and the handle a space, the so-called "throat", in which an appropriately shaped insert is mounted. In all instances the free end of the handle is terminated with an end piece shaped to fit the hand of a user.
The oval form of the racket head is not the only one that is known. It is also known to form the racket head in a circular configuration. The oval shape, however, has the advantage that the string sections (there may be a single string which constitutes all string sections forming the hitting surface, or there may be individual strings for each string section or for a group of string sections) which extend in the center region of the hitting surface towards the handle, are longer than the cross-wise extending string sections located at the middle of the hitting surface. This increases the hitting surface area having the optimum effect (i.e. the area having the strongest spring back effect) in the direction of the longitudinal axis (i.e. the long axis of the oval) of the hitting surface. Thus, even balls which hit the hitting surface not in the center region but offset in direction towards the handle, encounter a hitting surface area having a high spring back effect. Since the longitudinal axis of the handle approximately constitutes an extension of the arm of the player, such offset hitting of the ball does not constitute any disadvantage to the player. An increase of the hitting surface area with optimum effect in direction transfers to the longitudinal axis of the handle, however, is not advisable because balls which contact the hitting surface laterally offset from the central region cause the racket to perform a partial turn about its longitudinal axis and this can lead to injuries to the player, for example the development of the so-called "tennis elbow".
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds