Baseball bat

Abstract

There is provided a baseball bat that has performance similar to that of the conventional wooden bat and moreover is excellent in terms of cost and resource conservation. For this baseball bat 11, a reinforcing core 12 having a rectangular cross section is arranged in the center of the cross section thereof continuously so as to penetrate both end thereof, bamboo pieces 24 are laminated around the reinforcing core 12, and an adhesive is caused to permeate into the contact surface between the reinforcing core 12 and the bamboo pieces 24 evenly under a pressure, by which firm bonding can be attained. In addition, by using a material that is hard and has a large specific gravity as compared with bamboo, such as hickory or reinforced wood, as the reinforcing core 12, the flexural rigidity is enhanced as a whole, and the weight is increased. Therefore, the characteristics and feel in use are improved as compared with the conventional bamboo bat, and the baseball bat 11 can be used as a substitute for a wooden bat. Bamboo, hickory, and reinforced wood have no problem in terms of resource conservation, can reduce the product price, and can lower the consumption of scarce resources such as serrata.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a baseball bat used in baseball game.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]A baseball bat must withstand violent shocks at the time of batting, and the kind of wood capable of being used as a bat for regulation baseball is limited to serrata, maple, white ash, and the like. The growing district of these kinds of wood is restricted, and the raising thereof requires many years. In recent years, therefore, wood resources have run out, and the price of wooden bat tends to go up. As a substitute for the wooden bat, a metal bat has been known. However, because of its light weight and high coefficient of rebound, the metal bat has a problem in that the metal bat may offer a one-sided benefit for the offensive team, and thus smooth development of a game cannot be hoped for. Therefore, in professional baseball, the use of metal bat is not admitted. In amateur baseball as well, some sort of...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and accordingly an object thereof is to provide a baseball bat that has performance similar to that of the conventional wooden bat and moreover is excellent in terms of cost and resource conservation.

Problems solved by technology

A baseball bat must withstand violent shocks at the time of batting, and the kind of wood capable of being used as a bat for regulation baseball is limited to serrata, maple, white ash, and the like.

The growing district of these kinds of wood is restricted, and the raising thereof requires many years.

In recent years, therefore, wood resources have run out, and the price of wooden bat tends to go up.

However, because of its light weight and high coefficient of rebound, the metal bat has a problem in that the metal bat may offer a one-sided benefit for the offensive team, and thus smooth development of a game cannot be hoped for.

As well known, however, bamboo is deformed easily because of its low rigidity against a bending load.

Therefore, the bamboo bat has a problem in that at the time of batting, the whole thereof is deformed into an arch shape, resulting in a shorter flying distance, so that the bamboo bat is unsuitable for the use in regular match.

The aforementioned lami bat also has the same problem because it is formed by bamboo except for the outer periphery.

Therefore, in amateur baseball as well, it is difficult to wholly introduce the bamboo bat and the lami bat, and a wooden bat must be provided separately.

However, the wooden bat is expensive as described above, and moreover the strength thereof varies from product to product, so that the wooden bat may be broken by the use of only several times.

Therefore, it is difficult to put the shapes and weights of bamboo bat and wooden bat in agreement with each other, so that a difference arises in their feel in use.

Both of the wooden bat and the laminated bat have a limited strength because natural resources are used, so that they may break at the time of batting.

In particular, in the grip part, bending moment acting between a hand gripping the bat and a batted ball becomes at the maximum, and moreover the cross-sectional area of this part is decreased, so that an excessive stress is liable to develop and thereby the grip part is broken easily.

However, the core material having a circular cross section as described in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that it is difficult to apply a pressure to the outer peripheral surface thereof, so that the bonding strength becomes slightly insufficient and thereby the bond is easily broken by a shock.

In the case where a metal or a resin other than wood and bamboo is used as the core material as described in Patent Document 2, it may be difficult to use the bat in regular match according to the “authorized baseball rule” specified by the game organization, so that the use of this bat is limited to knock batting and the like.

Constructed of a hard material in the whole of the grip part, the bat described in Patent Document 4 has a problem in that since the weight thereof increases as compared with a general wooden bat, the load increases when it is swung, and also the shock at the time of batting is transmitted to the hand without being buffered, resulting in its uncomfortable feel in use.

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