Baseball Bat Knob Relief for Hamate Bone Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Baseball players often suffer from bruising or fracturing of the hook of the hamate bone due to direct force exerted by the bat knob during a swing, as the bone is prone to injury from repetitive impact and is a common site for avulsion fractures.
Innovation Solution
A device that modifies the baseball bat by removing material from the knob to create a relief area, custom-fitted to each player's grip preference, to reduce direct contact with the hamate bone, using cutting tools and simulators to determine the optimal shape and size of the relief for minimizing force on the bone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the bat knob maintains its original shape and size, then the structural integrity and grip stability are preserved, but the hamate bone is directly exposed to impact force causing injury
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a relief area with a specific contour shape on the knob surface. This relief area has different geometric properties (reduced material, specific curvature) compared to the rest of the knob, allowing it to specifically protect the hamate bone region while preserving the overall knob structure and grip stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts material from the knob to create a relief area. By removing material in the form of a contoured relief, the design eliminates the harmful direct contact with the hamate bone while maintaining the essential functional mass and structural integrity of the knob.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If material is removed from the knob to create a relief area, then direct contact with the hamate bone is reduced, but the knob geometry becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The relief area is designed with a specific contour shape that is localized to the region affecting the hamate bone. This targeted geometric modification provides protection without requiring complex changes to the entire knob geometry, maintaining manufacturing feasibility while achieving the protective function.
3Ease of operation
If a custom-fitted relief is created for each player, then grip feel and protection are optimized, but manufacturing time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables customization of the relief area's contour shape and location to match individual player anatomy and grip preferences. This local customization approach allows optimization of grip feel and protection for each player without requiring complete redesign of the entire knob, balancing personalization with manufacturing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
The technology provides a method of reducing injury to a hamate bone for the lower hand while swinging a bat. The method includes determining a relief location for a knob of a wood baseball bat gripped with two hands, one above the other, with a lower hand being proximate to or contacting the knob. The process includes determining a location of a hamate hook on the lower hand, based on an intersection of a Kaplan's cardinal line and an ulnar border of ring line and placing a transferable substance over the hamate hook of the lower hand. A wooden baseball bat is selected and gripped with the grain positioned for a baseball to contact a hard side of a barrel during a swing. A location is identified to create a relief in the knob based on a transfer of the substance corresponding to a location of the hamate hook.