Flexible Mold System for Baseball Glove Shape Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Baseball and softball gloves lose their structure and shape quickly due to storage conditions, leading to reduced effectiveness in catching and transferring balls, despite the time-consuming breaking-in process.
Innovation Solution
A mold system is created using a flexible material to conform to the inner surface of the glove, which is then hardened and used to maintain the glove's shape, with a securing device to keep the mold in place during storage and transport, allowing for airflow and optional storage recesses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the glove is stored with other equipment in a bag, then storage space is utilized, but the glove loses its shape and structure
Solution Approach 1:
A mold is introduced as an intermediary object between the glove and the storage environment. The mold takes the shape of the glove's pocket area and is placed inside the glove during storage, acting as a mediator that prevents the glove from deforming while occupying minimal storage space. The mold transfers the desired shape back to the glove during storage periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold creates a copy of the glove's ideal pocket shape. By casting the pocket area into a mold and then placing that mold back into the glove, the system preserves the essential geometric characteristics of the glove without requiring the entire glove to maintain its complex three-dimensional shape during storage.
2Reliability
If the breaking-in process is performed thoroughly, then the glove achieves optimal structure and feel, but the process is time consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is prepared in advance by casting the pocket area into the desired shape before the glove is put into service. This preliminary creation of the ideal shape allows the glove to maintain that structure throughout its life without requiring repeated time-consuming breaking-in processes. The mold encapsulates the result of thorough breaking-in, making the time investment permanent rather than temporary.
3Productivity
If the glove is used continuously, then the glove remains functional, but it loses structure quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The mold provides continuous support to the glove's pocket area during all periods when the glove is not in use. By maintaining the ideal shape continuously through storage periods, the mold ensures that the glove's structure is preserved across the entire lifespan of the glove, not just during initial breaking-in or occasional use periods.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of forming a mold for use with a baseball or softball glove comprising covering a substantial portion of the inner surface of the glove with a thin sheet of flexible material, applying a forming material to the flexible material such that the flexible material generally conforms to the shape of the inner surface of the glove, removing the hardened forming material from the glove, and removing the flexible material from the glove. The hardened forming material can be a mold for the glove, or can be used as a form to manufacture glove molds. The glove mold can be placed in the glove when it is not in use and secured in position by a strap or other suitable mechanism.