Solid Four-Sided Pitching Rubber with Hollow Core
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pitching rubbers are prone to deformation and buckling due to lack of strength and support, leading to frequent replacement and maintenance issues, as they are not adequately designed to withstand the wear and tear of regular use and varying soil compositions on baseball fields.
Innovation Solution
A solid, four-sided pitching rubber with a hollow core or voids in elongated ends, made from dense rubber material, providing even weight distribution and resistance to deformation, allowing for longer use and easier installation and replacement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If existing pitching rubbers are used with thin construction, then installation and replacement are easier, but they buckle in the center due to lack of strength and support
Solution Approach 1:
The pitching rubber is divided into multiple reinforcement elements (steel bars or wire mesh) embedded within the rubber matrix. This segmentation provides structural support at critical locations without requiring the entire rubber block to be thicker, thus maintaining ease of installation while preventing center buckling.
Solution Approach 2:
The pitching rubber uses composite construction by combining rubber material with steel reinforcement (steel bars or wire mesh). This composite structure provides the necessary strength and rigidity to resist buckling while maintaining the flexibility and shock absorption properties of rubber, solving the contradiction between thin construction and buckling resistance.
2Strength
If pitching rubber is made thicker to prevent buckling, then strength and support are improved, but installation and replacement become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than increasing overall thickness, the reinforcement is segmented into discrete steel bars or mesh embedded within the rubber. This allows strength to be concentrated where needed (preventing buckling) without uniformly increasing the dimensions that would make installation more difficult.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite of rubber and steel reinforcement provides high strength-to-volume ratio, allowing the pitching rubber to maintain standard dimensions for easy installation while incorporating sufficient steel content to prevent buckling under load.
3Reliability
If solid rubber construction is used, then durability and resistance to deformation are improved, but material cost and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The composite construction uses steel reinforcement (which has high strength-to-weight ratio) combined with rubber, allowing the overall material quantity to be reduced compared to a solid rubber block of equivalent strength. The steel provides the necessary durability and deformation resistance while using less total material.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcement is segmented into bars or mesh rather than requiring solid rubber throughout, concentrating the durable, deformation-resistant material only where structural support is needed, thus reducing overall material usage while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is directed to pitching rubbers for baseball. More particularly, the invention relates to a four-sided, solid pitching rubber which provides an all-in-one durable construction with improved performance characteristics. Included in embodiments is a pitching rubber with a solid rubber body having a hollow core lengthwise through a rectangular block, wherein the hollow core has a width or diameter of about 50% or less of block width, and wherein the rubber has a Shore A hardness of about 75+/â5, a tensile strength ranging from about 8-12 MPA, and an elongation at break of about 300-600%. Pitching rubbers according to embodiments of the invention are capable of resisting packing and tamping weight without deformation of the rubber body.