BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a novelty ball useful for such pur- poses as teaching motor skills to children, as a practice ball for such sports as golf, tennis, or soccer, and for many other purposes where it is desirable for the ball to have a li m ited travel distance after being thrown or struck. The ball further has the feature that there is virtu¬ ally no possibility of injury to a person who might accidentally be hit by it.

The prior art has many examples of balls purporting to accom¬ plish the above purposes. These include "geodesic" balls, made of open triangles of stiffened string, yarn balls, apertured hollow plastic or "whiffle" balls, sponge or foam "Nerf" balls of various constructions, wool fleece balls, and balls with extending feathers, to name but a few. These can be found in novelty stores and are also available from dealers selling various types of athletic equipment to schools.

A throw toy somewhat similar to the present invention is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,200,288 to di Donato. This has a body made of a cube or cylinder of a rigid or resilient material. It further has a plurality of extending "tail like members" which appear to be made from a very flexible cord. Each of these members has at its terminal end a small wing-like vane or "flutter flap" which spins when the toy is thrown. The tail-like members are said to make it easy for a child to catch the toy and to bring it to a rapid halt when it is rolling along the ground.

Topli f fe, in U .S. Pa ten t N o. 4, 321, 888, shows a ball-like canine toy having a number of attached tethers made of cord or string. The tethers are looped through pairs of molded openings lying along chords parallel to a polar axis of the ball. These are sized so that they can be gripped readily in the teeth of a small dog.

Stillinger, in U.S. Patent 4,756,529, shows a ball made of a densely packed bundle of elastic strands. This ball will not bounce and is intended mainly as a toss-and-catch toy or a "worrying" toy to be tossed from hand to hand, presumably while working on some mental task.

While all of the above -ball-like toys are useful, they have not completely solved the problems inherent in a novelty ball that can

be thrown or struck or kicked in a straight path, readily caught especi¬ ally by a young child, and will stop quickly after hitting the ground. Additionally, many of them have problems of durability or manufacturing complexity and others are inherently unsafe and should not be used in the unsupervised play of children.

The novelty ball of the present invention appears to have solved most or all of the above problems and will now be described in detail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a novelty ball which is par¬ ticularly useful for the development of throwing and catching skills in children, for juggling, and for use in indoor versions of outdoor games. It comprises a resilient ball, usually of spherical shape. A multiplic- ity of thin flexible whisker-like pro trusions are rela tively evenly spaced apart over the surface of the ball. These whiskers have some drape; i.e., they are not stiff like spines or bristles but neither do they hang limply from the ball such as cord or string might do. In general the whiskers will have a length in the range of 0.5 to 2.5 times the ball diameter. The whiskers may be unitary with the ball; e.g., molded integrally with the ball. They may also be molded to a basal portion which is adhesively attached to a ball, permitting the ball to be either solid or hollow in construction. Alternatively, they may be individually inserted into the ball and be retained there adhesively or mechanically. This allows the use of simple high speed production methods in addition to the use of high strength whisker materials of different composition from the ball itself.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novelty ball useful as an educational toy and for various indoor and outdoor games.

It is another object to provide a ball that is easy for an unskilled person to see in the air and to catch.

It is a further object to provide a safe toy that will not cause injury in either supervised or unsupervised play. These and many other objects will become readily apparent upon reading the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of one form of the nov¬ elty ball of the invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show retainers for inserted whiskers. FIG. 4 shows a tool and method for inserting the whiskers and retainers into a solid ball.

FIG. 5 shows a hollow ball in cross section.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show various means of applying whiskers to the outside surface of a ball. FIG. 8 shows a single whisker on a base for adhesive attach¬ ment to a ball.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is a novelty ball which may be formed from a soft synthetic resilient material such as sponge rubber or ure- thane foam . Alternatively the ball may be resilient but fairly rigid such as a basketball or soccer ball. The ball will usually be spherical but other generally similar geom etric shapes may also be used. It has extending generally perpendicular to the surface thereof a multiplicity of soft, flexible elongated protrusions or "whiskers", for lack of a more precise term. These whiskers will generally have a length in the range of abou t 0.5-2.5 ti m es the dia m e ter of the ball, pre ferably roughly equal to the ball diam eter. The length may vary depending on the particular characteristics desired for the intended end use. The whiskers may be integrally molded with the ball or they may be separ¬ ately attached. The quantity, size, placement, and flexibility of the whiskers may again vary depending on the intended end use.

The design provides a ball with sufficient mass that allows it to be thrown or otherwise propelled at fast speeds or long distances while at the sam e tim e travelling straight. The whiskers have a func¬ tion that gives the ball a number of advantages. When the ball is rol¬ ling they cause a rapid loss of momentum so that roll distance is con¬ trolled. They serve other useful purposes. The travel of the ball is more readily tracked visually because the whiskers make it appear larger. It is an ideal juggling ball since it is more visible both to the juggler and audience. This sam e feature is valuable in developing catching and throwing motor skills in a young child or disabled person. Because the ball is soft and com es rapidly to a stop when rolled it

enables many outdoor games, such as croquet, to be safely and conven¬ iently played indoors.

When propelled with a spinning or rolling motion, centrifugal force will cause the whiskers to be fully extended. In this configura- tion they cause the maximum air resistance, or friction if rolling on a firm surface, causing the ball to rapidly decelerate.

Flexibility of the whiskers is important to the function of the invention. They should not be so soft that they hang limply from the ball, as would normally be the case with cord or string. In this case they would generally fail to perform the necessary functions out¬ lined above. Neither should they be so stiff that they would act as spines or hard bristles. In this case they could make catching the ball difficult or painful and they could also constitute a physical hazard. Further they would fail to serve their intended function of slowing down a rolling ball as effectively.

The nature of the whiskers can generally be defined by their drape properties as determined by the following test. A piece of the whisker material 63.5 mm long is held horizontally at one end. The opposite or loose end should normally drape within a range of about 19 mm to 57 mm, preferably about 32 to 44 ram. Measurement is made horizon¬ tally from a vertical line projected normal to and below the restrained end. Stated otherwise, the free end will have a droop in the range of about 19 mm to about 57 mm below the projection of a horizontal line at the point of suspension. A number of materials are suitable for use as whiskers. In general these will be selected from a wide variety of molded or extruded polymeric fibers, which may be either hollow or solid. Normally they will have an outside diameter of at least about 1 m m . Many materials have sui table flexibili ty, toughness, and resilience. An excellen t material for inserted whiskers is latex rubber surgical tubing having an outside diameter of about 2 m m . In one version of the invention the whiskers will be molded or otherwise formed with a flexible base portion that may be adhesively attached to the ball. The base portion may contain a single whisker or a plurality of whiskers. The balls and whiskers can be made in any color or combination of colors.

Reference should now be made to the figures where the con¬ struction o f the invent ion will be readily apparent. In FIG . 1 the

novelty ball 2 is comprised of a molded foam rubber ball 4 and a multi¬ plicity of generally equally spaced flexible whiskers 6. These extend radially from the center of the ball so that they are perpendicular to a plane tangent to the surface at the point of entry of the whisker. If the ball can be regarded in terms of global latitude, there is a ring of spaced apart whisker around the equator, a smaller number arranged at 45° north and south latitude, and one at each pole. In the case of a ball about 65 m m in diameter, 8 whiskers located at the equator, 4 whiskers at each 45° location, and one at each pole has proved eminently satisfactory. The whiskers in this case are 63.5 m m long with a drape of about 32 mm and are made of latex rubber surgical tubing about 2.3 mm in diameter.

As was noted earlier, the whiskers can be integrally molded with the ball or separate whiskers can be inserted and m echanically retained or adhesively bonded into the ball. Balls using m echanically retained whisker construction is shown in cross section in FIGS, 2 and 3. One adapted to hold a tubing-type whisker 41 is shown at 40 in FIG. 2. This has a shouldered point portion for easy insertion and firm retention in the ball, and a tang portion with one or more expanded circum ferential bands to firmly hold the tubing. The retainer 42 of FIG. 3 is used to hold a solid whisker . It has a shouldered point similar to the other one and a tang with two holes to tightly hold the solid whisker 6. Either version may be readily inserted into the ball by a simple tool 44, as seen in FIG. 4. Hollow ball versions are pictured in FIGS. 5 to 8. In FIG. 5 the whiskered ball 8 is formed of a resilient but hollow shell portion 10 having a plurality of whiskers 12. The whiskers may have a flared out buttress 14 at the base to convey additional strength. A solid ball of this construction may be formed by injection molding, as one example. The one piece hollow ball of FIG. 5 can be formed by rotational molding. A ball of this type is ideal for introducing youngsters to any of the gam es such as baseball, soccer, or basketball that require the develop¬ ment of coordination and teamwork.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show alternative constructions of a hollow ball, especially suitable for one of larger size such as a soccer ball. The ball 16 is made separately and may be of wholly conventional construc¬ tion. The whiskers may be applied in a variety of ways. In FIG. 6 one set of whiskers 20 is formed on a long band 18 which is applied around

the equator of the ball. A similar band 22, cut into shorter sections, is shown here applied at about 45° north and south latitude. A pad 26, with one or more whiskers, is bonded at each pole. Pad 26 may be of any geometrical shape. Pentagonal pads, each with one or more whiskers, can be mounted at each of the conventional embossed areas of a soccer ball. FIG. 7 shows a somewhat similar construction to FIG. 6 except that strips 30 are applies along spaced apart lines of longitude. These stop short of the polar zone where the whiskers are mounted to small pads 34, As seen in FIG. 8, pads 26 or 34, or any of the strips, may have the whiskers formed integrally with a small buttress 38 at the base to add strength. Any combination of strips and/or pads may be used.

It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many variations could be made in the present invention that have not been described or illustrated herein. These should be considered to fall within the scope of the invention if included within the definition provided by the following claims.