BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Number 61/122646 filed on 12/15/2008 and incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The invention herein disclosed relates generally to stringed rackets employed for games such as tennis and racket ball. More particularly it relates to an alignment tool adapted for a concurrent rolled engagement with the strings of a game racket which provides an alignment of the strings and overlaps to form an evenly spaced grid with a substantially perpendicular arrangement.

2. Prior Art

Background of the Invention:

Stringed-rackets for ball playing games such as tennis, racket ball and squash, have been employed by game participants for many decades. Such rackets are used in tennis and other games of sport where a projectile such as a ball is batted about by and between the contestants during a game or match.

In stringing most rackets, the strings are formed of natural or synthetic material. To form a crossing pattern in the racket head, the strings are engaged through apertures in the racket frame and crisscross within a cavity or aperture in the racket defined by the interior circumference of the racket frame. In traversing the distance of the frame aperture, the strings are conventionally intertwined with each generally in a substantially perpendicular arrangement to each other in a somewhat woven engagement. This perpendicular woven engagement forms a racket face. It is this face formed within the racket aperture within the frame, which is employed by the user to hit the intended game projectile such as a ball or birdie. For instance, in the game of tennis, the racket face is formed by intertwined strings made from synthetic material or animal gut which are crisscrossed substantially in two directions through the apertures communicating through the generally circular or oval racket frame defining the racket aperture. During the stringing process to form the face, substantial time may be taken to intertwine these strings over and under each other in a carefully formed pattern. The result of this stringing process yields a plurality of substantially equal sized rectangles of crisscrossed strings in a large racket face within the racket aperture.

This careful string pattern and careful tensioning of the strings during the stringing operation and pattern formation, if done properly, yields what is generally known as a "sweet spot" in a central area of the stringed racket face. This is the spot in the woven string pattern forming the face which generally imparts sufficient force to rebound the ball especially well toward the other player, and with the most accurate trajectory.

Since speed and accuracy are paramount to armature as well as professional players employing stringed rackets, formation and maintaining this sweet spot is of particular importance. It is thus very important to initially string the racket in a crisscrossed intertwined pattern, which will yield the sweet spot desired by the user, and which has the optimum size and rebound qualities for the user's game. Evenly spaced and substantially perpendicular string engagements in the crisscrossed pattern are also especially important to maintain over time the largest sweet spot and the most even rebound force from that spot. Further, it is important to maintain the strings in substantially their original pattern to also maintain the sweet spot of the racket face in the same position.

During play of the game however, the stringed racket face such as in tennis, impacts the ball with force sufficient to propel it back toward the other player at speeds in excess of ninety miles an hour or more. Other sports employing stringed rackets also impact projectiles continually during play. The impact of the ball or projectile used, against the stringed face of the racket, over time, will generally impact individual string portions. These constant collisions of projectile and strings will over time cause the strings to move in relation to each other and throw the original stringed pattern out of alignment.

As more and more strings move from their spacing and alignment with adjacent strings, the sweet spot on the racket face is affected for both accuracy and impartable force upon the projectile.

Because the strings forming the racket face are under tension, and intertwined, this movement and misalignment in relation to each other, once imparted over time by a ball or projectile impact, tends to be maintained out of proper alignment. This is because the frictional forces of the intertwined and tensioned strings at their intersections tend to hold the misalignment just as they do a proper alignment.

Because of the increasing misalignments of adjacent and travers strings of the racket face over time and after many impacts of the ball or other projectile against the racket face during a match, balls propelled by the face will tend to become less and less accurate in their trajectory and rebound speed will suffer. The trajectory errors and slower propelling of the projectile from the racket face is caused because the originally evenly spaced, evenly sized, rectangular engagements of the strings, will tend to form odd angles and irregular patterns. Additionally, this results in uneven areas of the formed rectangles in the racket face string pattern.

For professional players and amateurs alike, these uneven crossing patterns which are formed by these constant ball impacts, if not repaired or realigned, will severely affect the force imparted to the ball by their racket face, the accuracy of their shot placement, and consequently their overall play in the game. The racket face with the deformed spacing will have larger and smaller rectangle patterns formed when strings are slid by the ball impacts, and will have areas of higher and lower tension. Additionally, areas with smaller rectangles and larger rectangles are formed by the crisscrossed strings yielding uneven contacts with the ball or other projectile on impact. It is thus important to rectify these uneven string crossing patterns, and multiple sized rectangular areas amongst those patterns, at the first sign they are causing a change in the force imparted to the ball.

As can be also ascertained, since the size and even force of the racket sweet spot is a function of the proper and substantially evenly spaced and substantially perpendicular traverse engagement of the intertwined strings, this string migration, imparted by ball or other projectile impacts during play, will also migrate the area and change the size of the racket sweet spot.

Uneven string patterns and changed areas of the formed rectangles can shift the sweet spot from the racket center, make it smaller in size, and form areas of uneven impact force against the ball or projectile.

To the player, what originally was a predicably positioned sweet spot, with a substantially even area of rebound force, and on which their hand to eye coordination from training is trained to hit, can easily become out of position or it can actually disappear. The result being that instead of following a planned trajectory on impact, the ball hitting what used to be the racket face sweet spot, will follow an unintended path, at an unintended velocity or spin. These symptoms are directly relatable to the uneven string patterns which game play itself can impart to the racket face.

Upon ascertaining that the racket string pattern is in need of realignment, players will generally take the racket to a pro shop for such, or attempt it themselves. Tools have conventionally been offered to players that purport to help them realign the strings in a proper format to properly position the racket face sweet spot to the original pattern. However, most such tools are not well adapted to handle the relatively uneven string and racket intersections and can be downright hard to employ, especially during a match.

One conventional tool is that of picks or rods which are employed by the player to try a realignment. In use, the player forces the strings to new positions by holding onto the rod or pick at a first end, and employing a distal end for pushing on or hooking and pulling individual strings. However, forcing individual portions of individual strings, leaves the ultimate relative string placement up to the eye of the user. Misalignment, by keying off of a misaligned string, or just poor eyesight, can yield unpredictable results in the formed racket face. Further, many players lack the dexterity and physical strength to hold and employ these types of devices. Another conventional tool offered for users to repair string alignment and spacing features a roller with crisscrossed depressions in the roller face to form shoulder projections on the roller. These projections are generally sized to form rectangles when forced into the woven string patterns of the racket face and form a weave with generally even size and distribution of formed rectangles.

Such roller alignment devices have a roller face appearance similar to a waffle iron only with the projections spaced around the surface of a cylinder. However, these devices suffer from a severe flaw in their inability to engage with the strings immediately adjacent to the racket frame. Since the straightness of the strings from the apertures in the frame determines the evenness of the pattern formed, this inability to engage and rectify misalignments next to the racket frame is a severe handicap. This inability to engage and properly space and size the squares of the woven string forming the face immediately adjacent to the racket frame thus renders conventional roller alignment tools less than satisfactory. Their inability to engage and square-up the pattern of the strings adjacent to the frame occurs because the edge of the frame or of the axle holding the cylindrical roller, in conventional roller devices, hits the frame when placed upon it in position to allow the roller to engage the strings next to the frame. Once the axle or body of the roller mount is upon the surface of the frame, it positions one side of the roller unable to form its engagement with the strings adjacent to the frame. Consequently, the rectangles and alignment of strings of the racket next to the frame cannot be repaired to original by such devices and users either don't fix them and suffer the trials of misalignment noted, or they attempt to use the picks or members noted above as a second tool.

As such, there is an unmet need for a widely available, easily employed, racket string repositioning tool which does not rely on the user's eye to properly reposition strings. Such a device should provide for equal or even rectangles in the string pattern as a matter of course. Such a device should also be engageable in between the travers strings of the face, across substantially the entire racket face. Such a device should also be deployable and engage with the rectangular string over crossings immediately adjacent to the racket frame and thereby realign the entire face without the need for additional tools. Still further, such a device should concurrently be able to apply emollient to the strings in areas of the country where play tends to dry strings, or to degrade the strings from U.V. exposure such as the desert where heat, low humidity, and sunlight can cause string shrinkage and damage.

With respect to the above, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the racket string alignment and emollient system herein in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components or steps set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The various apparatus and methods of the invention are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art once they review this disclosure. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other devices, and methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device which enables users to easily align all the strings of a racket no matter where on the face they are located. It is important, therefore, that the objects and claims be regarded as including any such equivalent construction by those skilled in the art insofar as they do not depart from the general spirit and scope of the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed device provides a remedy to the noted shortcomings of conventional racket string alignment tools. The device features a cylindrical rolling surface having projections thereon for engagement with the rectangular shaped patterns formed by traverse strings of the racket face. The projections may also have a tapered rectangular shape being narrower at their distal ends.

This taper from narrow to wide rectangles thereby provides a means for easy engagement of the projections with the sides of strings in errant positions at the smaller distal ends of the projections. The taper to the larger rectangular base of the projections serves as a means to nudge the strings into proper rectangular positioning as the cylinder rolls over the face of the racket and the projections engage the rectangles formed by the strings.

The cylinder forming the base for the projections, is engaged upon an axle which provides a means to roll the cylinder while the body to which the axle engages is held. This axle is itself engaged preferably to a hemispherical shaped body portion which because of this shape is especially well adapted for comfortable engagement with the cup formed by the grip of the user's hand.

Unlike prior art devices employing rollers which use extended handles requiring the user to hold such devices between opposing fingers, the device disclosed herein allows the user to comfortably grip the hemispherical shaped exterior body with the fingers, thumb, and curved palm of the hand. Placement of the axle inside the cupped hand engageable body maximizes the area of force imparted to the hand by the realignment action and thereby provides a means to minimize the torque imparted to the user's hand during use. This cupped engagement and reduction of imparted force renders employment of the disclosed device much easier and less taxing on the hand and arm muscles of users. In an especially preferred mode of the device, the axle rotationally engaging the roller to the body, is in a floating engagement at its distal ends, with mounts adjacent or upon the interior wall of the body. This floating engagement allows one end of the axle and connected roller to rise or fall as opposed to the opposite end. This floating engagement thus provides a means to maintain the roller projections engaged with rectangles formed by the strings, in the area of the racket face immediately adjacent to the racket frame interior edge while concurrently rolling the roller so engaged, to urge the strings in place.

The floating engagement of the axle in this fashion, allows a portion of the hemispherically-shaped body, to lift its lower edge onto or over the surface of the racket frame when the roller engages the rectangles formed by the strings adjacent to the frame. The plane of the side surface of the racket frame, is higher than the plane of the racket face formed by strings through apertures in the frame. The ability to raise the bottom of the frame onto the higher plane of the side of the racket, while maintaining the axle sufficiently parallel to the plane of the string face to continue to engage the projections with all the strings, allows the user of the disclosed device to properly position virtually all of the intersecting strings in the racket face be they adjacent to the frame, or in the middle of the face. The compact size of the device afforded by the hemispherically shaped body makes it is easily carried in the user's pocket or their racket bag without taking up a large amount of space, as do handled devices. Alternatively, by employing an attached leash, the device can be attached to the user's racket, bag, or clothing when not in use.

Optionally, in a preferred mode of the device, an applicator located adjacent to the bottom of the roller projections adjacent to the axle, will provide a reservoir of lubricant or emollient that can be concurrently imparted to the strings during realignment. This applicator and reservoir can be formed of foam adhered to the roller, or by employing a hollow roller with apertures at the base of the projections which would communicate liquid from liquid stored in the interior of the hollow roller and disbursed through the apertures by the centrifugal force of rolling.

The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the more pertinent and important features of the string alignment device and system herein, in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art may be more fully appreciated. As noted, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that the conception and the disclosed specific embodiments herein, may of course be readily utilized as a basis for providing other string alignment tools with floating axles and liquid disbursement and for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent systems and methods are considered to be within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth herein.

THE OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an easily deployable system to allow users of rackets for sports to easily realign the strings forming their racket face.

It is an additional object of this invention is to provide such a device which works equally well in the middle of the racket face and immediately adjacent to the racket frame, to align the strings.

Further objectives of this invention will be brought out in the following part of the detailed specification wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES

Fig.l is a side cut-away view of the device showing the hemispherically shaped body and engaged cover, and a floating axle mount inside the body with the roller adapted with tapered projections for engagement with and realignment of racket strings forming the face of a strung sports racket.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the device showing the tilt ability of the body portion provided by the floating engagement of the distal ends of the roller axle and a decorative covering for the body.

Fig. 3 depicts a cut away view of a mode of the device showing the floating axle engagement and a different body shape which may also engage a body cover or nameplate. Fig. 4 depicts an end view of the device in figure 3 and showing the removable nameplate portion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in figures 1-4 wherein similar parts are identified by like reference numerals, there is seen in figure 1, the slice through the device 10 showing the components thereof and their relative engagements and operation.

The device 10 features one or a plurality of cylinders 12 having a rolling surface 14 on the exterior circumference. On the rolling surface 14 are positioned a series of properly spaced projections 16 which extend from the rotating cylinder 12 surface 14 to a distal end with a taper 13 as shown, which narrows slightly as the projections 16 extend to their distal ends.

This taper 13 provides a means for easy engagement within rectangles formed by overlapping strings 18 employed in most rackets forming the face of the racket for hitting a projectile. After use to hit a projectile the strings 18 forming the rectangles can shift to form rectangles in odd sizes by errant string 18 positions caused by impacts of the projectile. The taper 13 from the larger rectangular base of the projection 16 to the smaller distal end provides a means to engage in the rectangle formed of the overlapping strings 18 and to nudge the strings 18 into proper position to form the racket face as intended. This may be accomplished by palming the device 10 and pushing it across the strings 18 forming the racket face. The face of a stringed racket is well known and need not be depicted. The cylinder 12 rotates as the projections 16 extending from the rolling surface 14 continually engaging more of the racket face rectangles along its forward or rearward path depending on which way the device 10 is pushed or pulled by the hand of the user.

The cylinder 12 is rotationally engaged to a body 20 at an axle 22. Of particular importance to the overall performance of the device 10, the axle 22 employs a means for a floating engagement 24 with the interior surface 26 of the body 20 as shown in figures 1-3. In figure 1 this is shown with a biasing means such as spring 27 to maintain the axle 22 centered but translatable on both ends. As shown in figure 2, this floating engagement 24 in all modes, provides a means to maintain the cylinder 12 and projections 14 engaged with the face and rectangles formed by the strings 18 when the device becomes adjacent to the racket frame 31 interior edge or overlaps it. This function is especially important as it allows the device 10 to engage substantially all of the rectangles formed in the racket face while rolling the cylinder 12 and urging the strings 18 into proper positioning as they slide down the tapers 13 of the projections 16. Without this floating engagement 24 providing a means to tilt to the body 20, yet maintain the axle 22 substantially parallel to the face of the racket formed by the overlapping strings 18 which extend between the aperture formed by the frame 31, the device 10 could not be engaged to the rectangles of the face since the body 20 would lift the projections 16 out of such an engagement or would not allow the projections 16 to slide down the taper 13 to fully reposition the strings 18 to properly form rectangles in the face adjacent to the frame 31. Of course those skilled in the art will realize on reading this disclosure that other means for floating engagement of the axle 22 with a body may be employed and all such engagements are considered in the scope of this application.

Optionally provided but preferred, is a leash 30 may be engaged to the body 20 which has a fastener 32 such as a snap hook at the distal end. This leash 30 would provide a means to secure the device 10 in a tennis bag or to the racket or such to prevent it from becoming lost. Also, the device 10 may have a fluid applicator 34 means, such as foam soaked with fluid, which will be positioned to lubricate or apply string treatments such as a fluid emollient to the strings 18, as the projections 16 urge them to proper position. In dry hot areas or when using string material such as gut, this could significantly improve the life span of the racket strings 18 and the device 10 would apply the liquid directly to the strings 18 while concurrently straightening them.

Further, as a means for identification of the device 10 the bodies 20 may be engageable with body covers 21 having indicia 33 thereon identifying a source of the device 10 or where the user may have visited. This would be especially important to teams who might wish to put a team logo for engagement to the body 20, or a resort who might wish to sell souvenir covers 21 or bodies 20 bearing the resort name or logo as in figure 2. Alternatively a slot 23, as in figure 3, might be provided for engaging a nameplate 25, bearing indicia 33 such as a logo or words identifying source, place, or team or resort. Additionally, the device 10 may be provided in a kit form where different cylinders are provided having differently sized projectiles 16 extending therefrom. The tapers 13 may also differ to allow the user to adapt the device 10 to engage the overlapping strings 18 of different rackets or different types of rackets and align them. This kit function will allow the device to be provided with one or a plurality of different cylinders 12 each having differently sized or spaced projections 16 therefrom to engage the rectangles forming the face of differently types or differently strung rackets. The user would simply remove the axle 22 and cylinder 12 and replace it with one having projections 16 of proper size, spacing, taper, or other characteristics that may be varied in a kit of engageable cylinders 12.

Finally, the device 10 may also employ removable bodies 20 or bodies 20 adapted for covered engagement by the body cover 21 or similar shell. These covers 21 or shells can be provided with novelty designs such as those that would look like bugs or small animals such as in figure 2, or could be provided with logos or designs from a particular resort. This would allow the user to alter the appearance of their device 10 to make it more identifiable for them from others, should it fall into a group of such devices 10. It would provide a means to help prevent theft by providing a means for customization of the device 10 for the user to a point where a thief or other user won't accidentally misidentify it.

While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of the string alignment tool with floating axle and tilting hemispheric body been shown and described herein, with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure and it will be apparent that in some instances, some features of the invention may be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth. It should also be understood that various substitutions, modifications, and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Consequently, all such modifications and variations and substitutions are included within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.