The present invention relates to a ball and in particular to a floor ball having improved properties, in particular a more uniform stiffness and improved aerodynamic behaviour.

Background of the Invention

In playing floorball, as in all ball games, it is important to be able to control the flight of the ball when shooting and passing the ball. However, due to the constitution of present floor balls this is not always possible to the extent desirable.

This is i.a. due to the construction of floor balls which are made up of two half-shells that are welded together. This creates a stiff "equator" along the "weld seam" between the half-shells such that the ball has different stiffness in different directions. Thus, if the club hits the ball at the equator it will generate a harder shot that flies straighter than if the club hits the ball at one of the "poles" where the ball will yield slightly more.

This renders the ball less controllable than one would wish for.

From the prior art there is known attempts to remedy this problem, such as in SE-0950543-9, in which there is disclosed a ball having reinforcement ribs running along the inside perpendicularly to the equator, i.e. like "meridians".

Although this represented an improvement there is still room for further improvements. In particular, the construction of floor balls is given by regulations. These regulations require that the ball be hollow and must be provided with a plurality of circular openings in the ball shell. This will cause air to pass into the interior during flight, and cause turbulence inside the ball, before the air exits through other holes. Controllability of the ball flight is significantly affected by this, and it would be desirable to reduce the turbulence while at the same time abiding to the regulations. Summary of the Invention

Thus, the object of the present invention is to provide a ball, in preferred embodiments a floor ball, which has improved flight properties, and which thereby can be more easily controlled when shooting and passing the ball.

This object is achieved with a ball as defined in claim 1.

The basic idea is that by providing reinforcement members extending across the interior of the ball its stiffness will be much higher, and also more uniform.

These reinforcement members in one embodiment comprise partition walls, thus creating compartments inside the ball. The walls can be solid, but in other embodiments they can be provided with slits or openings. Preferably there is plurality of slits extending at least partially over the wall surface. In some embodiments the slits can extend across the entire interior of the ball. In a preferred embodiment the slit is provided where the wall connects to the interior surface of the ball.

Preferably, the interior of the ball is subdivided in at least two compartments by at least one wall extending across the interior of the ball, said wall(s) constituting the reinforcement element(s).

In another embodiment these reinforcement members comprise elongated elements arrange in parallel across the interior of the ball. The elongated elements can be provided in arrays in which case they will resemble the above mentioned walls with slits. Or they can be distributed in a "random" manner.

In particular for floor balls which by regulation must have holes in the surface, i.e. circular openings distributed over the surface of the ball, the partition walls will also have the effect of stabilizing the flight of the ball. Namely, when a prior art floor ball flies through the air, air will enter through the openings and also pass through the ball and exit through other openings. This will cause turbulent flow within the ball and also in the near vicinity of the outer surface of the ball. Such turbulence is stochastic and will cause an uncontrolled trajectory, which means that a player cannot with certainty pass the ball to where he or she would want to. The partition walls will reduce the turbulence to a great extent, and the trajectory is much more predictable. Another advantage is that a ball having walls according to the invention will be much more shape stable, calculated to be about 20% more shape stable. The bounce will also improve in terms of being more uniform, and thus predictable.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus not to be considered limiting on the present invention, and wherein

Descripiton of the Drawings

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to the appended drawings in which

Fig. la shows a half shell for a ball according to one embodiment of the invention showing the interior in a view from above; Fig. lb is a perspective view of the half-shell of Fig. la;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the half shell shown in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3a is a cross-section of a half shell along the line 3a-3a in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3b is a cross-section of a half shell along the line 3b-3b in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 4a shows a half shell of a second embodiment of ball according to the invention showing the interior in a perspective view;

Fig. 4b shows a ball according the embodiment of Fig. 4a in cross-section; Fig. 4c shows a half shell of a third embodiment of ball according to the invention showing the interior in a perspective view;

Fig. 4d shows a ball according the embodiment of Fig. 4c in cross-section; and

Fig. 5 shows the dimple shape and pattern according to the present invention on a ball with a part broken away.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

The ball according to the present invention is manufactured by moulding half-shells in a suitable polymer material, preferably Polyethylene, but other materials are equally useful, such as Polyurethane (TPU), just to mention a few, and then welding such half-shells together so as to form a complete ball. In its most general scope the invention entails the provision of reinforcement elements extending across the interior of the ball. These reinforcement elements can be provided as partition walls, pins or ribs, provided in linear arrays or randomly distributed inside the ball.

Figs, la and b illustrates a half-shell 10 for making one embodiment of the ball according to the invention, wherein there are provided four partition walls 11, 12, 13, 14 which result in the provision of four internal compartments 1 1 ', 12', 13', 14' in the finished ball. The number of compartments and hence the number of partition walls are not necessarily four, as shown. In the extreme there is only one wall extending across the interior of the ball in a plane spanned by the diameter, thereby subdividing the ball interior in two compartments. However, there can be a plurality of compartments, such as any of three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten compartments, which of course requires a plurality of walls.

In this embodiment there is.provided a tubular structure 15 extending between the "poles" of the ball. A "pole" for the purpose of this application is taken to mean the apex of a half-shell.

The half-shell in this embodiment has a plurality of circular openings 16 distributed over the envelope surface thereof, with a finite spacing between them. One of these openings 20 is arranged at the pole. This opening is not visible in Figs, la and lb but in Fig. 2 it can be seen at the bottom where the arrow points. Here also the tubular structure 15 is indicated and visible through one of the openings 16 in the surface.

Thus, the finished ball will have one opening 20 at each pole and a tubular structure 15 extending between said openings 20.

The partition walls 11, 12, 13, 14, which are four in the shown embodiment, extend from the inner surface of the shell and connect to the tubular structure 15. In the shown embodiment the radial angular distribution of the walls is such that they pair-wise span an angle of 90°, i.e. they are uniformly distributed. However, other angles are of course possible, and if there are more than four walls or if they should be non-uniformly distributed of course the angles will be smaller, at least between some pairs of walls.

Preferably the walls are uniformly distributed regardless of the number of walls.

In Fig. 3a which is a cross-section along the line 3a-3a in Fig. la, it is clearly seen how the partition walls 11 and 13 extend across the interior of the ball and connect to the tubular structure 15. In Fig. 3b (cross-section along line 3b-3b in Fig. la) it can be seen that the tubular structure 15 is hollow and extends from an opening 20 at the apex ("pole") of the half-shell. Suitably, but not necessarily, the tubular structure has a circular cross-section. In one embodiment the tubular structure ahs the same inner diameter as the diameter of the openings 16. In the shown embodiment the walls are solid. However, it is possible to provide slits 17 or openings in the walls. These slits or openings could have various shapes, such as elongated slits, circular or square openings. The provision of such openings could have the beneficial effect that the air flowing into the compartment through the openings 16 would tune the air flow through the ball walls and in that way we can control and adjust the flight speed of the ball. Examples of slit shaped openings 17 are shown in Fig. 3a in broken lines, to indicate that these slits are optional. One example shows a slit extending partially along the wall, and another example shows the slit extending all the way to the inner wall of the ball itself, and in a further and preferred example the slit 17' is provided where the wall connects to the interior surface of the ball, such that the slit opening is delimited by one straight line and one curved line.

Of course there could be provided a plurality of slits or openings running in parallel, such that the wall will have a somewhat "grid like" appearance.

Figs. 4a-d illustrates a further embodiment, wherein there are provided reinforcement elements in the form of elongated members extending across the interior of the ball. These members can be laid out in regular arrays or randomly. Figs. 4a and 4b show a particular embodiment of the reinforcement elements according to the invention. Fig. 4a shows a half shell 10 wherein there are provided a plurality of reinforcement elements in the form of pins 42 with a circular cross-section. The pins are distributed "randomly", i.e. they are not laid out in linear arrays. However, it is equally within the inventive concept to arrange the pins in arrays. Fig. 4b is a cross-section through a ball perpendicular to the "equator" 56, i.e. the weld, showing how the pins 42 of each half-shell meet and are welded together.

In Figs. 4c and d a still further embodiment is shown. Here the reinforcement elements 42 have a rectangular cross-section. Otherwise the function is the same as for the previous embodiment with circular cross-section.

Of course it is possible to provide reinforcement element with any cross-section, such as triangular, polygonal or even irregular cross-sections. In Fig. 5 there is disclosed a ball according to an embodiment of the invention comprising two half-shells welded together. The weld 56 runs circumferentially around the ball, but also preferably inside the ball where the edges 48 of the walls of each half-shell meet.

In preferred embodiments of the ball according to the invention, the surface is provided with a pattern of so called dimples. Such dimples are provided on many types of balls, e.g. golf balls and floor balls in order to improve flight properties. Traditional dimples have been provided on the surface as circular indentations, normally with a spherical curvature. However there have been other geometries as well. According to the present invention the dimples have a shape of a "D". An example of a floor ball having such "D" dimples 50 on the surface is shown in Fig. 4. There is no particular restriction on the size of a dimple or in the relation between the length of the straight (vertical) portion 52 of the "D"-shapes and the curved portion 54. A dimple according to the invention can thus deviate significantly from the shape of a conventional letter "D" and still be considered to conform to the "D" shape.

In a preferred embodiment the dimples are laid out in parallel arrays around the circumference, suitably in parallel with the "equator", i.e. the weld seam that connects the half-shells.

Also, preferably the "D" dimples are laid out such that the straight (vertical) portion 52 of the "D" shape essentially conforms to imaginary "meridians" extending from pole to pole. On respective sides of the equator, i.e. on the "northern hemisphere" and the "southern hemisphere", respectively, the dimples are oriented in opposite directions in the shown embodiment. This is of course not strictly necessary, but from a manufacturing point of view it simplifies production in that only one single half-shell type needs to be moulded. Should it be desirable to provide dimples that were oriented in the same direction over the entire surface, of course two types of shells need to be moulded.

The depth of the dimples is preferably 0,15-0,30 mm, and the area of each dimple is suitably about 7-9 mm ² , preferably 8,6 mm ² . In preferred embodiments there are 400-800 dimples provided.

The invention will be further illustrated by reference to the following examples.

EXAMPLES

Example 1 (flight tests)

A ball manufactured according to the present invention and designed essentially as shown in the figures was subjected to flight tests. The tests were performed by launching balls from a trap shooting apparatus. This yielded an initial flight speed corresponding to an average shot in a floor ball game, i.e. about 25 m/s. The flight performance was inspected visually and compared to the light performance for ordinary floor balls, i.e. not according to the invention. It was clearly observable that the rotation of the ball according to the invention in the air was significantly lower, i.e. it rotated less than an ordinary state of the art ball.

Another difference was that it had a slightly longer trajectory, even when a standard ball was supplemented with extra weight to compensate for the weight difference due to the presence of the interior walls.

However, the greatest difference was that compared to a standard ball that begins to deviate from a straight line when it loses speed, due to its rotation, the ball according to the invention deviated much less. The deviation from straight line was about 50% smaller than for the prior art ball.

Without wishing to be bound by theory it is believed that the new design of a ball which entails distributing more weight from the envelope surface and towards the ball centre, reduces the rotation weight, and thereby the spin of the ball in the air and also when passing the ball is reduced. This will be experienced by players in the way the ball has a more homogenous feeling.

Furthermore, by creating compartments inside the ball the air flow through the ball is strongly reduced or even eliminated, whereby the air is "packed" in the compartment. This blocking of the air flow will increase the obtainable speed of the ball compared to an ordinary ball. The reason is believed to be that compartments inside the ball will have fractions of the volume of the ball as a whole, and thus there is much less space for the air to move around inside the ball. An ordinary floor ball can be said to act as a parachute where the air swirls in and out on the backside depending on how it rotates.