This invention relates to a device for applying a moisture absorbent powdery substance to a grip, such as the grip of a sports racquet, handle of a golf club, or the like; and, in particular, to a self-closing container for neatly storing and dispensing such a moisture absorber onto the grip or handle. Background Art

During active racquet sports play, such as during tennis, squash, badminton, lacrosse, etc. , the grips of the racquets frequently become soaked with sweat transferred from the hands of participants which may make the grip slippery or otherwise interfere with the grasping thereof. A similar situation arises in bat sports like baseball, cue stick sports like billiards and club sports like golf. The same problem can occur also with horse whips and-- fishing rods. In each case, an elongated handle or stock (hereafter "grip") that is manually gripped by a user becomes covered with sweat and it is a desirable objective to remove the same. Accumulated sweat may be removed from time to ime by blotting the same with a terry cloth or other ¹ towel material. Alternatively, a continuous moisture absorbing action can be obtained by applying talc, rosin, deliquescent salt, sawdust, or other desiccant or moisture absorbing material in powder or particulate form (hereinafter "powder") over the grip to capture the sweat and improve frictional contact during usage.

A problem with the application of a moisture absorbing powdery substance to a grip shaft is the difficulty of neatly containing such materials and the general messiness of such materials during application. A usual way of carrying such powdery substances is in a container having normally closed apertures that are opened bo spill a quantity of such material onto the hands for rubbing onto

the grip or handle. Dispensing is hard to control and materials such as talcum tend to puff up into clouds when expelled through the apertures. It is common to dispense grip demoisturizing agents like ground chalk by means of a cloth impregnated with the same and often stored between uses in a plastic bag or other closed container. Even such powder impregnated cloths will normally emit unwanted puffs of material when wiped around the grip surfaces, though an initial shaking action is avoided. Disclosure of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for applying a moisture absorbing powder to a grip of a sports racquet, or the like, in a neat and convenient manner which minimizes unwanted clouding and spreading of the powder to unintended surfaces.

In accordance with the invention a device for applying a moisture absorbing substance to the grip of a sports racquet, or the like, comprises a container defining a normally closed chamber for storage of a quantity of moisture absorbent powder, and self-closing valve means located on the container for admitting the grip or handle into the interior of the container for application of a portion of the contained powder thereto. The valve means functions to open for admission of the grip and close upon its withdrawal, thereby preventing dispensing of the powder other than by attachment to the inserted surfaces of the grip.

A preferred embodiment of the invention, described in greater detail below has a normally closed tubular container with an internal, smaller diameter tubular partition located coaxially therein and defining annular and central partitioned regions within a closed chamber. The top of the container has valve means in the form of adjacently disposed contacting flaps which yield elastically when depressed by the base of a grip to uncover an opening into the container through which to admit the grip into the central chamber region. the tubular

partition is apertured to communicate a portion of a quantity of moisture absorbent powdery substance stored in the annular region through the partition into the central region and onto the inserted surfaces of the grip. Removal of the grip from the container restores the flaps to their container closing position.

The partition is preferably dimensioned, as described below, in close tolerance with the dimensions of the grip so that a "pump" and "swab" action occurs upon insertion and withdrawal, respectively, of the grip to assist in dispensing from and recapture to the annulus of the powder. Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description, and is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention presented as a demoisturizer for the grip of a tennis racquet handle;

FIGS. 2A-2C are schematic longitudinal section views of the embodiment of FIG. 1, helpful in understanding an advantageous operating feature of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an implementation of the embodiment of FIG. 1 in the environment of a tennis court; and FIG. 4 is a view as in FIG. 2B of a modified embodiment of the invention.

Throughout the drawings, like elements are referred to by like numerals. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The principles of the invention are described by way of example in their application to an illustrative device to applying moisture absorbing substance to the grip of a tennis racquet. The understanding of the principles thus applied should make possible their application elsewhere. As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary grip demoisturizer device 10 has a container 11 in the form of a transparent plastic tubular housing with a closed circular base 12 and

an open circular top sealed by means of a cap 14 having a peripheral circumferentially projecting flange 15 which is brought over the external surface of the container 11 perimetrically adjacent the top. The capped container 11 thus defines a normally closed internal chamber 16 for storage of a quantity of a moisture absorbent powdery substance, such as talcum 17, whose application to the grip end of a tennis racquet will absorb sweat therefrom and improve the manual grasping thereof. A central area 18 (shown by dot and dashed lines in FIG. 1) of the cap 14 is provided with valve means in the form of adjacently disposed flaps 19 to provide a self- closing mechanism for admission of the tennis racquet grip into the interior of the container 11. In the illustrated embodiment, the flaps 19 are formed by making a plurality of radial cuts from the center of the cap 14 an equal distance partway out to the flanged edge of the cap 14. The material of cap 14 is chosen to impart an elastic quality under deformation to the flaps 19, so that the flaps will yield elastically to uncover an opening bounded by the area 18 when depressed inwardly towards the chamber 16 by the base of a grip, as further detailed below.

To increase the neatness and control of the powder storage and dispensing operation of the demoisturizer 10, as shown in FIG. 1, a smaller diameter tubular partition 20 is located centrally within the chamber 16, coaxially with and for the full length of the container 11. The partition 20 serves to divide the closed chamber 16 into an annular region 21 and a central core region 22 (see FIG. 2A) . For reasons that will become apparent from the discussion below, the diameter of the partition 20 (and, thus, the diameter of the core region 22) is advantageously chosen to be the same as the diameter of the area 18 and just slightly larger than the diameter of the grip onto which application of the powder 17 is desired. the powder 17 is preferably initially stored in the annulus 21, with apertures 23 provided over the length of

the partition 20 serving to communicate that powder into the core region 22 on demand. A plurality of toroidal spacers or discs 24 provided with powder communicating apertures 25 serve to impart additional rigidity to the container 11 and maintain the centralized position of the partition 20 relative to the circumferential walls of the container 11.

The container 11 for use as a tennis racquet grip demoisturizer device 10 may suitably correspond in general configuration to the structure of a plastic three tennis ball container, now presently known, the container 11 being similar in dimension and material to the main open-topped ball receiving portion and the cap 14 being similar to the reattachable plastic tennis ball container cap. Such known ball can structures commonly have central, inwardly protruding dimples 26 (see FIG. 2A) that can be adapted to maintain the centrality of the inner extent of an insertable/removable form of partition member 20. The rings 24 can be dimensioned relative to the internal diameter of the container 11 and fixed at longitudinally spaced intervals along the partition 20, so that the partition 20 and attached rings 24 can be inserted as an assembly into the interior of the container 11 and maintained therein by virtue of a close fit between the outer circumferential edge of the discs 24 and the inner diameter of the container 11. One possible arrangement is to have the partition and discs housed in a plastic wrap outer sheath, or the like, with a full reload of powder contained in the region between the outer diameter of the partition 20 and the inside of the wrap, thus providing an expendable powder cartridge insert element.

FIGS. 2A-2C show, by means of a series of cross- sectional schematic views, the operation of an advantageous feature of a preferred implementation of the device 10 in which the inside diameter of the partition 20 closely matches the outside diameter of a grip 28 of a tennis racquet 30. FIGS. 2A-2C show a device 10 as in FIG. 1

having a tubular partition 20 coaxially located within the container 11 to define a normally closed internal chamber having annular and core regions 21, 22. FIG. 2A shows the device 10 in its closed valve position with a quantity of powdery substance, such as talcum 17, received within the annular region 21. When the base of a grip 28 of a racquet 30 is directed at the central area 18 (see FIG. l) of the cap 14 (as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2B) , the flaps 19 yield axially and radially to admit the grip 28 coaxially into the core region 22. Where close tolerance exists between the outside diameter of the grip 28 and inside diameter of the partition 20, movement of the racquet 30 into the device 10 will force air from portions of the core region 22 below the base of the grip 28 outwardly into the annular region 21 and up toward the top 14 of the container 11 (i.e. toward the shank restriction of the racquet 30) . This action "pumps" an amount of the powder 17 from its storage position in the annulus 21 through the apertures 23 and onto the grip position 28 of the racquet 30. Subsequent withdrawal of the racquet 30 from the container 11, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2C, causes a reverse flow of air in the container that "swabs" the residue of powder 17 brought into the core 2 back out and into the annular storage region 21. This alternate pumping and swabbing action adds an additional measure of neatness to the powder dispensing process. When the racquet 30 has been completely withdrawn from the container 11, the flaps 19 will resume their normally closed position to block further dissemination of the powder 17 out of the chamber 16. FIG. 3 shows an example implementation of a grip demoisturizer device 110 in a tennis court environment. A normally closed container 11 having self-closing valve means 19 for admitting the grip of a tennis racquet 30 contains a quantity of moisture absorbent powder for application thereon. The implementation 110 may be constructed, as desired, with or without a partition 20 and discs 24; however, a swivel bracket 32 is provided

attaching an intermediate point of the container 11 to a post 33 (e.g., a tennis net supporting post) for pivotal rotation of the container 11 together with the racquet 30 about a horizontal axis. An amount of powder can thus be applied to the grip of the racquet 30 by inserting the grip against the valve means 19 and into the container 11 and then pivoting the container about the swivel 32 by turning the racquet to a position 30' (shown by dot-dashed lines) in order to agitate the powder in the container 11 onto the grip. The container 11 can be weighted or the swivel 32 provided with a biasing mechanism to return the container 11 to an upright position after removal of the tennis racquet 30.

FIG. 4 shows a modified embodiment 10' of the device 10, wherein a circular disc 50 is positioned coaxially within the central core region 22 (FIG. 2A) of the internal chamber 16, and biased by means such as a spring 51 toward the cap 14 end of region 22. The disc 50 is of a diameter just slightly less than the diameter of the tubular partition 20 in order to be captured within the tube and prevented from exiting out through the cap opening. The spring 51 will urge the disc into a position (not shown) normally adjacent the cap 14. When the base of a grip 28 of a racquet 30 is directed into the core region 22, it will contact the disc 50 and move it with the base toward the dimpled end of the device. When the grip 28 is withdrawn, the disc 50 will be moved under action of the spring 51 back toward the cap 14. The disc thus functions to enhance the powder pumping and swabbing action of the grip 28. It is noted that the disc 50 itself functions as a self-closing valve to automatically open and close the chamber of the device 10', so may be used to back up or, if desired, in place of the already described valve means 19.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that the foregoing detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention has been made for illustrative purposes only and not by way of

limitation. In particular, it will be appreciated that dimensional and configurational changes may be made to conform to the structures of particular grips. For example, for use with a bow grip which is located centrally on an elongated bow, a valve means 19 can be accommodated at both ends of the container 11 to enable the grip to be received within the chamber 16. It will also be appreciated that various other substitutions and modifications may also be made thereto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims below.