Technical Field

The present invention relates to a table tennis racket body structure of the kind which comprises a blade having an outer contour and a handle which is joined to the blade at a position on or in the near vicinity of said outer contour.

Description of the Known Prior Art

The following abbreviations are used in the following description: bh = backhand fh = forehand hsh = handshake

Three racket grips are used in modern table tennis play, for reasons of a playing/technical nature: hsh-grip in the form of a fh-grip, hsh-grip in the form of a bh-grip and an Asiatic pen grip. All of these grips emanate from the original racket construction which includes an oval playing board or blade having a pin-like handle attached to one short end thereof. Remaining known constructions are found to lack one or more of those properties that are required by present-day table tennis players, or deviate excessively from the method of play to which players have become accustomed by practice and training, and cannot therefore be used in practice. The advantages and disadvantages of the various grips are discussed briefly below.

The fh-grip involves holding the index finger relatively rigid and often fully stretched, with the outer joint of the index finger in contact with the underpart of the

racket impact surface for a bh-stroke. An fh-stroke gives a high degree of torque in the wrist and great freedom of movement, although wrist movement is somewhat limited when executing a bh-stroke.

A bh-grip involves pressing the outer joint of the thumb against the underpart of the racket impact surface for an fh-stroke. When executing a bh-stroke, this grip affords a high degree of wrist torque and a high degree of freedom of movement, although wrist mobility is res¬ tricted when executing an fh-stroke.

The aforesaid limited mobility of the wrist is slightly improved in the neutral position of the hsh-grip, both when executing a bh-stroke and an fh-stroke, although it unavoidably impairs the aforesaid wrist torque.

The pen grip gives a very large wrist torque with maxi¬ mum freedom of movement when executing an fh-stroke, but results in highly restricted wrist mobility when execut¬ ing a bh-stroke.

The advantage afforded by the hsh-grip over the pen grip is that all strokes typical to a table tennis player, such as fh-strokes and bh-strokes, both with a top-spin and back-spin effect, can be carried out although with limited force in the case of certain strokes as a result of the limited wrist mobility, as described above.

U.S. Patent Specification 3,674,268 teaches a racket with which the fingers of the player are intended to grip around the handle completely outside the impact surface. The grip does not give sufficient stability when the ball has a high g-force. This also applies to the racket taught by the DE Offenlegungsschrift

3,417,728 and, to an even higher degree, by the racket

taught by U.S. Patent Specification 3,239,224, which is intended exclusively for tennis.

DE Offenlegungsschrift 2,610,872 teaches a racket with the handle positioned asymmetrically. This grip is equivalent to the hsh-grip in a neutral position and is able to give greater force to the stroke, because the racket impact point is located nearer the symmetry line of the forearm. However, the stability of the grip at high g-forces is much poorer, because the distance between the impact point and the hand is greater than that of a conventional racket. Swedish Patent Applica¬ tions 7403032-1 and 7702409-9 are inferior variants of this racket.

Swedish Design Application No. 90-1331 illustrates a table tennis racket with which the thumb rests against a separate support surface provided on the upper edge of the forehand side and with which the index finger is held extended along the upper edge of the racket blade. The grip limits mobility of the wrist, particularly when executing a backhand stroke. When applying backspin with a backhand stroke with impact at the upper edge of the racket impact point, the ball will also touch the index finger. In the case of top-spin, the racket impact point is located above the symmetry line of the forearm and consequently the ball cannot be struck with the force desired. Furthermore, the racket blade is angled to the handle, which is gripped by the upper three fingers and therewith deviates markedly from the hsh-grip, so as to render it impossible for the player to use his/her trained grip and necessitate the player to learn and acquire a completely new repertoire.

The racket body taught by FR A 2,611,144 has a recess, or cut-out, which is adapted to accommodate all fingers,

with the exception of the thumb, so that said fingers are able to grip around the handle through one and the same aperture. Thus, in this case, the index finger is not held extended and the hand thus obtains no support for this finger, such support being necessary in order to afford a stable grip. Consequently, a racket body of this construction will "flap" or "wobble" when the game is played at a high tempo.

The racket body taught by GB A 2,200,290 is provided with three or four holes through which the fingers of a player's hand are inserted, with the exception of the thumb. The freedom of wrist movement is impaired because the long finger, ring finger and little finger of the player's hand are spaced apart. Furthermore, it is necessary to adapt the hole spacing to the size and shape of each player's hand. The angle defined between the handle and the racket blade formed integrally there¬ with is also unsuitable for bh-play.

Summary of the Invention

When the racket is gripped neutrally, the inventive racket will provide maximum wrist mobility both when executing backhand strokes and forehand strokes. This eliminates the need for a separate fh-grip and bh-grip in the hsh-grip. This thus allows a player who uses an hsh-grip to use those strokes with which he/she has practiced over the years and to execute these strokes in the manner for which he/she has trained.

A suitable term for distinguishing this novel type of grip from the hsh-grip is the term pistol grip. Accord¬ ing to the invention, a pistol grip enables the player to execute a loop stroke (play with top-spin) and smash¬ es to be executed with greater force, because the impact

point of the pistol-gripped racket is positioned cor¬ rectly, i.e. slightly obliquely above the symmetry axis of the forearm. The wrist mobility afforded hereby in combination with the force delivered by the forearm and the position of the racket impact point will enable the player to execute a whip-like stroke on both the back¬ hand and the forehand side.

A backspin stroke can be executed with a more pronounced screw and at higher speed, due to the uninhibited mobil¬ ity of the wrist and also because the racket impact point is correctly positioned. This is particularly beneficial to those defensive players who have special¬ ized in controlling play by applying backspin to the ball. Thus, the inventive racket enables all types of stroke to be used with a very high wrist torque.

The aforedescribed advantages and properties of the novel racket are fulfilled with a racket body having the characteristic features set forth in the characterizing clause of respective Claims.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of an inventive body structure for table tennis rackets and shows how the racket is gripped by a right-handed player;

Figure 2 is a view of the racket grip shown in Figure 1 from above;

Figure 3 shows the racket body of Figure 1 when not gripped by a hand;

Figure 4 is a section view taken on the line A-A in

Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a side view of a second embodiment of the inventive racket body and shows how the racket is

gripped by a right-handed player.

Best Modes of Carrying Out the Invention

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate how a racket comprised of a body structure 1 and rubber face-coverings (not shown) is gripped by a right-handed table tennis player, so that the racket will lie in the player's hand H between the thumb and the index finger, which is held curved with the finger top inserted through a hole provided therefor, while the remaining three fingers grip around the handle 2 of the body structure. The handle 2 is attached to the playing surface or blade of the body structure 3. More specifically, the blade 3 and the handle 2 are preferably a one-piece structure made of wood or plastic with the handle 2 comprising two outer parts 2a and 2b (Figure 4) which are glued firmly to that part of the structure which forms the intermediate part 2c of the handle.

The outer contour K of the blade 3 illustrated in Fig¬ ures 3 and 4 is essentially oval. That part of the contour K which is shown by a broken line does not exist in reality, but is merely an imaginary part of said contour. The oval has a major axis 4 and a minor axis 5. The impact point of the blade 3 is referenced 6.

The long axis 7 of the handle 2 is essentially tangen¬ tial to or defines a small angle with the contour K and is generally parallel with the major axis 4. The handle 2 is comprised of a central gripping part which is gripped by the long finger, ring finger and little finger of the hand, and two parts 8 and 9 which are joined with the blade 3, of which the upper part 8 is generally parallel with and located close to the minor axis 5. The handle and the blade together define an

aperture 10 having elongated closed contours.

Located immediately inwards of the contour K is an aperture 11 which conveniently extends through the handle part 8 and the blade 3 and thus forms a through- passing hole. The aperture or hole 11 may partially intersect the contour K and in some applications is located adjacent to and preferably slightly beneath the minor axis 5. The size and edge-shape of the aperture 11 is adapted to the top of the player's index finger on his playing hand, said index finger top conveniently being inserted into the aperture, as illustrated in Figure 2. The surface against which the index finger lies, i.e. the surface of handle part 8 to the left of the aperture 11 in Figure 3, is appropriately curved.

Figure 5 illustrates another embodiment of the inven¬ tion. In this embodiment, the handle 12 is positioned at the bottom edge of an oval blade 13 having an outer contour K' . The major axis 14 of the blade defines an angle α of 155-175°, preferably about 160°, with the symmetry line 15 of that part of the handle 12 around which the long finger, ring finger and little finger of the player's hand H, shown in broken lines, grip. The symmetry line 15 defines an angle β of 90-130°, prefer¬ ably 110°, with the symmetry line 19 of that part 18 of the handle provided with a hole or other aperture 16. The handle part 18 is provided with a central slot (not shown) into which part of the oval blade 13 is inserted and there glued. The outermost part of the player's index finger is intended to be inserted into the aper¬ ture 16, which may even extend through the blade 13, whereas the remaining fingers, with the exception of the thumb, are intended to lie against one another. The three lines intersect one another centrally beneath the knuckle of the index finger.