Grip

Abstract

A grip includes a sleeve sleeved onto the handle of a sports apparatus, a covering, which is formed of multiple sheet members of different materials and/or different colors longitudinally abutted against one another around the periphery of the sleeve and arranged in an apposition manner for the gripping of different parts of the hand, and sutures or adhesive to fasten the long sides of the sheet members to one another.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to sports apparatus and more particularly, to a grip for the handle of a sports apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

The handle of a sports apparatus is provided for the holding of the user's hand so that the user can control the operation of the sports apparatus. Because the handle has a hard structure not comfortable to grasp, a soft grip may be used for the handle.

A grip for this purpose may be formed of a flexible or soft grip belt for wrapping about the periphery of the handle. The grip belt is usually made of a single material having a single color. Various materials, including PU (Polyurethane), rubber, EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate), and etc., may be used for making a grip belt. PU has the advantage of soft touch. Rubber has the advantage of non-slippage. EVA has shock absorbing advantage. However, a single color grip is monotonous, not attractive to consumers.

Therefore, different grips are developed to eliminate the aforesaid drawback. U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,732, entitled “MULTI-SEGMENT SINGLE PANEL GRIP” discloses a grip for the handle of a golf club having two layer panels that are wrapped about an underlisting sleeve. The edges of the panels are adhesively sealed together. The grip reduces impact and shock and provides a feeling of tackiness in the manner of a spirally wrapped polyurethane-felt grip while allowing the use of multiple color panels and easy installation onto a golf club shaft. This design may be suitable for the golf club since the right hand and left hand of the user hold respectively upper portion and lower portion of the golf club handle, which need different contact feeling. However, this design can not provide a different contact feeling for the fingers and palm of a single hand. Actually, the contact pressure and physical requirements are different between the fingers and palm of the hand. For example, it requires a relatively softer contact area for the fingers and an area having a relatively stronger shock absorbing power for the palm. When used in a golf club, the left hand and the right hand require a different touch. Further, the touching pressure between the hand and the grip may vary with different users. In general, the gripping effect of a grip must be designed subject to the type of the sports apparatus or personal requirement. The aforesaid prior art design has a limitation to the effect of grasping and allows only arrangement of colors at the top and bottom sides.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a grip, which provides different touching areas of different quality for the fingers and the palm respectively.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a grip, which provides different gripping areas of different colors for the fingers and the palm respectively.

To achieve these objects of the present invention, the grip comprises a sleeve for mounting onto the handle of a sports apparatus and a covering covered on the sleeve. The sleeve has a head, a heel, and a body connected between the head and the heel. The body has an outer wall and an inner wall to be maintained in contact with the handle of a sports apparatus. The covering, which is formed of a plurality of sheet members longitudinally abutted against one another and arranged in an apposition manner, has a top opening, a bottom opening, an inner wall and an outer wall. The sheet members each have two opposite long sides and two opposite short sides. One long side of one of the sheet members is abutted against one long side of another of the sheet members. Fastening members fasten the abutted long sides of the sheet members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective assembly view of a grip according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the covering for the grip according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing a grasping status of the grip according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective assembly view of a grip according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, a grip 1 in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention is shown comprising a sleeve 10, a covering 20, and fastening members 30.

The sleeve 10 is a tubular member having a body 11, a head 12, and a heel 13. The body 11 has an inner wall 111 and an outer wall 112. The body 11 has the inner wall maintained in contact with the periphery of the handle of the sports apparatus.

The covering 20 is comprised of two sheet members longitudinally abutted against each other and arranged in an apposition manner, i.e., the first sheet member 21 having a rubber surface and the second sheet member 22 having an EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) surface. The first sheet member 21 has a first long side 211, a second long side 212, a first short side 213, and a second short side 214. The second sheet member 22 has a first long side 221, a second long side 222, a first short side 223, and a second short side 224. The first long side 211 of the first sheet member 21 is equal to the second long side 222 of the second sheet member 22 in length and abutted against the second long side 222 of the second sheet member 22. The second long side 212 of the first sheet member 21 is equal to the first long side 221 of the second sheet member 22 in length and abutted against the first long side 221 of the second sheet member 22.

The fastening members 30 are two sutures 32 that secure the first long side 211 of the first sheet member 21 to the second long side 222 of the second sheet member 22 and the second long side 212 of the first sheet member 21 to the first long side 221 of the second sheet member 22 respectively, thereby forming the tubular covering 20 that has a top opening 23, a bottom opening 24, an inner wall 25, and an outer wall 26. The circumference of the top opening 24 is approximately equal to the circumference of the bottom side of the body 11 so that the covering 20 can be sleeved onto the outer wall 112 of the body 11 of the sleeve 10.

As indicated above, the two sheet members 21 and 22 of the covering 20 provide a respective longitudinally extending gripping area. The rubber surface of the first sheet member 21 provides an anti-slip gripping area for positive positioning of the five fingers of the hand. The EVA surface of the second sheet member 22 provides a shock-absorbing gripping area for the palm (the ball of the thumb) of the hand, as shown in FIG. 5. Different materials may be used for the first sheet member 21 and the second sheet member 22 to fit different gripping requirements.

Alternatively, the first sheet member 21 can use the same material of the second sheet member 22 but colored in a different color to provide a different visual effect, or the first sheet member 21 and the second sheet member 22 can be made of same material but respectively processed to provide a different coefficient of friction.

FIGS. 5-8 show a grip 2 constructed according to the second embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the covering 20 is comprised of three sheet members longitudinally abutted against one another and arranged in an apposition manner, i.e., the first sheet member 21, the second sheet member 22, and the third sheet member 27. The first sheet member 21 provides a gripping area for the finger cushions of the five fingers. The second sheet member 22 provides a gripping area for the ball of the thumb. The third sheet member 23 provides a gripping area for the phalanges of the other four fingers. Further, the fastening members 30 according to this embodiment are respectively an adhesive.

Claims

1. A grip comprising:

a sleeve for mounting onto the handle of a sports apparatus, said sleeve having a head, a heel, and a body connected between said head and said heel, said body having an outer wall and an inner wall to be maintained in contact with the handle of a sports apparatus;

a covering, which is covered on the outer wall of the sleeve and formed of a plurality of sheet members longitudinally abutted against one another and arranged in an apposition manner, having a top opening, a bottom opening, an inner wall and an outer wall, said sheet members each having two opposite long sides and two opposite short sides, one long side of one of said sheet members being abutted against one long side of another of said sheet members; and

fastening members for fastening the abutted long sides of said sheet members.

2. The grip as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fastening members are respectively a suture.

3. The grip as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fastening members are respectively an adhesive.

4. The grip as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sheet members are made of different materials.

5. The grip as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sheet members have different colors.

6. The grip as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sheet members have different coefficients of friction.

7. A grip comprising:

a sleeve, which is a tubular member having am open end for sleeving onto the handle of a sports apparatus, said sleeve having an inner wall and an outer wall to be maintained in contact with the handle of a sports apparatus; and

a covering covered on the sleeve; wherein said covering is a tubular member having a top opening, a bottom opening, an inner wall and an outer wall, and said covering is formed of at least two sheet members longitudinally abutted against one another and arranged in an apposition manner.

8. The grip as claimed in claim 7, wherein said sheet members are made of different materials.

9. The grip as claimed in claim 7, wherein said sheet members have different colors.

10. The grip as claimed in claim 7, wherein said sheet members have different coefficients of friction.