Ball and Glove Returning Toy

Abstract

A toy that includes a returning ball mounted on an elastic cord. The other end of the elastic cord is mounted to a glove, such as a baseball glove. The elastic cord may be mounted to a stitch in the glove, or may be connected to a special connection part that is attached at first and second ends to the glove leaving an open connection between those first and second ends.

Description

BACKGROUND

Our U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,963 discloses a toy that uses a ball on an elastic string, to bounce back toward the thrower. The ball can be thrown either against the surface or simply into air. The force of the elastic brings the ball back to the original wearer. This system uses a Velcro® based wrist strap, that can be tightened around a user's wrist.

SUMMARY

The present invention teaches a toy formed with an elastic cord and ball, where the hand connection part is a glove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment showing the glove, elastic strap and ball;

FIG. 2 illustrates a connection between the elastic strap and the glove; and

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment showing the glove, elastic strap and ball.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals, are described herein.

Systems such as our previous U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,963 uses a wrist band that connects to a user's wrist, so that a ball can be thrown and easily caught. This system is easy to use and inexpensive to produce. However, there may be certain limitations with such a system.

First of all, since the wrist band is used, the ball must be light and soft, because a harder ball could be difficult to catch and/or could cause injury.

Another issue is caused by the inconvenience of having to attach the wrist band to a user's wrist. If the band is too loose, it will fly off the wrist. This requires that the strap be attached each time the device is going to be used.

The present application uses the hand attachment mechanism as being a glove, e.g., a baseball mitt. A glove enables a different way of using this kind of toy. The ball can be made heavier, since it can be caught in the glove, e.g., the mitt. Even if a light ball is used, moreover, this provides some practice in using a baseball mitt. In addition, wearing and removing may become simpler, for example, it is much easier to simply slip on the baseball mitt, over a user's fingers, as compared with the wrist band which requires actually attaching and detaching. This toy also allows throwing the ball with one hand, and catching the ball in the glove on the other hand.

While the present device uses a baseball mitt as the hand attaching part, it should be understood that any glove or partial glove could be used, basically anything that fits over a user's hand and/or palm and/or fingers could be used as the hand attaching part.

An embodiment is shown in FIG. 1. A glove 100, here a baseball mitt, has a number of finger attachment parts, such as 102 which includes inner surfaces such as 103 into which the user's palm is attached. The finger parts, such as 102, 104, 106, 107, 108, each include inner surfaces to receive a user's hand part. Part 104 includes inner surfaces such as 105 that receive an index finger of the user, for example. The user can therefore place a hand into the glove, and automatically and immediately form an attachment to the cord and ball.

There may be a padded area such as 110, which is padded with foam or other similar material. The baseball mitt may, as conventional, include other finger parts such as 106, 107, 108, and may also include a webbing part 109 that extends between the thumb portion 102 and the index portion 104.

In one embodiment, the baseball mitt may also include tied portions such as 111 between fingers such as 104, 106. The baseball mitt is open at its bottom portion 115, allowing the user's hand to be placed therein. Other stitching parts may also be provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the glove 100 is attached to an elastic cord 120. The elastic cord 120 is in turn attached to a ball 130, e.g., a sponge type or other ball. The ball is preferably cushioned, but can be heavier. Any desired attachment mechanism can be used to attach to the glove 100 and to the ball 130.

FIG. 2 shows a close-up connection of the attachment to the glove. In the FIG. 2 embodiment, a attachment mechanism 200 is a fabric or leather piece that is sewn or glued to the glove. The attachment mechanism 200 includes a first attachment part 205 and a second attachment part 206. Both 205 and 206 are attached to a portion of the glove, preferably at a portion that will be adjacent to the location of the user's palm when they are using the glove. A raised area 210 forms a hoop-like portion which is raised above the surface of the glove, thereby forming an open area 211.

In the embodiment, the elastic 120 has an end connection portion 212 that is connected through the open area 211. In this embodiment, the attachment portion can be a loop formed in the elastic cord, either formed by feeding a portion of the elastic through the open portion 211 and forming a knot 213. The knot is preferably covered by a shrink-wrap covering 213. At the other end of the elastic cord 120, it is attached to the ball, for example by gluing or by any other technique.

In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the elastic cord is attached directly to one of the stitches in the glove 299. In this embodiment, some leather stitching, such as 300 extends through a surface of the glove, extending from the front to the back.

The elastic cord 350 includes an attachment mechanism 301 that attaches under that leather stitching. In this embodiment, the attachment mechanism includes a metal clip 302, for example a clip that has a deformable portion that maintains its closure, but which can be squeezed to reopen. The bottom of the clip 302 ends in a connection loop 303 which in this embodiment is attached to a swivel mechanism 304. The swivel mechanism 304 then connects to the elastic cord 350.

A connection to the elastic cord 350 is made by making knots or other types of connections between different sections of the elastic cord. A first section 310 of elastic cord extends through the bottom hole 305 of the swivel. In the figure, the section 310 is simply passed through the hole 305, with both its end pieces being connected to the second section 320.

The connection between the first section of elastic cord 310 and the second section of elastic cord 320 is made at 315. The connection at 315 may be made by making a knot or by any other type connection, for example by gluing. The connection 315 is then covered by a shrink sleeve 316 to avoid seeing the knot or fraying it.

The main section 320 of elastic cord may be between 2 and 3 feet in length. The section 320 terminates in another connection area 325, formed by a knot connecting to another section 330. The knot is similarly covered by a shrink sleeve 327. Section 330 extends through a central through hole 340 within the ball 130. Like section 310, this may simply extend through the connected part, back to itself.

As an alternative, there may be another interface 333 between the section 330 and a more rigid section of material that extends through a through hole 340 in the ball 130. The use of a more rigid material may facilitate a very small through hole in the ball. For example, the rigid material can be forced through a small hole in the ball, or can itself be used to puncture the ball.

According to another embodiment, the cord portion 330 may be attached to an interface plate which has a hole therein, and the interface plate may be glued or otherwise attached to the ball.

The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals are described herein.

Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventor(s) intend these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way. This disclosure is intended to be exemplary, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, other gloves and balls can be used.

Also, the inventors intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The computer may be a Pentium class computer, running Windows XP or Linux, or may be a Macintosh computer. The computer may also be a handheld computer, such as a PDA, cellphone, or laptop.

The programs may be written in C, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a glove part, having at least one inner surface adapted to cover a finger of a user, said glove part including a connection portion thereon;

a ball, including a connection portion thereon; and

an elastic cord, connected between said connection portion of said ball, and said connection portion of said glove.

2. A device as in claim 1, wherein said glove part is a baseball mitt.

3. A device as in claim 1, wherein said connection portion is a portion that is located on a palm portion of the glove.

4. A device as in claim 1, wherein said connection portion is a separate piece that is attached to the glove.

5. A device as in claim 1, wherein said connection portion is a stitch within the glove.

6. A device as in claim 1, wherein said connection portion on said ball is a through hole on said ball.

7. A device as in claim 1, wherein said elastic cord comprises a plurality of separated sections of elastic cord, which are connected together.

8. A device as in claim 7, wherein said elastic cord is connected to other sections at connection portions, and each of a plurality of connection portion includes a shrinkwrap portion, covering the connection portion.

9. A device as in claim 7, further comprising a rigid cord, connected to said elastic cord, wherein said connection portion is a through hole on said ball, and said rigid cord is passed through said through hole on said ball.

10. A device as in claim 7, further comprising a swiveling part, connected to said elastic cord, preventing knotting of said elastic cord.

11. A method, comprising:

using a toy by putting on a glove, and throwing a ball that is attached to the glove via an elastic cord, and receiving the ball back by action of said elastic cord, into the glove, after said throwing.

12. A method, comprising

connecting a first end of an elastic cord to a glove; and

connecting a ball to an other end of the elastic cord.

13. A method as in claim 12, wherein said glove is a baseball glove, and said ball is a soft spongy ball that looks like a baseball.

14. A method as in claim 12, wherein said connecting a first end comprises connecting the first end of the electric cord to a stitch in the glove.

15. A method as in claim 12, wherein said connecting a first end comprises attaching an extra piece to the glove, at first and second ends of the extra piece, leaving an open unconnected piece in the middle between said first and second ends, and connecting said first end to said open unconnected piece.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein said connecting said first end to said open unconnected piece comprises looping the first end through the unconnected piece.

17. A method as in claim 12, wherein said connecting a ball comprises connecting a rigid cord to said other end of said elastic cord, and forcing said rigid cord through a portion of said ball.