BASEBALL/SOFTBALL BAT HANDGRIP
The present disclosure provides an annular hand positioning shaft to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel. The hand positioning shaft has a longitudinal axis and a bottom end portion. The annular hand positioning shaft may be formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member. The annular hand positioning shaft may include upper and lower hand receiving portion and a hand separation ridge. The upper and lower hand receiving portion includes plurality of upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis. The bottom end portion may define an axe handle base including an upper domed surface protruding radially outward. The annular hand positioning shaft may further include upper and lower palm pads configured to receive a portion of a palm of the upper hand at a predefined location along the longitudinal axis.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/120,348, filed on Dec. 2, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/155,980, filed on Mar. 3, 2021, the entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELDThe present disclosure generally relates to handgrip for a baseball/softball bat.
BACKGROUNDMany baseball and softball players struggle to grip the handle of the bat correctly. Various handgrips and grip training implements have been developed that aim to improve a batter's grip position.
BRIEF SUMMARYThe present disclosure provides an annular hand positioning shaft to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat; specifically, between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat. The hand positioning shaft has a longitudinal axis, a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion. The bottom end portion is spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis.
The annular hand positioning shaft may be formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member. The shaft member has a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin spaced apart by a gap. Each of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member includes a locking formation. The elongate closure member has a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin. Each of the first longitudinal edge margin and the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member includes a complementary locking formation. The shaft member is positioned about the handle of the bat such that the gap has a first circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis. The elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap while the shaft member is positioned about the handle such that the complementary locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the elongate closure member operatively engage the locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member and draws the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member. After the elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap, the locking formations of the shaft member and the complementary locking formations of the elongate closure member secures the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member and secures the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap. The gap has a second circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis that is less than the first circumferential dimension.
The annular hand positioning shaft may include an upper hand receiving portion, a lower hand receiving portion, and a hand separation ridge. The upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand receiving portion are spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, with the hand separation ridge located between the lower hand receiving portion and the upper hand receiving portion along the longitudinal axis. The upper hand receiving portion includes plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, and the lower hand receiving portion includes plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis. The annular hand positioning shaft receives an upper hand of a batter in the upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand of a batter in the lower hand receiving portion such that: (i) the upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs respectively support fingers of the upper hand and the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft, (ii) the hand separation ridge supports the upper hand and the lower hand at respective locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft, and (iii) the hand positioning shaft supports the upper hand and the lower hand of the batter generally at a predefined relative circumferential grip position.
The bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft may define an axe handle base. The axe handle base includes an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface. The upper domed surface has an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis. The upper domed surface slopes downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve is asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis.
The annular hand positioning shaft may further include an upper palm pad configured to receive a portion of a palm of the upper hand at a predefined location along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft and a lower palm pad configured to receive a portion of a palm of the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft. The lower palm pad is spaced apart along the longitudinal axis with an off-set angle about the longitudinal axis from the upper palm pad.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONReferring to
In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Referring to
In cross-section, each tongue element 50 includes a web segment 51 that extends circumferentially from the respective longitudinal edge margin 32, 34 to which it is attached toward the opposing longitudinal edge margin. Each web segment 51 is formed at the radially inner portion of the hand positioning shaft 10, adjacent the point of contact between the hand positioning shaft and the bat handle. In cross-section, each tongue element 50 further comprises a radial extension 53 extending radially outward from the circumferentially distal edge of the respective web segment 51. Each tongue element 50 further comprises an overhang 55 extending circumferentially toward the proximal end of the respective web segment. The overhang 55 is radially spaced apart from the web segment 51 has a free end that is circumferentially spaced apart from the respective edge margin 32, 34 of the shaft member 28 such that each tongue element 50 defines a general L-shaped channel 57. The L-shaped channel 57 has an open upper end and a closed lower end that is closed off by a stop block 52 (see
As shown in
Accordingly, it can be seen that engagement of the complementary locking formations 44 of the elongate closure member 30 with the locking formations 38 of the shaft member 28 draws the first longitudinal edge margin 32 of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin 34 of the shaft member. After the elongate closure member 30 is inserted longitudinally into the gap 36, the locking formations 38 of the shaft member 28 and the complementary locking formations 44 of the elongate closure member secure the first longitudinal edge margin 32 of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin 40 of the elongate closure member and secure the second longitudinal edge margin 34 of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin 42 of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap. Because the locking formations 38, 44 draw the longitudinal edge margins 32, 34 together like a zipper, the hand positioning shaft 10 is cinched tightly around the bat handle and is substantially constrained from movement relative to the bat. Referring to
As shown in
Although the illustrated embodiment of the handgrip 10 uses the elongate closure member 30 to secure the hand positioning shaft onto the bat handle, it will be understood that other embodiments can use other methods of securement. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the handgrip can be formed as a factory-installed component of a bat in one or more embodiments.
As shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in
In an exemplary embodiment, the predefined relative circumferential grip position arranges the hands for clean and efficient movement to the ball during a swing and/or positions the hands to make a strong palm-up, palm-down attack on the ball. In the illustrated embodiment, the predefined relative circumferential grip position causes the batter to rotate his or her wrists inward toward one another (relative to true door knock grip) such that the middle knuckles of the lower hand are circumferentially offset from middle knuckles of the upper hand by an offset angle of greater than 0° and less than 30° (e.g., greater than 5° and less than 25°). In other words, the upper and lower hand receiving portions 16, 18 are configured to position the hands of the batter such that the wrists are rotated inward slightly from a true door knock position.
As shown in
In accordance with the present disclosure, as shown in
Referring to
As shown in
As shown in
The hand positioning shaft may be formed from various materials without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In an exemplary embodiment, the surfaces in contact with the batter's hand are formed from a soft or compressible (e.g., rubber or rubberized) athletic grip material with similar to feel to other materials commonly used in golf grips, tennis grips, baseball/softball bat grip wraps, etc.
When introducing elements of the present disclosure or the one or more embodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
As various changes could be made in the above apparatuses, systems, and methods without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Claims
1. A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
- an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis, a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;
- an upper hand receiving portion, a lower hand receiving portion spaced from the upper hand receiving portion along the longitudinal axis, the upper hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and the lower hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, wherein the annular hand positioning shaft is configured to receive an upper hand of a batter in the upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand of a batter in the lower hand receiving portion such that:
- (i) the upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs respectively support fingers of the upper hand and the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft; and
- (ii) the hand positioning shaft supports the upper hand and the lower hand of the batter generally at a predefined relative circumferential grip position; and
- wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower hand receiving portion, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis.
2. The handgrip as set forth in claim 1, wherein an upper imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the upper axial finger positioning ribs and a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the upper imaginary rib center line is circumferentially spaced apart from the lower imaginary rib center line about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 25° to about 50°.
3. The handgrip as set forth in claim 1, wherein a center plane imaginary line in the center plane and oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis intersects an uppermost point along the apex curve and wherein a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about the circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, the center plane imaginary line being circumferentially offset from the lower imaginary rib center line about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle less than 20°.
4. The handgrip as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a hand separation ridge between the lower hand receiving portion and the upper hand receiving portion.
5. A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising:
- an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis, a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;
- an upper palm pad configured to support a portion of a palm of the upper hand and a lower palm pad configured to support a portion of a palm of the lower hand, lower palm pad being spaced apart along the longitudinal axis from the upper palm pad, the lower palm pad being circumferentially offset about the longitudinal axis from the upper palm pad;
- wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower palm pad, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis.
6. The handgrip as set forth in claim 5, wherein each of the upper and lower palm pads comprises a generally an ellipsoid surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft, each ellipsoid surface each comprise an imaginary pad center line parallel to the longitudinal axis.
7. The handgrip as set forth in claim 6, wherein each ellipsoid surface is symmetrical about its imaginary pad center line.
8. The handgrip as set forth in claim 6, wherein the imaginary pad center lines are circumferentially offset from each other about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 45° to about 75°.
9. The handgrip as set forth in claim 6, wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and wherein an upper imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the upper axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the upper imaginary rib center line is offset from the imaginary pad center line the ellipsoidal surface of the upper palm pad circumferentially about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 150° to about 180°.
10. The handgrip as set forth in claim 6, wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and wherein a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the lower imaginary rib center line is offset from the imaginary pad center line the ellipsoidal surface of the lower palm pad circumferentially about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 150° to about 180°.
11. A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
- an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;
- wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower hand receiving portion, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis;
- wherein the hand positioning shaft is formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member, the shaft member comprises a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin spaced apart by a gap, each of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member comprising a locking formation, the elongate closure member having a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin, each of the first longitudinal edge margin and the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member further comprising a complementary locking formation, the shaft member configured to be positioned about the handle of the bat such that the gap has a first circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis, the elongate closure member configured to be inserted longitudinally into the gap while the shaft member is positioned about the handle such that the complementary locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the elongate closure member operatively engage the locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member and draw the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member, wherein after the elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap, the locking formations of the shaft member and the complementary locking formations of the elongate closure member secures the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member and secure the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap and the gap has a second circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis less than the first circumferential dimension.
12. A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
- an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;
- an upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand receiving portion spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, the upper hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and the lower hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, wherein the annular hand positioning shaft is configured to receive an upper hand of a batter in the upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand of a batter in the lower hand receiving portion such that:
- (i) the upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs respectively support fingers of the upper hand and the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft; and
- (ii) the hand positioning shaft supports the upper hand and the lower hand of the batter generally at a predefined relative circumferential grip position;
- wherein the hand positioning shaft is formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member, the shaft member comprises a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin spaced apart by a gap, each of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member comprising a locking formation, the elongate closure member having a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin, each of the first longitudinal edge margin and the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member further comprising a complementary locking formation, the shaft member configured to be positioned about the handle of the bat such that the gap has a first circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis, the elongate closure member configured to be inserted longitudinally into the gap while the shaft member is positioned about the handle such that the complementary locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the elongate closure member operatively engage the locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member and draw the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member, wherein after the elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap, the locking formations of the shaft member and the complementary locking formations of the elongate closure member secures the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member and secure the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap and the gap has a second circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis less than the first circumferential dimension.
13-14. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 1, 2021
Publication Date: Jun 2, 2022
Inventors: Kent Becker (Topeka, KS), Brett Becker (Topeka, KS), Dean Dingman (Wixom, MI)
Application Number: 17/457,112