TWI868017B - Sports ball piece, sports ball having the sports ball piece, and method for making the sports ball - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sports ball piece, a sports ball having the sports ball piece and a method for manufacturing the sports ball, wherein the sports ball piece comprises a main body, the main body comprises an outer skin layer, a foam layer and a reinforcement layer, the foam layer is connected between the outer skin layer and the reinforcement layer; a joint part is formed on the outer periphery of the main body, the joint part has a plurality of longitudinal joint surfaces and a plurality of transverse joint surfaces, and each sports ball piece is bonded to each other and spliced and bonded to an inner tube to form a sports ball; the sports ball piece manufactured by molding technology has the advantages of low shrinkage rate, high material dimensional accuracy and avoiding the generation of waste materials of foam material corners, and the bonding strength and durability can be improved by bonding the joint parts to each other, and has the advantages of environmental protection, cost reduction and streamlined production process.

Description

Sports ball piece, sports ball having the sports ball piece, and method for making the sports ball

The present invention relates to a ball object, in particular to a sports ball cover and a sports ball made therefrom.

The existing sports balls generally include two main components, an outer skin and a middle tire system. The outer skin is composed of an outer leather layer and a foam layer. The outer leather layer can be PVC, PVB, TPU or PU, and the foam layer can be NBR, EVA, SBR, RB, PU, TPR, TPE or EPDM foam, etc., which are bonded by adhesive through a compounding device to form a sports ball outer skin material with both wear resistance and rebound performance. The middle tire system generally consists of two main components, including reinforced yarn or fabric and rubber inner tube. These materials are randomly wound by yarn, or the fabric is manually bonded to the surface of the rubber inner tube to form a reinforcement layer, which effectively controls the size and roundness of the sports ball.

Taking soccer balls as an example, their production uses heat bonding technology, where the outer skin production steps include foil material lamination, composite material cutting and shaping, outer skin printing and gold oiling, and outer skin folding and gluing; the middle tube production steps include fabric backing glue rolling, fabric cutting and shaping, inner tube surface brushing glue, and inner tube surface bonding fabric to form the middle tube, and finally the outer skin and the middle tube are combined to play ball and shape.

Take basketball as an example. It generally consists of two main components: an outer skin layer and a rubber mid-tube system. The outer skin layer is divided into genuine leather and synthetic leather, such as Microfiber, PU, and PVC. The rubber mid-tube system is generally composed of three main components: rubber layer, yarn layer, and rubber inner tube. The existing technology requires the inner tube to be wrapped with yarn first, and then the rubber sheet is bonded to the surface of the yarn layer, and then heated and vulcanized. After vulcanization, the black basketball mid-tube still needs to be trimmed and polished and brushed with glue, and finally it is manually laminated on the surface of the mid-tube.

The existing method of splicing sports ball pieces, such as the method of manufacturing leather ball pieces in CN 1739826B invented in mainland China, uses heat pressing or high frequency to form a flat surface on the end face of the ball piece, both of which play a hemming role. The splicing part is to use adhesive to coat the outer side of the end face of the leather ball piece and bond the end face of the leather ball piece to achieve the purpose of bonding. The outer skin strength of the whole ball must be achieved by coating the ball piece and the middle tire joint surface with adhesive. The outer side of the ball piece end face is coated and bonded only to enhance the bonding and waterproof.

However, because the outer leather layer and the foam layer are both roll materials, the polygonal sheet structure needs to be punched out by a punch, and then the edges need to be pressed by a mold to make them smooth. However, this process consumes a lot of scraps, and the roll shrinkage rate is high, which easily leads to waste of raw materials. In addition, the overall process has many steps and all rely on manual labor, which is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, the overall structure and production process of the existing sports ball have the above-mentioned problems and shortcomings, which need to be improved.

In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a sports ball piece, a sports ball having the sports ball piece and a manufacturing method thereof, which uses molding technology to manufacture the sports ball piece and form a joint on each sports ball piece to achieve the purpose of increasing structural strength, reducing scraps and lowering costs.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned invention purpose, the technical means adopted by the present invention is to design a sports ball piece, which is an arc-shaped piece and includes: a body, which includes an outer skin layer, a foam layer and a reinforcement layer, the foam layer is connected between the outer skin layer and the reinforcement layer, and the outer skin layer is formed with a plurality of grooves on the other side of the foam layer; a bonding part, which is formed on the outer periphery of the body, and the bonding part has a plurality of longitudinal bonding surfaces and a plurality of transverse bonding surfaces, and each of the longitudinal bonding surfaces is connected to each of the transverse bonding surfaces.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned invention purpose, the technical means further adopted by the present invention is to design a sports ball, which includes: a plurality of sports ball pieces; an inner tube, each of the sports ball pieces is bonded to each other by the joint part, and is pasted on the surface of the inner tube to form a spherical shape.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned invention purpose, the present invention further adopts a technical means to design a sports ball manufacturing method, which is applied to the aforementioned sports ball. The sports ball manufacturing method includes the following steps: 1. The outer skin layer printing and cutting step: the outer skin layer can be printed with patterns according to user needs and cut into a specific sheet shape; 2. The outer skin layer is placed in a bottom mold step: the bottom mold is a mold with a shape corresponding to the outer skin layer; 3. The reinforcement layer is placed in an upper mold step: the upper mold The upper mold is a mold with a shape corresponding to the reinforcement layer, and a pouring hole is penetrated through the upper mold; 4. The step of injecting the foaming material into the bottom mold: after the upper mold is combined with the bottom mold, an internal space is formed between the outer skin layer and the reinforcement layer, and the foaming material is poured into and fills the internal space through the pouring hole to form the foaming layer; 5. The step of splicing the sports ball pieces into a ball: demold the sports ball pieces, and each of the sports ball pieces is bonded and spliced to each other and adhered to the surface of the inner tube to form a sports ball.

Furthermore, in the sports ball piece, each of the longitudinal bonding surfaces and each of the transverse bonding surfaces are perpendicular to each other.

Furthermore, in the sports ball piece, each of the longitudinal bonding surfaces and each of the transverse bonding surfaces form a convex portion and a concave portion, and the concave portion is located between the convex portion and the main body portion.

Furthermore, in the sports ball piece, the joint portion has three longitudinal joint surfaces and two transverse joint surfaces, the concave portion is composed of two of the longitudinal joint surfaces and one of the transverse joint surfaces, the transverse joint surface is located at the bottom between the two longitudinal joint surfaces, the convex portion is composed of two of the longitudinal joint surfaces and another transverse joint surface, one of the longitudinal joint surfaces of the convex portion and one of the longitudinal joint surfaces of the concave portion are the same surface, and the other transverse joint surface is located at the top between the two longitudinal joint surfaces.

Furthermore, the sports ball further comprises a reinforced fabric layer, which is disposed between each of the sports ball pieces and the inner tube.

The advantage of the present invention is that the foam material is injected between the outer skin layer and the reinforcement layer by using molding technology. Therefore, the sports ball pieces not only have low shrinkage rate and high material dimensional accuracy to meet the curved surface structure of the sports ball appearance, but also have strength and durability. The molding technology can avoid the generation of waste materials at the corners of the foam material and reduce the amount of foam material used. Compared with the existing technology, the manufacturing process can omit the steps of foil material compounding, composite material cutting and molding, outer skin folding and gluing, and inner tube surface bonding fabric. It has the advantages of environmental protection, cost reduction and streamlined production process. The molding process can also cooperate with a robot arm to achieve the purpose of automated production.

The joints between the sports ball pieces can produce a structure similar to mortise and tenon joints or hook joints. In addition to the advantages of increasing the contact area and increasing the adhesive strength, it can also reduce the strength requirements of the reinforcement layer compared to the existing technology, thereby reducing production costs.

1: Sports ball pieces

1A: Sports ball piece

1B: Sports ball piece

1C: Sports ball pieces

1E: Sports ball pieces

1F: Sports Balls

10: Main body

11: Outer layer

112: Groove

112D: Groove

12: Foaming layer

13: Strengthening layer

14: End edge

15: Side

20: Junction

20D: junction

20E: junction

20F: junction

21: Longitudinal bonding surface

211:Curved surface

22: Horizontal bonding surface

23: convex part

23E: convex part

23F: convex part

24: Concave part

24E: Concave part

24F: Concave part

30: Inner tube

30F: Inner tube

40: Bottom mold

50: Upper mold

51: Pouring hole

a: Outer skin layer printing and cutting steps

b: Place the outer layer into a bottom mold

c: Step of placing the strengthening layer into an upper mold

d: Step of injecting foam material into the bottom mold

e: Steps of splicing sports ball pieces into a ball

Figure 1 is a three-dimensional appearance diagram of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a partial exploded view of the present invention.

Figure 3 is an external view of the sports ball piece 1A of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sports ball piece 1A of the present invention.

Figure 5 is an external view of the sports ball piece 1B of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sports ball piece 1B of the present invention.

Figure 7 is an external view of the sports ball piece 1C of the present invention.

Figure 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of the connection between the two sports ball pieces of the present invention.

Figure 9 is an external view of the mold of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the demoulding of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing the manufacturing steps of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 12 is another exceptional view of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 13 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 14 is an exception view of the basketball implementation of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 15 is a partial exploded view of a basketball embodiment of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 16 is a partially enlarged view of a basketball embodiment of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 17 is an exception view of the sports ball piece of the present invention in the form of a rugby ball.

Figure 18 is a partial exploded view of a rugby ball embodiment of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

Figure 19 is a partially enlarged view of a rugby ball embodiment of the sports ball piece of the present invention.

The following is a combination of drawings and preferred embodiments of the present invention to further explain the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the intended purpose of the invention.

Please refer to Figures 1 and 2, the sports ball piece 1 of the present invention includes a body portion 10 and a joint portion 20.

Please refer to Figures 2 to 5. The main body 10 is an arc-shaped sheet body that conforms to the appearance of a sports ball, such as a pentagonal, hexagonal or other polygonal sheet body, which has an inner side surface and an outer side surface opposite to each other. The inner side surface referred to above is a side surface in an inwardly concave arc shape, and the outer side surface refers to a side surface in an outwardly convex arc shape. It includes an outer skin layer 11, a foaming layer 12 and a reinforcing layer 13. The foaming layer 12 is connected between the outer skin layer 11 and the reinforcing layer 13. The outer skin layer 11 can be made of PVC, PVB, TPU or PU, and the foaming layer 12 can be made of NBR, EVA, SBR, RB, PU, TPR, TPE or EPDM. foam and other materials, the reinforcing layer 13 can be composed of yarn or fabric materials. The aforementioned outer skin layer 11, foam layer 12 and reinforcing layer 13 are respectively ball materials of the prior art, so they are not described in detail. The outer skin layer 11 is formed with a plurality of grooves 112 on the other side of the foam layer 12, but it is not limited to this, and the grooves 112 may not be formed.

The joint portion 20 is formed on the outer periphery of the main body 10. Specifically, the joint portion 20 has a plurality of longitudinal joint surfaces 21 and a plurality of transverse joint surfaces 22. Each longitudinal joint surface 21 and each transverse joint surface 22 are connected to each other in sequence by a longitudinal joint surface 21 and a transverse joint surface 22. In this embodiment, the longitudinal joint surface 21 and the transverse joint surface 22 are perpendicular to each other, and the longitudinal joint surface 21 and the transverse joint surface 22 are perpendicular to each other. The joint surface 21 and the transverse joint surface 22 form a structure that can be used for mortise and tenon joints or hook joints. The longitudinal joint surface 21 and the transverse joint surface 22 mentioned above are not limited to being perpendicular to each other. In other embodiments, they can also be inclined surfaces. Please refer to FIG. 4. From a cross-sectional view, each sports ball piece 1 has three longitudinal joint surfaces 21 and two transverse joint surfaces 22 on one side. A convex portion 23 and a concave portion 24, the concave portion 24 is located between the convex portion 23 and the main body 10. Specifically, the concave portion adjacent to the main body 10 is composed of two longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 and a transverse bonding surface 22. The transverse bonding surface 22 is located at the bottom between the two longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 to form an inner concave structure. The convex portion 23 is composed of two longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 and a transverse bonding surface 22. , one of the longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 of the convex part 23 and one of the longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 of the concave part 24 are the same surface, and the transverse bonding surface 22 is located at the top between the two longitudinal bonding surfaces 21 to form an outward convex structure, please refer to Figure 8, so the bonding parts 20 of any two sports ball pieces 1 can be connected and hooked with each other by the convex part 23 of one sports ball piece 1 and the concave part 24 of another sports ball piece 1.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . The present invention can form a sports ball with a plurality of sports ball pieces 1 and an inner tube 30. A soccer ball is used as an example, but it is not limited to soccer balls. The invention can be applied to any leather-covered ball. The inner tube 30 is a sphere made of a polymer material. This is a component of the prior art, so it will not be described in detail. However, the material is not limited to the above. Each sports ball piece 1 is bonded and spliced with a joint portion 20 and is bonded to the surface of the inner tube 30 to form a sports ball. In the above process, six sports ball pieces 1, each of which is an octagonal piece, are bonded to each other as an example, but it is not limited to this. Please refer to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. The six sports ball pieces 1 include three types of joints 20. Therefore, the following description will classify the six sports ball pieces 1 into three types of component symbols (1A, 1B, 1C) according to the different types of joints 20. Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 (only one sports ball piece 1A is shown). The joints 20 of the two sports ball pieces 1A are both adjacent to the inner side of the sports ball piece 1. In other words, the joints 20 are protruding outward from the position of the circumference of the main body 10 adjacent to the inner side, and the concave portion 24 is facing the direction of the outer side. 5 and 6 (only one sports ball piece 1B is shown), the joints 20 of the two sports ball pieces 1B are both adjacent to the outer side of the sports ball piece 1. In other words, the joints 20 are protruding outward from the circumference of the body 10 adjacent to the outer side, and the recesses 24 face the inner side. Referring to FIG. 7 (only one sports ball piece 1C is shown), the recesses 24 of the joints 20 of the two sports ball pieces 1C are partially facing the inner side and partially facing the outer side. Specifically, with the direction from the lower left to the upper right in the figure as the two ends, the recesses 24 from the upper left to the lower right are partially facing the inner side. The direction is two sides, and the two ends have two end edges 14 respectively. The concave part 24 of the joint part 20 located at the end edge 14 faces the inner side surface. The two sides have two side edges 15 respectively. The concave part 24 of the joint part 20 located at the side edge 15 faces the outer side surface. When the six sports ball pieces 1 are spliced, the sports ball pieces 1 of the same form are set at the positions of the opposite sides to complete the splicing, that is, after the splicing is completed, the two sports ball pieces 1A are not adjacent to each other, the two sports ball pieces 1B are not adjacent to each other, and the two sports ball pieces 1C are not adjacent to each other. The setting method of the joint part 20 is not limited to the above, and the user can change it according to the needs.

In other embodiments, a reinforcing fabric layer (not shown in the figure) may be provided between the inner tube 30 and the main body 10. The reinforcing fabric layer may be a winding or a patch to enhance the structural rigidity, but the invention is not limited thereto, and other materials with reinforcing effects may be used.

Please refer to Figures 4, 9 to 11. The manufacturing method of the sports ball of the present invention includes the following steps:

1. Step a of printing and cutting the outer skin layer 11: The outer skin layer 11 can be printed with patterns and cut into a specific sheet shape according to user requirements.

2. Place the outer skin layer 11 into a bottom mold 40 Step b: The bottom mold 40 is a mold with a shape corresponding to the outer skin layer 11.

3. Place the reinforcing layer 13 into an upper mold 50 Step c: The upper mold 50 is a mold having a shape corresponding to the reinforcing layer 13, and a pouring hole 51 is penetrated through the upper mold 50.

4. Foaming material is injected into the bottom mold 40 Step d: After the upper mold 50 is combined with the bottom mold 40, an internal space is formed between the outer skin layer 11 and the reinforcement layer 13, and the foaming material is poured into the inner space through the pouring hole 51 to form the foaming layer 12.

5. Step e of assembling the sports ball pieces 1 into a ball: demoulding the sports ball pieces 1, bonding and splicing each other and sticking them to the surface of the inner tube 30, thereby forming a sports ball.

In the above process, since the foam material is injected between the outer skin layer 11 and the reinforcement layer 13 by using molding technology, the sports ball pieces 1 not only have low shrinkage rate and high material dimensional accuracy to meet the curved surface structure of the sports ball appearance, but also have strength and durability. The molding technology can avoid the generation of waste materials at the corners of the foam material and reduce the amount of foam material used. Compared with the existing technology, the manufacturing process can omit the steps of foil material compounding, composite material cutting and molding, outer skin folding and gluing, and inner tube 30 surface bonding fabric, etc., which has the advantages of environmental protection, cost reduction and streamlined production process. The molding process can also cooperate with a robot arm to achieve the purpose of automated production.

The sports ball pieces 1 can be connected through the connection part 20 to produce a structure similar to a mortise and tenon joint or a hook joint. In addition to having the advantages of increasing the contact area and increasing the bonding strength, it can also reduce the strength requirement of the reinforcing layer 13 compared to the existing technology, thereby reducing the production cost.

Please refer to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, which are another embodiment of the present invention. The main difference is that the position of the groove 112D is different. Specifically, the groove 112 of the aforementioned embodiment is directly formed on the outer surface of the outer skin layer 11 when the outer skin layer 11 of the sports ball piece 1 is formed, while the groove 112D of the present embodiment is formed on the joint portion 20D between any two sports ball pieces 1 after being joined. In other words, the present embodiment forms a curved surface 211 at a position adjacent to the outer side of the longitudinal joint surface 21 of the joint portion 20, so when any two sports ball pieces 1 are joined, a groove 112D is formed between the two adjacent curved surfaces 211.

Please refer to Figures 14 to 16, which are basketball embodiments of the present invention, wherein the inner tube 30 is the same as the aforementioned embodiment, the main difference being that it includes eight sports ball pieces 1E, and the eight sports ball pieces 1E include a total of four types of coupling parts 20E, and the coupling method can refer to the aforementioned football embodiment, all of which have a structure of a convex part 23E and a concave part 24E and are hooked and coupled with each other, so no further description is given, and the form of the sports ball piece 1E is not limited to the figure, and can be changed according to user needs.

In the above process, when applied to the production of basketballs, the steps of inner tube winding, laminating rubber sheets on the surface of the yarn layer, heating and vulcanizing, trimming and grinding the surface of the middle tube and brushing glue, and artificially laminating the surface of the middle tube can be omitted, which can greatly improve production efficiency and reduce production costs.

Please refer to Figures 17 to 19, which are rugby ball embodiments of the present invention, wherein the inner tube 30F is rugby ball-shaped and is covered with four sports ball pieces 1F on the outside. The four sports ball pieces 1F all have a joint 20F with the same structure. The two sides of the sports ball piece 1F each have a convex portion 23F and a concave portion 24F structure, and the openings of the concave portions 24F of the joint 20F located on the two sides of the sports ball piece 1F face opposite directions. Therefore, the four sports ball pieces 1F of this embodiment can be sequentially wrapped around the inner tube 30F and hooked together. The form of the sports ball piece 1F is not limited to the figure and can be changed according to user needs.

The above is only the best embodiment of this creation, and does not limit this creation in any form. Although this creation has been disclosed as the best embodiment, it is not used to limit this creation. Any person with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field can make some changes or modifications to the technical content disclosed above as an equivalent embodiment of equivalent changes within the scope of the technical solution of this creation. However, any simple modification, equivalent change and modification made to the above embodiment based on the technical essence of this creation without departing from the content of the technical solution of this creation still falls within the scope of the technical solution of this creation.

1: Sports ball pieces

10: Main body

20: Junction

30: Inner tube

Claims (8)

A sports ball piece is an arc-shaped piece and comprises: A main body, which comprises an outer skin layer, a foaming layer and a reinforcing layer, wherein the foaming layer is connected between the outer skin layer and the reinforcing layer; A bonding part formed on the outer periphery of the main body, wherein the bonding part has a plurality of longitudinal bonding surfaces and a plurality of transverse bonding surfaces, wherein each of the longitudinal bonding surfaces is connected to each of the transverse bonding surfaces. A sports ball piece as described in claim 1, wherein each longitudinal bonding surface is perpendicular to each transverse bonding surface. A sports ball piece as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the longitudinal bonding surfaces and each of the transverse bonding surfaces form a convex portion and a concave portion, and the concave portion is located between the convex portion and the main body portion. A sports ball piece as described in claim 3, wherein the joining portion has three longitudinal joining surfaces and two transverse joining surfaces, the concave portion is composed of two of the longitudinal joining surfaces and one of the transverse joining surfaces, the aforementioned transverse joining surface is located at the bottom between the two longitudinal joining surfaces, the convex portion is composed of two of the longitudinal joining surfaces and the other transverse joining surface, one of the longitudinal joining surfaces of the convex portion and one of the longitudinal joining surfaces of the concave portion are the same plane, and the aforementioned other transverse joining surface is located at the top between the two longitudinal joining surfaces. A sports ball piece as described in claim 4, wherein a plurality of grooves are formed on the other side of the outer skin layer relative to the foam layer. A sports ball, comprising: A plurality of sports ball pieces as described in any one of claims 1 to 5; An inner tube, wherein each of the sports ball pieces is bonded to each other at the joint and adhered to the surface of the inner tube to form a spherical shape. The sports ball as described in claim 6 further comprises a reinforced fabric layer disposed between each of the sports ball pieces and the inner tube. A method for manufacturing a sports ball, which is applied to the sports ball of claim 6 or 7, and the method for manufacturing a sports ball comprises the following steps: 1. Printing and cutting the outer skin layer: the outer skin layer can be printed with patterns and cut into a specific sheet shape according to user requirements; 2. Placing the outer skin layer in a bottom mold: the bottom mold is a mold with a shape corresponding to the outer skin layer; 3. Placing the reinforcing layer in an upper mold: the upper mold is a mold with a shape corresponding to the reinforcing layer, and the upper mold is penetrated by a pouring hole; 4. Injecting the foaming material into the bottom mold: after the upper mold is combined with the bottom mold, an internal space is formed between the outer skin layer and the reinforcing layer, and the foaming material is poured into and fills the internal space through the pouring hole to form the foaming layer; 5. Step of splicing the sports ball pieces into a ball: demoulding the sports ball pieces, bonding and splicing the sports ball pieces to each other and pasting them to the surface of the inner tube to form a sports ball.

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