Round Ball, such as a Soccer Ball, having a Pattern of Fins to Resist Rolling

Abstract

A ball with high aerodynamic drag and with the ability to rapidly come to a stop when rolling on a flat or a slight inclined surface is disclosed herein. The ball has an arrangement of fins sewn, glued or molded to its surface. These fins may be of various heights from 2.0 mm to 20.0 mm depending on the degree of the effects sought. The lattice of fins must be such that to continue to roll the ball must roll over a fin. The fundamental tradeoff in this invention is between the degree of normal behavior of the ball when struck or when bouncing and the reduced duration of flight and reduced distance to stop rolling. The preferred embodiment has fins sewn into the seams of an otherwise conventionally constructed sewn soccer ball. The effect gained is a ball that behaves like a normal soccer ball in most ways but flies a shorter distance and stops rolling more quickly.

1 . A ball comprising:
 a sphere having a surface;   a plurality of smooth portions on the surface of the sphere; and   a plurality of flexible fin-like projections protruding from the surface.   
     
     
         2 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein the material used to plurality of fin-like projections has a coefficient of friction higher than that of the smooth portions of the surface of the sphere. 
     
     
         3 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of flexible fin-like projections has thickness between 0.2 mm and 4.0 mm. 
     
     
         4 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein the fin-like projections separate the smooth portions from one another. 
     
     
         5 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein the fin-like projections have outer edges such that a straight line drawn between the outer edges of any two fin-like projections that surround a smooth portion on the surface of the sphere will not touch the smooth surface except when that line is tangent to the smooth surface. 
     
     
         6 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein a fin-like projection is connected to at least four other fin-like projections to form a pattern of shapes about the surface of the sphere. 
     
     
         7 . The ball according to  claim 1  wherein the fin-like projections have heights that range from 2.0 mm to 20.0 mm.