Sports training ball and method of manufacturing a sports training ball

Abstract

A lacrosse training ball that is made up of a shell that defines an enclosure having an interior volume is disclosed. The shell includes a plurality of pads connected along a plurality of seams sewn with a thread having a finishing knot. The interior volume is substantially occupied by a filler that includes a mixture of a first material and a second material.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A sports ball comprising:
 a shell defining an enclosure having an interior volume, the shell including a plurality of pads connected along a plurality of seams sewn with a thread having a finishing knot; and   a filler that includes a mixture of a first material and a second material comprising a plurality of grains of sand,   wherein the filler substantially occupies the interior volume, and   herein the sports ball can withstand a collision of greater than 70 mph.   
     
     
         22 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the ball is hand-sewn. 
     
     
         23 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , including at least three knots in the thread attaching the plurality of pads, wherein the three knots include the finishing knot, a starting knot, and an ending knot. 
     
     
         24 . The sports ball of  claim 23 , comprising between three and  24  knots attaching the plurality of pads. 
     
     
         25 . The sports ball of  claim 23 , wherein the ending knot is in the thread sewn around a perimeter of an initial pad attaching the initial pad to neighboring pads. 
     
     
         26 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the finishing knot is located in the interior of the sports ball at a center of the seam between neighboring pads. 
     
     
         27 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein a density ratio of a density of the first material to a density of the second material is in the range of about 0.3 to about 0.5. 
     
     
         28 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein a mass ratio of a mass of the first material to the mass of the second material is about 0.55 to about 0.65. 
     
     
         29 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the first material is a ground elastic material selected from the group consisting of a polyisoprene, latex, natural rubber, and synthetic rubber. 
     
     
         30 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the filler has a total mass in the range of about 140 grams to 150 grams. 
     
     
         31 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of pads consists of twelve pads and each pad has a pentagonal shape. 
     
     
         32 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of pads consists of eight pads and each pad is in the shape of a spherical triangle. 
     
     
         33 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , further comprising an internal truss system of loop tie downs. 
     
     
         34 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of pads are made from a synthetic suede or synthetic leather. 
     
     
         35 . The sports ball of  claim 21 , wherein the sports ball is a training ball for lacrosse, baseball, softball, field hockey, handball, team handball, rounders, cricket, polo, jai alai, or hurling. 
     
     
         36 . A sports ball comprising:
 a shell defining an enclosure having an interior volume, the shell including a cover having one or more seams including at least three knots; and   a filler that includes a mixture of a first material and a second material comprising a plurality of grains of sand,   wherein the filler substantially occupies the interior volume, and   wherein the sports ball can withstand a collision of greater than 70 mph.   
     
     
         37 . A hand-sewn sports ball comprising:
 a shell defining an enclosure having an interior volume, the shell including a plurality of pads connected along a plurality of seams sewn with a thread having a finishing knot,   a filler that includes a mixture of a first material and a second material comprising a plurality of grains of sand, and   an internal truss system of loop tie downs,   wherein the filler substantially occupies the interior volume;   wherein the sports ball can withstand a collision of greater than 70 mph; and   wherein the ball contains between three and 24 knots.   
     
     
         38 . A method of making the sports ball of  claim 21  comprising:
 (a) forming a first hemispherical cup and a second hemispherical cup from a first material, wherein each cup comprises six pentagonal pads and is made by the steps comprising:
 anchoring a starting knot to a central pentagonal pad, 
 sewing a seam joining the central pad to each of five neighboring pentagonal pads so that the seam runs around the perimeter of the central pentagonal pad joining a first neighboring pentagonal pad to the central pentagonal pad, a second neighboring pentagonal pad to the central pentagonal pad, a third neighboring pentagonal pad to the central pentagonal pad, a fourth neighboring pentagonal pad to the central pentagonal pad, and a fifth neighboring pentagonal pad to the central pentagonal pad, and 
 sewing each of the neighboring pentagonal pads to its two uncoupled neighboring pentagonal pads; 
 
 (b) attaching the first hemispherical cup to the second hemispherical cup along an equator line to make a substantially spherical shell having an interior volume; 
 (c) combining a first material with a plurality of grains of sand to form a filler; 
 (d) before the equator line is completely sewn, filling the interior volume of the ball with the filler; and 
 (d) tying a finishing knot to complete attaching the first hemispherical cup to the second hemispherical cup to make the lacrosse training ball. 
 
     
     
         39 . The method of making the sports ball of  claim 38 , wherein the ratio of a mass of the first material in the filler to a mass of the plurality of grains of sand in the filler is in the range of about 0.55 to 0.65. 
     
     
         40 . The method of making the sports ball of  claim 38 , wherein the shell has a substantially spherical shape having a circumference in the range of about 19.0 to about 21.0 centimeters, and wherein the lacrosse training ball has a weight of about 5 to about 5.25 ounces.