Padded sports ball

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a ball, and more particularly to a sports ball comprising a webbing layer which is capable of enhancing the strength of the sports ball, and allows the roundness thereof to be substantially maintained.

2. Description of Related Arts

A conventional sports ball, such as an American football, usually comprises an inflatable ball bladder, an outer cover, and an inner lining wound on a bottom surface of the outer cover, wherein the outer cover along with the inner lining are fittedly attached on an outer surface of the ball bladder for forming the sports ball having a predetermined strength, elasticity and roundness. The inner lining is meant to provide sound support to the outer cover and maintain the predetermined shape of the sports ball. Occasionally, the sports ball may further comprise a cushion layer attached between the outer cover and the ball bladder for providing additional cushioning effect to the sports ball. When the sports ball is provided with the cushion layer, the player may be able to hold the sports ball easier and when the player hits the ball, he or she may feel more comfortable.

A disadvantage of this conventional sports ball is that when the cushion layer is added to the sports ball, the attachment between the cushion layer and the ball bladder may not be strong enough so as to render the entire sports ball not durable. Moreover, in order to achieve a predetermined cushioning effect, the cushion layer may be made to have a predetermined thickness (which in many occasions may be too thick) so as to affect the roundness or the curvature of the entire sports ball.

Another disadvantage of the conventional sports ball is that when the sports ball is embodied as an American football or a basketball, channels are usually formed on the ball bladder so that the outer cover can be attached onto the ball bladder as guided by the channels. As a result, when the inner lining and the cushion layer need to be inserted between the outer layer and the ball bladder, the attachment between any two of them may not be secure enough. As a result, when the conventional sports ball, whether football or basketball, is subject to great impact, there would have high chance that the attachment between the outer layer, the cushion layer, and the ball bladder would be damaged.

Moreover, when too many layers are attached between the outer cover and the ball bladder, stitching of the outer cover would be difficult so that for those balls which need stitching of the outer cover, the quality of the stitching may be undermined.

In light of the above, there exists a tension between having many layers attached between the ball bladder and the outer cover for enhancing the comfort and performance of the sports ball on the one hand, and bad quality attachment between the cushioning pad, the inner lining, the outer cover, and the ball bladder.

A main object of the present invention is to provide a sports ball comprising a webbing layer which is capable of enhancing the strength of the sports ball, preventing the inflatable ball bladder from being over inflated, preserving the desired shaped for the sports ball, and allowing the roundness thereof to be substantially maintained.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports ball comprising a webbing layer integrally embedded within an outer bladder portion layer and an inner bladder portion layer to form a ball bladder of the sports ball. In other words, the webbing layer does not need to be externally attached on the ball bladder so as to substantially enhance the strength of the sports ball while ensuring that there is no or only minimal element attached between the ball bladder and the outer cover. Accordingly, the above-mentioned shortcomings for the conventional sports ball can be avoided.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports ball comprising a webbing layer integrally embedded to form the ball bladder which is capable of being utilized for forming a wide variety of sports ball, such as an American sports ball.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports ball comprising an inflatable bladder which has better flexibility and impact resisting ability as compared with conventional arts.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports ball which can be easily manufactured and does not involved complicated manufacturing process and materials so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a sports ball comprising a webbing layer, which is capable of enhancing the strength of the sports ball, and allows the roundness thereof to be substantially maintained.

Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a sports ball, comprising:

a ball cover having a ball cavity and a valve hole communicating thereto;

an inflatable ball bladder, which is disposed in the ball cavity of the ball cover and is adapted to be inflated through the valve hole to support the ball cover; comprising:

an outer bladder portion layer;

an inner bladder portion layer disposed the outer bladder portion layer; and

a webbing layer disposed between the inner and outer bladder portion layers, wherein the inner and outer bladder portion layers are treated to integrally embed the webbing layer therebetween to enhance a strength of the ball bladder such that the webbing layer allows the ball bladder to be fully inflated for evenly distributing air pressure therein to support the ball cover.

Moreover, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a sports ball, comprising the steps of: