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Golf ballRelated Patent Categories: Games Using Tangible Projectile, Golf, Ball, Particular Cover (e.g., Size, Material, Dimple Pattern, Etc.)Golf ball description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060148593, Golf ball. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to golf balls having a colored surface, and more specifically to golf balls that are highly fashionable and have excellent visibility, rebound and scuff resistance. [0002] Most golf balls are colored white, although colored golf balls obtained by applying a bright color other than white, such as orange or yellow, to the surface of the ball have also appeared on the market. [0003] Consumers of various types are playing golf nowadays, and even the number of women golfers is increasing from year to year. Colored balls such as those described above respond to the desires that such golfers have concerning the white balls that are conventionally used. Namely, colored balls have the advantage of being highly fashionable on account of their color. In addition, by imparting a color sensation, they readily attract one's attention. [0004] However, in prior-art colored golf balls, only the appearance of the ball has been changed; the performance of such ball remains substantially unchanged from that of white golf balls. [0005] In light of these circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide golf balls which are endowed with the outstanding ball performance that has come to be expected of golf balls and which are also highly fashionable and have excellent visibility. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] We have carried out extensive investigations in order to attain the above object. As a result, we have discovered that by forming over all or part of the surface of a golf ball a major region colored a dark color and, in the major region, indicia such as letters and images of a relatively bright color tone, and by adjusting the tone of the dark color in the major region such that the dark color, as expressed by the Lab color system, has a lightness L of at most 45 and a chroma C defined as (a.sup.2+b.sup.2).sup.1/2 of at most 5, there can be obtained golf balls which have improved ball characteristics such as rebound and scuff resistance, and which are also colorful and highly fashionable. This discovery led ultimately to the present invention. [0007] Accordingly, the invention provides the following solid golf balls. [0008] (1) A golf ball characterized by having a surface over all or part of which is provided a major region colored a dark color and, in the major region, indicia such as letters and images of a relatively bright color tone, wherein the dark color of the major region, as expressed by the Lab color system, has a lightness L of at most 45 and a chroma C, defined as (a.sup.2+b.sup.2).sup.1/2, of at most 5. [0009] (2) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein the major region is black in color. [0010] (3) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein the color of the major region and the color of the indicia have a Lab color difference .DELTA.E of at least 30. [0011] (4) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein the color of the major region and the color of the indicia have a difference in lightness L therebetween of at least 25. [0012] (5) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein the indicia are composed of a plurality of colors. [0013] (6) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein a plurality of indicia are formed on the surface of the ball. [0014] (7) The golf ball of (6) above, wherein the indicia are substantially uniformly dispersed and positioned on the surface of the ball. [0015] (8) The golf ball of (1) above, wherein the major region and the indicia each have a surface area coverage based on the entire surface of the ball such that the ratio of the major region surface area coverage to the indicia surface area coverage is from 70:30 to 99:1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS [0016] FIG. 1 is a top view of the surface of a golf ball according to one embodiment of the invention. [0017] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ball shown in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0018] The invention is described more fully below. [0019] The inventive golf ball is characterized by having formed, over all or part of the surface thereof, a major region which is dark colored, such as black, and by having formed in the major region indicia of a relatively bright color tone. FIG. 1 is a top view of the surface of a golf ball according to a first embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, G represents the golf ball, T is an indicium, and W is a major region on the surface of the ball. This region has a dark color. [0020] In the present invention, the golf ball is characterized in that the dark color of the major region W, as expressed using the Lab color system, has a lightness L of at most 45 and a chroma C, defined as (a.sup.2+b.sup.2).sup.1/2, of at most 5. [0021] The Lab color system used herein is determined from the following expressions using the tristimulus values X, Y and Z specified in JIS Z8730. L=10Y.sup.1/2 (1) a=17.5(1.02X-Y)/Y.sup.1/2 (2) b=7.0(Y-0.847Z)/Y.sup.1/2 (3) [0022] Here, L is the lightness index in R. S. Hanter's color difference equations. The color coordinates in Hunter's color difference equations are as follows: a, b: color coordinates in Hunter's color difference equations; X, Y, Z: tristimulus values X, Y and Z in XYZ color system. [0023] Of the above Lab color system, L represents lightness and is determined as a value from 100 to 0. "Lightness" refers to the light or dark state of the color; that is, to the degree of luminance. A larger L value signifies greater lightness. [0024] The a and b values indicate perceived color, with the a value representing the red-green direction and the b value representing the yellow-blue direction. Therefore, when the a value becomes larger the redness intensifies, and when it becomes smaller the greenness intensifies. When the b value becomes larger, the yellowness intensifies, and when it becomes smaller the blueness intensifies. The relationship between these a and b values is summarized in Table 1 below. TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 b a Minus (-) Close to zero Plus (+) Minus (-) blue blue-violet violet Close to zero green white/gray/black red-violet Plus (+) blue-green yellow red [0025] In the practice of the invention, the major region W in areas other than where there are indicia T has a color lightness L of at most 45, preferably at most 40, more preferably at most 35, and even more preferably at most 30. [0026] The larger the numerical value of the chroma C, the more vivid the color. Conversely, the smaller the numerical value, the more somber the color. At a value close to 0, the color becomes grayish. In the practice of the invention, the chroma C of the color of the major region W is at most 5, preferably at most 4, more preferably at most 3, and most preferably at most 2. [0027] The Lab color differences (Hunter Lab color differences) for the color of the major region W and the color of the indicia T are each determined, and the color difference .DELTA.E between the two is computed. That is, the Lab color difference (L1, a1, b1) for the major region and the Lab color difference (L2, a2, b2) for the indicia are each measured. The differences therebetween, .DELTA.L=L1-L2, .DELTA.a=a1-a2, .DELTA.b=b1-b2, are then computed, and the color difference .DELTA.E between the two colors is determined from the following formula. .DELTA.E =(.DELTA.L.sup.2+.DELTA.a.sup.2+.DELTA.b.sup.2) 1.sup.12 [0028] The color difference .DELTA.E here is at least 30, preferably at least 35, more preferably at least 40, and even more preferably at least 50. At a color difference .DELTA.E of less than 30, the colors of the major region W and the indicia become similar, which may lower the visibility of the indicia T. Continue reading about Golf ball... Full patent description for Golf ball Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Golf ball patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Golf ball or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Multi-layer golf ball having improved inter-layer adhesion via induction heating Next Patent Application: Golf ball surface textures Industry Class: Games using tangible projectile ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Golf ball patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.14584 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Software: Finance , AI , Databases , Development , Document , Navigation , Error 174 |
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