Games using tangible projectile – Playing field or court game; game element or accessory... – Practice or training device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-02
2001-11-27
Chapman, Jeanette (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Playing field or court game; game element or accessory...
Practice or training device
C473S207000, C473S212000, C473S214000, C602S021000, C602S079000, C128S881000, C128S878000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06322462
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
When people with no experience first try to throw a baseball, especially children, they often cock the elbow in an undesirable fashion. Successful baseball players learn to keep the elbow straighter than 90 degrees while they throw. A coach can hold the elbow in a suitable position while a throw is practiced in slow motion, but it is impossible for a coach to hold the elbow in this position during an actual throw.
A mechanical brace for keeping the elbow in a preferred position has been developed for use in training tennis players. A diagram for the brace is shown in FIG.
1
. It consists of a patch of cloth
1
with two longitudinal pockets
2
where stays
3
are inserted. The cloth
1
is strapped around the elbow with three straps
4
which attach to velcro patches
5
on the opposite edge of the cloth. Unfortunately, this brace does not adequately hold the elbow for teaching baseball throwing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an improved elbow brace adapted for teaching baseball throwing. One of the features of the invented brace is that, in addition to the two stays
3
of the prior art, it has an additional stay
9
making a total of three stays. The additional stay
9
is preferably narrower than the other two stays
3
.
The sheet of cloth
1
of the prior art brace extends around less than 50% of the circumference of the arm. However, the invented brace must achieve a significantly greater bracing effect than the prior art brace. Consequently, in one embodiment as shown in
FIG. 2
, it must extend around more than 50% of the circumference of the arm. However, it cannot extend around 100% of the circumference of the arm or it will produce too much chafing at the elbow. Consequently, when properly sized for the arm, it extends around more than 50% but less than 80% of the circumference of the arm at the elbow as shown in FIG.
2
. The elbow protrudes through a rectangular hole formed by the two edges of the cloth
1
and the two straps, the lower strap
17
and the upper strap
19
. (The “upper” end or “top” of the brace is that which is closer to the shoulder when applied and the “lower” end or “bottom” of the brace is that which is closer to the wrist when applied.)
Unlike the prior art brace which has three straps, the invented brace has only two straps, a lower strap
17
and an upper strap
19
, so that the elbow can protrude in a gap
18
between the two straps and between the two edges of the sheet of cloth
1
. Because the forces applied to the invented brace are greater than in the prior art brace, and because one of the stays
3
presses quite firmly against the skin above and the skin below the inside of the elbow, two or more pads
21
are desirable between the ends of stays and the inner surface of the brace which adjoins the skin when worn.
In the prior art brace, the stay pockets
2
are quite wide compared to the stays
3
, allowing the stays to be close to each other or far from each other depending upon happenstance. In the invented brace, stitched seams
15
form the edges of the stay pockets
2
. The stitched seams
15
are placed very close to the edges of the primary stays
3
and the third stay
9
to carefully hold them in proper alignment, allowing less than three-eighths of an inch of lateral movement and preferable less than one-eighth of an inch.
When properly applied to the elbow, the bone of the forearm will be pressed against by the span of cloth
13
between the two primary stays
3
. Consequently, this span of cloth
13
between the stays must be at least three-quarters of an inch for a child-size brace and up to two inches for an adult-size brace so that cloth will press against the arm bone rather than the end of the stay pressing directly (through the pad and the skin) against the arm bone. Preferably, the span of cloth between the primary stays
3
will narrow toward the top of the brace
11
. When the gap between the two primary stays
3
narrows toward the top of the brace (widens toward the bottom of the brace) there is less buckling of the stays and better performance of the brace.
In a preferred embodiment of the brace shown in
FIG. 3
, the brace includes holes or slits
8
and
28
beside each of the stays. The holes allow desirable flexibility between the stay pockets.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 334827 (1993-04-01), Brown
patent: 802623 (1905-10-01), Camp
patent: 937769 (1909-10-01), Collis
patent: 1070869 (1913-08-01), Alexander
patent: 2211203 (1940-08-01), Goldman
patent: 2559514 (1951-07-01), Parker
patent: 3232289 (1966-02-01), Zimmerman
patent: 4013070 (1977-03-01), Harroff
patent: 4481942 (1984-11-01), Duncan
patent: 4854309 (1989-08-01), Elsey
patent: 4953569 (1990-09-01), Lonardo
patent: 5137508 (1992-08-01), Engman
patent: 5307521 (1994-05-01), Davis
patent: 5618263 (1997-04-01), Alivizatos
patent: 5695453 (1997-12-01), Neal
patent: 6000402 (1998-07-01), Able
Aryanpour Mitra
Chapman Jeanette
Graybeal Jackson Haley LLP
Throwright LLC
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