Games using tangible projectile – Bowling – Practice or assist device
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-21
2004-12-07
Pierce, William M. (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Bowling
Practice or assist device
C473S061000, C002S161100, C002S162000, C482S045000, C602S016000, C602S021000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827653
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wrist support for bowlers which prevents a user from being injured by shock applied to a user's wrist during bowling and which allows the user to accurately throw a bowling ball, and more particularly, to a wrist support for bowlers which is designed to steplessly adjust horizontal and/or vertical angles between its hand back part, wrist part, and finger part, and is designed such that a fastening band unit is easily connected to and removed from a main body of the wrist part, and allows a user to feel comfortable when wearing the wrist support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a wrist support is an instrument which prevents a user's wrist and fingers from being injured by a heavy bowling ball during bowling, and allows a user to accurately throw the bowling ball, thus achieving excellent game results. There have been proposed a variety of kinds of wrist supports in the prior art.
Of these conventional wrist supports, a wrist support of the simplest type is designed such that its bottom surface is made of a sticky material, thus making it easy to handle a bowling ball. The wrist support also supports a user's wrist, thus preventing the user's wrist from being bent backward during bowling. Recently, a wrist support has been proposed which allows a user to adjust the angle of the wrist support as desired, thus making it easy to spin or hook a bowling ball.
As such, the angle-adjustable wrist support includes a hand back part, a wrist part, and an angle adjusting part. The hand back part is in close contact with a back of a user's hand, and the wrist part is in close contact with the wrist. The angle adjusting part connects the hand back part to the wrist part in such a way as to adjust a connecting angle between the wrist part and the hand back part in horizontal and vertical directions. In this case, the angle adjusting part is hinged to the wrist part by a connecting member. A screw-type or hook-type angle adjusting means is provided at the junction of the angle adjusting part and the wrist part.
The hook-type angle adjusting means includes a locking piece which is provided on the angle adjusting part and is operated by a spring. Two locking projections are provided at two predetermined portions on the lower surface of the locking piece. The locking projections removably engage with two of a plurality of locking holes which are formed on the hand back part at regular intervals.
That is, the vertical angle between the wrist part and the hand back part is adjusted according to the positions of the locking holes engaging with the locking projections formed on the lower surface of the locking piece. However, such a conventional angle-adjustable wrist support has a problem in that the locking projections of the locking piece are easily removed from the locking holes when the hand back part is bent backward. The wrist support has another problem in that an angle between the wrist part and the hand back part is adjusted by the fixed holes which are formed on the hand back part at regular intervals, so it is impossible to finely adjust the angle between the wrist part and the hand back part.
Further, there has been proposed another conventional wrist support, which is capable of somewhat finely adjusting an angle between the wrist part and the hand back part. The wrist support is designed such that a slip ring finely adjusts the angle between the wrist part and the hand back part through a slit formed on the center of an angle adjusting means, and the slip ring is easily removed from a locking piece provided on the hand back part, even when the support is being worn on a user's hand. Thus, the wrist support is advantageous in that the angle between the wrist part and the hand back part is finely adjusted. However, the conventional wrist support has a problem in that its construction is complicated, so its manufacturing cost is high.
Further, in the conventional wrist supports, the wrist part consists of a frame, a cushion, and a fastening band. The frame is made of a synthetic resin with appropriate strength. The cushion is made of a soft material, such as urethane foam, and is bonded to the frame. The fastening band is made of cloth or leather and is provided on a predetermined portion thereof with a fastening member, such as a Velcro fastener or a buckle, thus allowing a user to easily wear the wrist support.
However, when the fastening band fabricated with a Velcro fastener is used for a lengthy period of time, the fastening surfaces of two pieces of the Velcro fastener are deformed or abraded, so the fastening force becomes poor. In such a case, the fastening band may allow the wrist part to be easily unfastened from a user's wrist.
Meanwhile, the fastening band fabricated with a buckle consists of a leather or cloth band with a metal buckle, so its durability is excellent. However, a user must fasten opposite ends of the band to each other by inserting one end of the band into the buckle and buckling the ends of the band whenever the user wears the wrist support, so it is complicated and inconvenient to use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wrist support, comprising an angle adjusting part adjusting horizontal and vertical angles between a wrist part and a hand back part, an angle adjusting means for adjusting a horizontal angle between a finger part and a hand back frame, a click sound generating means for generating click sounds when operating the angle adjusting part, and a fastening means for easily fastening a fastening band unit to a main body of the wrist part when wearing the wrist part of the wrist support on a bowler's wrist.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4371163 (1983-02-01), Shaffer et al.
patent: 4666158 (1987-05-01), Moro
patent: 4925187 (1990-05-01), Fleenor et al.
patent: 5163678 (1992-11-01), Rogers
patent: 5466192 (1995-11-01), Castolo et al.
patent: 6361447 (2002-03-01), Lindstrom
Pierce William M.
Piper Rudnick LLP
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