Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1 TAMBURELLO
BACKGROUND
Technical Field
A tamburello is a type of paddle or racket used in
a game called palla tamburello which has been popular
in Italy for as long as four centuries. The game may
be played informally among two or more players in which
a ball is batted back and forth using the tamburello
or it may be played in an organized fashion on a court
of specified size, usually 20 meters by 80 meters
between two five-man teams. Aside from the court and
any markings thereon the only equipment utilized is
a tamburello for each player and a ball.
The Prior Art
The tamburello is reminiscent of a tambourine in
that it has a rigid drum or rim across which is streched
a suitable membrane. The traditional tamburello was
constructed by laying up fillets of wood and then
machining it to a perfectly round shape and using an
animal hide or stomach as a membrane secured to the
drum by nails, studs, pegs or the like. Conventionally,
the hide was wetted and streched before being applied
thus tightening as it dried.
In more recent years as professional teams
appeared the traditional wood and hide tamburello
has been replaced by tamburellos made from plastic
with various materials for the membrane. By their
nature the professional models available are quite
expensive and not suitable for amatures or as toys to
be used by children. For such purposes the conventional
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1 tamburello of wood and hide or even using stiff papers
have been all that was available. Such wood and hide
or paper tamburellos are easily damaged by the weather
particularly moisture or rain and are very difficult to
draw tightly with any sort of unifo~^mity. If the mem-
brane becomes slackened the device becomes useless and
moisture readily slackens the hide materials or destroys
paper. Still further, if the membrane is taut at one
point and slack at another point so that it is non-
uniform in its tautness it then becomes undependableas a useful tamburello.
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BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to overcome the dis- ~
advantages of the above-mentioned available lower
cost tamburellos by use of a suitable plastic for
the drum, use of suitable synthetic materials for the
membrane and, importantly, by a specially designed
, 20 mechanism for securing the membrane in place econom-
j ically by use of a rim and groove arrangement wherein
` a rim having a depending wall~is locked into one
' edge of the drum with the membrane drawn tightly there-
¦ -~ between. Cooperating lips within the groove of the
drum and on the wall of the rim engage each other
with the material of the membrane there-between and
securely held in place.
Additionally, an economical handle is provided
; in which "T" shaped members are integrally molded
with the drum and are engaged in one of a number of
selected holes in the handle member whereby the handle ~
; may be adjusted to the user's hand size. A grip on
the opposite edge of the drum provides for a comfortable
grasping of the edge by the fingers of the user and is
also made of plastic.
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1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The construction, assembly and use of the device '-
will be apparent to those skllled in the art from the
following description and drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tamburello -
of the present invention showing the front
face thereof; E
FIG. 2 is an enlarged, exploded view in per- ,
spective of a portion of FIG. l;
FIG. 3 is a cross-section through a portion
of the drum showing the manner of engagement
by the hand grip;
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of
the tamburello shown from below prior to
assembly;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged, exploded cross-section
of a portion of the tamburello prior to assembly;
and
FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 reduced in --
scale and showing the parts of the tamburello -
as assembled.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
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As shown in FIG. 1 the tamburello l comprises a F
shallow drum shaped cylindrical member 2 referred to here-
inafter as the drum. The tamburello l also includes a taut
membrane 3 secured to the drum 2 by the rim 4 as ex-
plained in detail hereinafter. As will be apparent from the
drawings, the side of the drum 2 opposite to the membrane 3 ,t
is open. The drum 2 is preferably of injection molded
plastic and may be of any suitable material with poly- -
propylene or acrilonitrilebutadienestyrene (ABS) being - -
preferred. Integrally molded with the drum 2 are
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1 two T shaped ears 5 and 6 (see FIG. 2) to which is
secured a handle 10. In alignment with the handle 10
and engaged about the open lower edge 12 of the drum 2
is a hand grip 13.
In use the hand is passed through the handle 10
from top to bottom as viewed in FIG. 2 and the fingers
grip about the hand grip 13 on the lower edge 12 of
the drum 2. The thumb bears against the front face
of the tamburello 1 bearing against one or both of
the rim 4 and the membrane 3.
The handle 10 has a plurality of holes 9 with
two holes 9 adjacent each end of the handle 10 being
shown. The holes 9 provide for adjustment of the size
of the handle 10. The strap or handle 10 may be of
any suitable material but must be slightly elastic in
order to permit the hole 9 to be first engagèd over
one side of the head 8 of the T shaped members 5 and 6
and then moved and streched over the opposite end of
the head 8 and finally released to embrace the shank 7
of the T shaped member 5 or 6. The streching need not
be great but should be sufficient for the purpose. An
oval area 11 encompassing the holes 9 at each end is
thickened with respect to the remainder of the strap
10 in order to strengthen this area about the holes.
Polyethylene has been found suitable as a material for
the handle 10 though other materials are also suitable.
The finger grip 13 comprises a U shaped member
; having spaced walls 14 defining a channel 1~ which engages
with the lower edge 12 of the drum 2. On its outer
surface the drum 2 has thickened ridges 25 extending
from the edge 12 throughout most of the height of the
drum 2 for purposes of reinforcement and the finger
grip 13 has cooperating grooves 35 molded ~herein to
receive such ridges 25. Like the handle 10 the finger
grip 13 may be of molded polyethylene and dimensioned
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1 to fit snugly and frictionally engage the wall of
the drum 2 with no need for further adhesive or other
securement means.
As shown in FIG. 4 the tamburello is presented in
an exploded view prior to assembly and comprises the
drum 2, the membrane 3 and the membrane securing rim 4.
As shown in FIGS. 4 through 6 the drum 2 includes
thickened ribs 25 running from the bottom edge 12
upwardly to an annular ridge generally indicated at
24 on the upper end of the drum 2. This annular
ridge 24 comprises a wall 29 having an inwardly ex-
tending portion at the top providing a lip 27 on the
underside thereof. Spaced inwardly from the wall 29
is a wall 28 of slightly greater height and extending
entirely around the drum 2. Accordingly, a space 26
is provided between the spaced annular walls 28 and
29 as clearly shown in FIG. 5.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the annular rim 4 includes
a depending annular wall 20 shaped to conform to the
shape of the space 26 between the walls 28 and 29 of
the drum 2. The rim 4 includes a short depending
flange 22 which is spaced from the depending wall 20
thus defining an annular space 21 con~orming generally
to the shape and dimensions of the upper end of wall 29
25 f the drum 2. The wall 20 has an upwardly facing sloped
lip 23 facing toward the space 21~
As shown in FIG. 5 the tamburello is about to be
assembled with the membrane 3 positioned over the drum 2
and the rim 4 being positioned over the membrane 3. The
30 membrane 3 is, preferably, cut in a circle larger in
diameter than the diameter of the drum 2 for purposes that
will presently be obvious. The rim 4 is then brought
downwardly into contact with the membrane 3 forcing
the same to wrap itself about the lower wall 20 of the
35 rim and position itself between the walls 28 and 29 of
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1 of the drum 2. Further downward pressure applied through
the rim 4 forces the membrane then to shape itself
within the annular groove 21 and about the upper end
of the annular wall 29. It will be apparent that during
assembly the walls 28 and 29 spring apart slightly and
that the assembly of the membrane 3 and rim 4 to the
drum 2 comprises a snap action or snap fitting assembly.
Ultimately, when fully assembled the lip 23 engayes
beneath the lip 27 with a portion of the membrane 3
therebetween. This arrangement is clearly shown in
FIG. 6. The membrane 3 extends over the top end of
the wall 29 and then downwardly along the wall 29
between the wall 29 and the short flange 22 on the rim
~ to about the bottom edge of the flange 22 or slightly
;~ 15 therebelow or thereabove. It will be appreciated that
the membrane 3 is cut sufficiently large to~permit its
conforming to the space 26, wall 20, upper end of wall
29 and space 21 as shown. Once assembled, it is essen-
tially impossible to disassemble the membrane 3 and
20 rim 4 from the drum 2 because of the locking inter-
relationship between the lips 27 and 23. The resiliency
in the walls 28 and 29, while sufficient for assembly, is
so small as to make removal of the rim practically
impossible. Indeed, it will be noted that the space 26
25 and the wall 20 have a generally cooperating wedge
shape which permits entry of the wall 20 into the space
~ 26 while the engagement of lip 23 and lip 27 prevents
.~ removal of the rim 4 from the drum 2.
It is also preferred to apply a suitable adhesive
30 at the inner face between the membrane 3 and one or
`~3 both of (preferably both) the drum walls 28 and 29 and
the rim wall 20.
; The assembly of the tamburello in the manner
, just described insures that the membrane 3 is tautly
d 35 streched and further that it is streched equally
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1 in all directions. It has also been found that by
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extending the inner annular wall 28 outwardly beyond
the groove 26 and beyond the upper end of the wall 29,
r the depending wall 20 of the rim and the upper edge of
the wall 28 may cooperate in very uniformly and tautly
streching the membrane during assembly. The material
of the membrane 3 may be any suitable material with a
synthetic, non-woven fabric made of polyvinylchloride
fibers compressed under heat and set into shape being
- 10 presently preferred. Such a product is presently
commercially available.
While the tamburello shown in the drawings has
a cylindrical drum 2 other shapes are contemplated.
'~ Cylindrical tamburellos are conventionally used by
all players except when serving. A special server's
tamburello is often used at least professionally in
which the shape of the drum is ovoid. The present
invention is equally useful in tamburellos of such
different shape.
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