Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AN IMhI2OVED SI~iAhT fOR IIILLiAI~D CUE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
S The present invention relates generally to a billiard cue and, more
particularly, to an improved shaft for billiard cues, which is free from
warping and
deformation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional billiard cue made of wood, particularly to a shaft of the cue,
has a superior performance in flexibility and ductility The wooden billiard
cue
however has some drawbacks, such as the shaft will be deformed or bent
specially
under moist environments.
In addition, the orientations of fibers in natural wood are non-homogeneous
causing the fact that the hitting force of a billiard cue with a shaft made of
the natural
1 S wood can not concentrate on the axis thereof. As a result, the player is
unable to hit the
ball with precision.
There were billiard cues with a shaft made of composite material or a
wooden shaft covered by a layer of composite material. Such billiard cues can
be
prevented from warping or deformation and have homogeneous fiber orientations
therein. The composite billiard cue, however, is viscous on the surface. It is
conceivable that a sticky billiard cue gives its user an uncomfortable feeling
and
hinders its user to hit the balls smoothly
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
2S The primary object of the present inventian is to provide a shaft of a
billiard
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cue with the physical property of a wooden material without the drawback of
warping
caused by moisture.
The secondary object of the present invention is to provide a shaft of a
billiard cue enabling a player to hit the balls with a greater precision.
The third object of the present invention to provide a shaft of a billiard
cue,
which is free from the problem of stickiness.
According to the objects of the present invention, a shaft of a billiard cue
comprises an elongated skeleton having a core and at least one rib
transversally
projecting from said core, and a shaft body having an axial receiving space
which is
complementable to said skeleton for receiving said skeleton therein. Wherein
the shaft
body is preferably assembled by a plurality of sections that compass around
the
skeleton.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
1 S FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the
present
invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the first preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first preferred embodiment of the present
invention under a combined condition;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the first preferred embodiment of the present
invention under an exploded condition;
FIG. S is a sectional view of a second preferred embodiment the present
invention under a combined condition;
2S FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a third preferred embodiment the present
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invention under a combined condition;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a fourth preferred embodiment t1e present
invention under an exploded condition;
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the fourth preferred embodiment the present
invention under the combined condition;
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a fifth preferred embodiment the present
invention under the combined condition;
FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a sixth preferred embodiment the present
invention under the combined condition;
FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a seventh preferred embodiment the present
invention under the combined condition;
FIG. 12 is a sectional view of an eighth preferred embodiment of the present
invention under an exploded condition;
FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the eighth preferred embodiment of the present
invention under a combined condition; and
FIG. 14 is a sectional view of a ninth preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TIIE IN~ENTIOlV
As shown in FIG. 1, the first preferred embodiment of the present invention
provides a billiard cue having a shaft 10, a butt 14, a ferrule 1 fi and a tip
18. The shaft
i 0 is substantially a taper-Nice column with 740 rnm in length. The shaft 10
has a butt
end 11 with 20 mm in diameter (the diameter of the butt end 11 might be in the
range
of 20 rnm to 22 mm) and a tip end 12 with 13 mm in diameter (the diameter of
the tip
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end 12 might be in the range of 9 mm to 14 znm). The butt 14 is coupled with
the shaft
at the butt end 11 of the shaft, and the ferrule 16 and tip 18 are
sequentially secured
at the tip end 12 of the shaft 10.
As shown in FIGS. from FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the shaft 10 includes an elongated
5 skeleton 20 and a shaft body which is formed of four wooden sections 30.
When the
four wooden sections 30 are assembled with one another to form the shaft body,
an
axial receiving space that is e:omplementable to the skeleton is formed inside
the shaft
body for receiving the skeleton. The skeleton 20 is made of graphite-fiber
reinforced
plastic material in the present preferred embodiment, of course, it also can
be made
10 other materials like plastic, metal or proper wood materials (other than
the wood
material of sections 30) and so on. The skeleton 20 is 740 mm in length that
is equal to
or shorter than the length of the shaft 10. The skeleton 20 has an elongated
core 22 and
four ribs 24 transversely radially projecting from the core 22 along diameter
orientations thereof in an isometric distribution. The thickness of each rib
24 is about 2
1 S mm and the Length thereof, i.e. the distance between a center of the core
22 and a distal
end of the rib 24, is smaller than the radius of the shaft 10. In other words,
the diameter
of the skeleton 20 (the distance between the distal ends of two opposite ribs
24) is
smaller than the diameter of the shaft 10. In the present embodiment, the
diameters of
the butt end and the tip end of the shaft 10 are 20 mm and 13 mm respectively
and the
diameters of the corresponding ends of the skeleton 20 are 1'7 mm and 10 mrn.
In
other words, the skeleton 20 is tapering from the relatively wider butt and to
the
relatively smaller tip end.
The sections 30 compassing around the skeleton can be made of a known
wood material that makes the conventional billiard cues, such as maple,
mahogany or
walnut etc., and the lengths of the wooden sections 30 are equal to or longer
than the
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length of the skeleton 20. Each wooden section 30 is a sector, and more
precisely, is a
1/4 circle in the cross-section having an arched face 32 and two symmetrical
lateral
faces 34. The wooden section 30 further has two recesses 3G respectively on
the lateral
faces 24 thereof.
The wooden sections 30 are disposed in the spaces between each pair of the
ribs 24 of the skeleton 20 with the arched faces 32 orientating outwardly such
that the
ribs 24 are received in the recesses 3G of corresponding wooden sections 30.
The
wooden section 30 has parts of the lateral faxes 34 which are directly
attached to that
of the neighboring section 30. Glue is added between the skeleton 20 and the
wooden
sections 30 to firmly combine them together. When the skeleton 20 and all of
the
wooden sections 30 are combined together, the arched fakes 32 of the wooden
sections
30 will form the rounded surface of the shaft Z 0.
Basically, the shaft of the present invention includes a skeleton and a shaft
body composed of a plurality of wooden sections. The amount of the wooden
sections
is identical to that of the ribs of the skeleton in the above-mentioned
embodiment. The
shape and size of the wooden sections correspond with the space between each
two of
the ribs for receiving the wooden sections therein. With the same concept, the
shaft of
the present invention ynay have many alternate structures, and which will be
described
hereundez:
As shown in FIG. 5, the second preferred embodiment of the present
invention provides a shaft 40 including a skeleton 41 and three wooden
sections 42.
The skeleton 41 has a sore 43 and three ribs to form a ~'-shape in a cross-
section
thereof. Each. wooden section 42 is a sector of 1/3 circle in a cross-section
thereof. It is
similar to the first preferred embodiment, each wooden section 42 has two
lateral faces
45 which radial lengths are larger than the lengths of the ribs 44 of the
skeleton 41 and
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each lateral face 45 has a recess 46 thereon for receiving t:he ribs 41
therein.
FIG. 6 shows a shaft 50 of the third preferred C111bod1I21CIlt of the present
invention having a skeleton 51 with eight ribs 52 and eight wooden sections 53
of 1/8
circle in a cross-section thereof. The wooden sections 53 a:re received in
spaces
between each pair of the ribs 52 respectively
FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 shows a shaft 60 of the fourth preferred embodiment of
the present invention, similar to the first preferred embodiment, having a
skeleton 62
with four ribs 61 and four wooden sections 63. The diameter of the skeleton 62
is as
same as the diameter of the shaft 60 and the wooden sections 63 provide no
recess
thereon. Distal ends of the ribs 61 are exposed outside after the wooden
sections 63
being coupled with the skeleton 62 and no wooden section 63 is attached with
the other.
The shaft 60 of the fourth preferred embodiment has four ribs 61 of the
skeleton 62
extending along an elongated orientation of the shaft 60 from a perspective
view (not
shown).
The amounts of the ribs and the wooden sections of the shaft described in the
fourth preferred embodiment can be set to three or eight as shafts 70 and 80
shown in
FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. Of course, the amounts of the ribs and the wooden sections
other
than the shafts as described above are accepted.
As shown in FIG. 11, the seventh preferred embodiment of the present
invention provides a shaft 90 including a skeleton 91 having a core 93 and
four ribs 94
and four wooden sections 92. The shaft 90 of the seventh preferred embodiment
is
similar to the shafts described in above preferred embodiments, except that
the core 93
of the skeleton 91 is a hollow column, in other words, the core 93 has a an
elongated
hole. The shaft 90 of the seventh preferred embodiment has advantages of
weight
reducing and less material being used.
r,
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As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the eighth preferred embodiment of the
present invention provides a shaft 100 including a skeleton 101 having a core
102 and
four ribs 103, and two wooden sections 104 receiving the skeleton 1 O1
therein.
As shown in F1G. 14, the ninth preferred embodiment of the present
invention provides a shaft 110 including a skeleton 111 having a core 112 and
one rib
113 transversely extending from the core 112, and two wooden sections 114
receiving
the skeleton 111 therein.
The advantages of the present invention are:
1. The shaft of the present invention still keeps the physical property of a
wooden material and has an appearance of a wooden shaft. The skeleton that is
made
of composite material (FRP), plastic, metal or proper wood providing the shaft
of the
present invention a superior capacity of preventing from deformation and
warping.
2. To compare with the conventional composite material shaft or the shaft
covered by a layer of composite gnaterial, the present invention is free from
the
stickiness problem of the conventional billiard cue.
3. Typically, the isometric ribs of the skeleton are arranged in the shaft
that
makes the shaft having a homogeneous stress distribution. The shaft of the
present
invention, therefore, can enable a player to hit the balls with a greater
precision and
controllability.
