EP3569293A1 - Bowling ball for playing bowls, and in particular a pétanque bowling ball - Google Patents

Abstract

The subject of the present invention is a ball for a game of balls, of spherical surface (1) comprising a starting meridian (2) having two poles (3,4) and, equidistant from these two poles, an equatorial circle (5 ) delimiting two hemispheres (6,7), said spherical surface comprising at least one groove (8) having a first end (8a '), located on said starting meridian (2) and on a first parallel (9') close to the pole (3) of a first hemisphere (6), and a second end (8b '). The ball according to the invention is characterized in that said groove (8) has an S shape and comprises two sections of curvatures ( C ', C ") opposite, connecting at an inflection point (11) located on an inflection meridian (10), a first section (8') starting from said first end being located on the first hemisphere (6 ), while the second section (8 ") is located on the opposite side to that where the first section is located (8 ') relative to the inflection meridian (11) and extends to said second end (8b') of the groove situated on a parallel (9 ") of said spherical surface close to the pole (4) of the second hemisphere (7). Applicable to boules for pétanque and Lyonnaise.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a bowling ball, in particular for petanque, the Provencal game, the long and the lyonnaise, such ball being of the type having a spherical surface comprising, on the one hand, a large circle forming a meridian of departure having two diametrically opposite points forming two poles and, secondly, equidistant from these two poles, an equatorial circle delimiting two hemispheres, said spherical surface further comprising at least one pattern consisting of a groove having a first end, located on said meridian of departure and on a first parallel of said spherical surface adjacent the pole of a first hemisphere, and a second end.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An example of such a ball is presented in the French patent FR 1.540.815 published on September 27, 1968.

Other balls of this type are known, for example those described in the European patent application. EP 1.316.333 published on June 4, 2003, which have the particularity of presenting in hollow, on the outer surface of each of their two northern and southern hemispheres, a pattern consisting of a geometric figure in the form of a star, made from a line broken single whose successive bases are located on a parallel close to the pole and whose successive vertices bound the equatorial circle.

Another example of a ball of the type in question is disclosed in the French patent application FR 2.796.303 published on 19 January 2001 . The grooves distributed on the surface of this ball form relief patterns or studs in the form of curvilinear polygons regularly distributed over said surface, said patterns or pads being intended to limit the shock waves.

In addition to the fact that the abovementioned balls can be produced industrially economically, their advantage over other known balls with various patterns, essentially streaks arranged according to meridians and / or parallels at varying intervals, is that they largely annihilate the propagation of shock waves.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims to provide a ball that offers the advantage of being even more technical than all the balls currently used, including by professional players, in that the person who will launch, pointer or shooter, may give said ball according to the invention an effect of a magnitude never reached so far.

Thus, in the game, both the pointer, who can with this new ball attempt a different approach to the jack to which he was engaged until today, the shooter who can now consider different trajectories of his ball and of the opposing ball after a tile, the tactics will be able to evolve and certainly to be refined without the rules of the game changing in any way whatsoever.

According to the invention, such a ball, of the aforementioned type, is characterized in that said groove has, starting from said first end, an S-shape similar to a sinusoidal shape and comprises two sections, of opposite curvatures, connected to one another. an inflection point located on an inflection meridian, at least a portion of a first stretch from said first end being located on said first hemisphere between the starting meridian and the inflection meridian and having a first curvature of which the concavity is turned towards said inflection meridian, while at least a portion of the second section is situated on the side opposite to that where said part of the first section is located in relation to meridian inflexion audit and extends to said second end of the groove, which second end is located on a parallel of said spherical surface adjacent the pole of the second hemisphere, said portion of the second section having a curvature whose concavity is turned towards said inflection meridian.

Thus, by the existence of the S-shaped groove which extends to the surface of the ball from substantially one pole to the other pole, groove which is present both on the southern hemisphere and on the northern hemisphere of the ball, groove which of course can be repeated many times, the player will give effect to his ball in the northern hemisphere, with a wrist stroke that affects the entire palm of his hand, and it will simultaneously give effect to said ball at the southern hemisphere by exerting particular pressure with the help of his thumb. The rotation on itself that it is thus possible to give the ball at the moment of its launch at the initiative of the player would be in any case feasible with the existing balls, regardless of the number and shape of grooves of which these are provided on the surface.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the concavity of the first curvature of said portion of the first section may also be turned towards said starting meridian. But also, said concavity can be only turned towards said inflection meridian.

Advantageously, said second end of the groove may also be located on said starting meridian. But also, said second end of the groove may be located on a meridian other than said starting meridian.

Also advantageously, said inflection point may be located on said equatorial circle. But also, said inflection point may be located between said equatorial circle and one of said parallels.

Still advantageously, all of said first section starts from said first end, can be located on said first hemisphere, between the starting meridian and the inflection meridian, and has said first curvature. Also, all of said second section may be located on said opposite side with respect to said inflection meridian and extend to said second end of the groove and have said second curvature.

Preferably, said starting meridian and said inflection meridian may be one and the same meridian.

Advantageously, the second end of the first section of the groove may be located on said first meridian. But also, the second end of the first section of the groove may be located on a different meridian and neighbor of the first meridian.

Preferably, the angle made by the planes respectively containing the starting meridian and the inflection meridian and the axis joining the two poles may be between 0 ° and 30 °.

Advantageously, the concavity of the curvature of the first section can be directed in projection on the equatorial circle in the clockwise direction. But also, the concavity of the curvature of the first section can be directed in projection on the equatorial circle in the anti-clockwise direction. The ball according to the invention can thus be used by both left-handed and right-handed players.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, said pattern may consist of multiple grooves. It is of course essentially with these multiple designs that the ball according to the invention, with consequent multiple forms, will be marketed.

Advantageously, the first ends of the first sections of at least two grooves may be located at points different from the said parallel of the first hemisphere and the second ends of the second sections of the said grooves may be located at points different from the said second parallel. hemisphere.

Also advantageously, the multiple grooves can be divided into at least two assemblies, the first ends of the first sections and the second ends of the second sections of the grooves of two sets being located, respectively, on different parallel neighbors of the first pole. and on different parallel neighbors of the second pole.

Preferably, the number n of the multiple grooves can be between 3 and 40. Preferably also, the angle a between the multiple grooves can be between 9 and 120 with axn = 360. More preferably, the number n of the multiples grooves can be equal to 3, 5, 8, 16, 24 or 32.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the groove or each groove may be discontinuous or interrupted. Preferably, the number of discontinuities, or interruptions, can be between 2 and 10.

Advantageously, the interrupts of the two sets can be shifted to different parallels.

Also advantageously, said interruptions may be formed of portions of the spherical surface, which spherical surface is smooth outside the groove or each groove. Preferably, the groove or each groove may have a section V or U.

Also advantageously, the sphere may be hollow and the groove or each groove may be located on the outer spherical surface of said sphere. Preferably, the ratio of the area of said groove or the cumulative area of the grooves to the total area of said spherical surface may be between 5% and 30%. Also preferably, the diameter of said sphere may be about 75 mm. Also preferably, the depth of the groove or each groove may be between 0.10 mm and 0.20 mm and more preferably equal to 0.15 mm. More preferably, the width of the groove or each groove may be between 1 mm and 1.5 mm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

• Les figures 1a et 1b représentent respectivement une vue de dessus suivant l'axe des pôles et une vue de côté d'une boule suivant un premier mode de réalisation conforme à l'invention qui comporte 32 rainures à point d'inflexion sur le cercle équatorial, uniformément réparties autour de la surface sphérique, avec discontinuités et formant un seul ensemble s'étendant toutes d'un parallèle voisin d'un pôle à un autre parallèle voisin de l'autre pôle.
• Les figures 2a et 2b représentent respectivement une vue de dessus suivant l'axe des pôles et une vue de côté d'une boule suivant un deuxième mode de réalisation conforme à l'invention qui comporte 16 rainures à point d'inflexion sur le cercle équatorial, uniformément réparties autour de la surface sphérique, sans discontinuités et formant deux ensembles s'étendant respectivement de deux parallèle voisins d'un pôle à deux autres parallèles voisins de l'autre pôle.

Other features of the invention may be apparent from the following detailed description of two advantageous embodiments of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings. On these drawings:

• The Figures 1a and 1b respectively represent a top view along the axis of the poles and a side view of a ball according to a first embodiment according to the invention which comprises 32 grooves with inflection point on the equatorial circle, uniformly distributed around the spherical surface, with discontinuities and forming a single assembly all extending from a parallel neighbor of one pole to another parallel neighbor of the other pole.
• The Figures 2a and 2b respectively represent a top view along the axis of the poles and a side view of a ball according to a second embodiment according to the invention which comprises 16 grooves with point of inflection on the equatorial circle, uniformly distributed around the spherical surface, without discontinuities and forming two sets respectively extending from two parallel neighbors of one pole to two other parallel neighbors of the other pole.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Each of the balls A and B of FIGS. 1a, 1b and 2a, 2b is formed by a hollow sphere having an outer spherical surface 1 comprising, on the one hand, a large circle forming a first meridian 2 which has two diametrically opposite points forming two Poles North 3 and South 4, and, secondly, equidistant from these two poles 3 and 4, an equatorial circle 5 delimiting two hemispheres North 6 and South 7.

The spherical surface 1 comprises at least one pattern constituted by a groove 8 formed on the spherical surface of the ball, this groove having a first end 8a 'located on the meridian 2 and on a parallel 9' of the spherical surface 1 adjacent the pole 3 of a first hemisphere 6, and a second end 8b 'located on another meridian, different from the meridian 2 , and on a parallel 9 "of the spherical surface 1 close to the pole 4 of the second hemisphere 7.

The groove 8 has, starting from the first end 8a ', an S shape similar to a sinusoidal shape.

It comprises, on the first hemisphere 6, a first section 8 ', all of which extends from the first end 8a' to the second end 8b "which is located on the equatorial circle 5. The entire first section 8 'has a first curvature whose concavity C' is turned towards another meridian 10, different from the meridian 2, called the inflection meridian, and is situated on a first side with respect to this inflection meridian.

The groove 8 further comprises, on the second hemisphere 7, a second section 8 '' which is connected to the first section 8 'and extends from a first end 8a "situated on the equatorial circle 5, coinciding with the second end 8b "of the first section 8 ', to said second end 8b' of the groove which is located on the parallel 9" of the second hemisphere 7. The entire second section 8 "has a second curvature whose concavity C" is also turned towards the inflection meridian 10 and is located on the opposite side to the first section 8 'with respect to this inflection meridian.

The concavity C 'of the curvature of the first section 8' of the groove is directed in projection on the equatorial circle 5 in the clockwise direction and the concavity C "of the curvature of the second section 8" is directed in projection on the equatorial circle in counter clockwise. The two sections 8 'and 8 "of each groove are connected to a point of inflection 11 which is situated on the inflection meridian 10 and on the equatorial circle 5 and coincides with the second end 8b" of the first section and with the first end 8a "of the second section.

More specifically, the groove pattern is constituted by multiple grooves 8. The spherical surface of each ball A and B is smooth between the different grooves. The ratio of the cumulative area of the grooves to the total area of said spherical surface is for example between 5 and 30%.

The grooves 8 are, for example, 32 on the ball A of FIGS. 1a and 1b, and for example 16 on the ball B of FIGS. Figures 2a and 2b .

On each of the balls A and B, the first ends 8a 'of the first sections 8' of the different grooves 8 are located respectively at different points of the parallel 9 'of the first hemisphere 6 and the second ends 8b' of the second sections 8 'of the different grooves are all respectively located at different points of the parallel 9 "of the second hemisphere 7.

On the ball B Figures 2a and 2b the grooves 8 are divided into two sets 12 and 13. The first ends 8a 'of the first sections of the grooves of the first set 12 and the second ends 8b "of the second sections of the grooves of the second set 13 are respectively located, for the first, on different parallels 9 ', for the first set, and 9a', for the second set, which are neighbors of the first pole 3 and, for the seconds, on different parallels 9 ", for the first set, and 9a", for the second set, which are close to the second pole 4.

On the ball B Figures 2a and 2b the grooves 8 are continuous from the first end 8a 'of the first section 8' to the second end 8b 'of the second section 8 ".

On the ball A of Figures 1a and 1b, the grooves 8 are discontinuous, or interrupted, between the first end 8a 'of the first section 8' and the second end 8b 'of the second section 8 ".The number of discontinuities, or interruptions, 14 is alternately 3 and 4.

The discontinuities or interruptions 14 are formed of smooth portions of the spherical surface unlike the grooved portions. The length of the discontinuities, or interruptions, is for example a fraction of the length of the grooved parts of between 1 and 1/10.

In the case of the ball A of Figures 1a and 1b, the interruptions are shifted to different parallels.

The angle α between the multiple grooves is approximately 11 ° for the ball A and approximately 22 ° for the ball B, so that we have axn = 360. Moreover, the diameter of each ball A and B is equal to 75mm.

In addition, each groove 8 'has a V-section or a U-shaped section, the depth of the groove being, for example, 0.15 mm. In the case of a U-shaped section, this section is formed by a semicircle of radius 1.5 mm.

Claims (26)

Ball for bowling, in particular for petanque, the Provencal game, long and lyonnaise, of the type having a spherical surface comprising, on the one hand, a large circle forming a starting meridian having two diametrically opposite points forming two poles and, on the other hand, equidistant from these two poles, an equatorial circle delimiting two hemispheres, said spherical surface comprising at least one pattern constituted by a groove having a first end, situated on said starting meridian and on a first parallel said spherical surface adjacent the pole of a first hemisphere, and a second end,
characterized in that said groove has, starting from said first end, an S shape similar to a sinusoidal shape and comprises two sections, of opposite curvatures, connecting at a point of inflection located on a meridian of inflection, at at least a portion of a first section starting from said first end being located on said first hemisphere between the starting meridian and the inflection meridian and having a first curvature whose concavity is facing said inflection meridian, while at least a portion of the second section is located on the side opposite to that where said portion of the first section is located with respect to said inflection meridian and extends to said second end of the groove, which second end is located on a parallel to said spherical surface adjacent to the pole of the second hemisphere, said portion of the second section having a curvature whose cone cavity is turned towards said inflection meridian. Ball according to Claim 1, characterized in that the concavity of the first curvature of said portion of the first section is also turned towards said starting meridian. Ball according to claim 1, characterized in that the concavity of the first curvature of said portion of the first section is only turned towards said inflection meridian. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said second end of the groove is also located on said meridian of departure. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said second end of the groove is located on a meridian other than said meridian of departure. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said point of inflection is located on said equatorial circle. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said point of inflection is located between said equatorial circle and one of said parallels. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that all of said first section starts from said first end, is situated on said first hemisphere, between the starting meridian and the inflection meridian, and presents said first curvature. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that all of said second section is located on said opposite side with respect to said inflection meridian and extends to said second end of the groove and has said second curvature. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that said starting meridian and said inflection meridian are one and the same meridian. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the second end of the first section of the groove is located on said first meridian. Ball according to one of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the second end of the first section of the groove is located on a different meridian and close to the first meridian. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the angle made by the planes respectively containing the starting meridian and the inflection meridian and the axis joining the two poles is between 0 ° and 30 ° °. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the concavity of the curvature of the first section is directed in projection on the equatorial circle in the clockwise direction. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the concavity of the curvature of the first section is directed in projection on the equatorial circle in the counterclockwise direction. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that said pattern is constituted by multiple grooves. Ball according to claim 16, characterized in that the first ends of the first sections of at least two grooves are located at different points of said parallel of the first hemisphere and the second ends of the second sections of said grooves are located at different points of said parallel of the second hemisphere. Ball according to any one of claims 16 and 17, characterized in that the multiple grooves are distributed in at least two sets, the first ends of the first sections and the second ends of the second sections of the grooves of two sets being located, respectively, on different parallel neighbors of the first pole and on different parallel neighbors of the second pole. Ball according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that the number n of the multiple grooves is between 3 and 40 and is preferably equal to 3, 5, 8, 16, 24 or 32. Ball according to Claim 19, characterized in that the angle a between the multiple grooves is between 9 and 120 with axn = 360. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 20, characterized in that the groove or each groove is discontinuous, or interrupted. Ball according to Claim 21, characterized in that the number of discontinuities or interruptions is between 2 and 10. Ball according to any one of claims 21 and 22, characterized in that the interruptions of the two sets are offset on different parallels. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 27, characterized in that the ratio of the area of said groove or the cumulative area of the grooves to the total area of said spherical surface is between 5% and 30%. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 24, characterized in that the diameter of said sphere is equal to 75 mm. Ball according to any one of claims 1 to 25, characterized in that the depth of the groove or each groove is between 0.10 mm and 0.20 mm and is preferably equal to 0.15 mm and the width of the groove or each groove is between 1 mm and 1.5 mm.

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