JP2011177368A - Felt for tennis ball, and tennis ball - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a felt for a tennis ball which is less likely to be wrinkled when a tennis ball is molded.
A felt 12 covered with a core 10 of a tennis ball is formed of a nonwoven fabric and has a bending resistance value of 15 cm or less measured by a cantilever method.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a felt used for the outer skin (melton) of a tennis ball and a tennis ball using the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a felt for a tennis ball and a tennis ball that are less likely to be wrinkled when the tennis ball is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a tennis ball having a core 10 and a felt 12 covered with the core is used. Usually, the core is formed into a spherical shape with rubber, the felt is formed in a substantially bowl shape, and two felts are bonded to the core with a rubber adhesive. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 denotes a joint where the rubber adhesive is exposed between two felts.

  As the above-mentioned felt for tennis balls, woven felt (weave felt) or needle felt is used (see Patent Document 1). Woven felt is obtained by fluffing the surface of a woven fabric, and is produced by raising and shrinking raw material. Needle felt is a non-woven fabric with a fluffed surface, and is produced by performing needle processing on a raw material dough.

  Tennis balls that use woven felt for the outer skin (hereinafter referred to as “woven felt balls”) are superior in performance to tennis balls that use needle felt for the outer skin (hereinafter referred to as “needle felt balls”). It is mainly used for games because the felt is easy to fluff and wears easily. On the other hand, the needle felt ball is less used for practicing because it is less expensive than the woven felt ball because the felt is less fuzzy and less likely to wear.

  On the other hand, tennis courts include an un-to-car court made of red soil, an omni coat made of artificial grass with sand, a clay coat made of soil, a hard coat made of rubber on concrete, and a carpet coat made of carpet-like material ( For indoor use) and glass courts made of natural turf.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-154037

  Among the above-mentioned courts, there are courts where it is preferable to use a ball with a high felt durability because the felt of the tennis ball tends to fluff. For example, a carpet coat. Therefore, it is preferable to use the needle felt ball described above for such a coat. However, when forming a needle felt ball, there is a problem that wrinkles are likely to occur particularly in the peripheral portion of the felt (in the vicinity of the joint).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tennis ball felt that hardly causes wrinkles when a tennis ball is molded, and a tennis ball using the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a felt coated on the core of a tennis ball, which is formed of a non-woven fabric and has a bending resistance value of 15 cm or less measured by a cantilever method. To provide felt for tennis balls.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tennis ball having a core and a felt covered with the core, wherein the felt is formed of a non-woven fabric and measured by a cantilever method. Provided is a tennis ball having a degree value of 15 cm or less.

In the present invention, the cantilever method refers to a method for evaluating the stiffness of a woven fabric defined in the JIS-L-1096 stiffness A method. In this cantilever method, the bending resistance of the test piece is measured by the following procedures (A) to (D) (see FIG. 2). The smaller the value of the bending resistance measured by the cantilever method, the softer the sample.
(A) A test piece 20 having a length of 15 cm and a width of 2 cm is prepared.
(A) As shown in FIG. 2 (a), a test piece 20 is placed on a smooth horizontal table 24 having a 45 ° inclined surface 22 on one end side. At this time, the one end side short side 26 of the test piece 20 is aligned with one end of the horizontal base 24 on the inclined surface 22 side, and the position of the other end side short side 28 of the test piece 20 is read on a scale.
(C) The test piece 20 is slid gently in the direction of the slope 22, and the test is performed when the lateral center of the one end side short side 26 of the test piece 20 is in contact with the slope 22 as shown in FIG. The position of the short side 28 on the other end side of the piece 20 is read with a scale.
(D) The movement distance L of the short side 28 on the other end side of the test piece 20 when the short side 26 on the one end side of the test piece 20 is in contact with the inclined surface 22 as described above is the bending resistance (unit: cm).

  The felt for tennis balls and the tennis ball of the present invention have a flexural softness value of 15 cm or less as measured by the cantilever method. Therefore, the felt has flexibility, and thus wrinkles are generated in the felt during molding of the tennis ball. It will be difficult.

  In the present invention, when the value of the bending resistance of the felt measured by the cantilever method exceeds 15 cm, that is, when the moving distance L reaches 15 cm without the one end side short side 26 of the test piece 20 being in contact with the inclined surface 22, Becomes too hard, and the felt tends to be wrinkled when a tennis ball is formed. A more preferable value of the bending resistance is 7.0 to 15 cm, particularly 12.5 to 14.4 cm in that wrinkles are less likely to occur in the felt during molding of the tennis ball.

  The tennis ball felt and the tennis ball of the present invention are less likely to cause wrinkles in the felt during molding of the tennis ball. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a ball having an excellent aesthetic appearance, and to effectively prevent irregular ball jumps due to wrinkles in the felt.

It is a partial cross section front view which shows an example of a tennis ball. It is explanatory drawing of a cantilever method.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail. In the present invention, the material of the nonwoven fabric fibers forming the felt is not limited, but examples thereof include one kind or a mixture of two or more kinds selected from wool, nylon fibers, polyester fibers, acrylic fibers, and rayon fibers. be able to.

  In the present invention, the fiber forming the felt is treated with a fiber softener, and the fiber is subjected to a soft finish, whereby the bending resistance of the felt can be set to the above-described value. The fiber softener imparts flexibility to the fiber, and an appropriate one is selected according to the material of the fiber.

  Examples of the main component of the fabric softener include a cationic surfactant such as a polyamide type cationic surfactant, a quaternary ammonium salt type cationic surfactant, a nonionic / cationic surfactant, and an ester type nonionic anion. Surfactant, nonionic / anionic surfactant, higher alcohol anionic surfactant, wax / nonionic / anionic surfactant, anionic surfactant such as wax / nonionic / weak anionic surfactant, polyhydric alcohol Nonionic surfactants, polyhydric alcohol ester type nonionic surfactants, polyether type nonionic surfactants, wax / nonionic surfactants, nonionic interfaces such as waxes / weak cations / nonionic surfactants Activators, silicone oils, modified silicone oils and the like can be mentioned.

  Particularly preferred as the main component of the fabric softener is a polyamide-type cationic surfactant. By using this, a soft soft texture can be imparted to the fiber, and the hue change and color fastness can be fastened. The effect that a fiber with little fall of can be obtained is acquired.

  Examples of the treatment method using the fiber softener include, but are not limited to, a method of immersing felt raw fiber or felt in a fiber softener diluted with water.

  When producing the felt for tennis balls of the present invention, the felt may be produced with fibers previously treated with a fabric softener, and after producing the felt, the felt may be treated with a fabric softener.

  The tennis ball of the present invention is more preferably formed into a needle felt ball. As a result, it is possible to obtain a tennis ball that can be suitably used in a court (for example, a carpet court) in which it is preferable to use a ball having a high felt durability because the felt is easily fluffed.

  The needle felt mentioned above can produce the needle felt which is the nonwoven fabric with which the surface fuzzed by performing the needle process which pierces a needle | hook with the needle punch apparatus, for example to the raw material cloth | flour obtained by mixing a fiber.

  Further, the needle felt described above may have a single layer structure or a multilayer structure. As the needle felt having a multilayer structure, for example, a base layer made of polyester fiber or acrylic fiber and a felt layer made of nylon fiber or a mixture fiber of wool and nylon are laminated. In the case where such a multi-layer needle felt is treated with a fiber softener, the main component of the fiber softener may be selected so that the fibers of all layers can be softened.

  The bending resistance of felts of the following samples A1 to A10, B1 to B10, C1 to C4, and D1 to D4 was measured by a cantilever method. In this case, the measurement was performed by the procedures (a) to (d) described above. Further, the thickness and the bending resistance of the sample were expressed by average values of five test pieces prepared from each sample. The treatment with the fabric softener was performed by immersing the felt in a fabric softener diluted with water and then drying. The main component of the fabric softener was a polyamide-type cationic surfactant. Felt with back paste is a pre-coated rubber adhesive for adhering the felt to the core on the back of the felt. Felt without back paste means that the adhesive is applied to the back of the felt. It is not applied. In addition, a sample whose sample direction is the vertical direction is a test piece cut out with the vertical direction of the sample as the long side direction, and a sample whose sample direction is the horizontal direction is cut out with the horizontal direction of the sample as the long side direction. Test piece. The results are shown in Tables 1 to 4.

[sample]
A1: Needle felt A (no softener treatment, no back glue, longitudinal direction).
A2: Needle felt A (no softener treatment, no back glue, lateral direction).
A3: Needle felt A (without softener treatment, with back paste, longitudinal direction).
A4: Needle felt A (without softener treatment, with back paste, lateral direction).
A5: Needle felt A (with softener treatment / no back glue / longitudinal direction).
A6: Needle felt A (with softener treatment, no back glue, lateral direction).
A7: Needle felt A (with softener treatment / with back paste / longitudinal direction).
A8: Needle felt A (with softener treatment, back paste, lateral direction).
A9: Needle felt A (with softener treatment / with back paste / longitudinal direction).
A10: Needle felt A (with softener treatment / with back paste / lateral direction).
B1: Needle felt B (no softener treatment, no back glue, longitudinal direction).
B2: Needle felt B (no softener treatment, no back glue, lateral direction).
B3: Needle felt B (without softener treatment, with back paste, longitudinal direction).
B4: Needle felt B (without softener treatment, with back paste, lateral direction).
B5: Needle felt B (with softener treatment / no back glue / longitudinal direction).
B6: Needle felt B (with softener treatment, no back paste, lateral direction).
B7: Needle felt B (with softener treatment / with back paste / longitudinal direction).
B8: Needle felt B (with softener treatment, back paste, lateral direction).
B9: Needle felt B (with softener treatment / with back paste / longitudinal direction).
B10: Needle felt B (with softener treatment / with back paste / lateral direction).
C1: Woven felt C (no softener treatment, no back glue, longitudinal direction).
C2: Woven felt C (no softener treatment, no back glue, lateral direction).
C3: Woven felt C (without softener treatment, with back paste, longitudinal direction).
C4: Woven felt C (without softener treatment / with back paste / lateral direction).
D1: Woven felt D (no softener treatment, no back glue, longitudinal direction).
D2: Woven felt D (no softener treatment, no back glue, lateral direction).
D3: Woven felt D (without softener treatment / with back paste / longitudinal direction).
D4: Woven felt D (without softener treatment, with back paste, lateral direction).

[felt]
Needle felt A: The material is a mixture of wool and nylon, and the base is polyester.
-Needle felt B: The material is a mixture of wool and nylon, and the base is polyester.
-Woven felt C: The material is a mixture of wool and nylon, and the base is cotton.
-Woven felt D: The material is a mixture of wool and nylon, and the base is cotton.

From Tables 1 to 4, the following can be understood.
(A) In the case of the same sample, the felt treated with the fiber softener is softer than the felt not treated with the fiber softener.
(B) Since the woven felt is a woven fabric, the bending resistance differs depending on the sample direction. However, since the needle felt is a nonwoven fabric, there is no difference in bending resistance depending on the sample direction.
(C) Since the woven felt differs in the bending resistance depending on the sample direction, the bending resistance cannot be measured with the felts of C3 and D3, but wrinkles are not generated in the felt due to the lateral flexibility.
(D) No difference in the stiffness of the felt due to the difference in the thickness of the felt.

Next, the tennis ball shown in FIG. 1 was produced according to the following procedure.
(1) Felts of samples A1 to A10, B1 to B10, C1 to C4, and D1 to D4 were punched into a substantially bowl shape.
(2) The two felts described above were bonded to the outer periphery of a spherical core made of a crosslinked rubber with a rubber adhesive to produce a tennis ball.

  As a result, the felt having a bending resistance value of 15 cm or less was not wrinkled during the production of the tennis ball. On the other hand, the felt having a bending resistance value of more than 15 cm was wrinkled in the felt during the production of the tennis ball.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Core 12 Felt 14 Joint 20 Test piece 22 Slope 24 Horizontal stand 26 One end short side 28 of test piece The other end short side L of test piece L Movement distance

Claims (8)

  A felt for a tennis ball, which is covered with a core of a tennis ball, is formed of a non-woven fabric, and has a bending resistance value of 15 cm or less measured by a cantilever method.   The felt for tennis balls according to claim 1, wherein the felt is a needle felt.   The felt for tennis balls according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the fibers forming the felt are treated with a softening agent for fibers.   The felt for tennis balls according to claim 3, wherein a main component of the softening agent is a polyamide-type cationic surfactant.   A tennis ball having a core and a felt covered with the core, wherein the felt is formed of a non-woven fabric and has a bending resistance value of 15 cm or less measured by a cantilever method. Tennis ball.   The tennis ball according to claim 5, wherein the felt is a needle felt.   The tennis ball according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the fibers forming the felt are treated with a fiber softener.   The tennis ball according to claim 7, wherein a main component of the softening agent is a polyamide-type cationic surfactant.

Images