Appeal No. 98-1033
Application No. 08/574,330
The Invention
Appellant’s invention pertains to an improvement to a
metallic baseball bat. Conventional metallic baseball bats
(see Prior Art Figure 2) include annular polishing streaks 11
on the barrel of the bat, which, according to appellant, lower
adherence between the ball and the bat, so that adherence
between the ball and the bat is decreased. Appellants contend
that this results in decreased spin being imparted to the
ball, which in turn leads to decreased flying distance
(specification, paragraph spanning pages 1 and 2).
Appellant’s solution to this alleged problem is to orient the
polishing streaks longitudinally along the barrel of the bat
(see Figure 1). Appellant asserts that orienting the
polishing streaks longitudinally has the opposite effect,
namely, minimizing slippage between the ball and the bat, and
providing greater adherence between the ball and the bat.
This, according to appellant, allows spin to be more easily
imparted to the ball, resulting in increased flying distance
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