Appeal No. 1998-3426
Application 08/762,204
Appellants' invention relates to a vibration damping device for stringed racquets.
In particular, the claimed subject matter on appeal is directed to the embodiment of
appellants’ invention seen in Figures 7 through 10 of the application. In this
embodiment, the body (226) of the damping device (210) is formed of a viscoelastic
member (222) that is made from a thin slice of rubber material so that it can be
wrapped around at least a pair of strings of the racquet, in the manner seen in
Figures 7-9 of the drawings. The damping device further includes a movable member
(224) having two enlarged head portions (234) and a connecting portion (236). As
can be seen best in Figure 9 of the application, the connecting portion of the movable
member (224) extends through the viscoelastic member (222) with the enlarged head
portions (234) being disposed on either side of the viscoelastic member. As is
specified in each of the independent claims on appeal (i.e., claims 1 and 7), the
member (224) is
“movable relative to said viscoelastic member in response to vibrations of the
stringed racquet induced by an impact of an object on the strings of the stringed
racquet such that said vibration damping device vibrates over the same frequency
range but out of phase with the stringed racquet to damp vibrations in the stringed
racquet.”
A copy of representative claims 1 and 7 can be found in the Appendix to appellants'
brief.
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