Appeal No. 1999-1987 Page 17
Application No. 08/400,129
In addition to the teachings of Alexander and Albert, the
examiner relies upon the additional teachings of Hutt in
rejecting claims 4 to 6. Hutt's invention relates to the
attachment of a line to a ball. Hutt teaches (column 1, lines
10-20) that
[t]here are many games and sporting apparatus
requiring the attachment of a line, whether the line be a
cord, a length of elastic, or the like. In most cases,
the ball used is of the tennis ball type but it will be
appreciated that the invention is intended to be extended
to other suitable balls.
Previously, the attachment of the line to a ball
suffered from many disadvantages, the tearing of the ball
from the attachment being the most important. In
addition, many a game was spoiled by the twisting of the
line, which also caused premature breaking of the line.
As shown in the drawing, a hollow ball 10 (e.g., a tennis
ball) is connected to a line 20. The ball has a hole 12 which
snugly accommodates the raised portion 14 of an integral unit
comprising a base 16 and the raised portion 14. An orifice 18
extends right through the base to receive the line 20 which
also passes through a bullet-shaped element 22 and is knotted
or otherwise anchored thereto. The other end of the line 20
is provided with a hook 24 or the like for attachment to a
sporting apparatus or game.
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