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US-20260124644-A1 - DEVICES AND METHODS FOR APPLYING A SUBSTANCE TO A SPORTS BALL

US20260124644A1US 20260124644 A1US20260124644 A1US 20260124644A1US-20260124644-A1

Abstract

The present invention surrounds the application of a substance to a sports ball, such as silica silylate, for the purposes of increasing grip and hydrophobicity. Disclosed are inventions surrounding the method, the system, and the apparatus for the treatment of a sports ball or other objects which a user desires to treat with a substance to achieve certain results in relation to the substance applied.

Inventors

  • David G. Pope
  • James M. Pidhurney

Assignees

  • Chalkless Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20250505

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method for the treatment of a sports ball with silica silylate comprising: loading a treatment chamber with at least one sports ball; adding a predetermined amount of silica silylate to the chamber; agitating the sports ball; removing the sports ball from the chamber; and resting the sports ball for a second period of time.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing at least a portion of the silica silylate from the chamber.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising loading the chamber with tumbling media prior to agitating the sports ball for a first period of time.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising loading the chamber with an antistatic agent.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the antistatic agent comprises polyethylene glycol and the tumbling media comprises HDPE.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein agitating of the chamber comprises rotating the chamber about a first axis.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein rotating of the chamber occurs at a rate of about 10 to 15 rpm.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising agitating the sports ball during the removal of at least a portion of the silica silylate from the chamber.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 2 , wherein removing at least a portion of the silica silylate from the chamber comprises drawing a vacuum to induce air flow from the chamber.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising streaming air into the chamber, wherein the air stream causes at least a portion of the silica silylate to become airborne.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the stream of air is directed at an angle to an axis of rotation of the chamber.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second period of time is about 12 to 36 hours, about 1 to 4 days, or about 5 to 10 days.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising brushing the exterior surface of the at least one sports ball after the second period of time to remove at least a portion of silica silylate.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: loading the at least one sports ball into a chamber after the second period of time; agitated the sports ball to remove at least a portion of silica silylate from the treated surface of the sports ball; and removing the sports ball from the chamber.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the silica silylate in the chamber has a maximum diameter of about 1 to 100 nanometers, about 100 to 2500 nanometers, or about 1 and 1000 micrometers.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting at least a portion of silica silylate from the chamber by vacuum pressure prior to removing the sports ball from the chamber.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising testing a treated surface of the sports ball to determine the treatment result of the sports ball.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the testing evaluates at least one of hydrophobicity, surface roughness, tackiness, color, surface gloss, or surface reflectivity.
  19. 19 . A method for treating a sports balls with silica silylate comprising: loading a chamber with at least one sports ball; adding silica silylate to the chamber; agitating the sports ball for a first period of time to apply silica silylate to an exterior surface of the sports ball; agitating the sports ball for a second period of time while applying a vacuum to the chamber to remove at least a portion of silica silylate from the chamber; and removing the sports ball from the chamber.
  20. 20 . A method for treating a sports ball with silica silylate comprising: loading a first chamber with at least one sports ball; adding silica silylate to the chamber; agitating the sports ball to apply silica silylate to an exterior surface of the sports balls; removing the sports ball from the first chamber; resting the sports ball for about 1 to 10 days; loading a second chamber with the sports ball; agitating the second chamber to remove at least a portion of silica silylate from the exterior surface of the sports ball; removing the sports ball from the second chamber; and testing the exterior surface of the sports ball to determine the treatment results of the sports ball.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 63/245,742 entitled “Systems And Methods For Applying Particulate Material To Solid Surfaces, Such As Surfaces Of Balls, And Related Articles” filed on Sep. 17, 2021; U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/262,117 entitled “Devices And Methods For Uniform Application Of Aerogel To Sports Balls” Filed on Oct. 5, 2021; U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/262,654 entitled “Devices And Methods For Uniform Application Of Aerogel To Sports Balls” filed Oct. 18, 2021; U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/263,484 entitled “Devices And Methods For Uniform Application Of A Substance To A Sports Ball” filed Nov. 3, 2021; and U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/264,674 entitled “Devices And Methods For Uniform Application Of Aerogel To A Sports Ball” filed Nov. 30, 2021. Furthermore, this application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/810,356 entitled “Particulate Aerogel Material For Grip Enhancement” filed on Jul. 1, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/217,686 entitled “Particulate Aerogel Material For Grip Enhancement” filed Jul. 1, 2021. Further still, this application is a continuation-in-part of PCT Application No. PCT/US22/73334 filed Jul. 1, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/217,686 entitled “Particulate Aerogel Material For Grip Enhancement” filed Jul. 1, 2021. Further still, this application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/932,710 entitled “Devices and Methods for Applying a Substance to a Sports Ball” file Sep. 16, 2022. The entire contents of the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to systems, devices, and methods for the application of a substance to a sports ball, such as silica silylate, wherein the application of the substance is intended to augment the characteristics of the sports ball, including increased grip and hydrophobicity. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Silica silylate, a siloxane polymer, has been used in certain forms for characteristics which provide insulative properties. In other applications, silica silylate has been included into cosmetics for properties including emollient, binder, thickening agent, and can also help prevent foam formation. Silica silylate is typically characterized as being synthetic, hydrophobic, and thixotropic compound that is commonly used as a thickening agent. As recognized in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/810,356, the external surface characteristics of a sports ball may be augmented or enhanced by the application of silica silylate. The ability to apply a compound such as silica silylate to an external surface of a sports ball provides its own challenges. The application of a coating to a ball, especially when used by professional teams, requires repeatability and consistency. For instance, it is approximated that 900 thousand baseballs are used by Major League Baseball per year—30 thousand per team. Of the 900 thousand baseballs used by Major League Baseball per year, 200 thousand are used for games at a rate of 80-120 balls per game. Major league players and other stakeholders require consistency in a sports ball to maintain consistency in performance. And while players of a sport do not require the same consistency of product expected by professional level sports such as in Major League Baseball, they may prefer to play the sport with the same quality product as played by the highest level of their sport. Thus, there is a current need for devices and methods for the consistent and repeatable application of silica silylate, or other siloxane polymers, to the external surface of a sports ball. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The application of silica silylate to an exterior surface of a sports ball involves a number of steps dependent upon the level of consistency and repeatability desired. Although the present invention surrounds the application of silica silylate to the exterior of a sports ball, the use of an alternate siloxane polymer or other hydrophobic or oleophilic particles, or the application of such compounds to alternate surfaces not discussed herein for similar benefit are within the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is an aspect of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide methods, devices, and systems for the surface treatment of sports balls with silica silylate wherein the surface treatment resulting in surface characteristics which are substantially homogeneous around the entirety of the surface of the individual sports ball. Furthermore, it is an aspect of certain embodiments presented herein that the surface characteristics of a plurality of sports balls comprise substantially homogenous surface characteristics following surface treatment wherein the surface treatment of each ball is essentially ide