Hollow metal bat with stiffened transition zone and method of making same

Abstract

A tubular metal ball bat including a tubular barrel having a hitting zone at the distal end thereof, a handle at a proximal end thereof and a tapered transition zone connecting the hitting zone to the handle and a method of making same. The transition zone is provided with a stiffening transverse wall generally at the junction between the hitting zone and transition zone. In one form , a hardenable material is poured into the distal end of the bat through an opening in the distal end after a sponge-like member of foam plastic or similar resilient foam material has been inserted through the opening and forced into the barrel generally to the junction between the hitting zone and transition zone. The sponge-like member is frictionally held in place initially by its resilient contact with the interior of the bat barrel to accurately orient the hardenable material and prevent the hardenable material from running downwardly to the handle end of the bat while the hardenable material hardens. When the hardenable material solidifies, it attaches to open cells in the sponge-like material and to the inner surface of the barrel to form a continuous transverse wall across the barrel interior. In another embodiment, a disk-like member is inserted through an open bat distal end before assembling the end cap and the disk-like member is glued in position to form the stiffening transverse wall.