Pebble cover for a sports ball

Abstract

A leather-based cover material for an inflatable sports ball that consists of a composite of a thin external layer, a filler, and an internal liner. The thin external layer is dimpled by using positive/negative embossing plates to create pebble projections on an exterior side and voids on the other or interior side. The interior side is coated with a filler material that fills the voids. The cover material is completed by attaching a liner layer to the cured filler material.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for making a thin leather based cover for a ball, including the following steps:
 dimpling a thin sheet of a leather based material using positive and negative embossing plates on opposite sides of the leather based material, to create an exterior pebble pattern on one side and an interior pattern of voids on the opposite side;   coating the voids with a filler material that fills the voids and is curable into an elastically solid filler layer; and   applying an interior liner layer to the filler layer, to create the cover for the ball.