American-style football

Abstract

An American-style football configured for direct contact with a user's hands. The football includes an inflatable prolate spheroidal shaped bladder, at least first, second, third and fourth cover panels collectively positioned over the bladder, and a lacing coupled to the first and fourth cover panels. The cover panels are formed of a natural leather and include a pebbled texture. Each of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels have an outer surface that defines cover panel outer surface areas. At least one of the cover panels includes a prep gauge portion and a non-prep gauge portion. The prep gauge portion extends over at least 5 percent, and less than 80 percent, of the outer surface area of the at least one of the cover panels. The non-prep gauge portion has a first color and the prep gauge portion has a second color that is darker than the first color.

1 . An American-style football configured for direct contact with a user's hands, the football comprising:
 an inflatable prolate spheroidal shaped bladder;   at least first, second, third and fourth cover panels collectively positioned over the bladder, the cover panels being formed of a natural leather and including a pebbled texture, each of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels having an outer surface that defines first, second, third and fourth cover panel outer surface areas, at least one of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels including a prep gauge portion extending over at least 5 percent, and less than 80 percent, of the outer surface area of the at least one of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels and a non-prep gauge portion, the non-prep gauge portion having a first color and the prep gauge portion having a second color that is darker than the first color; and   a lacing coupled to the first and fourth cover panels.   
     
     
         2 . The football of  claim 1 , wherein the prep gauge portion is formed by a laser ghosting process. 
     
     
         3 . The football of  claim 1 , wherein the prep gauge portion extends over at least 10 percent and less than 50 percent of the outer surface area of the at least one of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels. 
     
     
         4 . The football of  claim 1 , wherein the prep gauge portion extends over at the first and second cover panels. 
     
     
         5 . The football of  claim 4 , wherein the prep gauge portion surrounds the lacing. 
     
     
         6 . The football of  claim 4 , further including at least two stripes coupled to the first and second cover panels, and wherein the prep gauge portion extends along at least one edge of the at least two stripes. 
     
     
         7 . The football of  claim 2 , wherein the pebbled texture includes a plurality of spaced apart pebble-like projections extending from a base region, each of the pebble-like projections having a pebble height measured from the base region adjacent to the pebble-like projection to a top surface of the pebble-like projection. 
     
     
         8 . The football of  claim 7 , wherein the non-prep gauge portion does not overlap the prep gauge portion, and wherein the average pebble height of a plurality of the pebble-like projections in the prep gauge portion of the at least one of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels is at least 80 percent of the average pebble height of a plurality of the pebble-like projection in the non-prep gauge portion of the at least one of the first, second, third and fourth cover panels. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . An American-style football extending about a longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end, and configured for direct contact with hands of a user, the football comprising:
 an inflatable prolate spheroidal shaped bladder;   at least first, second, third and fourth cover panels collectively positioned over the bladder, each of the cover panels have opposing longitudinally extending edges, the cover panels having an outer surface and a pebbled texture including a plurality of spaced apart pebble-like projections extending from a base region, the outer surface of the first and fourth cover panels each including a central region positioned between opposing end regions;   at least two stripes coupled to the first and fourth cover panels, each of the stripes spacing apart one of the end regions from one of the central regions, each of the stripes having an end region edge and a central region edge and transversely extending with respect one of the first and fourth cover panels from one of the longitudinal edges to the other of the longitudinal edges;   a lacing coupled to the first and fourth cover panels;   at least one index finger grip zone element coupled to at least one of end regions of the outer surface of at least one of the first and fourth cover panels, the at least one index finger grip zone element configured for engaging an index fingertip of the hand of the user to facilitate the grasping and throwing of the football, each of the at least one index finger grip zone elements being a stitching that is spaced apart from one of the end region edges of one of the stripes and spaced apart from one of the first and second ends of the football; and   at least one middle finger grip zone element coupled to the central region of the outer surface of at least one of the first and fourth cover panels, the at least one middle finger grip zone element configured for engaging a middle fingertip of the hand of the user to facilitate the grasping and throwing of the football, each of the at least one middle finger grip zone elements being a stitching that is spaced apart from one of the central region edges of one of the stripes, the index finger grip zone element and the middle finger grip zone element each having a grip zone element top surface and a grip zone element height of at least 0.030 inch, the grip zone element height being measured from the base region of the pebbled texture to the grip zone element top surface.   
     
     
         12 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the grip zone element height is at least 0.050 inch. 
     
     
         13 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the grip zone element height is at least 0.100 inch. 
     
     
         14 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the index finger grip zone element, is a stitching. 
     
     
         15 . The football of  claim 14 , wherein the stitching is spaced apart from one of the stripes and extends in a direction parallel to a longitudinal dimension of the stripe. 
     
     
         16 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one index finger grip zone element is two index finger grip zones, and wherein one of the index finger grip zones is positioned on each of the opposing end regions of the outer surface of the first cover panel. 
     
     
         17 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one middle finger grip zone is a stitching spaced apart from the lacing. 
     
     
         18 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one middle finger grip zone is at least two middle finger grip zones on the first cover panel, and at least two middle finger zones on the fourth cover panel. 
     
     
         19 . The football of  claim 11 , further comprising at least one ring finger grip zone positioned on the central region adjacent to the lacing, and wherein the ring finger grip zone element has a ring finger grip zone element top surface and a ring finger grip zone element height of at least 0.030 inch. 
     
     
         20 . The football of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one ring finger grip zone is at least one stitching extending around the lacing. 
     
     
         21 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein the cover panels are formed of a natural leather, wherein the first and fourth cover panels have an outer surface that defines first and fourth cover panel outer surface areas, and wherein each of the first and fourth cover panels include a prep gauge portion extending over at least 5 percent, and less than 80 percent, of the outer surface area of the at least one of the first and fourth cover panels. 
     
     
         22 . The football of  claim 21 , wherein the prep gauge portion is formed by a laser ghosting process. 
     
     
         23 . The football of  claim 22 , wherein each of the pebble-like projections has a pebble height measured from the base region adjacent to the pebble-like projection to a top surface of the pebble-like projection, and wherein the average pebble height of a plurality of the pebble-like projections in the prep gauge portion of the first and fourth cover panels is at least 80 percent of the average pebble height of a plurality of the pebble-like projection in a non-prep gauge portion of the first and fourth cover panels. 
     
     
         24 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein each of the index finger grip zone elements extends in a direction parallel to the end region edge of one of the stripes from one of the longitudinal edges to the other of the longitudinal edges of one of the first and fourth cover panels. 
     
     
         25 . The football of  claim 11 , wherein a majority of the length of the middle finger grip zone element extending in a direction parallel to the central region edge.