Baseball/softball bat handgrip

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an annular hand positioning shaft to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel. The hand positioning shaft has a longitudinal axis and a bottom end portion. The annular hand positioning shaft may be formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member. The annular hand positioning shaft may include upper and lower hand receiving portion and a hand separation ridge. The upper and lower hand receiving portion includes plurality of upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis. The bottom end portion may define an axe handle base including an upper domed surface protruding radially outward. The annular hand positioning shaft may further include upper and lower palm pads configured to receive a portion of a palm of the upper hand at a predefined location along the longitudinal axis.

1 . A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
 an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis, a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;   an upper hand receiving portion, a lower hand receiving portion spaced from the upper hand receiving portion along the longitudinal axis, the upper hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and the lower hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, wherein the annular hand positioning shaft is configured to receive an upper hand of a batter in the upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand of a batter in the lower hand receiving portion such that:   (i) the upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs respectively support fingers of the upper hand and the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft; and   (ii) the hand positioning shaft supports the upper hand and the lower hand of the batter generally at a predefined relative circumferential grip position; and   wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower hand receiving portion, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis.   
     
     
         2 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein an upper imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the upper axial finger positioning ribs and a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the upper imaginary rib center line is circumferentially spaced apart from the lower imaginary rib center line about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 25° to about 50°. 
     
     
         3 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein a center plane imaginary line in the center plane and oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis intersects an uppermost point along the apex curve and wherein a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about the circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, the center plane imaginary line being circumferentially offset from the lower imaginary rib center line about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle less than 20°. 
     
     
         4 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a hand separation ridge between the lower hand receiving portion and the upper hand receiving portion. 
     
     
         5 . A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising:
 an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis, a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;   an upper palm pad configured to support a portion of a palm of the upper hand and a lower palm pad configured to support a portion of a palm of the lower hand, lower palm pad being spaced apart along the longitudinal axis from the upper palm pad, the lower palm pad being circumferentially offset about the longitudinal axis from the upper palm pad;   wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower palm pad, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis.   
     
     
         6 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 5 , wherein each of the upper and lower palm pads comprises a generally an ellipsoid surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft, each ellipsoid surface each comprise an imaginary pad center line parallel to the longitudinal axis. 
     
     
         7 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 6 , wherein each ellipsoid surface is symmetrical about its imaginary pad center line. 
     
     
         8 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 6 , wherein the imaginary pad center lines are circumferentially offset from each other about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 45° to about 75°. 
     
     
         9 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 6 , wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and wherein an upper imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the upper axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the upper imaginary rib center line is offset from the imaginary pad center line the ellipsoidal surface of the upper palm pad circumferentially about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 150° to about 180°. 
     
     
         10 . The handgrip as set forth in  claim 6 , wherein the hand positioning shaft further comprises a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and wherein a lower imaginary rib center line extends parallel to the longitudinal axis through about circumferential midpoints of the lower axial finger positioning ribs, wherein the lower imaginary rib center line is offset from the imaginary pad center line the ellipsoidal surface of the lower palm pad circumferentially about the longitudinal axis by an offset angle in an inclusive range of from about 150° to about 180°. 
     
     
         11 . A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
 an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;   wherein the bottom end portion of the hand positioning shaft defines an axe handle base below the lower hand receiving portion, the axe handle base comprising an upper domed surface protruding radially outward with respect to an adjacent segment of the hand positioning shaft above the upper domed surface, the upper domed surface having an apex curve in a center plane extending along the longitudinal axis, the upper domed surface sloping downward from the apex curve as the upper domed surface extends in opposite first and second directions from the center plane, the apex curve being asymmetrical in the center plane on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis;   wherein the hand positioning shaft is formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member, the shaft member comprises a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin spaced apart by a gap, each of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member comprising a locking formation, the elongate closure member having a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin, each of the first longitudinal edge margin and the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member further comprising a complementary locking formation, the shaft member configured to be positioned about the handle of the bat such that the gap has a first circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis, the elongate closure member configured to be inserted longitudinally into the gap while the shaft member is positioned about the handle such that the complementary locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the elongate closure member operatively engage the locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member and draw the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member, wherein after the elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap, the locking formations of the shaft member and the complementary locking formations of the elongate closure member secures the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member and secure the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap and the gap has a second circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis less than the first circumferential dimension.   
     
     
         12 . A handgrip for a baseball/softball bat comprising,
 an annular hand positioning shaft configured to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel of the baseball/softball bat, the hand positioning shaft having a longitudinal axis a bottom end portion, and an upper end portion, the bottom end portion spaced from the upper end portion along the longitudinal axis;   an upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand receiving portion spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, the upper hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of upper axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis and the lower hand receiving portion comprising a plurality of lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, wherein the annular hand positioning shaft is configured to receive an upper hand of a batter in the upper hand receiving portion and a lower hand of a batter in the lower hand receiving portion such that:   (i) the upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs respectively support fingers of the upper hand and the lower hand at predefined locations along the longitudinal axis of the hand positioning shaft; and   (ii) the hand positioning shaft supports the upper hand and the lower hand of the batter generally at a predefined relative circumferential grip position;   wherein the hand positioning shaft is formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member, the shaft member comprises a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin spaced apart by a gap, each of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member comprising a locking formation, the elongate closure member having a first longitudinal edge margin and a second longitudinal edge margin, each of the first longitudinal edge margin and the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member further comprising a complementary locking formation, the shaft member configured to be positioned about the handle of the bat such that the gap has a first circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis, the elongate closure member configured to be inserted longitudinally into the gap while the shaft member is positioned about the handle such that the complementary locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the elongate closure member operatively engage the locking formations of the first and second longitudinal edge margins of the shaft member and draw the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member toward the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member, wherein after the elongate closure member is inserted longitudinally into the gap, the locking formations of the shaft member and the complementary locking formations of the elongate closure member secures the first longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the first longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member and secure the second longitudinal edge margin of the shaft member to the second longitudinal edge margin of the elongate closure member such that the elongate closure member is secured in the gap and the gap has a second circumferential dimension with respect to the longitudinal axis less than the first circumferential dimension.   
     
     
         13 - 14 . (canceled)