US Patent Issued to Wilson Sporting Goods on April 14 for "Tennis ball having a thermoplastic core" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,599,814, issued on April 14, was assigned to Wilson Sporting Goods Co. (Chicago).

"Tennis ball having a thermoplastic core" was invented by Frank M. Simonutti (Wheaton, Ill.), Chloe J. Lee (Chicago), Robert T. Thurman (Glenn Ellyn, Ill.), William E. Dillon (Chicago) and David A. Vogel (Island Lake, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A tennis ball may include a non-foamed thermoplastic core defining an internal volume, the core having an outer meltable surface. The core may include a thermoplastic material having a specific gravity of 0.86 to 1.38, a flexural modulus of 2.0 to 50.0 MPa, and a Shore D hardness of 10 to 70. The thickness ...