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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a handle device, and more particularly to a handle sleeve, which is a tub-like member to be sleeved onto a handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Handles of rackets, shafts or bicycles usually are provided with a pad. The conventional pads are a tube-like sleeve fitted to the handle or a band wound on the handle. The pads provide the user a well condition of gripping the handle and provide the functions of absorption of vibration, skidproof and so on.
The conventional band-typed pad is to wind an elongated band on the handle spirally. Such pad cannot resist a torque exerted by the user and the band might be loosened by the torque. The tube-typed pad, i.e. sleeve, is to fit a tube to the handle directly. Such sleeve resists a torque exerted thereon by the user. However, the sleeves were usually made by injection molding and were made of rubber. But the rubber is too hard to provide a well condition of gripping the handle.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a handle sleeve, which has advantages of simple structure, easy fabrication and well gripping condition.
According to the objective of the present invention, a handle sleeve is mainly formed by a tube, which is made by an elongated piece rolled. The elongated piece has a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and two bonding portions at two elongated sides thereof. The two bonding portions having the first surface are bonded together face to face to form a connecting portion. The tube has the first surface at an exterior thereof and has the second surface and the connecting portion at an interior thereof.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flat piece to be rolled into a tube of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the tube before turned;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the tube being turned;
FIG. 6 is sectional view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the turned tube mounted on a handle;
FIG. 7 is perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the tube being turned, and
FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the tube going to be fitted to the inner tube.
As shown in FIG. 1, a handle sleeve 10 of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention is simply consisted of a tube 20. The tube 20 is made from a flat elongated piece 21, as shown in FIG. 2, and the piece 21 has a first layer 22 and a second layer stacked. The first layer 22, in the present preferred embodiment, is made of polyurethane (PU) and the second layer 23 is made of a foaming material. The piece 21 has a first surface 24, which is an exposed surface of the first layer 22, and a second surface 25, which is an exposed surface of the second layer 23. The piece 21 further has two tilted elongated sides 29 such that the first surface 24 has an area greater than the second surface 25. The piece 21 further has two bonding portions 26 respectively formed at the tilted elongated sides 29.
In fabrication, the bonding portions 26 of the piece 21 having the first surface 24 are attached to each other face to face and stitched together, as shown in FIG. 4, to form a connecting portion 26′. A portion at where the bonding portions are stitched is a line. The bonding portions 26 also can be bonded together by a high frequency wave technique. Therefore, the piece 21 is rolled to form a semi-finished tube 20′ with the second surface 25 and the connecting portion 26′ at an exterior thereof and the first surface 24 at an interior thereof. The tube 20′ has a first end 27 and a second end 28. And then, the tube 20′ is turned at the first end 27, as shown in FIG. 5, to make the first surface 24 to the exterior and the second surface 25 and the connecting portion 26′ to the interior, therefore, the tube 20 is formed, as shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 6, while the tube 20 has been fitted to a handle 50, the bonding portions 26 spread and press the handle 50 to make the tube 20 and the handle 50 bonded tightly.
The tube 20 of the present invention is not made by injection molding as the conventional handle sleeve does, so that the material, which makes the tube 20, is not limited in the material that can be used in injection molding. The tube 20 can be made by two materials as described above that provides a well performance both in comfortable condition of gripping and absorption of vibration. The double materials tube 20 can be easily made by two layers stacked. The present invention has the advantages of easy to fabricate and lower cost. The tube 20 also can be made by three or more various layers to enhance the properties of comfortable condition of gripping, absorption of sweat and absorption of vibration.
As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a handle sleeve 30 of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an inner tube 31, a winding layer 34 and a tube 40.
The inner tube 31, which is made by rubber as the conventional one, has an open end 32 and a close end 33.
The winding layer 34, which is a band 35 wound on the inner tube 31, is provided at an exterior of the inner tube 31. The band 35 is made by a foaming material, so that the winding layer 34 is soft.
The tube 40, which is similar to the tube 20 of the first preferred embodiment, is made of a single layer of polyurethane piece and turned, as shown in FIG. 9. The piece has a shape of an isosceles trapezium so that the tube 40 has a first end 41 with a smaller diameter and a second end 42 with a greater diameter. The tube 40 also has two bonding portions 43 at an interior thereof.
In fabrication, the band 35 is wound on the inner tube 31 to form the winding layer 34, and then the inner tube 31 has the open end 32 thereof inserted into the tube 40 via a second end 42 of the tube 40, as shown in FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 8, the tube 40 has the bonding portions 43 pressing the winding layer 34 to make the tube 40 and the inner tube 31 bonded tightly as described above.
The handle sleeve 30 of the second preferred embodiment keeps the advantages of the handle sleeve 10 of the first preferred embodiment. In addition, the tube 40 protects the winding layer 34 from loosening after a long time of use. In fabrication, the inner tube, the winding layer and the tube can be made of various materials to provide various performances.