American football with thin cover

摘要

A football is provided with a thinner cover than conventional footballs. The thickness of the cover is less than 1.25 mm. The cover is formed from four cover panels. Each cover panel is stitched to a liner panel to form four panel assemblies. The liner panels are stronger and more resistant to bending than conventional liner panels. The panel assemblies are stitched together to form the seams of the football. An inflatable bladder is inserted inside of the attached panel assemblies. The liner panels withstand most of the forces on the football which are created by the internal bladder pressure and by impacts. The relatively thin cover panels are not required to support significant loads.