| 摘要 |
A ball-covering needlefelt produced by needling a fibre batt in a range of angles including a plurality of angles which are non-perpendicular to the plane of the batt. The range of angles is preferably achieved by the batt being curved during needling, the batt conveniently being curved in its direction of travel through the needling machine. The needleboard of the needling machine is preferably correspondingly curved. The needling process produces a needlefelt having a high degree of fibre entanglement (comparable to woven ball-covering felts) and enables achievement of characteristics necessary for good wear and abrasion resistance without the excessive consolidation in conventional ball-covering needlefelts that leads to loss of flexibility (tending to faulty ball covering) and poor dynamic characteristics (making such balls unsuitable for professional use). The invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of championship-quality tennis balls. <IMAGE> |
