This invention involves positioning of an attachment of string to an object. More specifically, this invention involves the attachment of the string to a ball core for the winding of baseballs.
In the construction of baseballs, there are separate winding steps wherein different grades of string are wound on a resilient rubber core. A ball winding apparatus is described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,084 to John L. Rockerath incorporated herein by reference thereto. FIG. 1 illustrates the ball winding apparatus having a station which when combined with similar apparatuses provides the multiple stations necessary to wind the official baseball. This invention involves the attachment of the string to the core or to partially wound cores in the winding process. A prior method includes dipping the core in a tacky adhesive followed by a person hand winding the string around the resilient rubber core sufficiently to insure that the string gets started in the winding process once the apparatus in FIG. 1 was started. The string may fail to stay on that initial wind causing the string to gather in uneven areas or simply not be dragged onto the spinning core at all. This necessitates stopping the machine including the other winds which are now partially completed. Such a failure to engage the string on a core would insure that the other ball being wound on a second wind was wound longer and thus would probably be out of specification. Further, the use of hand labor to attach the string is messy and introduces inconsistencies, errors and a significant safety hazard to the operator.
Various types of string positionings and attachment are described in the prior art but none satisfy the needs illustrated above nor attain the objects listed hereinbelow.