Patents for shuttlecocks

[Winex West Can]

During my search on the internet, I came across these various patents for shuttlecocks:

a) Patent No. 464 - 1890 "It is a shuttlecock having a rubber base."

b) Patent No. 1704 - 1894 "Our invention consists of a shuttlecock so constructed that its center of gravity is placed in the lowest possible position,and the body is of such a form that it cannot stand on a smooth horizontal surface in any other position than a vertical one."

c) Patent No. 2913 - 1898 "Making the bottom of the shuttlecock, or that part which is struck, of an air cushion pad (such as indiarubber or any composition pneumatic bottom) with a wood or cork top into which the feathers are placed, allowing it to be hit higher up into the air. "

d) Patent No. 14811 - 1893 "Forming the base or lower part of the shuttlecock "wholly or partly of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material and provid[ing] the same with a hermetically sealed central cavity or air space."

e) Patent No. 8610 - 1898 "A shuttlecock formed of silk or other textile material instead of feathers, which turns inside out when struck upwards."

f) Patent No. 2177 - 1904 "Invention to increase the strength and rigidity of shuttlecocks by securing around the feathers or quills, and preferably inside the circle of quills, a ring of wire, metal, thin cane, or other rigid material. "

...etc..
too many to list but it is amazing to see the evolution of the badminton shuttle. Some of these patents are useless (IMHO) :D e.g. Patent No. 133879 - 1919 "The provision of a rattle or bell within the battledore handle near to the junction with the head which, when a shuttlecock is struck, makes a sound. " As if we want to hear a bell chime everytime we hit the shuttle. :)

[badrad]

peter - peter - peter - you have way too much time on your hands...:D

[Californian]

Originally posted by Winex West Can
Some of these patents are useless (IMHO) :D e.g. Patent No. 133879 - 1919 "The provision of a rattle or bell within the battledore handle near to the junction with the head which, when a shuttlecock is struck, makes a sound. " As if we want to hear a bell chime everytime we hit the shuttle. :)

You laugh, but I see the basis of badminton for the blind here. What if you designed a shuttle that would emit sound--a sharp "chirp" when it is struck, a continuous tone when it is in flight, and a intermittent beeping when it has stopped motion. Players would use sound to judge such things as shuttle position and speed. I believe they could do it!

[badrad]

actually the game had been played at one time with a bird that lets out a sharp chirp when it gets hit. the only problem was that each bird only last several hits before it expired. i think animal rights activists today may have something to say about this practice if it ever came back in voque. hahahahah....

but on a serious note, badminton for the blind doubles matches would be quite brutal... and how would each team really be able to check if the server was serving legally?

[Winex West Can]

That's me...too much free time on my hands :D

Seriously, with badminton for the blind, all I can say is if they can play with a chirping shuttle, man, those folks martial arts are way better than mine :D

Illegal serve will have to be determined by a service judge but how do you know how far away from the net you are and for drop/net shots, you need to be sure that you don't touch the net.

[kwun]

talking about animal right activists. thanks whoever invented the shuttlecock for using goose and duck feathers. imagine if a shuttlecock needs something more exotic, we'd be killing whatever animal just for their feathers. or we will all be using plastic feathers. yuck!

on that topic, has anyone tried making a huge shuttlecock with ostrich feathers?

[Californian]

Originally posted by Winex West Can
Illegal serve will have to be determined by a service judge but how do you know how far away from the net you are and for drop/net shots, you need to be sure that you don't touch the net.

Obviously they could only have singles, and play would never achieve the level of sighted people.

Court position could be sensed by the texture of the court material they are standing on. The center area of the court where the base position is would have a different texture from the surrounding court surface so the player would know when they are on base. A 20-inch border around the inside of the court perimeter would have a different texture also, so players would know when they are about to step out of bounds or into the net (like the warning track along the outfield fence in baseball). They could set up the net to emit some kind of sound from the tape, but I think that players would eventually develop a sense of where the net is anyway. Even as sighted players, we make most of our shots without seeing the net as we contact the shuttle.

[Californian]

Originally posted by kwun
talking about animal right activists. thanks whoever invented the shuttlecock for using goose and duck feathers. imagine if a shuttlecock needs something more exotic, we'd be killing whatever animal just for their feathers. or we will all be using plastic feathers. yuck!

on that topic, has anyone tried making a huge shuttlecock with ostrich feathers?

If the bird doesn't fly, its feathers probably wouldn't be any good for shuttles. Otherwise, chicken feathers would be even cheaper to use.

[badrad]

how about peacock feathers? no need to dye them for varying gym conditions. a problem with using peacock feathers is that the shuttlecock will stop mid-flight sometimes, turn around several times to display the plumage...