FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2006
COMPLETE
Specification
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING BLADE OF A CRICKET BAT
PRAKASHKUMAR NARMADASHANKAR SUTHAR
an Indian National
of 54, West Wind CHS Limited,
3rd Cross Road, Lokhandwala Complex,
Andheri (west), Mumbai - 400 053,
Maharashtra, India.
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is
to be performed.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure relates to a process for manufacturing cricket bat clefts and cricket bats. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a process for manufacturing willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats and a process for manufacturing the blades thereof, wherein the blades are standardized and provide high performance cricket bats.
BACKGROUND
Traditionally, cricket bats are made from wood. The blade of the cricket bat is a wooden block which has a flat striking face and a ridge on the reverse-side. The blade is typically made from willow wood which must possess qualities like light weight, toughness and shock resistance. A disadvantage of the wooden blade is that it frequently breaks or gets dented or forms splinters on impact. It is common to observe a cricket player to hit at a ball and break the bat on contact. This breakage is dangerous as the broken portions of the blade can hurt other players or the sharp splinters can pierce the player's hands or arms.
The face of the blade may be coated with a protective film to reduce damage during use. This tampers with the hitting characteristics of the bats, providing bats of ununiform standards. Currently, the clefts of the willow used in making the blade are heat treated and air dried before crushing using heavy rolling. This process does not provide uniformity in the bat structure. So a major drawback of the available wooden cricket bats is that they are not standardized and therefore do not provide uniform performance. It is, also, exceedingly difficult to manufacture and design cricket bats having consistent performance by using natural and mechanical processes and without the use of any insertions/coatings.

Further, when the blade of the bat comes in contact with the ball vibrations are produced which are transmitted from the blade of the bat to its shaft or handle and to the player's hands. These vibrations are problematic as they cause discomfort and can distract the player and adversely affect the performance. These vibrations can also cause injury to the player's hands, arms and body. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the transmission of vibrations from the blade of the bat down its shaft/handle, so as to provide the player with a comfortable batting experience.
OBJECTS
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a process for manufacturing willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats and a process for manufacturing the blades thereof, wherein the blades are standardized and provide high performance cricket bats that conform to the specifications, dimensions, and hitting properties of wooden cricket bats used in the major tournaments.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide blades of cricket bats which do not break during use and have a longer life.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to manufacture and design blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, having consistent performance, by using natural and mechanical processes and without the use of any insertions or using chemical.

One more object of the present disclosure is to provide blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, which will absorb the vibrations produced on contact with the ball.
An additional object of the present disclosure is to provide a process for manufacturing blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, which does not involve any heavy rolling process.
Other objects and advantages in the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present
disclosure.
SUMMARY
In accordance with the present disclosure, there is provided a process for manufacturing blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, said process comprising the following steps:
■ scanning a wood to determine characteristics of the wood by means of at least one parameter selected from moisture content, bending strength, elastic modulus, compression modulus, hardness and softness;
■ steaming said scanned wood by heating for obtaining a heated softened wood;
■ compressing said heated softened wood by means of longitudinal compression processes adapted as per the wood characteristics by compressing along the length, toes, shoulders and places of joints of said of said softened

wood to cause the axial fibers of said softened wood to cross-link and thereby strengthening the wood to produce a processed wood;
■ giving 3-5 mm curve to said processed wood by means of controlled mechanical processes for providing a desired bow shape to the wood; and
■ shaping the wood to obtain the blade of the cricket bat.
Typically, in accordance with the present disclosure, the process comprises cooling said processed wood prior to shaping.
Preferably, in accordance with the present disclosure, the process comprises drying said processed wood prior to shaping by a process selected from traditional drying and vacuum drying, to adjust the final uniform weight of the blade of the cricket bat.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the process comprises providing a V-shaped groove at the shoulders of said processed wood for attaching a handle.
Typically, in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein the wood is selected from English willow, Kashmir willow, North American Hardwoods, Hard Maple, American Northern White Ash and the like. Preferably, the hardwoods and willow are green wood. More preferably, the willow has moisture content between 15-10%.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The disclosure will now be described with the help of the non-limiting accompanying drawings, in which,

FIGURE 1 illustrates a schematic of the hardwood and willow;
FIGURE 2 illustrates the heating/steaming step in accordance with the process of the present disclosure;
FIGS. 3 & 4 illustrate the compression step in accordance with the process of the present disclosure; and
FIGS. 5 & 6 illustrate the shaping step in accordance with the process of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which do not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The present disclosure envisages a process for manufacturing willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats and a process for manufacturing the blades thereof, wherein the blades are standardized and provide high performance cricket bats that conform to the specifications, dimensions, and hitting properties of wooden cricket bats used in the major tournaments. The process of the present disclosure involves natural, artistic and mechanically controlled processes over the willow/wood for producing blades of cricket bats or boles, billets and clefts used for making blades of the cricket bat. The process of the present disclosure further avoids any risk of blue stain in the willow/wood used for the blades while cold storage, steaming or heating for fumigation purposes. The present disclosure aims at providing processes over

the willow/hardwood used for making blades of cricket bats for the purpose of producing uniform performance standardization, improvement, durability, strength, acceptability, and anti-breakage, so as to enhance the overall satisfaction of the bat by the players on a national as well as international level. Further, the process of the present disclosure does not involve any processing over the blade of the bat. This is commonly done by compressing the blade/billet by heavy rolling. Such processes affect the hitting characteristics of the blade of the bat, thereby tampering the blade and giving unstandardized bats. The present process does not comprise any such treatment over the blade or billet.
The North American hardwoods and willow 100 are illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the accompanying drawings. The hardwoods and willow 100 can be North American Hardwoods, Hard Maple, Northern White Ash and other north American species useful for manufacturing blades of cricket bats or boles, billets and clefts used for making the blades of the bats thereof (hereinafter referred to as "hardwoods", "billets" and "bats") and English willow, Kashmir willow or any other wood (hereinafter referred as "willow"). Each of the hardwoods and willow 100 are unique in terms of its nature, grain characteristics, hardness, softness, microstructure content and fibres. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize the hardwood or willow 100 to obtain uniformity and maintain the appropriate standard in the cricket bat. The process of the present disclosure comprises scanning the hardwoods and willow 100 to obtain a scientific analysis to determine the hardwoods and willow characteristics, including hardwoods and willow moisture content, hardwoods and willow bending strength, hardwoods and willow elastic modulus, hardwoods and willow compression modulus, hardwoods and willow hardness and hardwoods

and willow softness. Typically, the hardwoods and willow used in the process of the present disclosure is green hardwoods and willow having moisture content greater than 30%, preferably between 15 - 70%. These parameters help in ascertaining the amount of compressing, rolling and pressing that is required to obtain hardwoods and willow having standardized strength, durability, flexibility, and the like.
The scanned hardwoods and willow (A) are heated at or more than 100 °C and then passed through longitudinal compression processes, which are adapted according to the hardwoods and willow characteristics. The scanned hardwoods and willow (A) are softened by heating/steaming. The steaming step 200 is illustrated in FIGURE 2. The steaming step 200 provides a softened willow/ hardwood (B). The softened billet (B) is then processed by compression to provide strength.
FIGURE 3 & 4 of the accompanying drawings illustrate the longitudinal compression process 300 & 400, respectively. The longitudinal compression process 300 is a mechanical process which gives uniformity and standardization to the willow/wood, thereby providing the standardized willow/wood (C, D). The mechanical compression process uses a "Compwood System" designed by Bendwood Engineering which smoothens the willow/wood in order to twist and bend the willow/wood in several planes and in tight radii of curve. In the process 300, compression is applied on the willow/wood, as depicted by arrows 302. During the compression process 300, the wood fibres become extremely pliable and strong and each of the willow/wood becomes uniform in structure, strength and flexibility. Further, compression gives the willow/wood a new structure and flexible features. The compressed wood allows for extreme

changes in shape and can be bent in any direction. This adds new opportunities to work with different designs and aesthetics.
The standardized willow/wood (C, D) is then further strengthened in subsequent step 400 as illustrated in FIGURE 4. The standardized willow/wood (C, D) is then compressed along the length, width and thickness, particularly along the length of the standardized willow/wood (C, D), as shown by arrows 402. The compression is provided along the toes, shoulders and places of joint of the blade. The step 400 typically comprises fixing the willow/wood along the sides by means of a hydraulic cylinder that presses the willow/wood along the length. This process gives an even compression throughout the entire length. The compression process is automatically controlled by a PLC control unit. The step 400 causes the axial fibres in the willow/wood to cross-link, thereby producing a strengthened processed willow/wood (E) which can be bent. The processed hardwoods and willow (E) may be cooled or dried or can be directly machined for shaping into blades for cricket bats or boles, billets and clefts used for making blades of cricket bats. The drying can be done by a process selected from traditional drying or vacuum drying, to adjust the final uniform weight of the blade or the boles, billet and cleft used to make the blade.
FIGURE 5 & 6 of the accompanying drawings illustrate the shaping step to obtain the shaped blade of a cricket bat or billet, bole and cleft for making blade of a cricket bat. In the shaping step 500, the processed willow/wood (E) is given a 3 - 5 mm curve by means of controlled mechanical processes for providing a desired bow shape to the body of the wood/willow. This process does not utilize any chemicals or external components or insertions. Also, the

process does not comprise any heavy rolling step which will affect the microstructure of the fibres of the wood/willow. The processed hardwood/willow (F) is further shaped in process step 600 at the toes, shoulders, places of joint and along the length by using means 602, to provide the shaped article (G). A V-shaped groove is provided for fixing the handle. The compressed billet/bole/cleft/willow/blade obtains the same strength after drying as traditionally steam bent wood. The process produces blades of cricket bats or billets, boles and clefts to be used for making blades of cricket bats, that conform to the specifications, dimensions, and hitting properties of blades of cricket bats used in the major tournaments.
TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES
A process for manufacturing blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, as described in the present disclosure has several technical advantages including but not limited to the realization of:
■ the blades are standardized and provide high performance cricket bats that conform to the specifications, dimensions, and hitting properties of wooden cricket bats used in the major tournaments;
■ the bats do not break during use and have a longer life;
■ the process helps in designing blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, having consistent performance, by using natural and mechanical processes and without the use of any insertions;
■ the blades of cricket bats or willow boles, billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats absorb the vibrations produced on contact with the ball; and
■ the process does not involve any heavy rolling process.

Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
The use of the expression "at least" or "at least one" suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
The numerical values mentioned for the various physical parameters, dimensions or quantities are only approximations and it is envisaged that the values higher/lower than the numerical values assigned to the parameters, dimensions or quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure, unless there is a statement in the specification specific to the contrary.
In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles of the present disclosure can be applied, it should be understood that the illustrated

embodiments are exemplary only. While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the particular features of this disclosure, it will be appreciated that various modifications can be made, and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principle of the disclosure. These and other modifications in the nature of the disclosure or the preferred embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.

I CLAIM
1. A process for manufacturing blades of cricket bats or willow boles,
billets and clefts for making blades of cricket bats, said process
comprising the following steps:
■ scanning a wood to determine characteristics of the wood by means of at least one parameter selected from moisture content, bending strength, elastic modulus, compression modulus, hardness and softness;
■ steaming said scanned wood by heating for obtaining a heated softened wood;
■ compressing said heated softened wood by means of longitudinal compression processes adapted as per the wood characteristics by compressing along the length, toes, shoulders and places of joints of said of said softened wood to cause the axial fibers of said softened wood to cross-link and thereby strengthening the wood to produce a processed wood;
■ giving 3-5 mm curve to said processed wood by means of controlled mechanical processes for providing a desired bow shape to the wood; and
■ shaping the wood to obtain the blade of the cricket bat.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1, which comprises cooling said processed wood prior to shaping.
3. The process as claimed in claim 1, which comprises drying said processed wood prior to shaping by a process selected from traditional

drying and vacuum drying, to adjust the final uniform weight of the blade of the cricket bat.
4. The process as claimed in claim 1, which comprises providing a V-shaped groove at the shoulders of said processed wood for attaching a handle.
5. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wood is selected from English willow, Kashmir willow, North American Hardwoods, Hard Maple, American Northern White Ash and the like.
6. The process as claimed in claim 5, wherein said hardwoods and willow are green wood.
7. The process as claimed in claim 5, wherein said willow has moisture content between 15 - 70 %.