Metallic racket with reinforcing apparatus

Claim 1

A strung game racket comprising a generally elliptical head portion connected by a pair of downwardly and reversely curved throat arm portions to a handle portion, said throat arm portions being imperforate, an arcuate bridge member spanning the throat and connecting opposite ends of said head portion to complete the elliptical configuration thereof, said bridge member having a relatively narrow central portion with at least an upper surface and an enlarged tubular socket integrally formed at each end, said central portion having a plurality of openings extending therethrough for receiving the racket stringing, each of said tubular sockets receiving the lowermost curved section of said head portion and the upper portion of said throat arms, means mounted between said tubular sockets and said head and throat arm portions for cushioning and absorbing the impact force transmitted through the bridge member to said head and throat arm portions, a single hollow rivet extending through and adjacent to each of the outer ends only of said tubular sockets, through said cushioning means and through said lower most curved section of said head portion to lock said bridge member thereto and for receiving stringing therethrough, the upper surface of each of said tubular sockets being integrally formed with a raised string guide portion intermediate two upper surface only string holes whereby a string looped through these latter holes will engage the undersurface of said raised portion in spaced relation to said upper portion of said throat arms, and with said upper surface string holes and said raised portion being located between the endmost central portion string holes and said hollow rivets.