Games racket

Claim 1

A method of making a frame for a games racket, the frame comprising a hollow head and a shaft, said head being defined by inner and outer circumference walls and having stringing holes through said walls, which method comprises the following steps: forming a fusible core and forming stepped holes through said core corresponding to the locations of the stringing holes in the inner and outer circumference walls of the head, so that the hole in one face of the core is larger than the hole in the opposite face of the core, placing the core in a mould having inner and outer walls with holes of sizes corresponding to those of the core, forming mould pins that are stepped to have two different diameters on the same pin and inserting the mould pins into the holes through one of the walls of the mould and through the core so that the bore of the larger hole in the mould is completely filled by the larger diameter portion of a pin and that larger diameter contacts the fusible core to positively locate the core within the mould; the bore of the smaller hole in the core being of greater diameter than that of its corresponding portion of a pin, thus forming a stringing hole in one wall of the head that is larger than its corresponding hole in the opposite wall of the head so that it will form, when filled with molten material, a tubular projection integral with said opposite wall and extending toward said larger hole from the smaller hole and only partially across the width of the racket head between said inner and outer circumference walls, injecting thermoplastics material reinforced with short filament reinforcing material into said mould and around the core and allowing the thermoplastics material to set, raising the temperature sufficiently to melt the core without melting or distorting the moulding, and removing the molten core material, the core having a melting point below the injection temperature.

Claim 2

A method of making a frame for a games racket, the frame comprising a hollow head and a shaft, said head being defined by inner and outer circumference walls and having stringing holes through said walls, which method comprises the following steps: forming a fusible core and forming stepped holes through said core corresponding to the locations of the stringing holes in the inner and outer circumference walls of the head, so that the hole in one face of the core is larger than the hole in the opposite face of the core, placing the core in a mould having inner and outer walls with holes of sizes corresponding to those of the core, forming mould pins that are stepped to have two different diameters on the same pin and inserting the mould pins into the holes through one of the walls of the mould and through the core so that the bore of the larger hole in the mould is completely filled by the larger diameter portion of a pin and that larger diameter contacts the fusible core to positively locate the core within the mould; the bore of the smaller hole in the core being of greater diameter than that of its corresponding portion of a pin, thus forming a stringing hole in one wall of the head that is larger than its corresponding hole in the opposite wall of the head so that it will form, when filled with molten material, a tubular projection integral with said opposite wall and extending toward said larger hole from the smaller hole and only partially across the width of the racket head between said inner and outer circumference walls, injecting thermoplastics material reinforced with short filament reinforcing material into said mould and around the core and allowing the thermoplastics material to set, raising the temperature sufficiently to melt the core without melting or distorting the moulding, and removing the molten core material, the core having a melting point below the injection temperature.