September 6, 2009

Patents from the archive….high-tech handles

Over the last three years there has been a spate of innovation in cricket bat handles, with carbon-fibre and graphite materials introduced to improve bat performance. It echoes a previous burst of creativity at the start of the last century, but this time the guardians of the rules, the MCC, have taken a dim view of all this new cleverness by the manufacturers. The MCC decided the trend would tilt the balance in favour of the batsmen too much, where ball, pitches and boundaries have remained unchanged. So they modified Rule 6, and allow only 10% of 'non-wood' material in the handle. This constraint now ensures a continuation of the laminate cane handle with flat springs we all know well, which was first seen patented by Henry Gradidge in 1910.