Description of the invention

The invention is directed to a cue according to claim 1 and aims to modernize a bil liard cue as an item that is used to strike a ball (a cue ball) on a billiard table while playing billiard.

Such a cue is provided with a grip which is arranged on the surface of the cue’s hold ing area for a player's hand, the grip comprises one, two or more elastic flat tension straps which are caught on the cue in the direction of the cue axis.

The kinematical connection between a player's hand, a cue stick and a cue ball dur ing shooting varies undesirably on repeating of shots ('cueing' in snooker). This varia tion in influence is a disadvantage of existing models of cues. The grip on the cue should be firm and loose at the same time both during strokes and hits. These re quirements seem contradicting but should be both fulfilled.

The inventive attachable grip helps to avoid common mistakes of beginner players such as too tight grip.

The invention is aimed at providing a flexible linkage between a player's hand and a cue stick along the longitudinal axis of the shaft to provide a firm but also loose grip of the cue, in particular during the so called “follow through”, thus the movement after the cue hits the ball for driving the ball. The cue is provided in a slipping manner with in the inventive, preferably attachable, grip. The slipping/sliding property of the in ventive grip on the cue may be adjustable. The adjustment may be in length, tight ness on the cue and/or tension/preload of the grip on the cue. This allows for a con trolled movement of the cue, especially after the moment of contact of the tip of the cue with the cue ball ,the so called follow through. The cue may be able to slip with respect to at least a (middle) portion of the grip which, especially for accelerating the cue for a shot, may translate a movement of the leading hand on the grip into an (elastic) dislocation of a portion of the grip with respect to its original location on the cue. The dislocation may increase an (elastic) tension within the grip between the dislocated (middle) portion and an end portion of the grip, the end portion being pref erably located at an end portion of the cue. In this case, only the mass of the cue is involved in the impact onto the ball. The cue returns to its original position/orientation within the inventive grip after its completion of the ball shooting/the relative move ment of grip and cue. This second movement can be accompanied by a relaxation of (elastic) tension within the grip, especially the aforementioned tension. The inventive grip therefore significantly increases the repeatability of shots/transmission of kinetic energy and maximizes usage of the cue to control the cue ball's movement.

Preferably, one end of the flat tension strap(s) is/are attached to an end portion of the cue in the holding area, in particular a butt cap, and the other end of the flat tension strap(s) are fastened to the cue, in particular by means of a conical ring or a clamp which is preferably arranged to be displaceable around the cue.

According to a preferred embodiment a lock is provided in particular on the other end of the grip, to limit the movement of the ring or clamp.

Preferably, the lock is made of tape wrapped around the cue and the other end of the grip.

Advantageously, the lock is designed as a base in the form of a thin-walled slotted conical socket.

According to a preferred embodiment, the conical socket is made of plastic or an elastic material, in particular rubber or silicone.

The flexible linkage/connection of the grip and the cue allows using such complicated method as bottom spin which brings the cue ball back or stops it after striking the ob ject ball.

A cue stick is improved by the inventive grip which comprises two or more flexible flat belt rods/portions strained/attached along a longitudinal axis of the cue. Preferably the grip lays on the butt's /cue’s rear surface where a player holds the cue, thus the holding area of the cue. Rods/flexible portions may be fixed/attached to a, preferably bowl-shaped, butt-liked pad or an end portion of the cue. The grip may be attached to the cue at its end portion by a connector aperture for extenders in case of snooker or a rubber bumper in case of other billiard games. Other end portion fixations are pos sible. The opposite end of the rods/flexible portions are preferably fixed to the cue by a tapered ring (clamp/second fixation) placed on a tapered surface of the shaft/cue. Other fixations are possible. It is possible to move the clamp/tapered ring/second fix ations) to a narrow end along the shaft's (cue’s) longitudinal axis e.g., by changing a rim diameter with e.g. a plastic tapered split collar-like pad. The design of a grip is presented in Fig. 1.

The attachable grip may be placed on a shaft/cue as specified hereinafter. A tapered ring (lock) may be placed on a shaft /cue. Between the inner side of the lock and the cue the grip is fixed particularly with a tapered split collar or without it. After that, a bowl-shaped butt-liked pad is placed on the butt's end.

A simple model of the attachable grip could be made of silicone as a single item, for example, in a tubular grip whose length is equal or longer than the surface where a player holds the cue, but preferably not exceeds the butt's / end portion’s length (Fig. 2). Moreover, there are oblong openings (preferably 1 ,2,3,4) along the grip placed apart (d) from each end of the grip, preferably by 10 - 15 mm, 30 mm or more; the grip's diameter should be chosen such that tubular ends should fit the butt/end por tion of the cue tightly. In other words, they may be used as clamps which may cover the butt/end portion of the cue and fix to the grip's ends, but at the same time provide slipping of the middle part of a grip along with a butt due to having openings.

The device is intended primarily for playing snooker but also applies to other types of billiard. The elasticity of the proposed device is determined by the masses of cue ball and cue, as well as individual preferences of the player.

1 - End side fixation - Pad

2 - End portion of cue - Butt

3 - elastic grip material - middle portion of grip - Rod

4 - second fixation of grip - Clamp

5 - Shaft of cue

6 - Opening in elastic grip material

7 - Grip as tube like embodiment