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Online now: 2 members: Jtut2424, TABLE SETTER 11; 77 anonymousDiscussion: Creation of a new chip for softballs
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| April 1, 2011 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Creation of a new chip for softballs I just heard about this and did some checking before I came out with it. A friend at INTEL here has been working on a chip to enhance the safety of softball. Realizing that the game has gotten too hot, he has invented a chip to 'temper' the initial velocity of the ball off the bat. The chip is embedded in the ball. According to the website I provide here (http://web.mst.edu/~lmhall/Fences.pdf) the initial velocity needed for a ball to go 300 feet is between 100 and 120 feet per second. When a ball is hit, the chip determines the strength of the contact with the ball and immediately adjusts the COR of the ball to compensate for too much initial speed. In other words, if you hit a ball that would have gone 400 feet, the COR chip compensates immediately and the ball slows down. It cuts down the initial speed so it does not go through the infield and past the pitcher with such velocity that they cannot react. After the ball leaves the infield, the initial ball speed is recovered by the chip. You still get the home run or the hard extra base hit, but the 'inertial dampening' effect gives you a chance to react. This chip can be adjusted with a simple scanner device to different levels of play so there will only be one ball on the market and you adjust it manually before every game. There seems to be a high tech answer for everything. Amazing! |
| April 1, 2011 DCPete 409 posts | Does it come with a free wrench and screwdriver? |
| April 1, 2011 wagon487 Men's 55 578 posts | not bat for april 1st, almost clever! |
| April 1, 2011 notretiredyet555 Men's 55 30 posts | If it was not April 1st, I would have an easier time believing this. |
| April 1, 2011 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | About as good as saying Obama is honest. |
| April 1, 2011 titanhd Men's 60 639 posts | SOFTBALL NOT POLITICS |
| April 1, 2011 boston Men's 60 355 posts | Webbie: Congratulations on the Desperados being moved up to Majors. Good Luck |
| April 1, 2011 cal50 Men's 50 328 posts | I ordered a couple of those test balls a couple of weeks ago. I accidentally put the battery in backwards....ball shot through the infield and died 20 ft in grass. |
| April 1, 2011 SCRAPPY6 55 posts | Are you kidding me. If a chip were invented to work in a softball it would have to create a molecular change in the poly core to change the COR. Even if the chip were developed and this star wars ball was created the price of the balls would be astronomical as they would include developemental costs. Organizations won't even pay $1.00 per dozen more for good balls. They use the least expensive they can get. As senior ball players we will be long gone before this comes into fruition. Scrappy6 |
| April 1, 2011 cal50 Men's 50 328 posts | I didn't say it was a big battery. |
| April 1, 2011 DCPete 409 posts | How often do you have to change the oil in that ball? |
| April 1, 2011 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Thanks, Boston--off to majors-can major plus be far behind? Cal50-was it a d-cell?? They also have modified the chip so the ball glows bright enough when hit that senior players can see it at night!!! |
| April 1, 2011 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Cal50-sorry got that wrong. The specs are AA batteries for AA ball, AAA for AAA ball and Major D-cells for the big guys! |
| April 1, 2011 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | Webbie, we won't be using this ball in our league play. We had two serious injuries testing it before we figured it out and tossed the chip ball away. Seems like a guy on one team bought the new Senior Bat with a chip—the one that instantly senses the cor of the ball on contact and increases the bat speed accordingly (there is no decrease as the bat is designed to hit all balls 350 feet). Anyhow, the first guy up makes pretty good contact, but the bat chip, sensing the dumbed down ball for infield purposes, compensated with an increased bat speed. You might say, overcompensated, since the batter dislocated his shoulder on the increased follow-through speed. Seemed like a freak accident, and once his teammates calmed down and he was helped to the dugout, the next batter came up, anxious to use the new Senior Bat. Very similar response, except that batter could not hang on to the bat after contact and the bat flew through the air, striking the left fielder on the thigh, 275 feet away! The new ball, was banned, but the bat was praised. With a ball without the chip, the bat performed wonderfully. In league play, we don't have 5-run limit innings, so play was halted after the top of the first with the score 73-0. The defensive team (and their bench) said they were too tired to continue after chasing balls and retrieving them from over the fence. I will say, for your friend at INTEL, that the ball performed well. On one swing, it was a line drive so slow that the shortstop almost got to it, and then it soared 400 feet. On the second pitch, in bounced on the ground just out of reach of the third baseman, then took off. That's partly why the left fielder was distracted and got hit by the bat, as the ball bounced over the fence and landed 420 feet away in the parking lot. It was ruled a ground-rule double. Didn't matter since the hitter was brought home on the following batter's home run. Good durability on the bat, by the way, a modified old aluminum single wall. I didn't know that the battery might need to be changed since it lasted the whole inning. The bat was scuffed, but held up better than any composite would. |
