|
The Bentley Fortissimo tennis racquet of 1972 was the first oversize tennis racquet to be produced and demonstrated publicly.〔(Siegfried Kuebler - Racquet Collector and Engineer )〕 Prior to its introduction, all tennis racquets were much smaller in terms of the stringbed size, measured in square inches. Today, that size, known as standard, is not used by any professional player for professional match play. The Fortissimo was shown in 1972 at the "Spoga", a sporting goods show in Germany. Its designer is Kurt Klemmer, who made the racquet with an epoxy fiberglass process. The Fortissimo was not produced on a commercial scale. Racquet engineer Siegfried Kuebler stated that it did not create a favorable impression with tennis players but was positively received by racquet designers.〔(Siegfried Kuebler - Racquet Collector and Engineer (via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine -- July 18th 2009 snapshot) )〕 The Fortissimo emerged two years prior to the filing of the influential and lucrative patent for racquets sized 95-135 square inches by Prince Sporting Goods (now Prince Sports and commonly called Prince). This resulted in the disqualification of the patent by the German patent authority.〔(Siegfried Kuebler - Racquet Collector and Engineer (via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine -- July 18th 2009 snapshot) )〕 The Prince patent was upheld elsewhere and the company became the only highly successful seller of oversize racquets in their early history. The first was the very flexible aluminum Prince Classic of 1976. Tad Weed introduced the first super-oversize in 1975, to start a line that continues to be sold today. == Materials Shift Impact == Although metal racquets became popular in the 1970s, beginning with the invention of the 1963 Lacoste steel racquet that became the extremely successful Wilson T2000, synthetic materials, beginning with fiberglass and culminating in graphite, would eventually completely displace them from all but the low-budget recreational line sold in generalist stores such as WalMart. The Yamaha Corporation saw success in the marketplace in the 1970s and early 1980s with fiberglass racquets made with the small "standard" head size such as the YFG 10. Several other companies introduced racquets made just with fiberglass as well, such as Caldon and Head. As with the Yamaha, these were made with the standard head size. The Fortissimo, however, was made with the new oversize head size, using the improved resistance to warpage (when compared with wood) and lighter weight (when compared with metal) of fiberglass. Fiberglass never achieved market dominance, though, as wood racquets with graphite layering and metal racquets, including oversize models, continued to find popularity. Graphite, which offered better stiffness and resistance to cracking than fiberglass, eventually displaced all other materials as the primary constituent material of a tennis racquet. The change from the "standard" (the smallest) racquet head size, which was used until the 1970s by all tennis players, to larger sizes is considered to be the most dramatic in terms of tennis racquet technology change by some tennis historians. However, the materials shift from soft wood to stiffer, lighter, and more warp-resistant materials (culminating in graphite), which generally accompanied the transition to larger head sizes, also is paramount in terms of impact.〔(An Evolutionary History of Tennis Racquets )〕 As oversize wooden racquets have a strong tendency to warp and also lack solidity when produced at a playable weight, only one was produced, the Prince Woodie, which had many layers of graphite to improve its stability. That racquet was used successfully by male and female professionals, such as Gabriela Sabatini and professionals in development, such as Tommy Haas. Although it offered very little power, when compared with a graphite racquet, due to its flexibility, it absorbed ball shock well due to its wood construction, making it an excellent racquet for training. Similarly, fiberglass was quite flexible, like wood. The desire for more power led to graphite eventually completely displacing fiberglass, although graphite racquets with approximately 20% fiberglass were produced long after 100% fiberglass racquets disappeared from the market. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bentley Fortissimo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|