ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,290,722, issued on May 6, was assigned to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (Hyogo, Japan).
"Aqueous adhesive for tennis ball" was invented by Sho Goji (Kobe, Japan), Takehiko Hyodo (Kobe, Japan) and Kazuyoshi Shiga (Kobe, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The aqueous adhesive for a tennis ball includes rubber latex. The rubber latex is a mixture of liquid rubber latex and solid rubber latex. A ratio of liquid rubber to an entire rubber component contained in the rubber latex is greater than 20% by weight and less than 90% by weight in terms of solid content. The tennis ball includes a seam formed of the aqueous adhesive for a tennis ba...