Where it All Began

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:23 am

Making a Wiffle Ball
by Joshua Robinson
Monday, June 20, 2011
provided by The Wall Street Journal

Some fun quotes:

"What do you need? You need a Wiffle Ball, a bat, and another kid to play with," said David J. Mullany. "And really that's it."

Concerning WB aerodynamics:

"Let's not overthink it," David J. said. "It's Wiffle Ball."

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/ar ... e-ball-wsj

seedload · Post by **seedload** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:58 pm

Thanks. Great article.

I played too much wiffle ball as a kid. My buddy and me would have 3 hour marathon sessions nearly every day. Turns out that throwing a nearly weightless ball for hours on end is not good for your arm. My baseball coach was not pleased.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:54 pm

Should polywells be successful, I wonder if the Mullany family will sue to copyright infringement?

[EDIT]

seedload wrote:My baseball coach was not pleased.

Is it not the nature of athletic coaches to be displeased when their players do anything which might take time from the true pursuit of the coaches' sport?

I remember my Argentinian-born soccer coach being really peeved that someone had the gall to bring an American football to soccer practice! And run around with it! So he had us scrimmage using that same American football, not a pretty sight.

Funny, that football never made it to another practice...

EricF · Post by **EricF** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:50 pm

rjaypeters wrote:Should polywells be successful, I wonder if the Mullany family will sue to copyright infringement?

Wibble Ball instead?

hanelyp · Post by **hanelyp** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:57 am

rjaypeters wrote:Should polywells be successful, I wonder if the Mullany family will sue to copyright infringement?

I believe that would be trademark infringement. And the answer is no if their heads are screwed on straight. If they did, I don't expect they would have a case (disclaimer, not a lawyer), and the publicity would be all bad for them.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:43 pm

You're right, trademark infringement.

OTOH, there is no such thing as bad publicity, according to some people.

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:25 am

Considering that a finished commercial Polywell reactor would likely be called something else, and also considering that the official designation for the series of experiments is apparently simply "WB" plus a numeral, I don't think there would be much cause for a trademark infringement suit. (There's also the fact that children's toys and nuclear fusion reactors are completely different industries—for now—although the latter was clearly named after the former, rather than arising coincidentally.)

hanelyp · Post by **hanelyp** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:51 am

Trademark is supposed to have a narrow scope, limited to one field of business. So a Wiffleball fusion reactor would be outside the scope of a trademark on a wiffleball toy. Your mileage may vary with the sanity of the court.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:09 pm

Hey, I'm just kidding! From what I read the Mullany family seems fairly sane and would not bring such a suit.

But, they might be able to expand their business by creating "Atomic Wiffleballs," "Fusion Wiffleballs" or "Atomic Fusion Wiffleballs." I'd be really happy for my kids/grandkids to play with those.

On the subject of bad publicity, my favorite line comes from a movie whose title I don't remember: "I don't care what you write about me boys as long as you spell my name right!"

EDIT: "But, they might be able to expand their business by creating "Atomic Wiffleballs," "Fusion Wiffleballs" or "Atomic Fusion Wiffleballs." I'd be really happy for my kids/grandkids to play with those under a lunar or martian dome!

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:49 am

And without further delay...I give you the Atomic Fusion Wiffleball (TM)!!

Sorry this took so long, but I went and got a day job so my geometrical brain gets a workout during the day and I have less time...

Perhaps our resident aerodynamicists would care to comment? I'm not sure the raised rings will add much to the fun.

Perhaps I should take Mr. Mulany's advice:

"Let's not overthink it," David J. said. "It's Wiffle Ball."

hanelyp · Post by **hanelyp** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:14 pm

the Atomic Fusion Wiffleball needs slits for the funny cusps between the rings.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:40 am

And here I was expecting to be chided for the relative sizes of the "face" and "corner" holes!

You know, if I ever get a stereo-lithography machine, I might grow one of these things...

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:05 pm

Ah, who am I kidding?

But you could look at this:

And order here:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/317652/a ... tml?gid=mg

I've ordered the white (polished) and red and they are supposed to arrive in mid September. If I like the result, I'll scale it up to full wiffleball size (what ever that is). The version you see is ~50mm diameter.

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:41 pm

rjaypeters wrote:I've ordered the white (polished) and red and they are supposed to arrive in mid September. If I like the result, I'll scale it up to full wiffleball size (what ever that is). The version you see is ~50mm diameter.

Five cm is too small, but I would love to have a 15-20 cm black one on my desk.
Can you post the pictures once you receive it?

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:08 pm

Giorgio wrote:...Five cm is too small, but I would love to have a 15-20 cm black one on my desk.

For you Giorgio, I'd custom design what you like*. I've already started on something a little more realistic with what I imagine the current support structure looks like (maybe pbreed would drop me a hint?).

There are size limits for what Shapeways produces:

"At the moment the maximum size of any product (also known as maximum build volume) can be 70x38x58cm."

The maximum size varies by material. Look here and drill down:

http://www.shapeways.com/materials/

E.g. Stainless steel(!) max. size = 100 x 45 x 25 cm.

and the white plastic max size = 70 x 38 x 58 cm, which is the largest they produce and can easily meet your size request.

Giorgio wrote:Can you post the pictures once you receive it?

Certamente!

EDIT: Looking back at my correspondence with Shapeways, I found this:

"Once your product has been ordered, you can expect your product(s) to arrive within 10 working days, the metal products within 14 working days. For the glass models you will need a little more patience, you will get them within 21 working days."

*Look back at what I've done previously and I'll model something you like.