Discraft rim checkering

[Hammer1248]

I recently bought a 2015 ledgstone cryZtal FLX predator and it has 1/4th of the rim checkerd for a fantastic grip. Does DC do this to any other discs? I love the tooling inside the rim.

 

[Travis1010]

Most discraft discs have the mold name embossed on the inside of the rim which gives good grip. I think I read that the checkered pattern on predators is the old patent number which has been crossed out.

 

[Jolt]

Intresting that some don´t have the mold name embossed. . My Big-Z Vultures don´t, but alla my other plastics has . . .Ti has very "rough" lettering.

Is all Big Z without the lettering on the inside rim?

 

[Future_Primitive]

I recently bought a 2015 ledgstone cryZtal FLX predator and it has 1/4th of the rim checkerd for a fantastic grip. Does DC do this to any other discs? I love the tooling inside the rim.

They do it with the Impact as well and on their website is this explanation.

"The engineered rim crosshatching projects a faint wave around the Impact as it flies, displacing air to enhance glide while keeping the disc flat and straight. "

I believe it is only on a couple of the molds.

 

[tbird888]

Intresting that some don´t have the mold name embossed. . My Big-Z Vultures don´t, but alla my other plastics has . . .Ti has very "rough" lettering.

Is all Big Z without the lettering on the inside rim?

The cross-hatching would only be on molds that were developed and sold before the patent expired. Once it expired companies had to remove it from their molds. Some filled in the cavity (Innova). Others crossed it out (Discraft). It's not a plastic thing. It's a mold thing, and it's not ensured to have the cross-hatching just because it was developed while the patent was active.

 

[ILUVSMGS18]

Intresting that some don´t have the mold name embossed. . My Big-Z Vultures don´t, but alla my other plastics has . . .Ti has very "rough" lettering.

Is all Big Z without the lettering on the inside rim?

From what I understand, it is when molds first come out, that they don't have the tooling on the rim, saying what mols it is. I had an early run Punisher, and it was untooled. My guess is the untooled runs are either protos or first runs.

 

[ThunderEagle]

Is all Big Z without the lettering on the inside rim?

Negative Ghost Rider. (There is an example of dating oneself.)

I have plenty of tooled Big Z, and I often position the disc so that I'm gripping it on this tooling. I like it.

 

[Twmccoy]

I've seen that checkering pattern on some Discraft Z discs. I'd always just assumed that was their way of indicating that the disc was an X out (factory second).

I'm not sure on that though. I agree it gives the disc a nice grip on the inner rim.

 

[Three Putt]

I've seen that checkering pattern on some Discraft Z discs. I'd always just assumed that was their way of indicating that the disc was an X out (factory second).

I'm not sure on that though. I agree it gives the disc a nice grip on the inner rim.

It's been answered in this thread already, the checking pattern is over the patent number. There was a time in America when there was a slew of lawsuits due to a dubious court ruling over the penalty for having an expired patent number on an item and Innova and Discraft were both hit with lawsuits. They both took steps to eradicate patent numbers from their tooling where they were present. If you have a Discraft disc from that era where the patent number would have been in the tooling, the checking was done to cover that up.

The big "tell" that it was done for something other than grip is the Comets of that era. The Comet tooling was still the 90's underside tooling like Innova has, it wasn't on the rim at all. It had a patent number. There is a checking pattern on those Comets in a place where it would be next to impossible to grip.

 

[F. Howl]

...There was a time in America when there was a slew of lawsuits due to a dubious court ruling over the penalty for having an expired patent number on an item and Innova and Discraft were both hit with lawsuits. ...

Who filed the suits?

 

[GMcAtee]

They do it with the Impact as well and on their website is this explanation.

"The engineered rim crosshatching projects a faint wave around the Impact as it flies, displacing air to enhance glide while keeping the disc flat and straight. "

I believe it is only on a couple of the molds.

That is some excellent engineering! When we built Cedar Sentinels, people raved how nice the course drained. I told them we put drainage in before the course was built. Reality: mother nature created sinkholes on the property.

 

[F. Howl]

It's been answered in this thread already, the checking pattern is over the patent number. There was a time in America when there was a slew of lawsuits due to a dubious court ruling over the penalty for having an expired patent number on an item and Innova and Discraft were both hit with lawsuits....

....Oops...same time.

 

[Three Putt]

Who filed the suits?

I'd have to go back and read all the details again, but as I recall the ruling for years was that there was a fine for leaving an expired patent on an item, but it was a one time fine i.e. if the patent # was still on Innova's golf discs they would get one fine for all the discs. The amount wasn't worth anybody worrying about it.

A court ruled that the fine should be a PER INSTANCE fine i.e. Innova would be liable for the fine amount for every single disc they produced after the patent expired that still had the number. Suddenly, the amount was worth worrying about.

The ruling also allowed ANYBODY to bring suit regardless of being wronged by it. You didn't have to show that the expired patent number on the item caused you harm in any way. As a result, every ambulance-chasing lawyer hit his or her local Wal-Mart looking for products with patent numbers. There were thousands upon thousands of these suits and they had the potential to cost U.S, businesses millions of dollars over...nothing, really.

Edit: Found this from that time.

"(In) Stauffer v. Brooks Bros., Inc., the Federal Circuit held that an individual, regardless of whether he or she suffered an injury, is free to file a case against any entity using expired patent numbers under the false marking statute, 35 U.S.C. 292. The reason is that 35 U.S.C. 292 is a qui tam provision where the plaintiff steps into the shoes of the United States. Thus, the only injury that must be alleged is an injury to the United States. Indeed, half of the damages awarded go to the United States and the remainder goes to the plaintiff and, of course, plaintiff's lawyers.

Prior to these Federal Circuit opinions, false markings cases under 35 U.S.C. 292 had been generally limited to use of patent numbers where no part of the product had ever been the subject of a patent or patent application. The Federal Circuit's opinions paved the way for an influx in cases. Recent plaintiffs appear to be shell corporations operated by groups of intellectual property attorneys or, in at least one case, by an individual intellectual property attorney. Media reports describe potential plaintiffs as literally combing through the aisles of supermarkets and department stores in the hunt for products with expired patent numbers. These plaintiffs may also be scouring the Internet for potential defendants or scrolling through publicly available patent records looking for any product with an expired patent. There is no product that appears to be off-limits."

It quickly exploded and got out of control. Finally a court stepped in, overruled the lower court ruling and brought sanity back to the world. In the time between the lawsuits and the sanity, Innova and Discraft spent a lot of time and effort scrubbing patent numbers off golf discs.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

They do it with the Impact as well and on their website is this explanation.

"The engineered rim crosshatching projects a faint wave around the Impact as it flies, displacing air to enhance glide while keeping the disc flat and straight. "

I believe it is only on a couple of the molds.

AFAIK the Impact is the only disc with crosshatch in around the entire circumference of the wing. I believe the OP was posting about the crosshatch on the inside of the rim to obliterate old patent info...which is only on a portion of the inside rim.

I've seen this on at least a few molds, although I can't recall specifically which ones.

 

[t.A.T.u]

I'd have to go back and read all the details again, but as I recall the ruling for years was that there was a fine for leaving an expired patent on an item, but it was a one time fine i.e. if the patent # was still on Innova's golf discs they would get one fine for all the discs. The amount wasn't worth anybody worrying about it.

A court ruled that the fine should be a PER INSTANCE fine i.e. Innova would be liable for the fine amount for every single disc they produced after the patent expired that still had the number. Suddenly, the amount was worth worrying about.

The ruling also allowed ANYBODY to bring suit regardless of being wronged by it. You didn't have to show that the expired patent number on the item caused you harm in any way. As a result, every ambulance-chasing lawyer hit his or her local Wal-Mart looking for products with patent numbers. There were thousands upon thousands of these suits and they had the potential to cost U.S, businesses millions of dollars over...nothing, really.

It quickly exploded and got out of control. Finally a court stepped in, overruled the lower court ruling and brought sanity back to the world. In the time between the lawsuits and the sanity, Innova and Discraft spent a lot of time and effort scrubbing patent numbers off golf discs.

If my memory services me right Lightning and Steve Howle was da man and didn't have to use patent numbers. And now back to the Discraft rim checkering.

 

[Three Putt]

If my memory services me right Lightning and Steve Howle was da man and didn't have to use patent numbers. And now back to the Discraft rim checkering.

Steve's version of what happened in all those lawsuits and the Innova insiders version of what happened with all those lawsuits are very different, but when those were settled part of the settlement allowed Lightning to avoid retooling to put patent numbers on their discs. How much of that was part of a big "win" like Steve told me or a bone Innova threw at him as they wiped the floor with him as I've been told in other versions is I guess up to who you believe. I believe that I do not now or ever will actually know the answer.

 

[t.A.T.u]

I like more Steve's version, but that's just me...………………………………...

 

[DanJon]

Funny how newer run Rocs still have patent numbers on them.

 

[Three Putt]

That was always funny. They scrubbed the patent and added www to most of the molds, but they did neither to the Roc. Of all the molds to avoid that, the Roc? It just seems weird. Truth is stranger than fiction some days.

 

[The Shide]

I found some XSs with the checkered marks on them
During a rainy tournament round I played with a Discraft pro, I complained about having grip issues. He then showed me that he had discs with the checkered marks on. I was led to believe he had them done at his request. Done at the factory, so not a modification to the disc, technically.