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Wilson Umpire Mask

Kelly McNary

By Kelly McNary
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Kelly McNary

Kelly McNary

Posted
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image.thumb.jpg.65526d78e7d645fe271e2fa9dc7c4db3.jpgFellow umpires, 

I’m trying to find out what this Wilson mask is made of, maybe titanium, but it’s black in color. It weighs 13 oz. It’s a standard view, not a low profile view. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you! I
Kelly

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Kelly McNary
Kelly McNary

Magnet will not stick to mask.  Yes, bars do have some flatness.  MadMax, thank you for your thorough and precise investigation of the mask. I will try to post a better picture of the patent numbe

Replacematt
Replacematt

The patent says it's for aluminum. 

dumbdumb
dumbdumb

2. from back on June 1, 2004, which is the issue date of the patent 6,743,312 application 10/260,394 applied for with a file date of October 1, 2002. Title: Method of fabricating a ball protectiv

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MadMax

MadMax

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Some absolutes:

  1. It isn't titanium. No way, no how. Because titanium is inheritly corrosion-resistant, it doesn't need paint or any kind of coating, and to tint it (beyond a one-off powder coating) is a fairly involved and expensive process. The mass majority of manufacturers are not going to take that measure, and they certainly won't ID screen print over the top of it. Besides that, the welds are way too... lumpy... for titanium, which is typically done by a machine because of, again, how precise, immediate, and involved that weld has to be, due to the surface of titanium already forming its own oxidation layer.
  2. Those are, indeed, flat "I-bars" on the bullring and wicket (the U-shaped loops). Both All-Star, and by way of one-time partnership with All-Star, UnderArmour incorporates this into their masks to supposedly improve sightlines without increasing the thickness of the bar. You know who else does this? Diamond, on their market-shaking iX3 aluminum masks. And this mask looks eerily similar. Besides, the presence of these flat I-bars eliminates the chance for the mask to be titanium. To extrude / draw titanium into a flattened bar like that is extremely cost-prohibitive.
  3. This bucks any Wilson trend or practice I've ever seen. They don't screen print a patent ID on any of their masks. Instead, the pads are emblazoned with that information. By contrast, Riddell and Schutt are known for screen printing model ID and "fine print" on their masks for football helmets, and as such, I've seen this on masks from Schutt that are for use on softball / baseball batter's helmets. But again, I've never seen this on a Wilson. Could this be a recent practice? Sure. 
  4. Those bar ends are blunt-cut and/or at least plugged. Common (cheapest) practice for hollow steel in the past is to crimp it to close it. Adidas bucked that trend with their rendition of the Icon (which they called "the Pro model") and did a very discreet plug to seal up the hollow steel bars, giving it a very sly visual resemblance to titanium. If they are blunt-cut, and that mask is as light as everybody is claiming, that points towards aluminum. Could this be the latest aluminum model from Wilson??? 
  5. The earguard struts are single, horizontal, "bent paper clip" -style, which is trademark Wilson. If someone is doing a knock-off, they've picked the wrong "big manufacturer" to copy. Wilson enforces patents like small towns enforce parking tickets.

If I had a better view of the patent ID info, I'd be looking that up post-haste. 

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tpatience

tpatience

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2 hours ago, Kelly McNary said:

Magnet will not stick to mask. 
Yes, bars do have some flatness. 
MadMax, thank you for your thorough and precise investigation of the mask. I will try to post a better picture of the patent number. 

Interesting that magnet won’t stick. I too thought it was hollow steel. @MadMax what is your explanation 

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MadMax

MadMax

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5 hours ago, tpatience said:

@MadMax what is your explanation 

Ahem… ☝🏼*points up*

On 11/22/2021 at 1:31 PM, MadMax said:

Those bar ends are blunt-cut and/or at least plugged. Common (cheapest) practice for hollow steel in the past is to crimp it to close it. Adidas bucked that trend with their rendition of the Icon (which they called "the Pro model") and did a very discreet plug to seal up the hollow steel bars, giving it a very sly visual resemblance to titanium. If they are blunt-cut, and that mask is as light as everybody is claiming, that points towards aluminum. Could this be the latest aluminum model from Wilson???

Then, when we include this little gem from Matt: 

2 hours ago, Matt said:

The patent says it's for aluminum.

Duh-duh-duhhhhh! It’s (highly highly likely) an aluminum!!! 

Look at that mask again, specifically at the 4 bars that comprise the “core” of the mask – the bullring loop, the wicket loop, and the two horizontal eye-slot bars. It looks _a lot_ like a Diamond iX3. So! This is either the latest Wilson DynaLite Aluminum – so new that it isn’t even in anyone’s catalog yet (certainly not in Wilson’s site!) – or, another producer is introducing a model to the market that uses a component that is nearly sacrosanct, signature Wilson… and if Wilson has the gumption to squash it, they could (see Riddell Power and All-American CPs). 

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dumbdumb

dumbdumb

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2. from back on June 1, 2004, which is the issue date of the patent 6,743,312 application 10/260,394 applied for with a file date of October 1, 2002.

Title: Method of fabricating a ball protective mask

the patent belongs to; Yu Hsun Enterprise Co., Ltd. in Taipei Taiwan

inventor is Jung-Tso Shih from San Chung Taiwan

customers of Yu Hsun Enterprises Co., Inc. for baseball is showing as Diamond Sports and Team Athletic Goods.

 

1. 6,497,773 was issued 12/24/2002 on x-mas eve. application 09/920,934 filed 08/03/2001.

Titled: Method of manufacturing a mask for team games.  mentions aluminum alloy mixed with copper and molybdenum at a temp of 410 degree C to 430 degree C

same inventor, same company

https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=6497773&OS=6497773&RS=6497773

https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=6497773&OS=6497773&RS=6497773

 

sorry, i reversed the date order in the post

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MadMax

MadMax

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55 minutes ago, dumbdumb said:

customers of Yu Hsun Enterprises Co., Inc. for baseball is showing as Diamond Sports and Team Athletic Goods.

Mind… 🧠… 🧨💥… blown! 

I knew those bars looked familiar!!

On 11/22/2021 at 1:31 PM, MadMax said:

You know who else does this? Diamond, on their market-shaking iX3 aluminum masks.

So if Diamond is, in fact, producing this mask, they’re ripping a page right out of Wilson’s catalog, and will likely do it better than the big lazy oaf. Especially when we also consider that they’ve already done it with their hard shell CP that is a direct lift from the Platinum!!! (Minus that stoooooopid billow pad, of course)

I’d rather have a set of these than DynAlums! @Kelly McNary, where’d you get this??

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