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Dead Ball Syndrome (DBS)
Death by Saturation |
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The Real Reasons Bowling Balls Lose Reaction & What To Do About It
By Ebonite International Ball Design Engineer Ronald Hickland
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How Bowling Balls Hook Since the birth of reactive balls in the early 1990’s, people have been fascinated by a reactive ball’s hook potential gain over conventional urethane. A reactive ball’s ability to absorb oil has proven to be a major advantage. More oil absorption created more lane friction and therefore, more potential hook.
Reactive balls evolved into particle balls as additives came on the scene. Particle balls increased friction with the lane and pushed the hook potential quotient up another notch in heavy oil.
People also began to notice that reactive and particle balls did not retain their hook potential.
After anywhere from 50 to 150+ games, these balls began to lose reaction, especially in the backend where reaction is needed most.
Balls Do Lose Their Hook
The following graphs compare a ball after 100 games of use with a brand new ball, using the same surface, layout and static weights. The difference in length between the two balls is less than a foot. These results indicate that the ball with 100 games hooked slightly earlier but not as much overall as the new ball. The backend value difference is 2.6 inches, the equivalent of striking versus leaving the washout.
Dead Balls
People began to call this loss of reaction “ball death.” Ball manufacturers were reluctant to talk about it. Ebonite decided it warranted further investigation. Specifically, we wanted to know: Why do all brands of reactive and particle balls die? Can anything be done to stop death from occurring? Can a dead ball be brought back to life? Over the last several years, Ebonite’s Research and Development Department has been able to unlock the mysteries behind each of these questions.
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