Storm’s new layout system and how I invented it first
Storm, basically the #1 bowling ball company, made a new layout system. (link1 video; link2 pdf) However, I invented this new “2LS” layout system 12 months ago.
I’m not accusing Storm of copying me because there is no way they could have done that. I mean, I only told a couple of people about my invention and I did not contact Storm about it. (Although I did contact Storm asking about other things lol but anyway) But it still kinda sucks because I was literally considering patenting my system or at least publishing it, and this release from Storm has precluded any recognition that I would have gotten for this invention. Slightly disappointing. I guess the only consolation I get is, “great minds think alike.” yay lol :/ …
Let me go on a brief description of this new system. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with a rigorous explanation of the science behind it. I’ll just give a basic oversimplified summary.
Bowlers need to drill holes into their bowling balls. The modern bowling ball has different materials inside the ball that create a non-uniform sphere, and thus, by drilling the holes in different positions around the ball, bowlers can harness the power of rotational physics to affect the curving motion of the ball on the lane. Here’s an example for illustration: putting the holes slightly below a certain reference point may make the ball curve more smoothly and slowly, but if you put the holes even further below that reference point then the ball will curve more sharply and quickly.
(By the way, I think rotational physics is a very complex topic that none, or almost none, of the bowling scientists actually understand fully. I mean, some describe it as the “hardest concept to grasp in physics.” (link) But that’s somewhat okay because ignoring the subtleties of these physics would not make too much of a difference. It would often be more of a fun thing to pursue intellectually rather than something you would practically use for bowling. Maybe the subtle complexities of rotational physics would come in handy a couple times, but the vast majority of the time you could just use real-world experimentation. Ok anyway, back to what I was saying)
So, going back to the example, we know that drilling the holes further from the reference point makes the ball curve more sharply, and drilling the holes closer to the reference point makes the ball curve more smoothly. Layout systems are just a way to quantify this.
But layout systems use three numbers, because basic rotational physics says there are three measurements that matter significantly. (complex rotational physics disagrees, but that’s a discussion for another time.)
Think of it like latitude and longitude on the Earth. If you’re in New York City, you might say your position is at 40.7128° N, 74.0060° W. Then the third number that layout systems use is analogous to what direction you’re facing in NYC.
So the past layout systems were kinda inaccurate. Not in their coordinate systems, because of course you could drill the holes anywhere and then describe that location with any layout system. But they were inaccurate in which reference points or measurements they used for the system, and the importance they attributed to those measurements. For example, maybe they used a reference point and said that a further distance from this point to the holes makes the ball curve later down the lane, but maybe that isn’t actually 100% true.
So I made a layout system that is more accurate, at least for no-thumb bowlers (bowlers who use two holes in the ball). This new system is basically as accurate as you can be without making a super complex system that disgusts the average bowler.
I went back into my notes and spreadsheets etc., and I made this around October 2020. Some proof:
And then sometime recently, Storm released the exact same system. (Looking through Reddit posts, it seems like there was unofficial info that they had been working on it since June 2021.) Looking at their pamphlets and explanations is even somewhat nostalgic because it’s exactly what I thought of.
:( sad
