Not to be confused with
Voith
.
Sporting goods company
Voit
(official name: "Industrias Voit S.A. de C.V.") is a
sports equipment
manufacturing company
based in Mexico. The company was founded by
German American
entrepreneur William J. Voit (1880?1946) of
Worthington, Indiana
. The current range of products by Voit includes balls (for
association
and
American
football,
basketball
and volleyball), and also
goalkeeper gloves
,
tennis rackets
,
football uniforms
,
shin guards
, and
swimming
equipment (
suits
,
goggles
,
caps
, and
fins
) and accessories (
backpacks
, bags).
History
[
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]
Voit began in
Los Angeles
in 1922 as a
tire
retreading products factory.
[1]
In the late 1920s Voit developed and patented the first full-molded, all-
rubber
inflatable
ball
and the first needle-type air retention
valves
. They also developed highly accurate pocket and wrist watches during this period.
In 1931, Voit developed and patented the first all-rubber athletic balls, including the process of
vulcanization
which allowed a material to be fixed onto a separate rubber bladder. In the same year, it changed names from the
W. J. Voit Corporation
to
Voit Rubber Corporation
.
[2]
Later in the 1930s, Voit developed the process of
icosahedron
winding, which allowed balls to be machine wound with
nylon
threads over the bladder, providing both strength and consistency in shape and permitting mass production by a machine process.
Those Voit patents and products made possible greatly increased athletic and recreation activity in the school systems, and led to universal use of a new type of product that now dominates sales in its field.
In 1957, the company was purchased by
AMF
.
[1]
Other developments and patents later in the 1950s and 1960s included:
- The Equi Staff line of professional
golf
equipment (which included the innovation of the "Power Plugs" or screws to adjust the balance of
golf clubs
).
- The first rubber-bodied
water polo
ball (which was adopted as the official ball of college, international and Olympic competitions).
V-Shock, introduced in the late 1990s, was Voit's inexpensive alternative to the
Casio
G-Shock watches. They have since been discontinued.
Voit has sponsored the following association football events and athletes:
References
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]
External links
[
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]