New Dayton racquet

New Dayton racquet with steel tubular frame, grooved wooden handle with leather butt cap and steel 'piano wire' strings. Painted steel frame - orange with black stripe. Strung with twisted steel wire strings that made a high-pitched sound on ball contact - A damping device made of fabric near the lowest crosses nearest the throat reduced this considerably - probably the first vibration dampner (Patent 1926). Metal frames and 'piano wire' strings were employed in the early 1900s in high-humidity climates to avoid warping the racquet heads (as in wooden racquets) due to changes in temperature and humidity.