The blade is connected to a long cylindrical cane "handle", similar to that of a mid-20th-century tennis racquet, by means of a "splice". The handle is usually covered with a rubber grip. Bats incorporate a wooden spring design where the handle meets the blade. The current design of a cane handle spliced into a willow blade through a "tapered" splice was the invention in the 1880s of Charles Richardson, a pupil of Brunel and the first Chief Engineer of the Severn Railway Tunnel. Spliced handles had been used before this but tended to break at the corner of the join. The taper provides a more gradual transfer of load from the bat's blade to the handle and avoids this problem.