U.S. patent application number 09/977133 was filed with the patent office on 2003-04-17 for devices for collecting tennis balls.
Invention is credited to Shau, Alexander.
Application Number | 20030073519 09/977133 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25524857 |
Filed Date | 2003-04-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030073519 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shau, Alexander |
April 17, 2003 |
Devices for collecting tennis balls
Abstract
Picking up tennis balls is and always has been irritating.
Although inventions such as the ball tube and ball basket have been
invented, the ball player still has to search the court for the
balls. The present invention will dramatically reduce the extra
work by trapping the ball, and requiring the player to turn to only
one place to find the balls.
Inventors: |
Shau, Alexander; (Palo Alto,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Alexander Shau
991 Amarillo Ave.
Palo Alto
CA
94303
US
|
Family ID: |
25524857 |
Appl. No.: |
09/977133 |
Filed: |
October 15, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/460 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 71/022 20130101;
A63B 47/025 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/460 |
International
Class: |
A63B 069/38 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A tennis ball collecting device comprises: a) a soft material to
stop tennis balls, b) a tennis ball holder to collect the tennis
balls stopped by said soft material in (a).
2. The soft material to stop tennis balls in claim 1 is a net.
3. The tennis ball holder in claim 1 is a "J" shaped trap placed at
the lower portion of a net.
4. The "J" shaped tennis ball holder in claim 3 is slanted to one
or more predefined positions in order to induce the collected
tennis balls to roll to the predefined locations by gravity.
5. The "J" shaped tennis ball holder in claim 3 is flexible so that
a tennis player can push down said ball holder at selected
positions in order to induce the collected tennis balls to roll to
the selected locations by gravity.
6. The tennis ball holder in claim 1 is Velcro
7. The Velcro in claim 6 is located at the lower portion of the
soft material.
8. The Velcro in claim 6 is beneath the soft material.
9. The soft material in claim 1 is the existing tennis net.
10. The tennis ball holder in claim 9 is a soft material that is
flexible so that a tennis player can push down said ball holder at
selected position in order to induce the collected tennis balls to
roll to the selected location by gravity.
11. The tennis ball holder in claim 9 is slanted to a predefined
position in order to induce the collected tennis balls to roll to
the predefined location by gravity.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This present invention relates to tennis equipment, and more
particularly equipment to collect tennis balls.
[0002] Tennis fences have always been necessary to protect the
tennis ball (when it's hit) from going places other than the tennis
court. Unfortunately, after all the tennis balls bounce off the
metal fence, they may scatter all over the place. This may be very
annoying and inconvenient for the ball players. The ball players
have to go all over the court and pick up the balls. Also, this
could be very time consuming, and most people hate doing it.
Picking up tennis balls is and always was irritating for most
people.
[0003] There are a few devices that help picking up tennis balls
more enjoyable and less time consuming. For example, there has been
the ball tube and the ball basket. Although these inventions have
been made to collect balls, the user still has to scan the court
for all the balls. It is therefore strongly desirable to have a
place to turn to for the balls, instead of having to search the
court for the missing balls.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The main objective of this invention is to ease the process
of picking up tennis ball, so that the player will have more time
to play. By trapping tennis balls in one place, the present
invention will save a lot of time. This means that the ball player
won't have to run around the court and search for the balls.
[0005] While the novel features of the invention are set forth with
particularly in the appended claims, the invention, both as to
organization and to content, will be better understood and
appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from
the following detailed descriptions taken in conjunction with the
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates the "J" net of the present invention.
[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates the Velcro net of the present
invention.
[0008] FIG. 3 illustrates the net and Velcro of the present
invention.
[0009] FIG. 4 illustrates the raised "J" net of the present
invention.
[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates the slanted "J" net of the present
invention.
[0011] FIG. 6 illustrates the attachable "J" net of the present
invention.
[0012] FIG. 7 illustrates the raised attachable "J" net of the
present invention.
[0013] FIG. 8 illustrates the slanted attachable "J" net of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] FIG. 1 shows the main layout of the "J" net design. The
present invention has a net shaped in the form of a "J" (101). When
the ball hits the net, it will slide down. When the ball has
reached the arc (102) of the "J," the arc will make sure that the
ball doesn't escape. By doing this, This arc will collect the
balls. This net will surround the entire tennis court, as if it
were the fence of it.
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates the basic layout of the Velcro net
design. There is the net (201), and at the bottom, there is a strip
of Velcro (202). When a tennis ball strikes the net, it will drop
down onto the Velcro. The ball will stick to it, and will make it
easier to collect balls.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows the drawing of the net and Velcro design. In
this design, the net is half net (302), half Velcro (301). The
bottom half is the Velcro and the top is the net, and together,
they form a slant. If the ball hits the top of the net, it will
slide onto the Velcro and stick to it. If a ball hits the Velcro,
it will stick to it and can't move.
[0017] FIG. 4 shows the main points of the raised "J" net design.
It is very similar to the first net shown in FIG. 1. This net is
identical to the "J" net in FIG. 1, except there is a space between
the net and the ground (401). The purpose for this is so that the
ball player can push the net down at any desired location, causing
all balls to roll there. This makes it so that the ball player only
has to look in one place to find the balls.
[0018] FIG. 5 points out the main details of the slanted "J" net
design. This is very similar to the "J" net, but the arc is
slightly slanted towards the one lowest point (101). This net will
have the same effect as the "J" net, but balls will slant to the
center of the net when it drops into the pocket.
[0019] FIG. 6 shows the main details of the attachable "J" net
design. The attachable "J" net can be attached anywhere, such as
the existing fence and the net at the center of the court. Instead
of the "J" net being one long net, the hooked arc will be hooked to
the net. At both ends of the net, a string will be hooked to both
the top (603) and bottom (601) of the net. This will hold the
pocket arc in place. In this way, the existing tennis net is used
to stop the tennis ball, while providing a collecting device as the
hook of the "J" net.
[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates the raised attachable "J" net design.
This is almost identical to the attachable "J" net, except the
bottom is raised above the ground (701). The reasoning for this is
so that the ball player can push down the ball collecting device at
any desired location, causing all balls to roll to the desired
location. This is advantageous, because the ball player can have
all the balls right where he wants it with a push of the net.
[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates the slanted attachable "J" net. This is
very similar to the attachable "J" net, except the bottom is
slightly slanted towards the center (801) or any other desired
locations of the net. When the ball hits the net, it will drop into
the pocket, then roll to the desired locations.
[0022] While specific embodiments of the invention have been
illustrated and described here in, it is realized that other
modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art.
For example, there will be a wide variety of methods to improve on
the modified tennis court fences. In our examples, a net that helps
gather balls will surround the court. It should be understood that
the above particular examples are for demonstration only and are
not intended as limitation on the present invention. It is
therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to
cover all modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit
and scope of the invention.
* * * * *