Patent Application
20140243115
The game of croquet is typically played as a backyard lawn game. It can be played in many different ways, but is usually played with teams, with two or three players per team. The object of croquet is to use a mallet to hit colored balls through a course of wickets arranged on a yard or “court”. A typical croquet game with six players (three players per team) is played with nine wickets and six colored balls (blue, red, black, yellow, green and orange). The nine wickets are arranged on the court in a double diamond configuration with a double wicket and stake at each end of the double diamond configuration. One team plays the balls colored blue, black and green. The opposing team plays the balls colored red, yellow and orange. The order of play throughout the game is blue, red, black, yellow, green then orange. Each player must pass his/her respective ball through the course of wickets. Each player gets one shot per turn, but can earn extra shots if the player scores a wicket (i.e., hits the ball through a wicket) or strikes another ball (called a “roquet”). Scoring a wicket earns one bonus shot and “roquetting” earns two bonus shots. The first team to get all of their balls through the course of all nine wickets with each of the balls hitting the stake at each end of the course is the winner. As identified above, the game may vary depending on the number of players and whether the players are playing as teams and whether the game is played with six or nine wickets.
It should be appreciated, therefore that a typical croquet game set will include six colored balls, six mallets, nine wickets and two stakes. Thus, there is a need for a caddy that may be used for carrying and storing all of the game components in a convenient manner which will keep all of the game components together.
Referring to the drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals designate the same or corresponding parts throughout the several views,
Referring to
The posts 22, 24 are constructed of material that is sufficiently rigid to support the weight of the game components during transport, but yet are preferably lightweight to minimize the overall weight of the caddy 10 to reduce shipping costs and so that it is more easily transportable by players of all ages. For example, the posts 22, 24 may be constructed of thin walled hollow metal tubing or other sufficiently rigid, lightweight material of a desired cross-sectional configuration. The posts 22, 24 are received within bores 26 disposed on the underside of the handle support 30 and bores 28 disposed on the top side of the base 40. The posts 22, 24 may be retained in the bores 26, 28 by tapping screws (not shown).
The handle support 30 serves as a lateral brace for the upper end of the frame 20 and may be constructed of any suitably rigid and preferably lightweight material such as thermoformed plastic or other desirable material. The handle support 30 includes a handle grip 32 which may be telescopically received within the handle support 30 such that the handle grip 32 may move between an upwardly extended position and a downwardly collapsed position (as shown in dashed lines in
The base 40 includes a laterally extending cross-member 42 and a pair of fore and aft extending legs 44 secured to the underside of the cross-member 42 to stabilize and support the caddy in an upright position such that it does not easily tip over. As identified in
The upper retainer 50 includes a crossbeam 52 with tubular sleeves 54, 56 at each end through which the posts 22, 24 are received. The upper retainer 50 may be secured to the posts 22, 24 by tapping screws 57 passing through the sleeves 54, 56 and into the posts 22, 24 Extending transversely from the crossbeam 52 is a transverse beam 58 which includes a plurality of spaced mallet handle clips 60 to retain the handles of the mallets 14 as shown in
Each of the tubular sleeves 52, 53 include a stake clip 70 for retaining the upper end of the stakes 18. The stake clips 70 are substantially the same as the mallet handle clips 60.
Extending transversely from the crossbeam 52 are ball bag hooks 80 which receive a loop on the ball bags 82 holding the balls 12 as shown in
A wicket hanger 90 is also supported by the transverse beam 58. The wicket hanger 90 comprises an arm 92 with an upwardly hooked end 94. The arm 92 extends in a lateral direction from the transverse beam 58 and is generally parallel with the crossbeam 52. As shown by the dashed lines in of
The bottom ends of the stakes 18 are retained and supported by the lower stake holders 100 each of which comprises a closed ended tubular section 102 spaced forwardly of stake holder post sleeves 104 through which the lower ends of the posts 22, 24 are received. The stake holders 100 may be secured to the posts 22, 24 by tapping screws 105 passing through the stake holder post sleeves 104 and into the posts 22, 24.
The mallet head retainers 110 are secured to the lower end of the frame 20 to retain the heads of the mallets 14 as best viewed in
The inside face 112 of the mallet head retainers 110 also include mallet head supports 130 arranged in an upwardly stepped relation from the outer transverse ends toward the middle such that the heads of the mallets 14 are stacked in a pyramid or triangular configuration. The pyramid stacking of the mallet heads allows for a more narrow or compact caddy than if the mallet heads were arranged in side-by-side arrangement. Thus the pyramid stacking of the mallet heads reduces packaging size and it also allows individual mallets to be selectively removed from the caddy 10 without having to remove several mallets. For example, if the mallet heads were arranged whereby some mallet heads were stacked in a configuration in which the mallet heads overlapped one another, individual selective removal of the mallets from the caddy could not be achieved. While some may not appreciate the advantage of this configuration, parents will readily appreciate that children often have a favorite color mallet. If the individual mallets cannot be individually, selectively removed from the caddy without removing other mallets that may be stacked on top of the child's desired mallet, then inevitably, several mallets will end up laying on the ground before the child is able to remove the desired mallet. Thus, the croquet caddy 10 with the foregoing arrangement, promotes individual removal of all of the game components, thereby reducing effort in having to pick up after children or others, and provides an aesthetically pleasing and orderly arrangement of all the croquet game components.
Various modifications to the embodiments of the apparatus, and the general principles and features of the embodiments described herein will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. Thus, the present invention is not to be limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawing figures, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
