Patent Application
20230349676
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The disclosure relates to mounting devices and more particularly pertains to a new mounting device for rotatably mounting a dart board. The device includes a panel with an aperture and a hub that is rotatably disposed in the aperture. A dart board is positionable against the panel and the dart board can be attached to the hub for rotatably mounting the dart board on the panel. A pin is slidably integrated into the panel and the pin is biased into an engaging position to engage the hub thereby inhibiting the hub from rotating and the pin is urgeable into a releasing position to disengage the hub for rotating the hub.
The prior art relates to mounting devices including a dart board device that includes a dart board rotatably disposed on a panel and series of pulleys and a belt for rotating the dart board. The prior art discloses an automatic scoring dart board device that includes magnetic darts and a plurality of magnetic sensors mounted behind a dart board. The prior art discloses a dart board that is divided into scoring panel that resemble respective cards of a deck of playing cards. The prior art discloses a target practice dart board device that includes a dart board and a target that is rotatably mounted to the dart board. The prior art discloses a rotatable dart board that includes a concave dart board and a planar dart board rotatably disposed on the concave dart board. The prior art discloses an ornamental design for a rotatable dart board that includes a dart board and a cage that is rotatably disposed on the dart board.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a panel that has an aperture extending through the panel. The panel has a mounting surface for facilitating a dart board to be positioned on the mounting surface. A hub is rotatably positioned in the aperture in the panel and the hub is attachable to the dart board such that the hub rotatably retains the dart board on the panel. A pin is slidably integrated into the panel and the pin is biased into an engaging position to engage the hub thereby retaining the dart board at a desired position. Conversely, the pin is urgeable into a releasing position to disengage the hub thereby facilitating the dart board to be rotated into a desired position.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The panel 12 has a series of ridges 26 each extending away from the rear surface 20, and the series of ridges 26 include a central ridge 28 that is continuously curved such that the central ridge 28 defines a circle and the central ridge 28 is oriented to surround the aperture 14. The central ridge 28 has a distal surface 30 with respect to the rear surface 20 of the panel 12 and the distal surface 30 has a primary portion 32 and a secondary portion 34. Each of the primary portion 32 and the secondary portion 34 lies on a plane that is oriented coplanar with the rear surface 20 of the panel 12. A distance between the primary portion 32 and the rear surface 20 of panel 12 is greater than a distance between the secondary portion 34 and the rear surface 20 of the panel 12. The central ridge 28 has an inward surface 36 and an outward surface 38, and the inward surface 36 extends between the secondary portion 34 and the bounding edge 24 of the aperture 14 such that the inward surface 36 is aligned with the bounding edge 24, and the outward surface 38 extends between the primary portion 32 and the rear surface 20 of the panel 12.
The series of ridges 26 includes a plurality of outward ridges 40 that radiate outwardly from the central ridge 28 and each of the outward ridges 40 intersects a respective one of four corners 42 of the perimeter edge 22 of the panel 12. The series of ridges 26 includes a perimeter ridge 44 that is aligned with and is coextensive with the perimeter edge 22 of the panel 12. The perimeter ridge 44 has a first hole 46 extending laterally through the perimeter ridge 44, the central ridge 28 has a second hole 48 extending laterally through outward surface 38 and the inward surface 36 of the central ridge 28, and the second hole 48 is aligned with the first hole 46.
A hub 50 is rotatably positioned in the aperture 14 in the panel 12 and the hub 50 is attachable to the dart board 18 such that the hub 50 rotatably retains the dart board 18 on the panel 12. The hub 50 has a front surface 52, a back surface 54 and a perimeter surface 56 extending between the front surface 52 and the back surface 54, and the perimeter surface 56 has a first portion 58 which has a diameter that is less than a diameter of a second portion 60. The first portion 58 intersects the front surface 52 and the second portion 60 intersects the back surface 54. Furthermore, a threshold 62 between the first portion 58 and the second portion 60 abuts the secondary portion 34 of the distal surface 30 of the central ridge 28 having the front surface 52 of the hub 50 being aligned with the mounting surface 16 of the panel 12 and having the back surface 54 of the hub 50 being aligned with the primary portion 32 of the distal surface 30 of the central ridge 28. The first portion 58 of the perimeter surface 56 of the hub 50 is surrounded by the inward surface 36 of the central ridge 28 and the bounding surface of the aperture 14 in the panel 12. The hub 50 has a plurality of wells 64 each extending inwardly on the first portion 58 of the perimeter surface 56 of the hub 50, and the wells 64 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around a full circumference of the first portion 58. The hub 50 has a plurality of fastener holes 66 each extending through the front surface 52 and the back surface 54 of the hub 50, and the plurality of fastener holes 66 is arranged to define four corners of a rectangle.
A pair of receivers 68 is provided and each of the receivers 68 is coupled to and extends away from the rear surface 20 of the panel 12. The pair of receivers 68 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed along a line extending between the first hole 46 in the perimeter ridge 44 and the second hole 48 in the central ridge 28. A pin 70 is slidably integrated into the panel 12 and the pin 70 is biased into an engaging position having the pin 70 engaging the hub 50 for retaining the hub 50 at a desired degree of rotation thereby retaining the dart board 18 at a desired position. Conversely, the pin 70 is urgeable into a releasing position having the pin 70 disengaging the hub 50 for facilitating the dart board 18 to be rotated into a desired position.
The pin 70 has a handle portion 72 and a shaft portion 74, and the shaft portion 74 extends through the first hole 46 in the perimeter ridge 44 having the handle portion 72 being spaced outwardly from the perimeter ridge 44 such that the handle portion 72 can be gripped. The shaft portion 74 extends through each of the receivers 68 and the shaft portion 74 extends through the second hole 48 in the central ridge 28. The shaft portion 74 extends into a respective one of the wells 64 in the first portion 58 of the perimeter surface 56 of the hub 50 when the pin 70 is biased into the engaging position. Conversely, the shaft portion 74 is removed from the respective well 64 in the first portion 58 of the perimeter surface 56 of the hub 50 when the pin 70 is urged into the releasing position.
A biasing member 76 is positioned around the shaft portion 74 of the pin 70 and the biasing member 76 is positioned between the pair of receivers 68 on the rear surface of the panel 12. The biasing member 76 biasing the pin 70 into the engaging position and the biasing member 76 may comprise a spring or the like. A plurality of fasteners 78 is provided and each of the fasteners 78 is extendable through a respective one of the fastener holes 66 in the hub 50 and engages the dart board 18 for fastening the hub 50 to the dart board 18. Each of the fasteners 78 may comprise a screw or other similar type of fastener.
In use, the dart board 18 is positioned against the mounting surface 16 of the panel 12 and the hub 50 is inserted into the aperture 14 in the panel 12. Each of the fasteners 78 is extended through the fastener apertures 14 to engage the dart board 18 and subsequently mount the dart board 18 to the panel 12. In this way the panel 12 can be hung on a vertical support surface, such as a wall for example, to facilitate the dart board 18 to be employed for the game of darts. The pin 70 is pulled into the releasing position to facilitate the dart board 18 to be rotated on the panel 12. In this way the dart board 18 can be rotated into any desired orientation. The pin 70 is released when the dart board 18 is positioned in the desired orientation such that the hub 50 is inhibited from being rotated. In this way the dart board 18 is retained in the desired orientation for playing darts. The dart board 18 can be rotated at any time during game play to add a new level of difficulty to the game of darts.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
