Patent Application
20180043228
The invention relates to a device that throws a projectile in air and catches it, such as a ball or a shuttlecock, as a part of a sporting or recreational activity.
There are numerous devices for throwing and catching a projectile. For example, the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,183 describes a device with a flexible and flat surface to throw a projectile. On both ends of the flexible surface, handles are provided to operate the device. The flexible surface has an opening to catch the projectile. When the device is stretched by pulling the handles away from one another, the flexible surface tightens and launches the projectile. The user must then catch the projectile at the opening.
This device has certain limitations. Firstly, the device does not seem easy to handle due to the position of the handles. Prior art devices generally have means of gripping provided in the anteroposterior direction with respect to the human body when a user uses these devices. This results in discomfort of use when the projection surface needs to be kept parallel to the ground due to the unusual position of the hands. This can lead to a difficulty while handling the device.
Furthermore, a certain tension must be applied to the flexible surface to propel the projectile with greater force, which can be exhausting. Moreover, such a device does not easily throw a projectile with great force. Lastly, catching the projectile with a flat and flexible surface seems difficult. The projectile is likely, in case of a slight rebound on the flexible surface, to fall out from the device.
The invention is defined by independent claims. The dependent claims define preferred embodiments of the invention.
One of the purposes of this invention is to provide a device that is easy to handle and which can manually and easily throw a projectile with considerable propulsion force. Another purpose of this invention is to provide a device that makes it easier to catch the projectile.
For this purpose, the device according to the invention includes a basket for throwing and catching. The basket is open at the top. Two opposing handles are provided on both ends of the basket.
The device is characterised in that the basket has two rigid and opposing sidewalls. They are interconnected by two primary parts respectively forming a front and a rear wall of the basket and which include flexible elastic means. The two rigid sidewalls are further interconnected by a secondary non-elastic part forming a bottom wall of the basket. The rigid sidewalls also include a top edge that coincides with a side edge of the top opening of the basket. Moreover, each handle is connected to a top edge by the means of tertiary non elastic parts. In other words, each of the handles is connected to one of the top edges so that when the handles are moved laterally, the upper edges of the side walls move away from each other, while the bottom halves of the side walls separate and are held from each other at a maximum distance defined by a length of the second non elastic systems.
With such a device, it is easy to throw a ball in air with adequate projectile force without any increased effort on the part of the player due to the projection basket which, when subject to tension, flattens and throws the ball in air. The movement required to throw the projectile is limited, facilitating movement and reducing fatigue. When the device is no longer subject to tension, the primary elastic parts enable the projection and reception basket to go back to its resting position, making it easier to catch the projectile in the basket.
In a preferred embodiment, the primary parts forming the front and the rear wall of the basket are flexible and elastic means. This embodiment allows a greater range of motion and facilitates the flattening of the basket when the gaming device is stretched.
These as well as other aspects of the invention will be clarified in the detailed description of the specific embodiments of the invention, reference being made to the drawings of figures, in which:
The drawings of the figures are not to scale. Generally, similar parts are denoted by similar references in the figures. The presence of reference numbers in the drawings cannot be considered as limiting, even when these numbers are stated in claims.
Firstly, refer to
The overall shape of the basket can vary. For example, in the resting position, the basket (20) can be a cube, a parallelogram, an inverted pyramid, possibly truncated as shown in
The basket has two rigid sidewalls (21, 23). The rigid walls can for example be made of wood or any rigid plastic, such as Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyethylene for example. The walls may be solid or perforated. According to a preferred embodiment, the walls have holes to reduce resistance to the movement of the basket.
The two rigid walls (21, 23) are provided on both ends of the basket, towards the handles. In other words, the rigid walls (21, 23) are on opposite sides in the basket (20). The shape of these walls can vary depending on the shape of the basket. For example, they can be shaped like an inverted diamond when the basket (20) is a truncated inverted pyramid, or like a square when the basket (20) is a cube. Free or more complex shapes are possible. For example, these walls (21, 23) can each have two intersecting surfaces, when the top opening (200) is in the shape of a hexagon. This embodiment allows for a channel inside the basket (20) at the intersection of the two surfaces of a rigid wall, which makes it easier to guide the projectile towards the bottom of the basket (20) when the projectile is caught. This channel can also direct a moving projectile towards a channel located on another wall, for example shortly after it is caught, for juggling or artistic figures.
The two rigid walls (21, 23) are interconnected by different parts forming the other walls of the basket (20). The front wall (25) and the rear wall (27) of the basket (20) are formed by the primary parts (22, 24) having flexible and elastic means. These two parts hence connect the side edges of the rigid walls (21, 23). The primary flexible and elastic parts can for example have multiple strips or ribbons arranged in an overall transversal direction with respect to the device. For example, these primary parts can be fabric strips made of an elastomer or rubber.
The flexible and elastic means enable the basket to return to its resting position after the gaming device (1) is stretched. They may be relatively small in length depending on the overall shape of the basket, thus reducing the risk of injury in case of breakage. As shown in
The two rigid walls (21, 23) are further connected by a secondary flexible and non elastic system (26). This part will be best shown in
Each handle is connected to a top edge of a rigid wall (21, 23). The top edge (210, 230) of each of the rigid walls (21, 23) coincides with a side edge of the top opening (200). In other words, the side edges of the opening are formed by the top edges of the rigid walls (21, 23), with the other parts of the edge of the top opening (200) being formed by the top portions of the primary parts (22, 24). The top edges (210, 230) are not necessarily straight. In the case of irregularly shaped rigid walls (21, 23), the top edges may be curved.
Each of the handles is connected to a top edge (210, 230) by the tertiary parts (28, 29). These tertiary parts are non-elastic in nature. They can for example be flexible and non elastic systems, similar in nature to the second system (26), or ropes or cords. According to a preferred embodiment, these parts have a surface with the same width as the length of the top edges (210, 230) of the sidewalls (21, 23) close to the said edges, with the surface width gradually reducing in the direction of the handles (310,330). This embodiment makes it easier to catch the projectile when the latter falls on these parts rather than in the basket (20). Alternately, these tertiary parts can be rigid. According to a preferred embodiment, the tertiary parts (28) are connected to the top edge at a minimum of two points of contact. With this embodiment, the basket (20) is less susceptible to rotational movements. Even more preferably, the two points of contact between the top edge and the tertiary parts (28) are located close to the front (25) and rear (27) walls. This embodiment is even more effective in preventing the rotation of the basket (20).
To operate the gaming device (1), the handles are preferably arranged in continuity with the tertiary parts, similar to a straight handlebar of a cycle, for easy handling of the device.
Preferentially, the tertiary part (28, 29) is connected to a top edge (210, 230) of a rigid sidewall (21, 23) along its entire length or at least at two offset points of the edge close to the connections between the rigid sidewalls (21, 23) and the primary parts (22, 24), as shown in
The projectile can be of different types, such as a ball, balloon, a shuttlecock or similar projectiles.
This invention was described in connection with specific embodiments that have a purely illustrative value and must not be considered as limiting. Generally, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention is not limited to the examples illustrated and/or described above. The presence of reference numbers in the drawings cannot be considered as limiting, even when these numbers are stated in claims.
The use of verbs such as “to comprise”, “to include” “to consist of”, or any other variant, as well as their conjugations, in no way excludes the presence of elements other than those mentioned.
The use of the indefinite article “a”, “an”, or the definite article “the”, to introduce an element does not exclude the presence of several of these elements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| BE2015/0096 | Mar 2015 | BE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2016/053947 | 2/25/2016 | WO | 00 |
