Miniature door-mounted basketball hoop

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 8371965
  • Patent Number
    8,371,965
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, May 25, 2010
    14 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, February 12, 2013
    11 years ago
Abstract
A miniature basketball hoop has a pair of spaced apart hooks on the top of a backboard to hook the backboard over the top of a door. The hoop includes a break-away rim mounted to the front of the backboard, and sound dampening material on the rear face of the backboard, so as to minimize sound when a ball hits the backboard or rim during use.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various forms of miniature basketball hoops are well known for mounting on bedroom, dorm room, and office doors. Such prior art miniature hoops normally include a backboard with a rounded top edge and one or two hooks on the backboard for mounting over the top edge of the door. The construction of these prior art mini hoops is generally lightweight, such that the hoops do not withstand slam dunks or other abuse. For example, such miniature hoops typically are rigid, such that a slam dunk either breaks the rim or breaks the hooks which mount the hoop to the door.


Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved miniature basketball hoop for mounting on a door.





BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS


FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the miniature basketball backboard and hoop according to the present invention.



FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the backboard and hoop, with the net removed for clarity.



FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the backboard and hoop, with the net removed for clarity.



FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the backboard and hoop, with the net removed for clarity.



FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the backboard and hoop, with the net removed for clarity.



FIG. 6 is a left-side elevation view of the backboard and hoop.



FIG. 7 is a right-side elevation view of the backboard and hoop.



FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the backboard and hoop mounted on a door, with the door shown in broken lines.



FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along lines 9-9 of FIG. 3.





DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A basketball hoop 10 generally includes a polycarbonate, shatterproof backboard 12 to which a break-away rim 14 is mounted. The backboard 12 is rectangular and includes front and rear faces. The backboard 12 is transparent substantially across its full dimension, except for an outer perimeter strip or band 16 adjacent the four perimeter edges of the backboard 12, and the bank target 18 above the rim 14. A pair of hooks 20 are mounted on the rear face of the backboard 12 and extend rearwardly and downwardly from the upper edge of the backboard 12. Thus, the hooks 20 are substantially hidden by the door when the hoop 10 is mounted on the door. Preferably, the hooks 20 are a squared C-shape, with a front leg 21, a top leg 25 and a rear leg 23. As shown in FIG. 9, the front leg 21 is secured to the backboard 12 by one or more bolts 27. The lower end 29 of the rear leg 23 may be flared to facilitate mounting of the hoop 10 on the door.


The rim assembly 14 includes a pair of mounting plates 22, 24 positioned on opposite sides of the backboard 12 and secured thereto by a plurality of bolts 26. A horizontal plate 28 is pinned to the front mounting plate 22 via a hinge 30. A metal rim 32 is welded to the front edge of the upper horizontal plate 28. The hinge 30 includes first and second pairs of hinge tubes or collars 31, 33 welded to the plates 22, 28 respectively, with a hinge pin 35 extending through the aligned collars, so that the horizontal plate 28, to which the rim 32 is welded, can pivot relative to the plate 22. A lower horizontal plate 34 is welded to the front mounting plate 22. A spring 36 extends between the upper and lower horizontal plates 28, 34 such that the rim 32 is spring biased, so as to be a break-away rim which pivots resiliently downwardly when a ball is dunked through the rim 32. The spring 36 normally biases the rim 32 back to a horizontal position after a dunk is completed.


The rim 32 includes a plurality of hooks 38 to which a basketball net 40 is removably mounted.


At least one sound dampener 42 is provided on the rear face of the backboard 12. Preferably, the sound dampener 42 is in the form of a resilient, soft rubber or foam strip extending around the outer perimeter of the rear face of the backboard 12 so as to engage the door when the hoop 10 is mounted on the door. The sound dampener 42 also protects the door against scratches from the backboard 12. A secondary sound dampener 44 may be provided on the rear face of the backboard 12 immediately behind the target 18. The first and second sound dampeners 42, 44 form substantially concentric inner and outer rings, as seen in FIG. 3. A sound damper 46 is also provided on the back of plate 24. Thus, the sound dampeners 42, 44, 46 are hidden by the perimeter strip 16, the target 18 on the front face of the backboard 12, and the plate 24.


A miniature basketball (not shown) is provided for shooting through the rim 32 and the net 40.


The invention has been shown and described above with the preferred embodiments, and it is understood that many modifications, substitutions, and additions may be made which are within the intended spirit and scope of the invention. From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.

Claims
  • 1. A miniature basketball hoop and backboard, comprising: a backboard having front and rear surfaces, and top and bottom edges;at least one hook at the top of the backboard having a front leg, a top leg and a rear leg, with the front leg joined to a front end of the top leg and the rear leg joined to a rear end of the top leg, with front leg perpendicular to the top leg and with the rear leg perpendicular to the top leg and having a lower end flared outwardly away from the rear surface of the backboard, and with the front leg attached to the back surface of the backboard adjacent to the top edge of the backboard;a front mounting plate attached to the front surface of the backboard, with the front mounting plate having upper and lower ends;a rim joined to an upper mounting plate;a hinge on the front mounting plate, with upper mounting plate attached to the hinge;a lower mounting plate fixed in position on the front mounting plate below the upper mounting plate and between the upper and lower ends of the front mounting plate, with the lower mounting plate substantially parallel to and spaced vertically apart from the upper mounting plate, and with the upper and lower mounting plates substantially perpendicular to the front mounting plate;a spring secured between the upper and lower mounting plates, with the spring urging the upper mounting plate away from the tower mounting plate, and with the spring in a substantially vertical orientation;a rear mounting plate on the rear surface of the backboard, with the rear mounting plate separate from the front mounting plate;a rear mounting plate sound dampener attached to the rear mounting plate;fasteners extending through the front mounting plate, the backboard, and the rear mounting plate, for attaching the front and rear mounting plates to the backboard; andone or more perimeter sound dampeners on the rear surface of the backboard adjacent to a perimeter of the backboard.
  • 2. The miniature basketball hoop and backboard of claim 1 with the lower mounting plate having a plurality of edges, and with only a rear edge of the lower mounting plate joined to the front mounting plate.
  • 3. The miniature basketball hoop and backboard of claim 1 with the lower end of the front mounting plate extending down to the bottom edge of the backboard.
  • 4. The miniature basketball hoop and backboard of claim 1 further including a bolt extending through the spring and through the upper and lower plates, with the bolt holding the upper and lower plates substantially parallel to each other in a horizontal orientation.
  • 5. The miniature basketball hoop and backboard of claim 1 with the rear mounting plate wider than the front mounting plate.
  • 6. The miniature basketball hoop and backboard of claim 5 with the backboard comprising a transparent material and with left and right sides of the rear mounting plate visible through the backboard.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of a provisional application Ser. No. 61/181,092 filed May 26, 2009, and which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

US Referenced Citations (38)
Number Name Date Kind
1052670 Francis Feb 1913 A
2077617 Cramer Apr 1937 A
RE20898 Schabinger Oct 1938 E
2517463 Cobb Aug 1950 A
3194555 Humphrey Jul 1965 A
4183522 Killen Jan 1980 A
4468027 Pangburn Aug 1984 A
4483534 O'Donnell Nov 1984 A
4588188 Mahoney et al. May 1986 A
4715600 Offutt Dec 1987 A
4834369 Walsh May 1989 A
4895365 Schroeder Jan 1990 A
4926060 Sittig May 1990 A
4955605 Goldfarb Sep 1990 A
5007637 Foley Apr 1991 A
5037092 Blackburn Aug 1991 A
5071120 Dadbeh Dec 1991 A
5098108 McKinney Mar 1992 A
D327928 Cochran Jul 1992 S
D337199 Ochs Jul 1993 S
5318289 Mahoney et al. Jun 1994 A
5480139 Owen et al. Jan 1996 A
5902198 Martin et al. May 1999 A
D431620 Hill Oct 2000 S
6447409 Squibb Sep 2002 B1
7052418 Nye et al. May 2006 B2
D608848 Quinn Jan 2010 S
7753375 Neal et al. Jul 2010 B1
7794342 Connerley et al. Sep 2010 B2
7798921 Connerley Sep 2010 B2
7955082 Gause Jun 2011 B1
D647983 Quinn Nov 2011 S
20040038760 Diaz et al. Feb 2004 A1
20040224797 Huang Nov 2004 A1
20070048445 DiMario Mar 2007 A1
20070054759 Nye et al. Mar 2007 A1
20090264226 Mauro Oct 2009 A1
20100267495 Heystek Oct 2010 A1
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number Date Country
2002-331057 Nov 2002 JP
20-1988-000424 Feb 1988 KR
10-1994-0020267 Sep 1994 KR
10200900105666 Jan 2009 KR
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry
Korean Intellectual Property Office, International Search Report for PCT/US2010/036023, mailed Dec. 14, 2010.
Korean Intellectual Property Office, International Preliminary Report on Patentability for PCT/US2010/036023, Sep. 20, 2011.
Related Publications (1)
Number Date Country
20100304903 A1 Dec 2010 US
Provisional Applications (1)
Number Date Country
61181092 May 2009 US