The present invention relates to a portable tennis apparatus and, more particularly, to a portable tennis bag that is also a tennis ball retrieving and dispensing device.
To play a tennis game, the players must at least use a ball container, such as a tennis bag, to transport the balls to and from a tennis court. During a tennis game, tennis balls are often widely scattered on the ground in a court or field. Without a ball retrieving and dispensing device, one must frequently bend down and stand up to pick up the balls from the ground and to serve the balls. This action consumes the player considerably more energy in addition to game playing, it also tends to cause back strain and back pain. The player may also need a handy container to carry all the balls.
The tennis bags and ball retrieving devices of prior art are separate apparatus. The tennis bags of prior art are either hand-held or carried over shoulders, which can be quite heavy if containing large number of balls. The tennis ball retrieving devices of prior art, are either with small capacity (only contains a few balls), or space-occupying large and heavy equipment. Some of the basket type of ball retrieving devices of prior art do have the capacity of reversing the top handles to increase the height of the basket for ball dispensing, but they are all “one-height-fit-all” type, especially the tall players still need to bend down to pick out the balls. One also needs to lift and carry the heavy basket off ground between scattered balls on the tennis court. Sometimes one needs to transfer the balls from a retrieving device to a ball dispensing device, which can be time-consuming and tiring.
TENNIS BALL RETRIEVING MACHINES, which are large, complex and expensive, not suitable for personal use, such as:
Tennis ball vacuum collector patented by Mailman in 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,313,396B1
Tennis practice machine patented by Phillip A Torbet in 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,037A.
Ball retrieval device patented by Edward B Frankel 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,100.
Tennis ball retriever patented by Kurt G Beranek in 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,242.
Tennis ball retrieving device by John Meyer in 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,533.
Tennis ball retriever with hinged gate by Leonard Falitz et al. in 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,749.
Portable ball retriever, holder and carrier apparatus by Dennis K Stotts in 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,544.
Tennis ball receptacle and dispenser by Bill Richter in 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,041.
BASKET TYPE OF TENNIS BALL RETRIEVERS, which are rigid in shape, space-occupying, heavy to carry by hand, such as:
Portable ball retriever patented by Zats in 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,328,254B1.
Ball retrieving apparatus patented by Gwin and Pearson in 2011 U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,030B2, which also has very small capacity of a few balls.
Other wire basket with handles were patented by Stap in 1968 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,950), Seewagen and Markisz in 1974 U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,836),
Madrazo in 1995 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,262), Podejko in 2002 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,643), and Nestable basket type of ball retrieval and storage device by Christina E Turdo in 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,141,919, Ball picker dolly by Lynn L Ray in 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,695.
TUBE TYPE OF TENNIS BALL RETRIEVERS, which have very limited capacity of just a few balls, such as:
Ball delivery retrieval and storage system by Kenneth W Loerop et al, in 2001, U.S. Pat. No. D442658.
Tennis ball retrieval, storage and dispensing device by Jonathan C Shoham in 2011, U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,608.
Ball retrieval, storage and discharge device by Ryan L Nelson in 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,751.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a portable device and method for transporting and retrieving tennis balls easily and quickly. More particularly, the invention is a device that includes a tennis bag, a tennis ball retrieving unit, a stretchable back handle with an end hand-grip, and a rolling mean, and a bag stand. The invention is truly an “all-in-one” and handy tennis apparatus. The ball retrieving unit retries balls quickly and easily from the ground directly into the tennis bag; the flexible and compressible bag makes it very easy to carry and transport large or small number of balls; the top opening of the bag provides easy access to pick out balls from the bag for replay. The hand-grip and the stretchable back bar can be pulled up and pushed the unit with rolling means on the ground in any direction easily. The extendable stand with adjustable height can raise the tennis bag at a desirable level, according to the player's height, for dispensing balls so that the player does not have to bend down to pick the balls. The stretchable back bar and the stand can be put back to their original position during the transportation of the apparatus, such as between tennis court and player's home. The entire apparatus is light-weight and easily carry-on and operated single-handed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tennis apparatus.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tennis apparatus for storing and transporting tennis balls; retrieving and dispensing tennis balls during game play.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a convenient carry-on tennis bag which is also a tennis ball retrieving device and a tennis ball dispensing device.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tennis bag that has the feature of conventional sports bag and pull-up traveling suitcase such as stretchable handle and rolling wheels.
It is an object of the invention to provide a core mean of ball retrieving unit comprised of stretchable back bar, the side-stick and the bottom retrieving grid.
It is an object, of the invention to provide an end hand-grip that gear the direction of the device and to deliver the pressure or energy for ball retrieval.
It is an object of the invention to provide an adjustable stand that raises the top opening of the tennis bag to a desirable level, such as to player's waistline, so that the player of different height can easily reach into the tennis bag, without bending down, to pickout a ball for replay.
It is an object of the invention to provide a locking system on the bag stand to prevent the shifting of the level of the bag.
It is an object of the invention to provide light-weighted bag which is compressible with small number of balls, and expandable with large number of balls.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tennis apparatus that can be carried on and operated with just one hand.
It is an object of the invention to provide options of adding more pockets to the bag for personal accessories, such as keys, cell phone and water bottles and etc.
It is an object of the invention to provide option of a side hook or loop to hold a tennis racket.
A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which:
For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components will bear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.
The tennis bag 20 may be made of durable, light-weighted and water prove fabric or similar materials. The bottom panel 9 of the bag is the embodiment of the tennis ball 16 retrieving unit (not showing in this picture). The bag has the capacity of storing at least 50 balls. There is a zipper at the upper part of the bag where the player can unzip the zipper to open the top zippered flap, and reach inside of the tennis bag 20, then take out of retrieved tennis balls to play again.
The stretchable back bar 1 is made of light-weighted rigid material, such as metal or glass-fiber, or any other material with the similar quality. The end hand-grip 2 is made of semi-rigid, light-weighted material, such as plastic, in a shape of easy grip with hand. The end hand-grip 2 and stretchable back bar 1 are to ease the transportation of the unit on ground when it is at its stretched position. The player can grip the end hand-grip 2, then gear and push the unit on the ground. When it is in its original position, i.e. unstretched position, the player can carry the unit by top hand strap 3 or shoulder strap 23.
There is an additional pocket 7 (or more additional pockets) for convenience of carrying more stuff or accessories.
The rolling means 12 can be wheels, and are for transporting the unit on the ground. The rolling means 12 are designed to rotate up to 360 degree, so that the unit can be easily moved to any direction.
Under the pocket cover of shoulder strap 23 are the shoulder straps. When the cover is closed, it prevents the shoulder straps get in the way of players, such as during ground transportation, or during game play, or any, other situations when shoulder straps are not needed. When the cover is unzipped or opened, the player can carry the unit by shoulders (not shown in
The side stick is to assist in keeping the ball retrieving frame and the stretchable back bar 1 in a pre-determined and fixed angle during the ball retrieving process, and also to save energy of the player when applying forward and downward pressure against ball.
It also shows a tennis ball 16 is slightly compressed in between the rigid grid bars, on its way from ground to be pushed into the bag
The bottom, panel 9 is made of rigid, durable, light-weighted material, such as metal, or fiber glass, or any other material with the similar quality.
When it is time to dispense or serve the ball, the player will unlock the lock 24 to let the bottom part of the stand 25 drops out until it reaches desirable height, then the player will re-lock 24 the lock 24. When it is time to have the bag on ground level, the player will unlock the lock 24 and the bag will drop automatically to the ground level, and the player will then re-lock 24 the lock 24 to secure it in its original position.
The stand 25 is comprised of small caliber tubes made of light-weighted metal, or durable rigid fiber glass, or any other material with similar quality. The bottom side bars are slightly smaller in diameter than the top side bar, so the bottom bar can be inserted into the top side bar (original position) when not in use (i.e. not in extended position).
The alternative stand is comprised of small caliber tubes or narrow linear plate, made of light-weighted metal, or durable rigid fiber glass, or any other material with similar quality.
Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.
The present application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. provisional patent application, Ser. No. 61/663,630, filed Jun. 25, 2012, for TENNIS BAG AND BALL PICKUP UNIT, by Tiffany Tong Zhang, Ching Qing Guo, included by reference herein and for which benefit of the priority date is hereby claimed.