Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6494340
-
Patent Number
6,494,340
-
Date Filed
Friday, May 11, 200123 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, December 17, 200221 years ago
-
Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
- Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley LLP
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 220 485
- 220 491
- 220 494
- 220 756
- 220 754
- 220 762
- 220 763
- 220 764
- 220 765
- 220 772
- 220 773
- 248 128
- 248 130
- 248 132
- 248 175
- 206 3159
- 294 192
- 294 141
- 294 142
- 294 143
- 294 167
- 294 169
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A tennis ball container is disclosed. This container has a top barrier rod (110) having a closed rectangular profile and forming the top structure of a barrier body (100), a bottom barrier rod (120) having a closed rectangular profile and forming the bottom structure of the body. A plurality of side barrier rods (140) extend in a vertical direction between the top and bottom barrier rods to connect them into a single structure, and form two inclined opposite sidewalls of the barrier body. A plurality of elastic barrier rods (150) are vertically arranged inside the side barrier rods while being mounted to the top barrier rod at their top ends such that the rods (150) are elastically displaceable in opposite directions at their bottom portions. Two first handle rods (210) are rotatably attached to the side barrier rods at the opposite sidewalls of the barrier body. Each of the first handle rods includes a U-shaped rod part, with a linear rod part integrated with the ends of the U-shaped rod part. A second handle rod (220), having hinge shafts at its opposite ends, is hinged to each first handle rod at the hinge shafts. Two hinge brackets (400) are mounted to each first handle rod to form hinged joints of the second handle rod, and allow the second handle rod to be rotatable relative to the first handle rod while being elastically compressed.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for tennis balls and, more particularly, to a tennis ball container with a body designed to easily load and reliably contain tennis balls, and a folding handle designed to form a variety of shapes, thus being more conveniently usable while carrying the container or practicing tennis, in addition to being easily stored within a limited space when the container is not used.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tennis ball containers are used for containing a plurality of tennis balls to allow a user to conveniently pick up the balls while practicing tennis. That is, it is desirable for a user, practicing tennis, to continuously hit a plurality of balls without repeated pauses for gathering or picking up the balls from the ground, and so the balls are required to be contained in a container to allow the user to conveniently use the balls.
Such ball containers may be usable independently or set in a tennis-practicing machine to form a ball container part of the machine.
The tennis ball containers are necessarily designed to easily load and reliably contain tennis balls, in addition to allowing users to conveniently pick up the balls from the containers while practicing tennis. When the structure of the ball containers is designed to be usable for a variety of applications as desired, the operational function of the containers will be enhanced.
In the prior art, a tennis ball container having a body fabricated using a plurality of barrier rods has been proposed and used. This ball container has a rectangular basket structure, with barriers forming the upper, left, right and bottom walls of the structure, and may be usable independently or set in a tennis-practicing machine to form a ball container part of the machine.
When the conventional ball container is used independently without being set in a tennis-practicing machine, it is necessary for a user to feed balls into the container one by one, and so the container is inconvenient to the user. When the ball container is used as a part of a tennis-practicing machine, it is necessary to design the structure of the container to precisely agree with the machine. It is therefore impossible to change the shape of the container.
Therefore, a tennis ball container having a structure capable of being usable independently or as a part of a tennis-practicing machine has been required in the prior art.
In addition, it is preferred to design the tennis ball container such that the top opening of the container is positioned at a height allowing a user's hand to reach the interior of the container and pick up a ball without forcing the user to inconveniently bend his body while practicing tennis on the court.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tennis ball container, in which the bottom and sidewalls of the barrier body are partially fabricated using a plurality of elastic barrier rods, with the intervals between the elastic barrier rods being elastically enlargeable to allow tennis balls to be loaded into the barrier body through the bottom of the body.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tennis ball container, of which the handle is foldable upward and downward to be selectively usable as a handle or support legs for the barrier body, the handle thus selectively holding the barrier body at a height above the ground when it is in a fully downward folded position to allow a user's hand to reach the interior of the body and easily pick up a ball without excessively bending his body.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tennis ball container, of which the handle consists of first and second handle rods having a folding structure, thus being overlapped together and fully laid on the top of the barrier body to form a compact volume of the container when it is desired to store the container within a limited space.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tennis ball container, which uses a hinge bracket designed to have a rounded edge allowing a user to easily fold the handle by simply compressing and rotating the handle relative to the bracket with less power.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a tennis ball container, comprising: a top barrier rod bent to form a closed rectangular profile, the top barrier rod forming a top structure of a barrier body of the container; a bottom barrier rod bent to form a closed rectangular profile, the bottom barrier rod forming a bottom structure of the barrier body; a plurality of side barrier rods extending in a vertical direction between the top and bottom barrier rods to connect the top and bottom barrier rods into a single structure, and form two inclined opposite sidewalls of the barrier body; a plurality of elastic barrier rods vertically arranged inside the side barrier rods while being mounted to the top barrier rod at their top ends such that the elastic barrier rods are elastically displaceable in opposite directions at their bottom portions; two first handle rods rotatably attached to the side barrier rods at the opposite sidewalls of the barrier body, each of the first handle rods including a U-shaped rod part, with opposite ends of the U-shaped rod part bent inwardly to form two stop ends, and a linear rod part integrated with the two stop ends at its opposite ends; a second handle rod having hinge shafts at its opposite ends, and hinged to the stop ends of each of the first handle rods at the hinge shafts; two hinge brackets mounted to each of the first handle rods at positions around the stop ends to form hinged joints of the second handle rod, and allowing the second handle rod to be rotatable relative to the first handle rod while being elastically compressed.
Each of the hinge brackets surrounds the first handle rod at a position inside each stop end, the hinge bracket also having both a rod holding slit for holding the second handle rod, and a rounded edge for guiding an elastic folding action of the second handle rod relative to the first handle rod.
The two hinge brackets may be mounted to each of the first handle rods such that the rounded edges of the hinge brackets face each other or are opposite to each other.
The tennis ball container also comprises two spacer rods, each of the spacer rods having a plurality of rounded spacer portions, and mounted to the bottom barrier rod at two side surfaces of the barrier body around the bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a tennis ball container in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a perspective view, showing the bottom structure of the container of this invention, designed to load tennis balls into the container;
FIG. 3
is a side view, showing the bottom structure of the container in accordance with the primary embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 4
is a side view, showing the bottom structure of the container in accordance with the second embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 5
is a perspective view, showing the container of this invention held by the hand of a user, standing on the ground, at the handle rods used as a handle;
FIG. 6
is a perspective view of a hinge bracket, with first and second handle rods hinged together through the bracket to form a desired folding structure of the handle included in the container of this invention;
FIG. 7
is a perspective view of the hinge bracket, with the second handle rod completely and elastically seated into the rod holding slit of the bracket after it is rotated under the guide of the rounded edge of the bracket while being compressed;
FIG. 8
is a view of a hinged engagement of the first and second handle rods through two hinge brackets in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9
is a view of a hinged engagement of the first and second handle rods through two hinge brackets in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10
is a perspective view, showing the container of this invention held at a suspended position above the ground by the handle rods used as support legs; and
FIG. 11
is a perspective view, showing the container of this invention, with the handle rods completely folded and laid on the top of the container to accomplish a compact volume of the container.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference now should be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a tennis ball container in accordance with the present invention.
As shown in the drawing, the ball container comprises a knitted barrier body
100
, which is formed by knitting a plurality of barrier rods together to form a basket structure and is used for containing tennis balls. A handle
200
is rotatably attached to two opposite side surfaces of the barrier body
100
at hinged joints. The ball container also has a top cover, provided at the top opening of the barrier body
100
for preventing an undesired removal of the balls from the body
100
.
The construction of the barrier body
100
will be primarily described as follows.
The barrier body
100
has a basket structure with a generally rectangular hexahedral shape. This barrier body
100
is formed by knitting a plurality of barrier rods having a predetermined diameter together to form the desired basket structure, with the intervals between the knitted barrier rods being sufficiently narrow to reliably prevent an undesired removal of the balls from the barrier body
100
through the gaps formed by the intervals.
The bottom structure of the barrier body
100
is formed by one bottom barrier rod
120
, which is bent at four positions to form a rectangular profile. The four corners of the bottom structure are smoothly rounded with a predetermined radius of curvature.
The top structure of the barrier body
100
is formed by one top barrier rod
110
, which has the same structure and profile as those of the bottom barrier rod
120
. However, the top surface area formed by the top barrier rod
110
is larger than that of the bottom barrier rod
120
.
The top and bottom barrier rods
110
and
120
are parallely and horizontally arranged at top and bottom ends of the body
100
while being spaced apart from each other by predetermined height, thus forming top and bottom edges of the body
100
. The top and bottom barrier rods
110
and
120
are integrated into a single body by a plurality of side barrier rods
140
, which regularly and vertically extend between the two barrier rods
110
and
120
to cover the two larger area side surfaces of the body
100
. In such a case, the two larger area side surfaces of the body
100
formed by the side barrier rods
140
are inclined upward and outward since the size of top opening of the body
100
is larger than the bottom of the body
100
.
One reinforcing barrier rod
130
horizontally surrounds the side barrier rods
140
at a middle portion of the body
100
. This reinforcing barrier rod
130
maintains the desired intervals of the side barrier rods
140
, in addition to reinforcing the structural strength and stability of the side barrier rods
140
.
A plurality of elastic barrier rods
150
cover the two smaller area side surfaces of the body
100
in a manner similar to that of the side barrier rods
140
. The intervals of the elastic barrier rods
150
are set to be slightly smaller than the diameter of each tennis ball.
Different from the side barrier rods
140
only covering the two larger area side surfaces of the body
100
, the elastic barrier rods
150
cover the bottom surface of the body
100
, in addition to covering the two smaller area surfaces of the body
100
.
As best seen in
FIG. 2
, the elastic barrier rods
150
, each having a U-shaped profile, are mounted to the top barrier rod
110
at their top ends such that the rods
150
are vertically positioned in the body
100
while being parallely spaced apart from each other. However, the elastic barrier rods
150
may be displaced in opposite directions at their bottom portions when they are forced. It is thus possible to change the intervals between the elastic barrier rods
150
at their bottom portions. The horizontal bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods
150
are arranged above a support surface to be spaced apart from the support surface. In such a case, the horizontal bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods
150
may be arranged at the same height from the support surface as shown in FIG.
3
. Alternatively, the horizontal bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods
150
may be arranged at different heights from the support surface such that the bottom portion of the middle rod
150
is slightly lower than that of the outer rods
150
as shown in FIG.
4
.
Two spacer rods
121
, each having a plurality of rounded spacer portions
121
a
at predetermined positions, are vertically mounted to the bottom barrier rod
120
at the two smaller area side surfaces of the body
100
. The two spacer rods
121
elastically hold the corners of the elastic barrier rods
150
to somewhat limit the elastic deformation of the intervals between the bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods
150
.
Each of the elastic barrier rods
150
, made of metal and having a predetermined diameter, is bent at two portions to form a desired U-shaped profile. The opposite top ends of each elastic barrier rod
150
are mounted to the top barrier rod
110
such that the elastic barrier rods
150
are integrated with the top barrier rod
110
into a single structure.
Since the elastic barrier rods
150
are mounted to the top barrier rod
110
at their top ends, but not fixed at their horizontal bottom portions as described above, the elastic barrier rods
150
may be displaced in opposite directions at their bottom portions when they are forced. Therefore, the intervals between the elastic barrier rods
150
at the bottom structure of the body
100
may be elastically deformed. It is thus possible to load tennis balls from the ground into the body
100
through the bottom of the body
100
.
That is, tennis balls may be fed into the body
100
through the top opening of the body
100
. However, such a feeding of balls into the body
100
through the top opening sometimes causes inconvenience to a user. That is, the bottom structure of the body
100
with the elastically deformable intervals between the elastic barrier rods
150
allows a user to load balls into the body
100
through the bottom structure in place of the top opening. When a user presses the body
100
down against a ball on the ground while standing on the ground, the interval between two elastic barrier rods
150
is elastically enlarged by pressure applied from the ball, thus allowing the ball to pass through the interval into the body
100
.
The handle
200
has a folding structure with two pairs of handle rods: two first handle rods
210
and two second handle rods
220
. The two first handle rods
210
are hinged to the two second handle rods
220
to form a desired folding structure of the handle
200
. The two first handle rods
210
of the handle
200
are rotatably attached to the two larger area side surfaces of the barrier body
100
at hinged joints. Each of the first handle rods
210
includes a U-shaped rod part, with opposite ends of the U-shaped rod part being bent inwardly to form two stop ends. A linear rod part is integrated with the two stop ends of the U-shaped rod part at its opposite ends, thus forming a closed rectangular profile of each second handle rod
210
in cooperation with the U-shaped rod part.
Due to the hinged structure of the handle
200
having the handle rods
210
and
220
, the handle rods
210
and
220
may be collaterally usable as support legs in a fully downward folded position of
FIG. 10
, in addition to being primarily usable as a handle in a fully upward folded position of FIG.
5
. When the handle rods
210
and
220
form support legs as described above, the barrier body
100
is positioned above the ground such that the top opening of the body
100
is positioned at a height allowing a user's hand to reach the interior of the body
100
and pick up a ball without forcing the user to inconveniently bend his body.
In a detailed description, each of the two first handle rods
210
is hinged to two hinge bosses
160
attached to the side barrier rods
140
at each larger area side surface of the body
100
. Each of the two second handle rods
220
is hinged to an associated first handle rod
210
using two hinge brackets
400
.
Each of the second handle rods
220
is bent to form an inverted U-shaped profile. The opposite ends of each second handle rod
220
are bent inwardly or outwardly to form hinge shafts
222
.
As shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, each of the hinge brackets
400
is made by bending a metal plate, having a predetermined thickness, such that the bracket
400
surrounds a lower end of the first handle rod
210
. Each hinge bracket
400
has both a hinge hole
410
and a rounded edge
420
.
A rod holding slit
430
is vertically defined within each hinge bracket
400
, and holds the end of the second handle rod
220
when the second handle rod
220
is in its fully upward folded position or fully downward folded position with the hinge shaft
222
movably fitted into the hinge hole
410
.
The operational function of the hinge brackets
400
is to provide hinge joints for the hinge shafts
222
of the inverted U-shaped second handle rods
220
, thus allowing a smooth folding action of the second handle rods
220
. The hinge brackets
400
also allow the second handle rods
220
to be elastically and reliably seated into the rod holding slits
430
of the brackets
400
when the rods
220
move upward or downward along the rounded edges
420
while being somewhat elastically compressed. In the present invention, the hinge brackets
400
may be mounted to each of the first handle rods
210
such that the rounded edges
420
of the hinge brackets
400
face each other or are opposite to each other.
FIGS. 8 and 9
show two embodiments of the engagement of the hinge shafts
222
of a second handle rod
220
with the hinge brackets
400
.
In the embodiment of
FIG. 8
, the opposite ends of each second handle rod
220
are bent inwardly to form inward hinge shafts
222
. In the embodiment of
FIG. 9
, the opposite ends of each second handle rod
220
are bent outwardly to form outward hinge shafts
222
. The inward hinge shafts are more preferable than the outward hinge shafts since the outward hinge shafts are projected outwardly from the brackets
400
to undesirably injure a user.
In the tennis ball container of this invention, the two second handle rods
220
are preferably designed such that one of the two rods
220
is slightly smaller than the other in its width. It is thus possible to neatly seat one second handle rod
220
into the other, thus preventing the handle
200
from being undesirably bent, distorted or deformed due to impact, or injure the hand of a user holding the handle
200
.
FIG. 10
shows the handle
200
when the two pairs of handle rods
210
and
220
are fully folded downward to form support legs for supporting the barrier body
100
on the ground.
At the fully downward folded position of the handle
200
, the barrier body
100
is positioned above the ground such that the body
100
is positioned at a height allowing a user's hand to reach the interior of the body
100
and pick up a ball without forcing the user to inconveniently bend his body.
When storing the ball container of this invention in a limited space, such as the trunk of a car, the ends of the second handle rods
220
are primarily forced to accomplish their rotatable positions relative to the rod holding slits
430
of the hinge brackets
400
. Thereafter, the two second handle rods
220
are rotated inward until the rods
220
are fully laid on the top edge of the barrier body
100
with the top portions of the rods
220
overlapped together.
It is thus possible to accomplish a desired compact shape of the ball container while preventing the handle
200
from forming any excessive volume, and so the container is suitable for storage in such a limited space.
As described above, the present invention provides a tennis ball container. In this container, the elastic barrier rods, forming the bottom surface of the container body having a basket structure, may be displaced in opposite directions when they are forced. Therefore, the intervals between the elastic barrier rods at the bottom structure may be elastically deformed, and allow a user to load balls into the body through the bottom structure by pressing the body down against a ball on the ground while standing on the ground. This ball container is thus convenient to the users.
The container of this invention also has a plurality of hinge brackets, which primarily provide hinge joints for the inverted U-shaped second handle rods of the handle, thus allowing a smooth folding action of the second handle rods. The hinge brackets also allow the second handle rods to be elastically and reliably seated into the rod holding slits of the brackets when the handle rods move upward or downward along the rounded edges of the brackets while being somewhat elastically compressed. It is thus possible to easily and simply fold the handle relative to the container body upward or downward with less power.
Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
Claims
- 1. A tennis ball container, comprising:a top barrier rod bent to form a closed rectangular profile, said top barrier rod forming a top structure of a barrier body of the container; a bottom barrier rod bent to form a closed rectangular profile, said bottom barrier rod forming a bottom structure of the barrier body; a plurality of side barrier rods extending in a vertical direction between the top and bottom barrier rods to connect the top and bottom barrier rods into a single structure, and form two inclined opposite sidewalls of the barrier body; a plurality of elastic barrier rods vertically arranged inside the side barrier rods while being mounted to the top barrier rod at their top ends such that the elastic barrier rods are elastically displaceable in opposite directions at their bottom portions; two first handle rods rotatably attached to the side barrier rods at the opposite sidewalls of the barrier body, each of the first handle rods including a U-shaped rod part, with opposite ends of the U-shaped rod part bent inwardly to form two stop ends, and a linear rod part integrated with the two stop ends at its opposite ends; a second handle rod having hinge shafts at its opposite ends, and hinged to the stop ends of each of the first handle rods at the hinge shafts; two hinge brackets mounted to each of the first handle rods at positions around the stop ends to form hinged joints of the second handle rod, and allowing the second handle rod to be rotatable relative to the first handle rod while being elastically compressed.
- 2. The tennis ball container according to claim 1, wherein each of the hinge brackets surrounds the first handle rod at a position inside each stop end, said hinge bracket also having both a rod holding slit for holding the second handle rod, and a rounded edge for guiding an elastic folding action of the second handle rod relative to the first handle rod.
- 3. The tennis ball container according to claim 1, wherein the two hinge brackets are mounted to each of the first handle rods, said brackets having rounded edges that face each other.
- 4. The tennis ball container according to claim 1, wherein the two hinge brackets are mounted to each of the first handle rods, said brackets having rounded edges that are opposite to each other.
- 5. The tennis ball container according to claim 1, wherein two spacer rods, each having a plurality of rounded spacer portions, are mounted to the bottom barrier rod at two side surfaces of the barrier body around the bottom portions of the elastic barrier rods.
- 6. The tennis ball container according to claim 2, wherein the two hinge brackets are mounted to each of the first handle rods such that the rounded edges of the hinge brackets face each other.
- 7. The tennis ball container according to claim 2, wherein the two hinge brackets are mounted to each of the first handle rods such that the rounded edges of the hinge brackets are opposite to each other.
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Name |
Date |
Kind |
2835099 |
Touchbery |
May 1958 |
A |
4281849 |
Chandick et al. |
Aug 1981 |
A |
4461504 |
Perez et al. |
Jul 1984 |
A |
5507541 |
Chen et al. |
Apr 1996 |
A |