Patent Application
20220395736
The present invention relates generally to the field of sports training products and more specifically to the field of racquet game training devices.
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
Players of sports require hand-and-eye coordination which skills improve with practice. Various training apparatuses have been developed to help players practice, but these apparatuses lack in efficiency, flexibility, affordability, and portability.
Tennis can be practiced, for example, by hitting a ball against a solid wall, but there is a lack of control in this practice. Throwing machines exist which throw a plurality of balls for the player to hit, but these have barriers in the speed, path, and rotation of the ball which may be difficult to surmount initially. Beginning players find these throwing machines to be difficult to master. Additionally, these machines are expensive to purchase.
Static tees have also been used to improve ball hitting skills. Such tees consist of a substantially cylindrical post with a lower end supported by means of a base stand or driven into the ground. An upper end of the substantially cylindrical post is substantially cup shaped and supports a ball. These are more useful for baseball and softball, but the tee would get in the way of a tennis racquets.
Tethered ball practice devices are well known in the prior art. These tethered ball practice devices consist of a ball fixedly or releasably attached to a frame or support. The frame or support may be a simple pole or a pole with an extension. Devices known in the prior art provide the opportunity to hit only one ball before resetting the device. These devices do not promote natural movement of the game of tennis because such devices allow only one hit at a time. Furthermore, tethered ball practice devices have a ball which swings in concentric circles, and the ball does not behave as a regular tennis ball.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form, that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this summary intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.
A tennis trainer apparatus is used to make learning the game of tennis easier, faster, and with much improved results over current teaching methods. The tennis trainer is designed to be placed on a tennis court as a learning tool for an instructor to use while teaching a student the art of playing tennis properly. The tennis trainer holds a tennis ball suspended in midair at various hitting positions that a student needs to learn. With the ball suspended, the instructor is able to guide the student in stance, racket position, footwork, holding the racket and hitting the ball. When the ball is hit, it leaves the tennis trainer and travels like a regular tennis ball. A student can practice with or without supervision. A student can advance rapidly in tennis by using drills in a simulated tennis game situation.
A tennis trainer apparatus is used to teach both forehand and backhand as well as overhead and slicing in a natural, flowing movement to a student. The tennis trainer apparatus consists of a base which may have wheels supporting an inner vertical member which supports a right and a left holding rod. Said holding rods have horizontal training rods which hold ball loops with tennis balls attached. Alternatively, the horizontal training rods may hold extension arms which can be used to adapt the height of a tennis ball. A storage rack may alternatively be incorporated into the design of the tennis trainer apparatus or be a free-standing device. The tennis balls used with the tennis training apparatus are modified by inserting a small rod with a loop fixedly attached into a premade hole in the ball. The small rod fixedly attaches the ball loop to the ball.
Both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, the foregoing summary and the following detailed description should not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the detailed description.
Accordingly several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: a tennis trainer apparatus is used to teach both forehand and backhand as well as overhead and slicing in a natural, flowing movement to a student. A tennis trainer apparatus is adaptable, with extension arms which can be used to adapt the height of a tennis ball. The tennis trainer apparatus is adaptable in height. A training tennis ball is made by inserting a slender rod into a pre-punched or predrilled hole in a tennis ball. The training tennis ball slides off the tennis trainer with minimal friction and approximates a regular tennis ball in play. The tennis trainer apparatus can also be used for conditioning. A person of any age can use the tennis trainer to increase strength, movement, and cardiac health.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the drawings may contain text or captions that may explain certain embodiments of the present disclosure. This text is included for illustrative, non-limiting, explanatory purposes of certain embodiments detailed in the present disclosure.
As a preliminary matter, it will be readily understood by one having ordinary skill in the relevant art that the present disclosure has broad utility and application. As should be understood, any embodiment may incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed aspects of the disclosure and may further incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed features. Furthermore, any embodiment discussed and identified as being “preferred” is considered to be part of a best mode contemplated for carrying out the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Other embodiments also may be discussed for additional illustrative purposes in providing a full and enabling disclosure. Moreover, many embodiments, such as adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, will be implicitly disclosed by the embodiments described herein and fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
While embodiments are described herein in detail in relation to one or more embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is illustrative and exemplary of the present disclosure and are made merely for the purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure. The detailed disclosure herein of one or more embodiments is not intended, nor is to be construed, to limit the scope of patent protection afforded in any claim of a patent issuing here from, which scope is to be defined by the claims and the equivalents thereof. It is not intended that the scope of patent protection be defined by reading into any claim a limitation found herein that does not explicitly appear in the claim itself.
It is intended that the scope of patent protection is to be defined by the issued claim(s) rather than the description set forth herein. Additionally, it is important to note that each term used herein refers to that which an ordinary artisan would understand such term to mean based on the contextual use of such term herein. To the extent that the meaning of a term used herein—as understood by the ordinary artisan based on the contextual use of such term—differs in any way from any particular dictionary definition of such term, it is intended that the meaning of the term as understood by the ordinary artisan should prevail. Furthermore, it is important to note that, as used herein, “a” and “an” each generally denotes “at least one,” but does not exclude a plurality unless the contextual use dictates otherwise. When used herein to join a list of items, “or” denotes “at least one of the items,” but does not exclude a plurality of items of the list. Finally, when used herein to join a list of items, “and” denotes “all of the items of the list.”
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While multiple embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims. While the apparatus is generally shown as pertaining to tennis players and tennis balls, it should be understood that the tennis training apparatus may be used for exercising and training of many different types of athletes and should not be limited to tennis players and tennis balls.
The word attached as used herein may refer to gluing, welding, inserting, or otherwise affixing materials together as is suitable for the materials being used.
A center tube consists of a bottom inside center tube 248, a connector 246, and a top inside center tube 244. Top inside center tube 244 has a series of openings in it in which a pin or rod 240 made of steel, other metal, or other suitable strong material may be inserted to adjust the height of the tennis trainer apparatus. Alternatively, the height may be adjustable by a friction mount. The center tube inserts into outside center tube 238 which is part of an upper structure. The upper structure also contains a three-way connector which connects to tubes 219, 221 and outside center tube 238. Tube 219 connects to tube 217. Tube 221 connects to tube 223. Holding rod 206 is attached to an outside end of tube 217. Holding rod 225 is attached to an outside end of tube 223. A ball 233 and a ball loop 231 are shown hanging from holding rod 225. Eye screws or other rings 216, 218, 220, 222 are attached to tubes 219 and 221 in order to hold ball extenders which are not in use. A ball extender is shown removably attached by a hook 224 to ring 222. The ball extender consists of a supporting member 226 attached to a horizontal support 228 and to hook 224. Horizontal support 228 is attached on each end to supporting members 236 and 230 respectively. Supporting member 236 is attached to holding rod 234. Supporting member 230 is attached to holding rod 232. A ball extender is removably attached by a hook 208 to ring 206. Supporting member 210 is attached to hook 208 and horizontal support 206. Horizontal support is attached on each end to supporting members 209 and 214 respectively. Supporting member 209 is attached to holding rod 211. Supporting member 214 is attached to holding rod 212. While the preferred material of ball extenders is furniture grade polyvinyl chloride with ultraviolet light inhibitors, ball extenders may be made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials. Hooks may be made of metal, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials. A ball 235 is shown on a ball loop 237 hanging from holding rod 211 but the ball 235 and ball loop 237 could be hanging from holding rod 212.
The base vertical member 20 is large enough in diameter to hold an inner vertical member 18. Said inner vertical member 18 slides up and down within the base vertical member 20 to adjust the height of the apparatus. Said inner vertical member 18 has regularly spaced openings 16 in a side of the inner tube 18 whereby a pin 14 can be inserted to adjust the height of the apparatus. A set screw may also be used to hold the inner vertical member 18 in place at a height desired by a user. The inner vertical member 18 may be tubular, square, or any other shape that would fit into the base vertical member 20. The base vertical member 20 could be tubular, square, or any other appropriate shape. The inner vertical member 18 may be made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material. The base vertical member 20 may be made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials.
A right horizontal training rod 5 and a left horizontal training rod 3 are fixedly attached with a three-way attachment 12 to the inner vertical member 18. This three-way attachment 12 may be with a fitting, a weld, or any other way that would be appropriate with the materials of the inner vertical member 18 and horizontal training rods 3, 5. The horizontal training rods 3, 5 are made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials.
A tennis trainer apparatus further consists of a right holding rod 30 and a left holding rod 6 which are fixedly attached to the right horizontal training rod 5 and left horizontal training rod 3 respectfully. The right and left holding rods 30, 6 are made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials. The right and left holding rods 30, 6 extend to either side of the horizontal training rods 3, 5 a sufficient distance so that a ball loop 8 or a ball extender 22 can fit on the holding rods 6, 30. A ball loop 8 is preferably made of braided line, however string, elastic, cording, leather, or other suitable material may be used. The ball loop 8 is fixedly attached to a tennis ball 10 as shown in
A ball extender 22 is shown removably attached to the right holding rod 30 but could be attached to either holding rod. The ball extender 22 has a hook 32 which removably attaches the ball extender 22 to the holding rod 30. An extension holding rod is fixedly attached to the hook 32 on a top end and an extension holding rod 24 on a bottom end. The ball extender 22 may be made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials. A ball loop 26 is preferably made of braided line, however string, elastic, leather, cording, or other suitable material may be used. The ball loop 26 is fixedly attached to a tennis ball 28 as shown in
A plurality of storage arms 34, 42, 36, 46 extend from the base vertical member 20. These storage arms 34, 42, 36, 46 are evenly spaced and fixedly attached to the base vertical member 20 for storage of extra ball loops 38, 40, 44, 48 that may be used with the tennis training apparatus. The plurality of storage arms 34, 42, 36, 46 may be made of plastic, polyvinyl chloride, steel, aluminum, or any other suitable material or combination of materials.
Support member 164 is fixedly attached to base member 166. A plurality of holding arms is fixedly attached to support member 166 through use of cross fitting 176 and Three-way fitting 182. Support member 164, support member 116, holding arm 115, and holding arm 117 are fixedly attached to cross fitting 176. Holding arm 119, holding arm 121, and support member 116 are fixedly attached to Three-way fitting 182. End cap 120 is fixedly attached to holding arm 121. End cap 118 is fixedly attached to holding arm 119. End cap 134 is fixedly attached to holding arm 115. End cap 126 is fixedly attached to holding arm 117. A plurality of ball loops 150 with attached tennis balls 148 is shown looped around holding arm 121. A plurality of ball loops 122 with attached tennis balls 124 is shown looped around holding arm 119. A plurality of ball loops 144 with attached tennis balls 146 is shown looped around holding arm 115. A plurality of ball loops 128 with attached tennis balls 130 is shown looped around holding arm 117.
Although there have been shown and described the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereto which do not exceed the scope of the appended claims. Therefore, the scope of the invention is only to be limited by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/258,976 filed Jun. 11, 2021.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63258976 | Jun 2021 | US |
