GB2338657A

GB2338657A - A kit which may be constructed to form different types of sports apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2338657A
Application number: GB9813762A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Manharlal Ramji Shah
Original assignee: SYSTEMA SPORTS AND LEISURE LIM
Current assignee: SYSTEMA SPORTS AND LEISURE LIM
Priority date: 1998-06-25
Filing date: 1998-06-25
Publication date: 1999-12-29
Also published as: GB9813762D0

Abstract

A kit comprises a plurality of interchangeable members which may be constructed to form different types of sports apparatus. The interchangeable members are preferably metal tubes which are directly connectable to one another. The tubes may be fitted together by forming one or both ends with an internal diameter which equals the external diameter of another and pushing them together. Ground pipes 7, 9 are included to stabilise the chosen structure by pressing into the ground up to the collar 11, 13. When a soccer goal is constructed, side posts are formed from vertical posts 23, 25, 19 and 21 and the crossbar is formed from L-shaped sections 37 and 39. A golf practice net can be constructed by extending the height of this goal by adding vertical pipes 111, 113. The apparatus may also be used to construct supports for a tennis, volleyball or badminton net. For the tennis net the pipes 19, 21 have holes 101, 103 drilled therein for connecting the net at the appropriate height. For volleyball and badminton an extra vertical piece 111,113 is added which have holes 123, 125 for attaching the net. A basket or net assembly 131 may be attached to the top of one of the posts to form a netball goal. Alternatively, a rotatable member 143 may be attached for playing swing-tennis.

Description

1 M&C Folio: 230P79172 Sports Apparatus

The present invention relates to the field of sports apparatus.

2338657 Most sports involve some sort of fixed apparatus, for example, a net, a basket etc. Obtaining the apparatus for a number of games is expensive and provides a problem in that it is awkward to store and transport the apparatus. The present invention addresses these problems in that it provides a range of apparatus from one single kit of parts.

The present invention provides a sports apparatus comprising a plurality of interchangeable members, a portion of each member being connectable to a portion of at least one other member of the plurality, members of the plurality being selectively connectable to provide a plurality of structures each for use in the playing of a given game, wherein each structure has at least one member in common with at least one other structure of the plurality of structures.

To minimise the number of parts required, it is preferable if the majority of members are directly connectable to one another. In other words, the members do not have to be connected together using a connection member e.g. bolts or brackets etc. or an intermediate member.

It is particularly preferable if the members are hollow pipes. The pipes are generally of the same diameter along most of their length. The diameter of the pipes is made smaller towards the end of some pipes so that the narrow end of the pipe can flit snugly into the end of an adjacent pipe. Thus, the pipes can be attached to one another by pushing the end of one pipe inside the adjacent pipe. Some of the pipes will have two narrowed ends, somejust one and others will have no narrow ends. Thus, preferably, 2 the pipes can only fit together a predetermined number of ways so that an erroneous and possibly dangerous structure cannot be built.

The sports apparatus is primarily intended for use outdoors. Therefore, the members need to made out of a hard-wearing material. Preferably the members are made from metal. Metal pipes give the rigidity required as well as being light enough to be carried by one person.

The members can be completely separable from one another. Alternatively, some of the members may be permanently connected to each other by a non rigid connection. For example, two members which upon construction of a structure are always rigidly connected with each other may be permanently connected by a spring or wire.

Preferably, the members are provided with attaching means for attaching a net, basket, Swing-tennis fitment etc. to one or more of the members.

The present invention can be used to make apparatus for a number of different games:

1. Football - The apparatus can be constructed to form a frame for a football net. The football net itself is threaded onto the structure.

Ideally, the frame for the football net is made in two parts, a main frame with two posts and a cross-bar and a support structure. The posts are made from two members, a ground member which is provided with a collar to indicate how far into the ground the ground member should be driven and an upper member. The cross bar of the main frame is in two sections for easy assembly. The cross bar fits onto the top of the two posts. The support member is a generally an upside down U-shaped structure which extends out behind the main frame. The support structure is in four pieces: two bottom pieces which form the base of the structure and two connection members. The connection members are attached to the main frame by bolts.

3 2. Tennis - a subset of the apparatus used for the football net is used to construct the tennis net. For tennis, two post are constructed using the ground member and the upper member used to make the football net. The upper member has a hole drilled through it. The tennis net has two strings attached to either end an these strings are fed through the holes in the upper members.

3. Badminton - this construction uses the same net and posts as for tennis, except here, a long top member is connected to the top of the tennis net posts. A pair of holes are drilled through the top members and the badminton net is secured to the top members.

4. Volley Ball - this game requires a slightly higher net than that used for badminton. A second pair of holes are provided in the top member drilled above the level of the holes for the badminton net.

5. Net ball this uses just one of the posts from the badminton or volley ball game. A net ball net or basket is attached close to the top of the top post. Preferably the position of the basket on the post is adjustable. A particularly convenient design of basket is provided by a basket ring with two semicircular halves and a bracket. The two semicircular halves have a tab at one end such that the tabs abut one another when the two halves are placed together to form a circle. The semicircles are connectable at the other end. The bracket fits around the post and the two tabs are placed in the open end of the bracket. The open end of the bracket is screwed closed thus fixing the bracket to the post and holding the rim of the net circular. A pair may be provided.

In order to provide extra height to the net, members from the other badminton net post can be connected to the net ball post.

6. Swing-tennis. This game uses the post for net ball, except here, a rotatable member is attached close to or at the top of the top member. The rotatable member is capable of freely rotating about the axis of the top post. A tennis ball is attached to a 4 piece of string. The string is then attached to the rotatable member. The rotatable member is also adjustable such that a preferred height can be selected.

Alternatively, a helical spring can be used instead of the rotatable member. The string can be attached to the spring such that during play the string travels up or down the spring depending on the direction of motion of the ball.

Six games are described above, of course, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the art, that a kit can be sold which incorporates more games or fewer. For example, a net for golf practice could be constructed. Also, a set of members which could just makefive of the games ( e.g. excluding football) could be produced.

The present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a selection of members according to the present invention constructed to form a frame for a football net; Figure 2 shows an assembled football goal with net; Figure 3 is a selection of members according to the present invention constructed to form posts for a tennis, badminton and volleyball net, a net ball net and a Swing-tennis post; Figure 4 is an assembled golf practice net; and Figure 5 is a selection of other apparatus generally required to play the various games.

A frame 1, for a football net is shown in Figure 1. The frame can be divided into two sections: a main frame 3 and a support frame 5. The main frame has two ground pipes 7, 9 which are driven into the ground up to ground pipe collars 11 and 13.

1 The ground pipes 7, 9 are hollow metal tubes. The metal tube is pressed to form a semi-circular gulley in the section 15, 17 below the collar 11, 13 so that the ground pipe 0 7,9 can be easily driven into the ground, withoutfiling the pipes with earth each time the goal is used.

Upper pipes 19, 21 are connected to the top of ground pipes 7,9 to form the first 23 and second 25 vertical posts of the goal. The upper pipes 19, 21 each are also hollow metal tubes. The upper pipes 19, 21 have an upper section 27, 29 which has the same diameter as that of the ground pipes 7, 9 and a lower section 31, 33 which has an external diameter which corresponds with the internal diameter of the ground pipes 7, 9 such that the lower sections of 31, 33 of the upper pipes 19, 21 can befitted into the tops of the ground pipes 7, 9.

The frame 1, has a cross bar 35, which is made offirst 37 and second 39 cross bar sections. Both cross bar sections 37, 39 are L-shaped. The main part 43, 45 of the cross bar sections (defined by the long limb of the L) 37, 39 are metal tubes with the same diameter as that of the upper section 27, 29 of the upper pipes 19, 21. The short part of each of the Ls 47, 49 has a lower section 51, 53 with an external diameter which equals the internal diameter of the upper part 27, 29 of the upper pipes 19, 21 such that the cross bar sections 3 7, 39 can connect to the upper pipes 19, 2 1.

The first 37 and second 39 sections of the cross bar are not identical to one another. The first 37 and second 39 sections of the crossbar meet at midpoint 41. Thesecond section 39 of the cross bar has a narrower diameter at this end so that it fits into the first section 3 7 of the cross bar at the midpoint 4 1.

The support frame 5 is made out of four pieces. Two ground pieces 55 and 57 which (when assembled) are parallel with the cross bar 35 and two connector pieces 51, 61 which connect the support frame 5 to the main frame 3.

6 The two ground pieces 55, 57 are L-shaped. The long part of each L 63, 65 rests on the ground and the shorter part 7, 69 connects to the connector pieces 59, 61. The upper section 71, 73 of the connector pieces 59, 61 are bent at an angle of 45 degrees away from the lower section 75, 77. The metal pipe of the upper section 71, 73 has been pressed to form a semicircular gulley. A screw hole 79, 81 is provided through the upper section 71, 73. A corresponding hole 83, 85 is also provided in the upper post 19, 21. The connection pieces 59, 61 can be screwed 87 into the upper pipes 19, 21 to complete the frame.

Figure 2 shows the completed goal. The pipes of the frame are fed through the loops in the net 91 in order to secure the net to the frame 1. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the net 91 must be placed on the frame before final assembly of the frame.

Figure 3 shows apparatus for anotherfive games which can be constructed from the sets. Pipes which are common to both the structure shown in Figures 1 and 3 will keep the same numbering as used in relation to Figure 1.

To construct the apparatus to make a tennis net the ground pipes 7, 9 and the upper pipes 19, 21 are connected together as for the football goal 1. A pair of holes 101, 103 are drilled through the upper posts 19, 21. A tennis net 105 has two strings 107, 109 attached to the top of the net 105. The strings 107, 109 are tied through the holes 10 1, 103 to secure the net in place. The holes are at a height of 92cm above the collars 11, 13.

For badminton and volleyball, two top pipes 111, 113 are attached to the upper pipes 19, 2 1. The top pipes 111, 113 are similar to the upper pipes 19, 2 1. The top pipes have an upper section 115, 117 which has the same diameter as the upper section 27, 29 of the upper posts. The top pipes 111, 113 also have a lower section 119, 121 which fits inside the top of the upper section 27, 29 of the upper pipes. Thus, a pair of long 7 posts are formed each from a ground pipe 7, 9 and an upper pipe 19, 21 and a top pipe Ill, 113.

The top pipe has a pair of holes 123, 125 at about 152cm from the collars 11, 13 of the ground pipe 7, 9. The net 105 is attached to these holes by strings 107, 109. A tennis net is generally longer than that used for badminton. Therefore, the net 105 can be attached to the top pipes such that the correct length for a badminton net is produced. The excess net hangs at the sides of the posts. Holes are provided in the top of net 105 to indicate the correct length. The net can be fixed by tying a piece of string through the holes in the net and pipe 123, 125.

For volleyball, two further holes 127, 129 are present in the top pipes 111, 113. These holes are drilled at a height of 175em from the collars 11, 13 of the ground pipes 7, 9. The net 105 is attached to the holes 127, 129 by strings 107, 109. The net can also be shortened as for badminton.

For net ball, a single post is used for each net. In Figure 3, the post is constructed from a ground pipe 7, upper pipe 19 and top pipe 111. A basket or net assembly 131 is attached to top post 111. The net assembly is made up from a net 133 which attaches to rim 135.

Rim 135 is made from two semi-circular pieces of metal. Two tabs are present at one end of the semi-circles so that when the semi-circles are brought together the tabs abut one another. The semi-circles are not identical to one another. The end of one of the semicircles without the tab fits into the corresponding end of the other semi-circle to form the ring. The tabs are fitted into bracket 137 which can be tightened to close around post 111. The bracket 137 is moveable up and down the post. To give extra height when only a single net is required, the upper pipe 21 or top pipe 113 from the redundant post can be added to the structure.

8 For neatness, a plug 139 is provided to block of the top of the posts. This very usefully serves to prevent the ingress of water if the apparatus is left out in the rain and thus prevents internal rusting of the post.

For Swing-tennis, a Swing-tennis fitment 141 is used. The Swing-tennis fitment is 0 shown attached to the top pipe 111 with the net assembly 13 1. Of course, in practice the net assembly 131 would be removed before Swing-tennis play is commenced.

The Swing-tennis fitment 141 has a rotatable member 143 which sits between two collars 145, 147. The rotatable member 143 has a circular hole which is large enough to rotate freely but small enough so that it can not be passed over collars 141 and 145. The Swing-tennis flitment 141 is provided with a tapped hole in the side of the assembly. A screw can be screwed through the tapped hole against the post tofix the Swing- tennis fitment 141 in position.

A string can be attached to rotatable member 143 and the other end of the string can be attached to a conventional tennis ball via an adapter (not shown).

Figure 4 shows a golf practice net which can be made using the football frame (Figure 1), and adding the two top pipes 111 and 113 (Figure 3) between the upper pipes and the cross bar 35. A golf net (not shown) with a smaller mesh than the football net 91 can be fitted onto the enlarged frame in the same manner as the football net 91. Also, the golf net can be used for football as well.

Figure 5 shows a selection of the extra apparatus required to play the games described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Two badminton racquets 201, 203 and two shuttle cocks 205 are provided to play the badminton game. A net ball 207 is required to play the net ball game. A football 209 is required to play the football game 210. A tennis balls 211 is supplied for the tennis game. A piece of string 205 is attached to a tennis balls 213 for the Swing-tennis game. Two tennis racquets 217, 219 are provided for both the tennis game and the Swing-tennis game.

9

Claims

CLAIEMS:

1. A sports apparatus comprising a plurality of interchangeable members, a portion of each member being connectable to a portion of at least one other member of the plurality, members of the plurality being selectively connectable to provide a plurality of structures each for use in the playing of a given game, wherein each structure has at least one member in common with at least one other structure of the plurality of structures.

2. A sports apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the structures have at least one member in common.

A sports apparatus according to either of claims 1 or 2, wherein the members ar directly connectable to one another.

4. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of interchangeable members is provided by a plurality of pipes.

5, A sports apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the pipes are metal.

6. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one of the members is provided with attaching means for attaching a net or the like to a member.

7. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one common member is a member whichfits into the ground.

8. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a selection of the members are connected to form a football net frame.

9. A sports apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a football net is looped over the selection of members.

10. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a selection of members are connected to form two posts for stringing a net therebetween.

11. A sports apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the net is for tennis, badminton, golf or volley ball.

12. A sports apparatus according to either of claims 10 or 11, wherein two of the members are provided with holes for tying the net through.

13. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a selection of the members are connected to form a post.

14. A sports apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a net ball net is attached to an upper part of the post.

15. A sports apparatus according to either of claims 13 or 14, wherein a rotatable member is attached to an upper part of the post, the rotatable member being capable of freely being rotated about the post.

16. A sports apparatus according to claim 15, wherein a ball is attached via a piece of string to the rotatable member.

17. A sports apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a ground member is present in each of the selected configurations, the ground member having a collar located a predetermined height from the bottom of the member.

18. A sports apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the accompanying drawings.