AU599763B2

AU599763B2 - Improvements relating to sporting equipment

Info

Publication number: AU599763B2
Application number: AU12849/88A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Harry Fritz Boikowski
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-03-09
Filing date: 1987-03-09
Publication date: 1990-07-26
Anticipated expiration: 2008-03-09
Also published as: AU1284988A

Description

COMMONWEALTHOFS L9~ 0 Patents Act 1952 6 C0"PLETE

SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int.

Application Number: iE ST TO 1AL77.O7 /odge A CHID Logd MAIL OFCR.4. Complete ApplicatiC Specification

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Pub 00 0 000 000-0 00 0 in No.

odged J1 3~ ~la~ J lished: nsxuel md a f LD AT SUB-QFIC- 'to ~~9BBtor rftital3 Ade~j(afde I TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: HARRY FRITZ BOIKOWSKE

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0 ddress of ApplicantSite 85, Woodcroft Park, Bains Road, Woocraft, state of South Australia, Conlrnvealth of Australia 00 0 0 'Actual Inventor: HARPY FRITZ BOI-KOWSKI 0 O0 *ddress for Service: COLLISON &CGO., Patent Attorneys, 117 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000.

0, 0 Complete Specification for the invention entitled: IPROVEMENTS RELATING TO SPORTING

EQUIPMENT

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:,

A

This invention relates to sporting equipment and in particular to apparatus for We playing of a ball game and an installation for playing a ball game.

Installations providing for rebound type ball games are well known and can be typified by such an arrangement used for the playing of squash.

Installations for the playing of this type of game however require a relatively large building providing walls which must then provide substantially uniform rebound characteristics for a small ball.

o Such an arrangement however is both very expensive and self C o 15 evidently not portable. The advantage however of a rebound arrangement is that an individual can very often practise the skills associated with the game by h 1 or herself and further 0ooo more, the area of a court over which the game is to be played can be significantly less than that that might be used for a net 20 type game.

A problem however in providing for a rebound arrangement is to provide some arrangement or device which as a portable device can provide an appropriate rebound effect which is useful for the playing of a ball game, while at the same time being able to be manufactured in such a way that it will appeal to a large number of people.

The problem is therefore to provide a device which will provide sufficient impact effect to ensure reliable rebound while at the same time being able to be of sufficiently small size and of light enough weight to be readily portable and easily installed by even smaller and weaker persons.

The invention can be said to reside in apparatus for assisting the playing of a ball game comprising a rebound member including a body providing a concave rebound surface adapted and means adapted to support the body with respect to a court 3 surface so that the rebound surface can be useful as a target for the playing of a rebound type ball game, said body comprising of fibre reinforced plastic material and including a perimeter stiffening and rearwardly extending skirt.

The invention can further reside in ball game installation incorporating such apparatus with the concave rebound surface being supported so as to be directed toward a court layout at which the rebound surface is located at the apex of a triangular shape of such court layout.

Further aspects of this invention will be discernible from the accompanying claims and from the description of the preferred embodiment which will now be given.

Referring to the preferred embodiment this shall now be described with the assistance of drawings in which: 0 a 0 0 FIG. 1 is a front view of a rebound member, 20 FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the same rebound member as FIG. 1, FIG. 3 o 0 is a perspective view of the rebound member as in FIGS. 1 and 2 located on a supporting court surface and including a court layout with individuals shown in a game playing position, o0°° FIG. 4 is a view from above of the rebound member as showing in FIGS.

1,2 and 3 and the court layout as shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the rebound member.

Referring in detail to the drawings there is shown a rebound member 1 which is formed from fibre reinforced plastic material (fibreglass), the 30 shape being as is shown and being defined as a concave forward part 2 providing a rebound surface and this being surrounded by an oval perimeter 3.

The concave face 2 which is made of relatively thin fibre reinforced plastic material is nonetheless by reason of the concave shape reasonably stiffened by this shape and by reason of the perimeter 3 which has a first part outwardly T 'IV

A

4 extending defining a front plane at 4 and then a rearwardly extending skirt The rearwardly extending skirt 5 substantially stiffens the materials in the immediately adjacent vicinity and the thickness and depth can be varied so as to promote this stiffening effect.

A quite surprising aspect is that by such techniques, that is by using the concave shape and by using the rearwardly extending lo stiffening skirt, a very stiff and therefore effective rebound effect can be provided which can provide good rebound characteristics for for instance a tennis ball.

0 0 The rebound member 1 comprises two distinguishable parts, a first of these being a body 6 and the second of these being the legs shown collectively at 7.

00 The legs however also assist in providing the stiffness effect and to this end the lower legs at 8 which fit into a socket shape at 9 rearwardly extend so as to impinge onto a court surface 10 and o &provide a more direct reaction direction to any pressures caused 0 0 by a rebounding ball onto the body 6.

o A further single rearward leg 10 extends from a central uppermost location of the body 6 and from a socket 11 and is likewise positioned so as to impinge and provide a reactive effect 000 when bearing against the court surface 10. The dimensions of the rebound member are such that from a top to the bottom the distance is slightly less than one metre and in this embodiment is 900 mm.

The depth from the front face to the rear of the concave shape is 100 mm and the width from outer side to outer side in this embodiment is 820 mm.

The extent to which the front face of the rebound member 1 lies back is chosen to provide best rebound effect but is chosen so as to have a relative relationship of 55' to the court case embodiment.

The rebound member 1 thus constructed provides for a very light weight, economical to manufacture rebound device which is therefore very useful to incorporate on any appropriate surface for use in relation to the playing of a game.

In this embodiment then, there is provided that this rebound lo member 1 is located at the apex of an approximately triangularly shaped court 12 in which there is a medial line 12 and an inner limit line 14, sides 15 and 16 and an outer line 17.

o 00 t o The inner line 14 and the outer line 17 are in the shape of the arc o: 15 of a circle which the rebound member 1 is central.

00o There are serve locations 18 and 19 from which respective o° a players 20 and 21 must locate themselves to commence play.

o 00 20 While the rules of a game appropriate for use of the device can be considerably varied some of the enjoyment of the game will be appreciated if the rules include the limitation of one member being confined to area 22 and the other to 23 and that upon throwing a ball (such as a conventional tennis ball) onto the rebound surface, the opposite player e.g. 21 must stop movement as soon as the ball is caught.

The ball must the be thrown from this position so as to land with its first bounce in the opposing area such as 22 or the caught by the opposing member Such repetition of throwing will occur until one of the players either defaults in accord with the rules or fails to catch the ball and it does not land within the appropriate court area.

From the description, it will now be appreciated that by throwing the ball some greater accuracy can provide for a bounce of the ball not from a central essentially planar part of the concave 6 surface but from a side of the concave surface so that the extent to which the deflection occurs is very much harder to judge by an opposing player.

With great skill, the lower part or the upper part of the concave surface can also be used so as to cause the ball to rebound either high or low thus causing much greater difficulty and much greater skill requirement for players.

Such an arrangement is achieved by a very small rebound surface area.

While reference has been made to particular sizes and to types of material, it will be appreciated that the shape and size of the 15 rebound member can be significantly varied and it could extend 0 very readily from being of oval shape with an approximately o "o metre oval diameter to as much as 2 metres in diameter.

0 oorcoes The closeness of the appropriate court line can be varied o 20 depending upon the size of the rebound member so that in proportion to this, if the diameter of the rebound member is substantially greater, then the distance away should be appropriately greater and should be perhaps two the three times the diameter where the inner line is radially extending from a location of the rebound member considered as a centre and where the diameter of the rebound member is considered as the 0 0 0 maximum distance between the most extremely separated parts defining the perimeter of the rebound surface.

The back line then accordingly, in accord with this extra distance at the front and would be located at a radial distance in proportion to the dimensions already indicated or in proportion to the illustrations already shown.

Claims

1. Apparatus for assisting the playing of a ball game comprising a rebound member including a body providing a concave rebound surface and means adapted to support the body with respect to a court surface so that the rebound surface can be useful as a target for playing of a rebound type ball game, said body comprising of fibre reinforced plastic material and including a perimeter stiffening and rearwardly extending skirt.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the rebound member has a rebound surface having a substantially oval perimeter. 0 0 C3. Apparatus as in claim 2, further characterized in that the concave o shape is such that there is provided at a central location as defined e between the perimeter surface, a portion substantially co-planar with the perimeter surface and the sides providing the rebound surface o 20 extending from such central location proceeding with substantially uniform curvature around to a respective perimeter part.

4. Apparatus as in any one of the preceding claims further 00ooo0 o000o characterized in that the body is supported by legs which extend 25 rearwardly from the body. 00 oo 005. Apparatus as in the last preceding claim further characterized in that there are two lowermost rearwardly extending legs and an upper most rearwardly extending leg. C o

6. Apparatus as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the rebound surface is adapted to be supported so as to define an inclined angle with respect to a supporting court surface which lies substantially between 45% and 65% with respect to the supporting surface. ma--moomm 8

7. An installation for the playing of a ball game wherein apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims is supported on a court surface.

8. An installation as in the last preceding claim further characterized in that the court shape is marked out to define two generally triangular shapes in adjacent relationship, each extending in radial extension from a rebound surface of the said apparatus.

9. An installation as in any one of the last two preceding claims further characterized in that there is an inner boundary line and an outer boundary line, each being arcuately located where the substantial o 15 centre of the arcuate shape is located in the vicinity of the rebound surface of the apparatus. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying 20 drawings.

11. An installation substantially as hereinbefore described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying 0o0o drawings. Dated this 19th day of April 1990 000 4 00 HARRY FRITZ BOIKOWSKI By his Patent Attorneys 0 30 COLLISON CO. ;i