CH676672A5 - - Google Patents

Description

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The invention relates to a device for collecting and storing balls, in particular tennis balls, with a container for the balls, which has at least one opening on its underside for pushing the balls into the interior of the container when collecting, and which can be temporarily closed at the top.

Such a device is known, for example, from US Pat. No. 4,412,697. In particular, in this known device, the container for the balls is designed as a grid basket, the bottom grid bars of which are provided at a corresponding distance from one another in order to allow balls to pass between them to enable. In order to facilitate the pushing of the balls through the openings defined in this way on the bottom side of the container, longitudinally slotted tubular holding bodies are also movably mounted on these floor bars, which can deflect obliquely upwards when the balls are pushed through. This principle of pushing baffles into the interior of the container is already widely known, albeit mostly in connection with fixed opening edges or holding rods, cf. here also, for example, US Pat. No. 3,982,781, US Pat. No. 3,371,950, DE-OS 2,427,362, DE-OS 2,637,942 or US Pat. No. 4,063,769, according to which the balls pass through an elongated feed pipe into the Inside the container.

In the device according to the first-mentioned US Pat. No. 4,412,697 (and similarly to that according to DE-OS 2 637 942), bow-like handle parts are pivotally attached to the outside on two opposite side walls of the container, which in the pivoted-up state as a handle , but serve as stand parts when pivoted downwards. However, these pivotable brackets allow only an extremely low, usually insufficient stability both as a handle when collecting the balls and in their position as a stand for the container, so that the known devices are problematic in their handling and become unusable relatively quickly. Difficulties are above all the stable fixation of the bow-like handle parts in the individual positions, even if, according to an embodiment described in US Pat. No. 4,412,697, in the upwardly folded handle position with the help of a lid-like, with Hook for locking provided flap part is accomplished.

From WO 80/00 238 and DE-OS 3 144 970, other types of ball collecting devices are known which are designed in the form of a movable carriage. The balls roll for collection over a solid wall into the container, for which purpose the device is tilted backwards (WO 80/00 238), or the balls are thrown into a collecting basket by a throwing device (DE-OS 3 144 970). These known ball collecting devices are therefore relatively complex in construction and yet quite unreliable in their function when collecting balls.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device of the type specified in the introduction, in which a problem-free use in the two functions - collecting balls on the one hand and removing balls from the container on the other - enables sufficient stability and simple construction of the device becomes.

The device according to the invention of the type mentioned at the outset is characterized in that the container is subdivided in height by at least one elongated, rod-shaped dividing body into a lower collecting compartment and an upper removal compartment and the dividing body between a blocking position in which it allows the passage of balls between locks the compartments, and a release position releasing the passage of the balls is movable in order to prevent the balls falling out of the collecting compartment past the dividing body located in the release position into the removal compartment, with restraint, when the temporarily closed container is turned upside down to enable.

With such a design, the forces required when collecting balls to push them through are not transmitted to the container via folding brackets or the like which represent weak points, but rather are introduced essentially directly into the container walls, which can be designed to be sufficiently stable. If the lower or collecting compartment is filled when the balls are collected, the upper removal compartment on the top is temporarily closed, the container is turned through 180 °, i.e. turned upside down so that the balls can fall past the dividing body now in the release position and into the removal compartment now located below, and finally the container is brought back to its normal position, the dividing body now in the locked position preventing the balls from falling through prevented the removal compartment into the collecting compartment, which is now at the bottom again, ie in this position the dividing body forms a “floor” for the removal compartment. In comparison to the known devices, the container can be regarded as a double container, i.e. Each compartment corresponds, seen in terms of the ball holding capacity, to a container of the known devices in one or the other functional position (collecting or removing balls). In the device according to the invention, high stability can also be achieved when setting up for the purpose of removing balls by placing the container, which is designed, for example, as a tube with a rectangular cross-section, with its underside standing directly on the floor, i.e. no fold-out stand part or the like is necessary, but in this position the removal compartment is still at a sufficient height to enable balls to be removed easily, for example when playing tennis. In itself, however, the container does not necessarily have to be tubular, with full container walls, it can of course be

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fundamentally also in the manner of a lattice basket, as known per se, or in the form of a frame with nets attached to it, which form the side walls. However, a full-walled design of the container is preferred, in particular in one piece made of plastic.

The temporary closure of the container type of the top has the primary function in the present device to prevent the balls from falling out when the container is turned upside down. In contrast, when balls are removed from the upper removal compartment, this temporary closure is not intended to constitute any hindrance.

For a simple design, in which, moreover, the (at least one) subdivision body moves automatically into the release or blocking position, depending on the position of the container, it has proven to be advantageous if the subdivision body is mounted so as to be displaceable in oblique guides on opposite container walls Subdivision rod is formed.

The oblique guides, which are for example at an angle of 30 ° to 40 ° to the vertical, i.e. somewhat steeper than 45 ", can be formed by groove-shaped depressions on the inside of the container walls. However, from a manufacturing point of view, it has proven to be particularly favorable here if the oblique guides are formed by bearing slots in the container walls. Such slot-shaped openings or bearing slots are formed simply cut or punched out in the container walls, so that more complex shaping processes, such as groove-shaped depressions, can be dispensed with.

In the case of larger container cross sections, an embodiment has also proven to be particularly advantageous, which is characterized in that subdivision rods belonging together in pairs are slidably mounted in guides which diverg upwards, these subdivision rods in the position at the lower end of the guides being at a distance from one another which is smaller than the diameter of the balls, but in the position at the other end of the guides a distance which is greater than the diameter of the balls. In order to prevent the subdivision rods from holding back balls in the collecting compartment unintentionally, it is also advantageous if the upper ends of the guides in the normal position of the container, if several pairs of subdivision rods are provided, those of the outer guides, are provided near the vertical longitudinal edges of the two container walls. In this regard, it is also advantageous if, if several pairs of subdivision rods are provided, the upper ends of the adjacent subdivision rods of different pairs are provided close to one another.

Above all, in order to find the length with the narrowest possible guides and thus not to impair the strength or stability of the container, it is also advantageous if the or each dividing rod at its ends compared to the rest

Rod body has cross-sectionally smaller bearing sections. As a result, a limitation is also automatically achieved against axial displacements of the dividing rod (s) and thus a safeguard against falling out in the event that bearing slots are provided as guides.

In order to "stabilize" the subdivision rods in their lower locking position, it is also advantageous if the guides are vertically angled at their lower ends.

Another advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention, in which a swiveling movement between the blocking position and the release position is provided for the subdivision body instead of a guided, in particular linear displacement, is characterized in that the subdivision body by a rod-shaped web extending transversely through the container a bracket is pivotally mounted on opposite container walls with end legs.

It is furthermore advantageous if stops are attached to the bracket on at least one of the container walls and cooperate with the adjacent leg of the bracket to limit the pivoting movement in the release or in the blocking position.

As already mentioned, a temporary closing of the container in the device according to the invention is of primary importance in order to prevent balls from falling out of the container turned upside down. The container can easily be held closed by any wall elements without the need for a separate lid or the like. Accordingly, it is advantageous if, for temporarily closing the container on its upper side on two mutually opposite container walls, extensions are provided which can be pivoted towards one another. If two mutually opposite movable handle parts are provided on the container, it is also advantageous if the extensions form the handle parts. For convenient handling, it is also advantageous if the extensions forming the handle parts have handle halves on their top, which complement one another in the pivoted-together state of the extensions.

With a view to simple manufacture, it has also proven to be advantageous if the extensions are flat and approximately triangular-shaped container wall extensions are provided transversely to them, against which the extensions can be pivoted inwards.

It is also advantageous in this regard if the extensions are formed in one piece with the container walls, in particular made of plastic, and can be deflected elastically. In itself, however, it would also be quite conceivable to connect the extensions to the container walls via hinge joints, which are prestressed, for example by springs, into a position in which the extensions are pivoted apart; such training is associated with a higher design effort, and

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Practical tests have shown that an elastic deflectability in the case of a one-piece construction, as mentioned above, is completely satisfactory and permanent.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of preferred exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. Show it:

Figure 1 is a schematic longitudinal section through a device for collecting and storing tennis balls, in one position when collecting the tennis balls.

FIG. 2 shows the device according to FIG. 1 in an upside-down position in order to drop the collected tennis balls into a compartment of the container provided for removal;

3 shows the device according to FIGS. 1 and 2, now again in its upright normal position, the collected tennis balls in the upper removal section of the container being ready for removal;

4 and 5 in schematic partial horizontal sectional views, according to the line A-A in FIG. 1, two possible embodiments for a subdivision between the container compartments forming subdivision bodies pivotably mounted on the container walls;

6 shows a schematic elevation view of a further device for collecting and storing tennis balls;

FIG. 7 shows a side view of this device according to FIG. 6;

Fig. 8 to 10 in a side view (Fig. 8), in a front view (Fig. 9) and in a view obliquely from above, in the direction of arrow C in Fig. 9, (Fig. 10), a handle half for 6;

11 to 13 schematically in vertical partial sectional views, according to the line B-B in FIG. 6, different embodiments for the dividing bars provided in the device according to FIG. 6 and their storage in guides on the container walls; and

Fig. 14 on a larger scale compared to Fig. 6 is a partial view of the device in the area of the dividing bars and the bottom of the container, to illustrate the operation of the device when collecting tennis balls or when transferring them into the removal compartment of the container.

The apparatus for collecting and storing tennis balls illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 comprises a container 1 which is tubular, e.g. is formed in one piece from plastic and has, for example, a rectangular or square cross section. This container 1 has on its underside two openings 2, 3, which are delimited by solid, elongated holding bodies in the form of rods 4, 5, 6. The width of the openings 2, 3, i.e. the distance between the poles 4, 5 and 5, 6, as is known per se, is chosen to be somewhat smaller than the diameter of the tennis balls 7, so that these tennis balls 7 only with the application of a certain minimum force, with elastic deformation, in the inside of the container can be pushed through, "falling out of the balls 7 from the container 1 due to gravity is not possible.

In order to be able to press the container 1 against the floor on which the balls lie during this collection of the tennis balls 7, the container 1 has a handle 8 on its upper side, which, for example via bow-shaped or plate-shaped connecting parts 9, on two opposite container walls connected. This handle structure 8, 9 can be fixed, i.e. immobile and therefore stable.

The container 1, which in practice can have a height of approximately 80 cm to approximately 1 m, i.e. is more than twice as high as conventional tennis ball collecting containers, is divided into two compartments, preferably at approximately half the height, for example by two rod-shaped dividing bodies 10, namely a lower collecting compartment 11 and an upper removal compartment 12. The two subdivision bodies 10 are movably mounted on two opposite container walls (only one of which can be seen in FIG. 1, the rear one, 17); in particular, the subdivision bodies 10, as can be seen in particular from FIG. 4, are formed, for example, by brackets 15 pivotably mounted with their legs 13 on pins 14, the bar-shaped web 16 of which extends transversely through the interior of the container. This web 16 can, as shown in FIG. 4, be rotatably mounted on the legs 13, but it can also, as illustrated in FIG. 5, be integrally formed with the legs of the bracket 19. The pivot pin 14 can be attached to the respective container wall, e.g. 17, integrally formed or, for example, by screwing, attached. In the case of an integrally formed pivot pin 14, the leg 13 of the bracket 15 with a correspondingly dimensioned bearing opening 18 can be snapped over the head of the pin 14 using the material elasticity (FIG. 4). 5, the one-piece bracket 19 forming the partition body 10 with a pivot pin 20 on each side is in an opening in the associated container wall, e.g. 17, used and so pivoted.

The pivoting movement of the two subdivision bodies 10 is in each case made by stops 21 (for the locking device, cf., in particular FIGS. 1 and 2), in particular integrally formed, on the container wall 17 (and preferably also on the container wall 17 opposite, not visible in the drawing) 3) and 22 (for the release position, see FIG. 2) limited. Such a stop 21 can also be seen in the horizontal sectional view of FIGS. 4 and 5, it being clear that the stops, e.g. 21, only as far from the container wall, e.g. 17, protrude into the interior of the container 1, that the leg 13 of the bracket 15 or 19 can come to bear on them, but that they do not hinder the movements of the tennis balls 7 located in the container 1.

It follows from the above that the subdivision bodies 10 can be freely pivoted under the action of gravity and, on the one hand,

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ne horizontal locking position (Fig. 1 and 3), in abutment against the stops 21, or a vertical release position, in abutment with the other stops 22, (Fig. 2), the latter when the device, i.e. the container 1 is turned upside down. If the device according to FIG. 1 is used for collecting tennis balls 7 lying on the floor, the balls are pressed in succession by pressing the container 1 with its underside 23 against the floor through the openings 2 and 3. This process is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The tennis balls 7 get into the interior of the container, namely into the lower collecting compartment 11. The subdivision bodies 10 are in this position of the container 1 in their horizontal, i.e. downward pivoted locking position in which the rod webs 16 of the bracket 15 and 19 block the passage between the two container compartments 11, 12.

When the lower collecting compartment 11 of the container 1 is filled (for example, up to 40 or 50 tennis balls can be collected in this way), the container 1 is turned upside down to assume the inverted position shown in FIG. The subdivision bodies 10 swivel downward due to the force of gravity until they abut the lateral stops 22, and they are now in their vertical release position, in which the passage of the tennis balls 7 from the collecting compartment 11, which is now located above, into the removal compartment 12 underneath is released , as is also illustrated schematically in FIG. 2.

When the container 1 is turned upside down, as shown in FIG. 2, it is important that the top side of the container 1, which is open per se, is provided with a temporary closure, for example in the form of a removable cover 24. This temporary closure prevents the balls 7 from falling out of the removal compartment 12 while the container 1 is turned upside down.

When all balls 7 have fallen out of the collecting compartment 11 into the removal compartment 12 in this way, the container 1 is brought back into its normal position, cf. Fig. 3. The partition body 10 pivot back into their horizontal locking position, in which they rest against the stops 21 located further inside, and in which the rod-shaped webs 16 prevent the balls 7 from falling out of the removal compartment 12, which is now at the top, into the prevent lower collecting compartment 11. It has been shown that this transfer of the tennis balls 7 from the collecting compartment 11 into the removal compartment 12 and the pivoting back of the subdivision body 10 into the locked position is possible without any special skill, and without unwanted tennis balls 7 again from the removal compartment 12 fall back into the Sam melabteii 11.

If the tennis balls 7 are now in the upper removal compartment 12 of the container 1, they can be conveniently removed, for example when practicing the tennis game, the container simply being placed on the bottom of the tennis court with its underside 23.

The removable cover 24 shown in FIG. 2 for temporarily closing the top of the container is a separate part that has to be kept separately, which can sometimes be perceived as disadvantageous. As such, a hinged hinged lid could be provided instead, but this involves a certain amount of design effort, which is not always justified. In the particularly preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, a simpler, nonetheless satisfactory solution is provided, as will be explained in more detail below.

Also in the device according to FIGS. 6 and 7, a container 1 in the form of a plastic tube with a rectangular cross section is provided. The tubular shape of the container 1 can also be obtained, for example, by heating an initially flat blank made of plastic material to form a square tube shape and then at the butt seam 25 where the two edges of the blank meet, for example by gluing or welding connection strips 26 on is connected.

Again, on opposite container walls (the front container wall 27 can be seen in FIG. 6, in FIG. 7 both the rear container wall 17 corresponding to the container wall 17 in the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 3) and the front container wall 27 are closed see) rod-shaped dividing body 10 • movably mounted, this dividing body 10 in turn dividing the container 1 in its interior into a lower collecting compartment 11 for the tennis balls 7 and into an upper removal compartment 12. The subdivision level is preferably again approximately half the height of the container 1, the container 1 as a whole e.g. can be about 1 m high. The design, storage and function of these subdivision bodies 10 as well as the design, storage and function of three elongated openings provided on the underside of the container, e.g. 2, for the pushing through of the tennis balls 7 limiting holding body 28 will be explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 14.

From FIGS. 6 and 7 it can be seen that on two opposing container walls 29, 30, integrally deflectable extensions 31, 32 connect at the top due to the material elasticity, the deflectability of these extensions 31, 32 through semi-circular recesses 33 shown in FIG. 7 on both Longitudinal edges are favored. The recesses 33 approximately define a pivot axis or a pivot axis region 34, about which the upper extensions 31 and 32 can be pivoted inwards towards one another from their normal position shown in FIG. 6, as shown schematically in FIG. 6 with dashed lines Lines is illustrated. On their upper side, the two extensions 31, 32 are provided with a central grip recess 35 (FIG. 7), and if this grip recess 35 does not extend to the upper edge, a grip bar can be obtained, as schematically shown in FIG. 7 is shown with dash-dotted lines at 36. Here but

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the plate material of the container walls and thus also the extensions 31, 32 is relatively thin and thus such a handle web 36 would be relatively sharp-edged, it is preferred to instead place separate handle halves 37 and 38 on the extensions 31, 32, the design of which can be identical and identical 8 to 10, the prerequisite for the placement of these handle halves 37, 38 is that the handle recess 35 shown in FIG. 7 extends to the upper edge, as shown in full lines, so that two plate-shaped legs 39, 40 are present on both sides of the handle recess 35, the corresponding incisions 41 and 42 (Fig. 9, 10) of the respective handle half, for example 37, can be inserted. Each handle half 37 and 38 has a flat dividing surface 43, the two handle halves 37, 38 lying flat against one another with these dividing surfaces 43 in the inwardly pivoted state of the extensions 31, 32 and thus complementing one another to form a compact, easily graspable handle 44, cf. . also Fig. 6. The other, outer side of the handle halves 37, 38 can be semicircular in cross section or, as shown, polygonal (e.g. corresponding to the handle of a tennis racket). The slots or incisions 41, 42, which extend inwards from the two end faces of the handle halves 37, 38, have a correspondingly oblique orientation (cf. FIGS. 9 and 6) in order for the extensions 31, 32 to be pivoted in the inwardly pivoted state To allow contact of the handle halves with the surfaces 43 and addition to the compact handle.

Accordingly, if the extensions 31, 32, which are to be regarded as handle parts, are elastically deflected inwards and then the handle 44 is gripped by hand, the container 1 is thereby temporarily closed on its upper side, with this closure also on the other two container walls 17, 27 provided extensions or wall sections 45, 46 contribute, which are approximately triangular in view, with the tip cut off.

As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 14, four subdivision bodies 10 are provided which are each formed by a subdivision rod 47, cf. 11 to 13. These subdivision rods 47 are guided with their ends in oblique, straight guides 48 and thus between a lower end position, the blocking position, which is shown in FIG. 14 in the left half of the figure, and an upper end position 14, the guides 48 can diverge upwards in pairs in order to enable the dividing bars 47 to be moved apart during the transfer from the locked position into the released position. It should be mentioned here that the position illustrated in the right half in FIG. 14 is actually assumed when the container 1 has been turned upside down, similarly to the case with container 1 according to FIG. 2, so that then the subdivision rods 47 simply due to gravity in the in Flg. 14, for the sake of simplicity, illustrated, but then actually located below, moved apart release position. In this release division, balls such as the tennis ball 7 illustrated at the top right in FIG. 14 can then be passed between the dividing bars 47, i.e. past the respective subdivision bodies 10, from the collecting compartment 11 into the removal compartment 12. So that the dividing bars 47 in the release division do not hinder the falling of the balls 7, the corresponding upper ends 49 of the outer guides 48 are as close as possible to the adjacent container walls 29 and 30, and the corresponding upper ends 49 of the two middle guides belonging to different pairs 48 are close together, so that when the container 1 is turned upside down, no ball can remain on the dividing bars 47 located in the area of these ends 49.

It has proven to be advantageous if the two middle guides 48, which diverge obliquely upwards, each have an angle of 38 ° to the vertical, i.e. enclose an angle of 76® with each other, whereas the two outer guides 48 are somewhat steeper and e.g. can have an angle of 30 ° to the vertical. With these angles of inclination, problem-free displacement or sliding of the dividing rods 47 in the guides 48 when the container 1 is turned upside down (as already explained above with reference to FIG. 2) is ensured, even when, as in FIG. 6 and 14, the lower ends 50 of the guides 48 for stabilizing the dividing bars 47 run a short distance vertically in their locking division.

The length of the guides 48 can be, for example, 4 cm to 4.5 cm. Further, in the paired guides 48, the lower ends 50 may be about 6.4 cm apart and the upper ends 49 about 10.8 cm apart, while the upper ends 49 of the two middle guides 48 belonging to different pairs are about 1 cm apart can have.

The guides 48 are formed in particular by simple bearing slots 51 in the container walls 17 and 27, cf. 11 and 12, these bearing slots 51 being able to be kept particularly narrow when the dividing rods 47 are guided in these bearing slots 51 with bearing sections 52 of smaller cross-section, cf. Fig. 11. These smaller cross-sectional end bearing portions 52 can be integral with the rest of the rod body, they can be obtained by appropriate shaping or by twisting etc., but they can also by screwing or pressing in corresponding pins on the end faces of the rod body Subdivision rods 47 can be obtained.

Such end sections 52 of smaller cross-section can also be provided if none of the guides 48 pass through the respective container wall, e.g. 17, slit-shaped openings therethrough, i.e. Bearing slots 51,

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are provided, but only depressions 53 extending over part of the thickness of the container wall, as shown in FIG. 13.

As can be seen on the other hand from FIG. 12, the ends of the subdivision rods 47 can also be closed with external, larger cross-sectional caps or flanges 54, which also prevents the subdivision rods 47 from falling out of the bearing slots 51.

In a similar way to that described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13, rods provided as holding bodies 28 can be formed on the underside of the container 1, these rod-shaped holding bodies 28 which define the openings, e.g. 2 (FIG. 6), for pushing the balls 7 into the interior of the container, in view approximately in the form of an isosceles triangle formed on the tip and formed in the container walls, e.g. 27, are movably mounted. The rod-shaped holding bodies 28 can be moved in pairs diagonally upwards from a lower holding position illustrated on the right in FIG. the representation in the left half of Fig. 14, so as to facilitate the passage of the balls 7 by enlarging the passage opening. Thereafter, the rod-shaped holding bodies 28 fall back downward into the position shown on the right in FIG. 14 due to the force of gravity.

The operation of the particularly preferred device described with reference to Figs. 6 to 14 when transferring the collected balls, e.g. Tennis balls 7, from the lower collecting compartment 11 in • the upper removal compartment 12 and the subsequent removal of the balls from this upper removal compartment 12 corresponds to that as has already been explained above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, so that a new description is unnecessary can. It should only be pointed out that, in contrast to the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 3, in the embodiment according to FIGS. 6 to 14 there is no pivoting movement of subdivision bodies 10, but a sliding movement in guides 48 around the subdivision bodies, namely subdivision rods 47 to move the locking position into the release position and back, and that the temporary closure of the container 1 according to FIGS. 6 and 7 is accomplished by elastically deflectable container wall extensions 31, 32. When the container 1 is turned upside down, this container 1 can be held in one hand by means of the handle 44, while it can be swiveled around and supported with the other hand. During this swiveling, the dividing rods 47 fall out of their locked position at one end 50 of the guides 48 into their release position at the other ends 49 of the guides 48, and when the container 1 is finally returned to the normal position illustrated in FIG Subdivision rods 47 back to their original locked position, in which they practically one -

interrupted - form the bottom for the upper removal compartment 12 and prevent the balls 7 from falling into the lower collection compartment 11.

If the invention has been explained in more detail above on the basis of particularly preferred exemplary embodiments, further modifications and modifications are of course possible without leaving the scope of the invention. For example, it is conceivable to provide narrower containers 1, for example with only one pair of subdivision rods 47 in the embodiment according to FIGS. 4, 6 and 14, or wider containers, with more pairs of subdivision rods. Furthermore, it would also be conceivable in the embodiment according to FIG. 6 to articulate the upper container wall extensions 31, 32, which represent handle parts for the device, via hinges on the container walls 29, 30, wherein these hinge joints can also be prestressed in this way by springs that the extensions 31, 32 are always pressed into the normal position illustrated in FIG. 6, in alignment with the container walls 29, 30. It is also possible, on the upper edges of the extensions 31, 32 handle halves according to the attached and e.g. molded on the handle halves 37, 38 directly in one piece. The extensions 31, 32 can also be bowl-shaped, with flange-like legs lying in one plane with the other container walls 17, 27, so that the container wall extensions 45, 46 can be dispensed with, since the temporary closure of the container 1 at these points the leg mentioned is ensured. Finally, instead of the full-walled container 1, as shown, in particular with a rectangular cross-section, the container 1 can also be designed, for example, with grid walls, as is known per se.

Practical tests have moreover shown that 30 to 40 tennis balls can be easily collected with the device as described and transported into the removal compartment.

Claims (1)

Claims 1. Device for collecting and storing balls (7), in particular tennis balls, with a container (1) for the balls, which has at least one opening (2, 3) on its underside for pushing the balls into the interior of the container when collecting, and which can be temporarily closed at the top, characterized in that the container (1) is divided in height by at least one elongated, rod-shaped dividing body (10) into a lower collecting compartment (11) and an upper removal compartment (12) and the dividing body ( 10) between a blocking position, in which it blocks the passage of balls (7) between the compartments (11, 12), and a release position, which releases the passage of the balls (7), in order to be turned upside down of the temporarily closed container (1), the balls (7) falling out of the collecting compartment (11) past the subdivision body (10) located in the release position into the En tnah5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 7 13 CH 676 672 A5 14 abbey! (12) with restraint in this. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the subdivision body (10) is formed by a subdivision rod (47) slidably mounted in oblique guides (48) on opposite container walls (17, 27). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the oblique guides (48) through bearing slots (51) in the container walls (17, 27) are formed. 4. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that paired subdivision rods (47) are slidably mounted in upwardly diverging guides (48), these subdivision rods (47) in the position at the lower end (50) of the guides (48 ) have a distance from one another which is smaller than the diameter of the balls (7), but in the position at the other end (49) of the guides (48) a distance which is larger than the diameter of the balls (7). 5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that in the normal position of the container (1) upper ends (49) of the guides (48), with the provision of several pairs of sub-bars (47) that of the outer guides, close to the vertical longitudinal edges of the two Container walls (17.27) are provided. 6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that when several pairs of subdivision rods (47) are provided, the upper ends (49) of the adjacent subdivision rods of different pairs of associated guides (48) are provided close to one another. 7. Device according to one of claims 2 to 6 », characterized in that the or each dividing rod (47) has at its ends with respect to the rest of the rod body smaller cross-sectional bearing portions (52). 8. Device according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the guides (48) extend vertically angled at their lower ends (50). 9. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the dividing body (10) by a transverse through the container (1) extending rod-shaped web (16) on opposite container walls (eg 17) mitend-sided leg (13) pivotally mounted bracket (15; 19) is formed. 10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that the bracket (15) on at least one of the container walls (17) attached, with the adjacent leg (13) of the bracket (15; 19) cooperating stops (21, 22) for limiting the Swivel movement in the release or in the locked position are assigned. 11. The device according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that for temporarily closing the container (1) on its top on two opposite container walls (29, 30) to each other to the top pivotable extensions (31,32) are provided. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, with two mutually opposite on the container provided movable handle parts, characterized in that the extensions (31,32) form the handle parts. 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the extensions forming the handle parts (31, 32) carry on their upper side handle halves (37, 38) which, when the extensions (31, 32) are pivoted together, form a handle (44). complete. 14. Device according to one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the extensions (31, 32) are flat and transverse to them, approximately triangular container wall extensions (45, 46) are provided, against which the extensions (31, 32) can be pivoted inwards. 15. The device according to one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that the extensions (31, 32) are integral with the container walls (29, 30), e.g. made of plastic, and are elastically deflectable. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8th