EP2421616B1

EP2421616B1 - Height adjustable basketball backboard assembly with a basket

Info

Publication number: EP2421616B1
Application number: EP10726649.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rado Svab; Josko Potocnik
Original assignee: Elan Inventa Druzba Za Proizvodnjo In Storitve d o o
Current assignee: Elan Inventa Druzba Za Proizvodnjo In Storitve d o o
Priority date: 2009-04-21
Filing date: 2010-04-20
Publication date: 2014-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2030-04-20
Also published as: EP2421616A1; SI23022A; WO2010123466A1

Description

The present invention relates to a height adjustable basketball backboard assembly with a basket, which allows playing basketball to players of various ages and various heights. According to MPC, such inventions belong to sports i.e. ball-games, namely to basketball-related requisites.
The purpose of the invention is to create a simple and reliable backboard assembly with a basket, which should be height adjustable in the area between two predetermined values of height, when measured in the vertical direction between the ground and the basketball ring, wherein such assembly should also be adapted for subsequently mounting thereof on each existing support construction used for supporting the backboard above each indoor or outdoor playground, and wherein at the same time also a simple handling of such assembly should be assured in the sense of quick adjusting each desired height of the backboard with the basked by lowest possible physical effort.
Among various rules related to basketball, the height of the basket is also determined, namely the vertical distance between the basketball ring and the playground, which is 305 cm for seniors and 260 cm for seniors. Since both these groups of players may perform training and playing matches on the same playground, it is therefore desired that the height of the basked could be adjusted in accordance with each particular requirements.
The need on adjusting the height of the basket arose in numerous states during the last years, so that simultaneously with enabling such height adjusting also the possibility should be given about just modifying of the existing equipment for such purposes, which is essentially less expensive than replacing the complete equipment and the users may then easier decide to approach.
A height adjustable basketball assembly is described in US 4,948,127 and comprises a pair of vertically oriented concentric glide tubes, the inner of which may slide within the outer. The top and bottom of the inner glide tubes are connected to mounting brackets to which a basketball backboard may be fastened. The outer glide tubes are connected to a pair of cross bracket members which are in turn fastened to an existing support frame extending from the wall or ceiling adjacent a basketball court. The inner glide tubes may be moved relative to the outer glide tubes by a threaded screw shaft which is carried in a shaft housing permitting free rotation of the screw shaft, and rotated by a hand crank or motor. Such assembly is height adjustable and can be also mounted onto each existing support frame or any other construction for bearing the basketball backboard. However, when the backboard is height adjustable by means of motor, the motor is probably an electric motor, so that the electric installation must be assured in the adjacency, which can raise serious problems about the safety, investments or the like. Of course, each required height adjusting can also be performed manually, but then it requires pretty lot of time and also an essential physical effort.
A basketball assembly is proposed in EP 0 586 810 , consisting of a support pole as well as of a backboard with a basket i.e. a ring with a net, wherein said backboard is attached to said pole by means of a mechanism formed of two parallel levers, which are connected with the pole and the backboard. The first lever is in the area of its end portions pivotally connected on the one hand with the top end of said pole and on the other hand with the top area of the backboard. The second lever is with one of its ends pivotally connected to the bottom portion of the backboard, the central area thereof is pivotally attached to said pole in the area below the attaching point of the previously mentioned lever, while the residual end portion of said second lever is attached to a bush, by which said pole is surrounded. By changing the position of said bush along the pole, positions of said levers are also changed, by which the distance between the backboard any the playground is changed, although the backboard is maintained in at least approximately vertical position. Said bush may then be fixed in each desired position by means of a pin, which is insertable there-through, namely throughout one of disposable bores, which are for such purposes foreseen on the pole. Besides, said support contains appropriate ballast, by which the weight of the backboard together with the ring may be compensated, so that each movement of the backboard on some higher level is correspondingly easier. There are some deficiencies, which relate to such an approach. Such height adjustable basketball backboard cannot be mounted onto existing constructions or poles. Besides, said concept of the mechanism as such enables achieving a required rigidity whenever the loads act in the vertical direction, but not also in the horizontal plane. Insufficient rigidity in the horizontal plane may lead to vibrations, whenever the ball impacts the backboard or the ring, which normally has essential impact with regard to objective score in the case of successively shooting.
CA 2,325,753 proposes basketball equipment, where the backboard is attached on a pole and is displaceable along thereof by means of rotating appropriate spindle. Also such a concept cannot be used for just modifying the existing equipment, by which also said lack of rigidity in the horizontal direction occurs. The spindle allows adjusting the height of the backboard, namely the distance between the basket and each playground, but such gradually displacing along the distance of approx. 45 cm by rotating said spindle may take a lot of time and may also require essential physically effort, in particular when bearing in mind that such backboard together with the basket may also be quite heavy, By displacing the backboard upwards such problem is much higher than by displacing towards the playground, since the friction by rotating the spindle must also be taken into account in addition to just displacing certain weight.
Still further, a mobile basketball equipment is proposed in JP 2004180876A , where a frame on wheels is foreseen, onto which an inclined beam supported by appropriate supporting means is mounted. Displacing said support together with said beam leads to adjusting the height of the basked and is performed by means of the electric driving means. It is clear that such device is quite inappropriate for the purposes of modifying the existing basketball equipment. The complete construction requires much more space beyond the playground, which is in small indoor playgrounds often not available, and each required electric connection for the purposes of supplying the driving means or loading a battery may lead to further modifications or adapting of each existing building, into which such equipment should be placed.
Still further, a basketball backboard is proposed in US 2009/0048041 A1 , which comprises two vertical guides. On each guide there is a beam, by which the backboard and guide assembly is attached to each disposable support construction, wherein said beams are firmly interconnected by means of a transversal beam arranged between said guides. Two bushes are foreseen on each guide, which are located apart from each other and by which a backboard with appropriate basket is firmly interconnected, so that by means of said pairs of bushes said backboard is then vertically upwards or downwards displaceable along the guides by means of rotating appropriate spindle in one or another direction, by which said spindle cooperates with each corresponding bush on said transversal beam, wherein each displacement of the backboard is correlated with tensioning or releasing of a torsion spring, which is available within appropriate casing located in the area of said transversal beam and is intended to compensate at least partially the weight of the backboard by lifting thereof. Such concept allows sufficiently rigid support of the backboard, so that by sufficiently rigid support construction each possible vibrations of the basket ring due to impact of the ball in the horizontal direction may then be excluded or at least essentially reduced. Certain problem results from the concept of both beams, which are used for attachment of the backboard on the support construction, since the presence of appropriately arranged bores of certain diameter is required, which is not easy to assure by modification of each existing equipment. Moreover, compensation of the weight by means of said torsion spring may also lead to hesitation in respect of characteristic of such spring. When namely the spring is maximally tensioned, then a sufficient torsion torque is available for the purposes of compensation the weight of the backboard together with corresponding basket due to easier rotation of the spindle, however is then quickly decreasing during rotation of the spindle. If therefore the weight should really be compensated along the complete path of displacing the backboard, then the spring would have to be extremely long, which is however on such basketball equipment quite impossible. Another problem results from the concept of the spindle as such, since it is a single-thread spindle, which needs to be rotated quite a long time in order to assure the path of 45 cm. The required time might e.g. be reduced by amending the thread inclination, which would then lead to still more physical effort required for rotating the spindle, by which such approach is also limited by the angle of nonreversibility of the thread, since by overcoming such angle the spindle would start rotating by itself due to the weight of the backboard.
The present invention relates to a height adjustable basketball backboard assembly with a basket, wherein said backboard consisting of a frame as well as of a front panel comprises an usual basket. Said backboard is for the purposes of moving thereof in the vertical direction by means of bushes guided along at least two appropriately apart from each other located guides. Performing of said movement of the backboard in the vertical plane upwards or down towards the ground is achieved by means of an assembly, which consists of a spindle and a belonging nut interconnected with the frame of the backboard, wherein simultaneously also a means is foreseen, which is able to compensate the weight of the backboard and to release the spindle in the area of said nut.
In accordance with the present invention, each guide is via an attachment member connected to a vertically extending bearing profile, which is either directly or indirectly via appropriate adapter interconnected with a support construction. Besides, a transversal beam is foreseen between two guiding bushes on said guides and is firmly interconnected with both of them, wherein the first one of coaxially above each other arranged nuts is foreseen on said transversal beam, and wherein said nuts are furnished with different threads, namely with a left and a right thread, and the second one is firmly interconnected with the frame of the backboard. Said nuts are each per se adapted to cooperate with two separate and differently threaded, namely left-threaded and right-threaded sections of the spindle, so that each one of these sections is adapted to cooperate with each appropriate nut, namely either with the first one, which is interconnected with the transversal beam between the guiding bushes on said guides, or with the second one, which is firmly interconnected with the frame of the backboard.
Moreover, said bearing profile is preferably a C-profile, along which an attachment assembly of the backboard is movable in the released state thereof, being firmly interconnected with each corresponding guide, and is upon that in each desired position firmly connectable with said bearing profile.
Furthermore, said compensation means, which is intended to compensate of the weight of the backboard and is on the one hand interconnected with both guides and on the other hand with the frame of the backboard, is in accordance with the present invention preferably a gas bumper.
The invention will be described in more detail on the basis of an embodiment, which is shown in the attached drawing, wherein

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a height adjustable basketball backboard with a basket;
Fig. 2 is a front view of the basketball backboard according to Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a cross-section along the plane III - III according to Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a rear perspective view of the basketball backboard in its lower position;
Fig. 5 is a detail A according to Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is a rear perspective view of the basketball backboard in its top position; and
Fig. 7 is a detail B according to Fig. 6.

A basketball backboard 1 is shown in Fig. 1 in its mounted state and in its lower position. Said backboard 1 comprising a frame 11, to which a front panel 12 and a basket are attached in usual manner, and is moreover furnished with bearing profiles 14', 14', preferably C-profiles, by means of which is attached to each disposable support construction.
Two vertical guides 15, 15" are firmly attached to said frame 11 of the backboard 1 and are located at a sufficient distance apart from each other. A guiding bush 155', 155" is placed on each guide 15', 15" and comprises an attachment assembly 156', 156" adapted to connect the guide 15', 15" with each belonging bearing profile 14', 14" and indirectly with each disposable support construction 100. Said bushes 155', 155" are interconnected by means of a beam 150.
Two nuts 16', 16" are arranged coaxially above each other, wherein one of them is left-threaded and the other id right-threaded, and wherein one of said nuts 16', 16" is attached to said beam 150 between said bushes 155', 155", while the residual one is attached to the frame 11 of the basketball backboard 1. A spindle 17 is inserted throughout said nuts 16, 16", comprising thereby two separate threaded sections 17', 17", one of them being left-threaded and the other right-threaded, so that each of these sections 17', 17" is adapted to cooperate with one of said nuts 16', 16". Those skilled in the art will understand that thanks to such concept of said spindle 17, each turn of the spindle 17 involves two times longer movement of the basketball backboard 1 than the movement, which could be achieved when just one threaded section 17', 17" would be available on the spindle 17.
A gas damper 18 (Fig. 1) is foreseen according to the invention, which is mounted between said beam 150 of guides 15', 15" and the frame 11 of the basketball backboard 1, such that by moving the backboard 1 downwards the gas contained therein is compressed, while by moving the backboard 1 upwards the compression of the gas is used for the purposes of compensation of the weight of the backboard, since rotating of the spindle 17 is much easier due to reduced friction in the area of nuts 16', 16".
Prior to mounting of said basketball backboard 1, said profiles 14', 14" are either directly or indirectly via appropriate adapters 157 (Fig. 3) attached to each disposable support construction 100 at appropriate distance apart from each other. Upon that, said guiding bushes 155', 155" together with guides 15', 15", to which the backboard 1 is connected, are attached to said profiles 14', 14" by means of attachment members 156', 156". Before that, the initial distance of the backboard 1 and the basket 13 from the ground may be precisely adjusted by displacing the attaching members 156', 156" along said profiles 14', 14". Upon firmly interconnecting said guides 15', 15" with said guides 14', 14", the basketball backboard 1 is firmly interconnected with each disposable support construction 100, upon which by rotating said spindle 17 said nuts 16', 16" may be moved either towards each other or in the opposite direction, which results in displacing the basketball backboard in the vertical direction by simultaneously performing compression or expansion of the gas contained within the damper 18.

Claims

Height adjustable basketball backboard (1) assembly with a basket (13), wherein said backboard (1) consisting of a frame (11) se well as of a front panel (12) comprises an usual basket (13) and is for the purposes of moving thereof in the vertical direction by means of bushes (155', 155") guided along at least two appropriately apart from each other located guides (15', 15"), and wherein performing of said movement of the backboard (1) in the vertical plane upwards or down towards the ground is achieved by means of an assembly consisting of a spindle (17) and a belonging nut (16', 16") interconnected with the frame (11) of the backboard (1), wherein also a means (18) is foreseen, which is able to compensate the weight of the backboard (1) and to release the spindle (17) in the area of said nut (16', 16"), characterized in that
- each guide (15', 15") is via an attachment member (156', 156") connected to a vertically extending bearing profile (14', 14"), which is either directly or indirectly via appropriate adapter (157) interconnected with a support construction (100);

- a transversal beam (150) is foreseen between two guiding bushes (155', 155") on said guides (15', 15") and is firmly interconnected with both of them;

- the first one of coaxially above each other arranged nuts (16', 16") is foreseen on said transversal beam (150), wherein said nuts (16', 16") are furnished with different thread, namely with a left and a right thread, and the second one is firmly interconnected with the frame (11) of the backboard (1); and

- said nuts (16', 16") are each per se adapted to cooperate with two separate and differently threaded, namely left-threaded and right-threaded sections (17', 17") of the spindle (17), so that each section (17', 17") is adapted to cooperate with each appropriate nut (16', 16"), namely either with the first one, which is interconnected with the transversal beam (150) between the guiding bushes (155', 155") on said guides (15', 15"), or with the second one, which is firmly interconnected with the frame (11) of the backboard (1).
Backboard assembly according to Claim 1, characterized in that said bearing profile (14', 14") is a C-profile, along which an attachment assembly (156', 156") of the backboard (156', 156") is movable in the released state thereof, being firmly interconnected with each corresponding guide (15', 15"), and is upon that in each desired position firmly connectable with said bearing profile (14', 14").
Backboard assembly according to Claim 1, characterized in that said compensation means (18), which is intended to compensate of the weight of the backboard (1) and is on the one hand interconnected with both guides (15', 15") and on the other hand with the frame (11) of the backboard (1), is a gas bumper.