ES2307376A1 - Table-tennis net assembly with a winder - Google Patents

Abstract

The table-tennis net assembly comprises a net and two supports each having a structure that includes means for fastening it to a side of a table. At least one net support includes a hollow net-winder spool. An elongate resilient element is mounted inside said spool. A first end thereof is secured to the spool and a second end thereof is secured to the structure of the support. The resilient element forms part of the means for actuating the spool when it is pivotally mounted on the structure of the support, and/or part of means for actuating the fastener means. The fastener means are preferably of the clamp type comprising a top jaw for bearing against the top face of the side of the table and a bottom jaw for bearing against the bottom face. The resilient element contributes to moving said two jaws relative to each other.

Description

Table tennis net set for roll up.

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the domain of the accessories for the practice of table tennis. Refers more particularly to a set of table tennis net comprising the network itself and the two supports of said network equipped with fixing means on the sides of the table. It concerns especially but not exclusively a set in the which at least one of the supports is equipped with a reel Automatic network.

Prior art

The integration of an automatic reel of the net in at least one of the supports of a tennis net set The table is known from US 4,850,590. In this document, the network support consists of a cylindrical tube inside of which is mounted a vertical rotation axis pivot whose lower extremity passes through a chamber in which is housed a spiral spring, curled around said axis of rotation. A tip of the dock blade at spiral is fixed to the pivoting axis of rotation while the Another limb is attached to the camera.

The assembly of the network on the axis of rotation pivot is made in such a way that the spiral spring contributes to tension the network when the two supports are mounted on the sides of the table and perform automatic winding of the net around the axis of rotation, inside the cylindrical tube at the time of dismantling the network.

As interesting as it is, the device roll of document US 4,850,590 presents however inconvenience From a manufacturing point of view, the assembly of the spiral spring and especially its adjustment to obtain the optimal conditions for tensioning the network and automatic winding they're easy. The spring can degrade if the assembly do not keep in good storage condition between two uses. The applicant for US Patent 4,850,590 was perfectly aware of this difficulty because he has planned a drive shaft for pivoting rotation shaft in the case of spring dysfunctionality.

Explanation of the invention and advantages

One of the objectives of the present invention is the to propose a set of table tennis net with a reel to alleviate the aforementioned inconveniences.

As regards the means of fixing the supports on the sides of the table, are generally of type clamp or pliers, with a locked or upper toothed arm intended for be supported on the upper side of the table side and one arm lower lock or other equivalent element intended to be leaning on the underside of the side of the table, such that the actionable displacement means of the two mentioned arms locked with respect to each other. For example the arm lower lock is mounted on a threaded rod, in the which rotation allows its vertical displacement relative to a horizontal fixed support, integral with the (attached to) the arm upper lock. This type of fixing means needs a Difficult operation of the user part, which must do pivot the threaded rod on itself, with the risk of damage the upper face of the table in case of pressure too strong.

One of the purposes of the present invention is that of propose a table tennis set with fixing means on the sides of the table that alleviate the aforementioned inconveniences.

One and / or other of these purposes is perfectly achieved by the table tennis net tennis set that It comprises a network and two network supports, each support has a structure containing fixing means for fixing in a side of the table and at least one of the two supports of the network Contains a hollow reel to roll up the net.

Characteristically according to the In the present invention, the beef assembly comprises an element elastic longiform, mounted inside said reel, whose first limb is fixed on the reel of winding and whose second limb is fixed on the support structure, said elastic longiform element is part of the means of drive of the reel of winding and / or of the means of actuation of the fixing means. Preferably the elastic longiform element is made of natural or synthetic rubber, of circular or square section, for example in natural rubber of circular section having a diameter of the order of 8 to 12 mm

In a variant embodiment, the fixing of the first end of the elastic element intervenes in the part upper reel hollow reel at the level of a centerpiece which forms a cover and comes to fit axially in said top of the reel. Thus at the time of assembly of the net set, it is possible to extend the elastic element, fix it on the center piece and fit said piece on top of the reel. The cover preferably comprises a groove. radial that forms a hole (a light) that flows into everything the thickness of the cover, hole in which it can be introduced with binding the first end of the elastic element.

When the elastic element is part of the driving means of the reel of reel, said reel is pivotally mounted and is the put on the element elastic longiform which gives off the energy needed to tension and to automatically wind the net around the reel.

In a variant embodiment, the limb Bottom of the reel comprises a ring plate finished by a cylindrical flange and support structure it comprises a fixed plate in the thickness of which a hollow cylindrical chamber adapted to receive said flange cylindrical as well as an annular bearing arranged in the chamber cylindrical under the plate. The annular bearing is a means privileged, among others, which allows limiting frictions between the reel of winding and the structure of the support at the time of the reel's rotation of winding by the action of the element elastic.

In a variant embodiment, the means of Table tennis net fixing set are clamp type or pincer, with a locked upper arm intended to rest on the upper side of the table side and a lower locked arm intended to rest against the lower side of the table side, in such a way that the actionable means of displacement of the Two mentioned arms locked with respect to each other. Arm upper lock is preferably integrated into the structure of the support, and particularly may be constituted by a part of the aforementioned fixed plate.

In US 4,850,590, the means of fixing are also of the clamp or pincer type, the means actionable displacement of the two locked arms comprise a spiral spring spring that is arranged so that bring the lower locked arm closer to the upper locked arm.

When the elastic element is part of the actionable means of displacement of the two locked arms, one with respect to the other, the second end of the longiform element  Elastic is attached to the lower locked arm. So, the element elastic fulfills the function of approaching both arms locked. It can also, as seen above, comply the action of winding the net if the reel of winding is also pivotally mounted. This approach function of two locked arms and this net roll action are fulfilled by two different and independent springs in the US 4,850,590.

Preferably, the displacement of the arms lower and upper latches is a translational displacement vertical and operable displacement means comprise also a vertical hollow tube, fixed on the locked arm lower, through the locked upper arm and mounted on sliding inside the reel of winding. In addition, the element Elastic longilinear passes into said hollow tube.

It is this elastic element with two extremities respectively attached to the top of the reel and to the arm lower latch that supports / adheres assembly assembly of moving parts either in translation or possibly in rotation.

In US 4,850,590, the locked arm Bottom of the fixing pliers on each side of the table is endowed with a kind of handle that is below said arm. So for mounting the bracket, the user must grab the cylindrical tube containing the net and the another hand hold this handle to fix the net assembly on the side of the table, after opening the clamp or pincer opening the lower toothed arm with the help of the handle.

In a variant embodiment of the present invention, the lower locked arm comprises a vertical arm of drive through the fixed plate, opposite the part of said plate that acts as a locked arm upper relative to the reel of winding. So, in this position particular, the opening of the clamp or pliers, for placement of the support on the side of the table, can be made with a single hand, as will be explained more precisely in the description below.

In a preferred embodiment, each of the two supports of the network comprises a winding guide, formed by two vertical rods fixed above the locked arm superior to the proximity of the reel.

The present invention will be better understood with reading the description that is going to be made from a first preferred embodiment of a tennis net set of roller table in which each of the two supports of the network It comprises an elastic that performs both the function of winding and the drive function of the bracket fixing system on the side of the table, and from a second simplified example in which the elastic performs only the drive function of the fixing system, illustrated by the drawing attached in the which:

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic profile view of the first example of a network set in storage position Y;

Figure 2 is a schematic sectional view. longitudinal of a support of the first example, exempt from the network, the fixing clamp while in inactive position,

Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view. longitudinal of a support of the second example, free of the net, the clamp being in the inactive position.

Exhibition of a preferred embodiment

The table tennis net set, according to the first example, which is represented in figure 1 is in storage position, network 2 is rolled over both supports 3.3 ', said supports are joined / joined to each other another thanks to its fixing means comprising an arm upper lock 4 and a lower locked arm 5, which do the times of tweezers on the side of a table. In the illustrated example, the upper locked arm 4 and the lower one 5 of the first support 3, while the locked arm 5 of the first support 3 is inserted between the upper 4 'and lower 5' arms of the second support 3 '. This particularly compact assembly allows to store the network 1 set in a small volume, with network 2 not present redhibitory folds.

On figure 1 the network that it is wrapped substantially in the same way over the two 3, 3 'brackets, which are equipped with a winding system such as the one that will be described below. However, this mode of Realization is not exclusive. It would be possible not to equip more than one only support one winding system while the other support It would only serve to fix the network.

With reference to figure 2, support 3 with A winding system is composed:

of a reel of roll 6,

of a fixed plate 7 of which a part makes the times of upper locked arm 4,

a moving part 8 of which a part makes the 5 times lower locked arm,

a hollow conduit tube 9,

an elastic 10,

a bearing 11

The roll reel 6 of the net 2 is a hollow reel, inside which the hollow tube 9 is housed and inside this elastic 10, according to a direction corresponding to the axis of rotation DD 'which is a rotation axis vertical when support 3 is mounted on the side of a table whose plate is horizontal.

The upper parts 6a and lower 6b of the reel 6 each comprise a plate, respectively a plate upper 12 and a lower plate 13 which have between them a separation slightly greater than the height of the net. In position storage, the coiled net is arranged between the plates  12, 13, as illustrated in Figure 1.

On top 6a of reel 6, it is made a chamber 14 comprising a cover 15 sealing the mentioned top 6a of reel 6, but whose function main is to allow the fixation of elastic 10 at the level of said upper part 6a of the reel 6. This cover 15 comprises a radial groove 16 into which the elastic 10 can be introduced after having put it sufficiently in extension to reduce the diameter. In relaxed state, elastic 10 is locked in slot 16 of the cover. The cover 15 is held in the top 6a of reel 6 thanks to an internal projection 17 drilled by an opening hole8 allowing the passage of elastic.

The bottom plate 13 of the roll reel 6 a outer flange 13a cylindrical 19. The fixed plate 7 has, in its thickness, an annular chamber 20 that has a dimension so that can receive the reel of roll 6, more precisely the flange cylindrical 19 of the lower plate 13 of the aforementioned reel 6.

Between the bottom plate 13 and the bottom 20a of the chamber 20 is arranged the bearing 11 which is constituted of a annular configuration plate 21 into which a plurality of balls 22 whose diameter is greater than the thickness of the plate 21.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the plate lower 13 is resting on the balls 22 which in turn are resting on the bottom 20a of the chamber 20, without the edge of the cylindrical flange 19 rest on said bottom 20a. So, the winding coil 6 can freely pivot on itself around the axis of rotation DD 'without significant rubbing. The fixed plate 7 is perforated with a hole 23, allowing the passage of the hollow tube 9.

Preferably, said recess 9 is of square section and the opening hole 23 is also of square section so that tube 9 can just slide vertically through the opening hole 23. It is provided that the fixed plate 7 comprises a lower extension 24 of square section, serving as a slide or conduction valve for the hollow tube 9.

Under the fixed plate 7 on the side corresponding to the upper locked arm 4, a buffer in elastomer 25 is fixed. It is this buffer that will be applied on the upper face of the table. On the opposite side of the part of the fixed plate 7 that does the times of upper arm 4 a hole is provided that cross 27.

The moving part 8 of which a part makes the Lower arm times 5 is fixed to the lower end of the tube hollow 9. On the upper face of the part of the moving part 8 which makes trade of lower arm 5 another buffer is fixed in elastomer 26. On the opposite side of the jaw 5, the moving part 8 it comprises a drive arm 28 that is shaped to pass through the opening hole 27 of the fixed part 7. The lower end 10b of elastic 10 is fixed to the movable plate 8. In the illustrated example, this fixation is done thanks to a clamp 29 that crosses the moving part 8 from part to part, when same time as the hollow tube 9 and the lower end 10b of the elastic 10.

In a precise embodiment, the elastic 10 is a solid cylindrical body of diameter of the order of centimeter, in natural rubber. This could also be a body solid square section. Is this solid body structure what which has given the best results in terms of nervousness in what which concerns the function of winding, comparatively to a elastic that comes in the form of a flat loop tape closed.

The placement of the support of the network 3 is carried out by actuating arm 28 in the direction of arrow F (figure 2). He displacement of this arm 28 correlatively drags the moving the moving part 8 in the same direction, which causes the lower arm 5 to separate from the upper 4, releasing a sufficient space to introduce the side 30 of the table between the aforementioned arms of the pliers. In mounting position, the buffer 25 of upper locked arm 4 comes to rest on the upper face 30a of side 30 while arm buffer 26 bottom lock 5 leans against the bottom side 30b on the side 30

Since elastic 10 has its limb lower 10b that is fixed to the moving part 8, the displacement of the arm 28 according to the arrow F is contracted by force exerted by said elastic. Therefore the user has to press enough on the arm to separate the two Locked arms 4,5, to position support 3 on side 30; the actuator arm 28 and the part are then relaxed mobile 8 returns to its initial position due to the fact that the Elastic 10 tends to find its initial resting length. By doing this, the immobilization of the support 3 on the side 30 of the table thanks to the tensile action of the elastic 10.

It should be noted that the hollow tube 9 serves to guide and to make support 3 rigid during travel in translation of the mobile part 8 in relation to the fixed part 7. In this precise embodiment, the hollow tube 9 is a tube square section metal. Eventually the moving part 8 and the hollow tube 9 could be made monobloc by injection or other molding technique.

To operate the arm 28, the user can hold the fixed part 7 with one hand, with the help of three fingers, index, heart arranged laterally under the plate fixed 7 while the thumb rests on the lower part of the drive arm 28.

Once the first support 3 is mounted on the side 30 of the table, the user takes the second support 3 'and moves to mount this second bracket 3 ' on the other side of the table. Doing that, network 2 that was at less partially wound around the spool of winding 6 se unwinds, which causes the rotation to be correlatively of reel 6 around its axis of rotation DD '. It is set to rotation draws the tension of the elastic 10 due to the fact that the upper limb 10a of the aforementioned elastic 10 is fixed to the top 6a of reel 6.

When set 1 is placed on the table and the network 2 tensioned between the two supports 3, 3 ', the elastic 10 of Each support remains in a tensioned state. During the collection of set 1 and the approach of the two supports 3, 3 ', the elastic  of straightening, naturally entails the rotation of the reel 6 and therefore roll up the net until this elastic 10 return to its initial state corresponding to the state of rest of figure 2.

The present invention is not limited to the mode of use described above. For example, the ball bearing could be replaced by placement in a subject space with very low slip coefficient, allowing the setting in  excessive frictionless rotation of the reel 6 on the fixed plate 7, despite the tensile force exerted by the elastic 10.

In figure 1, it has been represented, for each Support 3, 3 ', a set 31, 31' of two driving rods, which they are implanted in the fixed plate 7 on the side of the part that does occupation of upper locked arm 4. Network 2, in its path between the two supports 3.3 ', passes between the conduction rods of the first 31 and second game 31 '. The role of these rods is the of increasing the stability and tension of the network and also of guide the network at the time of its roll up.

The two rods of the same game can be attached to its upper limb to form an arch. How I know indicated more arrivals, in the preferred embodiment of the first example described above, the elastic performs both the laying in rotation of the hollow reel for winding the net and the actuation of the support fixing system on the side of table. This is not exclusive. The elastic could be placed for not fulfill more than one of the two functions. In particular, if consider the embodiment of figure 3, comparatively to that of figure 2, the elastic can only perform the actuation of the support fixing system 3 on the side 30 of the table providing the following simplification.

Reel 6 is one piece with the arm upper lock 4, said reel 6 being fixed without the ability to  rotation on itself. The bottom plate 13, with its twisted 19,  of reel 6, it has no more reason to be, just like the release of the fixed plate 7 to serve as a chamber 20 for the bearing 11. The Reel 6 is simply laterally extended by the plate fixed 7. In this case, the elastic is no longer put in tension, but only in extension at the time of its arm drive 28 in the direction of arrow F and its elastic turning force used to place the lower locked arm 5 against the face bottom 30b of the side 30 of the table. The network winding is done manually around reel 6 and fixed plate 7 Serves in part of lower plate for network maintenance in The moment of its roll up.

Claims (10)

1. Table tennis net set comprised of a net (2) and two net supports (3.3 ') each support having a structure comprising the fixing means for its own fixing on one side (30) of a table and at least one net support (3) comprising, for winding the net, a hollow winding reel characterized in that it comprises an elastic longiform element (10) mounted inside said reel (6), whose first end (10a) is fixed on the reel of reel (6) and whose second end (10b) is fixed on the structure of the support, said elastic element forming part of the means of actuation of the reel of reel and / or of the means of actuation of the means of fixation. 2. Assembly according to the first claim characterized in that the elastic longiform element (10) is made of natural or synthetic rubber, of circular or square section, for example in natural rubber of circular section having a diameter of the order of 8 to 12 mm. 3. Assembly according to one of the first or second claims, characterized in that the fixing of the first end (10a) of the elastic element (10) intervenes in the upper part (6a) of the winding reel (6) at the level of a central part forming a cover (15) and coming to fit axially in said upper part (6 a) of the reel. 4. Table tennis net assembly according to claim three, characterized in that the cover (15) comprises a radial groove (16) forming a hole (a light) that empties into the entire thickness of the cover, hole in which it can the first limb (10a) of the elastic element (10) be jammed. 5. Table tennis net set according to one of the first to fourth claims, characterized in that the reel is pivotally mounted on the support structure, the lower end (6b) of the reel reel (6) comprises a plate annular (13) terminated in a cylindrical flange (19) and the support structure comprises a fixed plate (7) in the thickness of which a hollow cylindrical chamber (20) is formed adapted to receive said cylindrical flange (19) as well as an annular bearing (11) disposed in a cylindrical chamber under the plate (13). 6. Table tennis net set according to one of the first to fifth claims, characterized in that the fixing means are of the caliper or pincer type, with an upper locked or serrated arm (4) intended to rest on the upper face of the table (30a) and a lower locked arm to be supported against the lower face (30b) of the side (30) of the table, in which it comprises operable means of displacement of the two aforementioned arms with respect to each other, and in which the upper arm is integrated in the support structure. 7. Table tennis net set according to claim 6, characterized by the elastic longiform element (10) whose second end (10b) is fixed to the lower toothed arm (5) is part of the actionable means of movement of the two arms toothed (4,5) with respect to the other. 8. Table tennis net set according to claim 7, characterized in that the displacement of the lower (5) and upper (4) toothed arms is a displacement in vertical translation and the actionable displacement means also comprise a vertical hollow tube ( 9), fixed on the lower toothed arm (5), crossing the upper arm (4) and mounted on a slide inside the reel (6), and through the elastic longiform element (10) passes into the said tube hollow (9). 9. Table tennis net assembly according to one of the seventh or eighth claims, characterized in that the lower toothed arm (5) comprises a vertical actuating arm (28) that crosses the fixed plate (7), to the opposite side of the part of the aforementioned plate acting as upper locked arm (5) with respect to the reel of winding (6). 10. Table tennis net set according to the first to ninth claims, characterized in that each of the two net supports comprises a winding guide, formed by two vertical rods fixed above the upper arm (4) near the reel roll up (6).