FR2480817A2 - Modular panels for laying tennis courts etc. - pref. of plywood waterproofed with non:skid phenolic coating - Google Patents

Abstract

The parent patent described portable sports surface, for e.g. tennis, assembled from modular panels laid side by side on a suitable foundation. This addn. describes such courts where the panels engage via tongue and groove joints and where successive rows of panels are offset so that the end of one panel lies between the middle of two others. Pref. the panels are of plywood treated with a waterproof, non-skid coating of phenolic resin. Pref. the panels are supported on battens and incorporate holes for surface water to drain away quickly. A court may be made from a set of 176 panels 250 x 12 cm plus 12 panels of 125 x 122 x m, which can be carried by one lorry and laid manually.

Description

Sports ground, in particular tennis court, made up of removable panels.

The present invention relates to the field of sports grounds and more specifically it relates to the production of a removable tennis court.

Currently the various known methods of building tennis courts have two major drawbacks, that is to say on the one hand their high cost price and, on the other hand, their final nature which requires significant earthworks and immobilization. permanent field.

The present intention is to remedy the drawbacks set out above and, to this end, it proposes to make a sports ground, especially a tennis yogurt, of an easily removable, transportable type which can also be temporarily installed on any horizontal surface without damaging it and with a reduced cost price.

According to the invention, the sports field, in particular a tennis court, is made up of panels arranged on the ground. The removable assembly thus produced can be installed, for example, during the summer season, on football fields and on mountain ice rinks and, during the winter season, on clay tennis courts, or, more generally on any other flat land temporarily or permanently available. The playing surface can be stored by stacking the panels thus transportable in a reduced volume, by truck.

The panels can advantageously be made of special ra tutu plywood on each side of a protective material making them resistant to bad weather and to attack by fungi, these faces possibly being trued so as to be non-slip to avoid slipping and to get the ball bouncing properly.

The assembly of the panels can advantageously be carried out according to the so-called stone-cut configuration and with the aid of grooves and tongues perfected on the edges (see FIG. 1). This assembly avoids any possibility of defective rebound when the ball falls on the joint of two panels, on the one hand, and on the other hand counteracts the tendency that the panels may have to curl.

According to an additional characteristic of the invention, a small space (1 cm) can be made between the ground and the panels by interposing rows of treated battens, by way of nonlimiting example, and by punching holes in the panels to allow a rapid evacuation of rainwater.

We understand that, to complete and together, we provide the usual accessories of the tennis court (net, fence) them mimes realias in removable form.

To clearly understand the invention, there will be described ei-aprs, by way of example without limitation, a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing in which: FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a tennis court made with plywood panels.

FIG. 2 represents the detail of the assembly by grooves and tongues.

The tennis court is made up of 176 panels of 250cm X 122cm and 12 half-panels of 125cm X 122cm. The panels are made of special plywood for the exterior and covered with a non-slip phenolic film.

The edges of the panels on which grooves and tongues have been machined are covered with a protective paint against humidity.

The thickness of the panels is 1 5mm so that tennis can be stored in a volume of 8,326M3 continued by two rectangular parallelepipeds of 250 X 122 x 136 cm.

It will be understood that the above description has been given only by way of example, without limitation, and that additions or modifications could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the claims which follow .

Claims (5)

1 - Sports field, in particular tennis court, consisting of a set of plywood panels placed directly on the ground, without the latter being subjected to any other preparation than simple leveling if necessary, according to claim 1 of the main patent characterized in that the said panels are assembled together according to the so-called stone cut configuration and fitted into each other by grooves and tongues made on their edges. 2 - Sports field according to claim 1, characterized in that the panels have dimensions allowing their handling by the users themselves and allowing the sports ground to be removable and transportable by truck. 3 - Sports field according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that a space is provided between the ground and the panels and that holes are made in the panels allowing rapid evacuation of rainwater. 4 - Sports field according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by the fact that the panels are coated with a non-slip phenolic film. 5 - Sports field according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the non-use position it is in the form of a unit which can be accommodated in a truck, and comprising, in addition to the stacked panels, the accessories constituted by the net and the fence made in removable form.