GB2234683A - Frame for ball game - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a structure within which a ball game can be practised which structure comprises: a. a frame adapted to define a volume within which a ball struck by a player is to travel b. a shoot or reticulate member supported by said frame to provide at least two side walls and a roof member to the said volume; c. a first reticulate end wall member 20 to provide an end wall to said volume; and d. a second reticulate end wall member 30 dependent within the volume providing a loose wall within said volume so as to restrict the passage of a ball travelling within said volume. The walls may be held in tension within the framework. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE: FRAME FOR BALL GAMES The present invention relates to a frame for ball games, notably to a covered frame to provide weather protection to a person playing a ball game within the frame.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION: It has been proposed to provide a loose net suspended from support poles to define an area within which a ball can be struck by a player, the netting restricting the distance the ball can travel so as to permit a variety of ball games, such as cricket, tennis or golf to be practised within a confined area. However, such net structures are usually permanently erected at a single location and cannot readily be transferred to alternative locations.

Furthermore, the player is exposed to the weather and may have to cease practising if it begins to rain or if the wind is excessive.

It has therefore been proposed to construct a golf practice frame as a generally cubic frame made from interlocking metal tubular members and having a plastic sheet suspended within the frame to provide side walls and a roof to the structure and to close one end face of the structure with a net to restrict the travel of the ball. However, such a structure is not satisfactory in that net is either stretched taut by the tension in the plastic sheet side walls or, if separate from the side walls, the periphery of the side walls and roof lack support and flap.

Furthermore, although the above structure can be made portable so that it can be transported from one location to another, it is unstable in winds and rain water readily collects on the roof further distorting the shape of the structure.

We have devised a practice net structure which reduces the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a structure within which a ball game can be practised, which structure comprises: a. a frame adapted to define a volume within which a ball struck by a player is to travel when the game is practised; b. a sheet or reticulate member supported by said frame to provide at least two side walls and a roof member to the said volume; c. a first reticulate end wall member operatively connected to the members forming the said two walls and roof members to provide an end wall to said volume; and d. a second reticulate end wall member dependant within the volume defined by said two side wall members, the roof member and the first reticulate end wall member so as to provide a loose wall within said volume and generally parallel to but speced from said first end wall member so as to restrict the passage of a ball travelling within said volume Preferably, the structure comprises a metal or similar frame having a sheet plastics or other weather resistant material suspended from the frame by suitable means, for example by tensioned suspension points, to provide weatherproof side walls and roof to the practice space within the frame.

The frame can be made from any suitable material, for example metal, eg. aluminium or the like, tubular or box section members, joined together by any suitable means.

Preferably, the frame incorporates chevron, diagonal or cross bracing and the like to provide a substantially rigid assembled structure within which the sheet and reticulate members are suspended. If desired, the frame can be provided with means for anchoring it to the ground, eg. by means of guy ropes attached to the frame, one or more base plates which can be pegged to the ground, or by means of stakes or the like which are formed integrally with the base members and/or the uprights to the frame for driving into the ground during assembly of the frame.

As stated above, the frame is preferably demountably assembled from individual bars or rods so that it can be a portable structure. The connection between the individual bars or rods can be through suitably releasable socketed jointing blocks, by bolting or pinning the individual members together through corner plate members or by hingeing or otherwise pivotally linking the members.

It is preferred to form the frame with those sections of the side walls adjacent the open end of the frame reducing in height towards the open end of the frame so that a player is not hemmed in by the side walls at the position from which he strikes the balls. This reducing height section is preferably at each side wall and the height of the side wall reduces from the full roof level to a height of about 0.5 to 1.5 metres at the open end of the frame.

It is also preferred that the roof extends only from the closed end to the start of the reduced height portion of the side walls.

The frame has suspended therefrom one or more sheet members which provide the side walls and roof to the practice space within the frame. These sheet members can be made from any suitable material, for example canvas, tenting material, or sheet or woven plastic material or from a. reticulate, apertured or slitted material to provide a measure of weather protection to the player and yet permit light and air into the closed end of the frame. A particularly preferred material for the roof and walls is a woven or reticulate polyethylene fibre, optionally with a polyvinyl chloride or other resin coating to render it water proof. Typically, the side wall and roof members are formed as a single member. However, notably for larger structures, the members can be formed from a series of smaller units linked together.

The side wall and roof members can be attached to the frame by any suitable manner. For example, the members can have tubular mounting sleeves along part or all of their peripheries, through which the frame members are threaded so that the side wall or roof members lie substantially in the plane of the faces of the frame when assembled.

However, it is preferred to suspend the side wall and roof members by suitable tensioning means within the frame so as to provide a taut walled structure which will resist deformation by the wind but which will provide a resilient surface against which a ball can impinge without striking part of the support frame, which might cause the ball to rebound erratically. Thus, the side wall and roof members can carry metal or other rod inserts or eyelets along their peripheries to which tensioning springs or the like can be attached from the frame.

The first reticulate end wall member is preferably a woven or other form of netting which is stitched, clipped or otherwise connected along its periphery, either continuously or at intervals, to the periphery of the side wall and roof members so as to provide a unitary construction to the side and end walls and the roof. Since the first reticulate end wall member is separated from the practice space within which a ball travels, as described below, it can be stretched taut to support the periphery of the side wall and roof members, which can thus be held taut to provide a more rigid structure which does not deform excessively in the wind.In the absence of the second reticulate member within the practice space, a ball travelling within the practice space would rebound from the taut first reticulate end wall member and could cause injury to a player within the practice space or could escape from the practice space.

The first reticulate end wall material can be made from a wide range of materials which are preferably reticulated or woven so that they do not significantly restrict the passage of air therethrough, particularly when the side walls and the roof are made from a water imervious sheet material. Suitable materials thus include woven netting or the like, or apertured sheet materials. The term first reticulate material is therefore used herein to denote not only material having an open warp and weft structure, but also other forms of material which have an appreciable free area to permit the passage of wind therethrough. Since the second reticulate member restricts the flight of a ball, the apertures in the first reticulate member can be larger than the ball diameter, typically a netting material with a mesh aperture of from 2 to 10 cms, depending upon the size of the ball to be used.

Within the space formed by the side walls, roof and first reticulate end wall member is suspended a second reticulate member to provide a loose or dead surface against which a ball within the practice space can be struck. Since this second member is a loose netting or the like, the ball will not rebound significantly from it and so the flight or travel of the ball can be restrained with reduced risk of rebound out of the practice area or onto a player within the practice space. Typically, the second reticulate member will be provided by a netting curtain or the like suspended generally parallel to and from 5 to 50 cms inside the first reticulate end wall member. If desired, the second reticulate member can extend over part or all of the side wall or roof members of the structure.

We have found that the second reticulate end wall should have a weight of more than about 0.2 Kgs per square metre of the cross-sectional area of the end wall it forms so as to provide sufficient braking effect on the flight of a ball striking it. This is preferably achieved by hanging the net forming the second reticulate member or inner end wall as a folded curtain, for example by using from 30 to 100% excess width of material over the actual width of the frame at that point. It is also preferred that the second reticulate end wall be longer, eg. from 10 to 30% longer, than the height of the frame at the point at which it is suspended so that it drags upon the floor or ground at the base of the frame to enhance the travel deadening effect effect of the net.

The first reticulate end wall member serves the functions of supporting the periphery of the side wall and roof members, allowing the side walls and roof to be tensioned thus enabling a more stable structure to be achieved; the second reticulate end wall member provides the dead surface against which a player strikes the ball; and the two reticulate members provide a combined end wall to the practice space through which wind can escape, thus reducing the risk that the structure will be caught by the wind and distorted or carried away by the wind.

The above basic structure can be provided with other features to enhance its utility. Thus, the frame can be made in a modular form so that it can be extended transversely to give a wide practice area, eg. for tennis or football practice; or axially to give a long practice area, eg. for cricket or as a golf driving range.

It is also preferred that the roof of the structure be formed with a slope in at least one direction so that it sheds water and thus reduces the sagging of the roof due to the collection of water on the roof member. Conveniently, this is achieved by providing a ridge member to the frame which extends from a cross member at the rear of the frame to a cross member at the front of the frame. Preferably, the front end of the ridge member is raised above the level of the rear member, for example by means of a small upright member carried by the front cross member, so that the ridge member not only forms a slope in the roof member to each side of the ridge member, but also imparts a rearward slope to the roof member. The ridge member is conveniently of the same construction as the other members of the frame.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: A preferred form of the structure of the invention will now be described by way of illustration only with respect to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the structure; Figure 2 is an axial cross-section through the structure of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a diagrammatic longitudinal cross-section through an alternative form of the frame of Figure 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT: The structure comprises a framework assembled from aluminium or steel tubes or bars 1 by bolting the bars 1 together through appropriate corner pieces 2 to give a generally cubic structure which can readily be assembled or dismantled to give a portable structure. In the present example, the structure is to be used as a golf driving practice net and the frame is typically approximately a 3 metre cube. However, the structure can be extended axially by assembling two or more frames in a row to give a longer covered area within which to drive the ball.

The frame is provided with suitable chevron or X diagonal cross-bracing members 3 to provide a substantially rigid frame. If desired, the bottom member of the frame 4 can carry one or more base plates 5 by which the frame can be secured to the ground.

It is also preferred that the open and of the frame be formed with tapered height walls and no roof section so that a golf player standing at the open end of the frame can freely extend his arms throughout the swing of the club without the risk of snagging the roof or side walls. This is conveniently achievex by the use of sharter upright end members 13 and inclined wall top members 12 to the frame 1 at this point in the frame.

Within the frame is suspended a woven or finely reticulate plastic sheet 10 which forms the side walls and roof of the structure. This sheet is held taut within the frame by tensioning springs 11. Preferably, as shown, the frame incorporates a ridge pole 6 running at a downward slope from an upright 7 on the front cross member 8 of the frame to the rear cross member 9 of the frame. The sheet is placed over the ridge pole 6 so that the roof adopts a pitched configuration to shed water where sheet 10 is of a water impervious material. The sheet 10 preferably extends for the full length and height of the frame to provide the maximum cover for a player within the frame. However, this need not be the case and the sheet can extend only partially towards the ground level of the frame.In this case, it may be desirable to provide a netting base section to the sheet 10 to prevent escape of a ball from the frame.

Aternatively, the frame can have tapered heght side walls and a partial roof as shown in Figure 3.

One end of the tunnel formed by sheet 10 is closed by the first reticulate end wall member 20. Preferably, this is stitched or otherwise affixed to the rear edge of sheet 10 so as to form a unitary contruction therewith. Member 20 is preferably a polythene or other polyner fibre net with a square mesh aperture of approximately 2 cms. Due to the action of tension springs 11 on sheet 10, the member 20 will be held taut and support the rear periphery of sheet 10.

Within the tunnel formed by members 10 and 20 is suspended a transverse curtain of net 30 which provides the dead surface to the second end wall member against which the ball is struck and which restricts the travel of the ball.

Typically, this curtain is provided by loosely suspending the same netting material as is used for member 20 from a series of suspension hooks or other points approximately 10 to 30 cms inwardly from the rear edge of the roof member.

Alternatively, the curtain of net can be suspended from a transverse cross member of the frame. In order to provide sufficient weight to stop the flight of a ball, it is preferred that the curtain have a weight in excess of 0.2 Kgs per square metre of the cross-sectional area of the frame at the point where it is suspended.

The function of the curtain 30 is to restrain the flight of a ball struck into it so that the ball falls to the ground and can be retrieved by the player. The curtain can thus be hung as a single thickness of net material. However, it is preferred that the material be hung as a gathered wall of material to accommodate and deaden the impact of the ball against it. Typically, the member 30 will be formed from a length of netting from 1.25 to 3 times the width of the tunnel within which it is to be hung.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the inner end wall net 30 is formed from either a heavy net, for example weighing more the 0.5 Rgs per square metre, hung straight across the width of the net; or the net forming member 30 has a mesh size of 15 to 20 mms, a weight of about 0.2 to 0.4 Kgs per square metre and a width of from 30 to 100% wider than the width of the frame so as to provide a concertina type folded structure to the end wall 30. It is also preferred that the end wall 30 be from 50 to 100 cms longer than the height of the frame so that its foot 31 drags along the ground or the floor of the frame, as shown in Figure 3, to further enhance the travel deadening properties of end wall 30.

If desired, the member 30 can extend along part or all of the side walls of the frame as well so as to provide a dead surface within the length of the frame.

The above structure finds especial use as a golf practice net which can be readily assembled or dismantled for ease of transport from one site to another. Since the side walls and roof members can be held taut, the structure is stable and the presence of the second inner end net wall 30 absorbs the impact of the ball striking it, yet both the net walls 20 and 30 allow the free passage of wind through the structure.

Claims (11)

1. CLAIMS:

   t. A structure within which a ball game can be practised, which structure comprises: a. a frame adapted to define a volume within which a ball struck by a player is to travel when the game is practised; b. a sheet or reticulate member supported by said frame to provide at least two side walls and a roof member to the said volume; c. a first reticulate end wall member operatively connected to the members forming the said two walls and roof members to provide an end wall to said volume; and d. a second reticulate end wall member dependant within the volume defined by said two side wall members, the roof member and the first reticulate end wall member so as to provide a loose wall within said volume and generally parallel to but speced from said first end wall member so as to restrict the passage of a ball travelling within said volume.
2. 2. A structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame is formed as a demountable assembly from a plurality of metal tubes or the like removably connected to one another.
3. 3. A structure as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2, wherein the open end of the frame is formed with side wals of a progressively reducing height and without a roof member.
4. 4. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the side wall and roof members are provided by a single member which is linked along its rearward periphery to the first end wall member so as to form a unitary construction.
5. 5. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the second end wall member is provided by a reticulate material member which has a width from 125 to 300% of the width of frame at the point where it is suspended.
6. 6. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the second end wall member has a length from 10 to 30% greater than the height of the frame at the point where it is suspended.
7. 7. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the second end wall member provides a member having a weight in excess of 0.2 Rgs per square metre of the cross-sectional area of the frame at the point where it is suspended.
8. 8. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the side wal, roof and first end wall members are suspended withinthe frame member by tensioning means whereby a taut walled structure is provided.
9. 9. A structure as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the roof member is caused to adopt an inclined configuration so as to assist drainage of water therefrom.
10. 10. A structure according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described.
11. 11. A structure according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with respect to and as shown in any one of the accompanying drawings.