US2088980A

US2088980A - Tennis ball holder

Info

Publication number: US2088980A
Application number: US101183A
Authority: US
Inventors: Albert W Stein
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1936-09-17
Filing date: 1936-09-17
Publication date: 1937-08-03
Anticipated expiration: 1954-08-03

Description

Aug. 3, 1937. A. w. STEIN TENNiS BALL HOLDER Fi led sept. 17, 1956 um||||||| I I l I INVENTOR )7. we? ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 3, 193? NlTED srTES P OFFICE 7Claims.

This invention relates to tennis ball containers and more particularly to a container adapted to be carried by a tennis racket press.

It is customary, in playing tennis, for each i player to carry, in addition to the tennis racket and racket press, three tennis balls. Heretofore, the tennis balls have been carried by hand, which was inconvenient, or have been carried in a fabric pocket of a fabric tennis racket cover, where the 1 tennis balls are subjected to being easily crushed and mutilated.

It is an object of my invention to provide a protective tennis ball container made of metal, having semi-spherical ends to conform to the i configuration of the tennis balls, and to provide a holder for removably securing the protective tennis ball container to the tennis racket press.

A further object of my invention is to provide a holder of the class described having integral means to enable it to be secured, with equal eflicacy, to racket presses of various dimensions.

A further object of my invention is to provide a holder for tennis ball containers comprising two spring clip members provided with arms removably secured to the racket press bolts, the

spring clip members being removably and adjustably secured together by any suitable means.

These and other advantageous objects, which will later appear, are accomplished by the simple D and practical construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and exhibited in the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a device made 7 5 in accordance with my invention, shown applied to a tennis racket press,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my device, Fig. 3 is a, longitudinal vertical'sectional view taken on lines 3--3 of Fig. 2, i Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention,

Fig; 5 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a further modification of the invention,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the spring 5 clip members used in the form of invention shown in Fig. 5, and,

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on,

line 1-1 of Fig. 1,

Fig; 8 is a side elevational view, partly in sec-- 1 tion of a further modified form of the invention,

and Fig. 9 is an end view of the same. Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 2 the device is shown to comprise two interchangeable spring c ps e h of ch has a pa r of arms 9 pivoted thereto at III, the free ends ll of the arms being secured to the comers of a tennis racket press I! by thumb screws 13 of the racket press bolts H. The spring clips 8-8 are provided with downwardly directed flanges I5 (see 5 Fig. "3) through which a tie rod l6 passes, the tie rod having ahead I1 abutting the flange I5 of one spring clip and the other end of the tie rod l6 being threadedly engaged by a nut l8 engaging the fiange l5 of the other spring clip. By this arrangement, thedevice is adjustable and can .be applied with equal eflicacy to racket presses of various dimensions, and the tie rod will at all times firmly secure the spring clips together. 1 15 A tennis ball container I9 is adapted to be snapped into the spring clips 8 and will be firmly held in that position (Figs. 1 and '7) until manually withdrawn.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4, the .tie rod I6 is dispensed with and a single, elongated spring clip 28 is used, said clip having arms 29 pivoted thereto at 30, the apertured ends 3| of the arms being secured to the corners. of the racket press by the racket press thumb screws I3 as with the structure shown in Fig. 2, or may be secured directly to the racket press by passing screws through the apertures 3|.

As clearly shown in Fig. 3, the tennis ball container preferably comprises the elongated cylin- 30 drical body 32 having a semi-spherical end 33 conforming to the spherical configuration 'of the tennis balls, and having an open end 34 which is closed by a cover 35 removably secured to the container body 32 in any desired or convenient 35 manner. The cover 35, like the end 33 of the container body, is semi-spherical to conform to the configuration oi the tennis balls. The construction described reduces to an absolute minimum the amount of free space, and therefore the 40 amopnt of air, within the container, thereby preserving the resiliency and spherical configuration of the tennis balls held in said container. The tennis balls are also protected from injury and are instantly available by either removing the container itself from the spring clips 8 or by removing the cover 35 of the container.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6,- the spring clip 8 is provided with an end clip 35. With this form of spring clip it is possible to use the ordinary commercial tennis ball container, which has a flat end 31. The commercial tennis ball container also has a fiat top member which is discarded when the metal seal of the container is broken, in originally removing the 5 tennis balls. The container then has an open end 38 and by resting the flat end ll of the container against the end clip 36 of one spring clip 8, and allowing the end tennis ball within the container to rest against the endclip 38 of the other spring clip, the tennis balls and container will be held firmly in place on the racket press. I

The form of invention shown in Fig. 8 is like that shown in Fig. 5 except'that only one spring clip 8 is used; instead of a second spring clip 8 there is provided a rigid end member 40 having a peripheral flange ll and having depending flanges 42 to receive the tie-rod IS. The open end 38 oi. the tennis ball container is received within the peripheral flange ll of the end member 40, and the flat, closed end 31 of the container is snapped into the spring clip 8. By this arrangement the normally open end 38 01 the container is closed.

By means of this construction, the ordinary commercial tennis ball container, after the cove has been removed, canbe permanently utilized as a tennis ball container.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided a device for holding tennis balls'which can be readily attached to standard Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A holder for tennis ball containers comprisinga 'spfing'clip, and arms pivotally secured to said clip the iree ends of said arms being adapted to be secured to a tennis racket press.

2. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, arms pivotally secured to said clips the free ends of said arms being adapted to be secured to a tennis racket press,- and means carried by said spring clips for adjustably securing said clips together.

3. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, said clips having flanges, means ior securing said clips to a tennis racket press,

and means carried by the flanges of said clips for adjustably securing said clips together.

4. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, said clips having flanges, means for securing said clips to a tennis racket press, and bolt means engaging the flanges of said clips for adjustably securing said clips together.

5. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips adapted to engage opposite sides of a tennis ball container, said spring clips being provided with end clip members adapted to engage the ends of a tennis ball container.

6. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, means for securing said clips to a tennis racket press, and means for adjustably curing said clips together. 'l. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, adapted to engage'opposite sides of a tennis ball container, said spring clips being provided with end members adapted to engage the ends of a tennis ball container.

-ALBERT w. STEIN.