US2155992A

US2155992A - Marker

Info

Publication number: US2155992A
Application number: US249460A
Authority: US
Inventors: Menachof Mitchell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1939-01-05
Filing date: 1939-01-05
Publication date: 1939-04-25
Anticipated expiration: 1956-04-25

Description

April 1939- M. MENACHOF 2,155,992

' MARKER Filed Jan. 5, 1939 INVENTOR.

MTCHELL Ms/v/IcHoF M g a220 ATTORNEYIS- Patented Apr. 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE Application January 5,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to markers and While it is of general application, I have illustrated it particularly in connection with markers such as are used to indicate distances along the edges of a football playing field. It is conventional to provide markers atlive and ten yard intervals to indicate the distance from the goal line.

These markers are desirable not only from the point of view of the spectators who are thus enabled to determine the exact point at which the ball rests after each play, but also to the players and officials themselves who are thus better able to determine their playing strategy. These markers in the past have been objectionable for the reason that it has been not uncommon for the players to be tackled and thrown against a marker and be more or less seriously injured thereby. Furthermore, by virtue of the safety features above mentioned, the markers may be set up right on the sidelines, rather than ten or more feet away, as is the present practice.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a marker which will be neat in appearance and which will be resilient so that it will yield upon contact with a player thereby preventing injury to the player and also preventing damage to the marker. It is another object of my invention to provide such a device which will be simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and which will be capable of withstanding the rough usage to which such devices are ordinarily subjected.

These and other objects of my invention which I will describe in more detail hereinafter or which will be apparent upon a further study of the specification, I accomplish by that construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment. Reference is made to the drawing forming a part hereof and in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a marker according to my invention.

Figure 2 is a detail View in separation of the upper end of the spring and the lower end of the marker.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Briefly in the practice of my invention I provide a marker consisting of a fairly light flexible wire frame, the frame being padded with a relatively soft material such as rubber and bearing a sheet of some material, preferably rubber, upon which indicia are provided to indicate yardage. The indicia may be painted or stenciled or they may 'be composed of strips of a similar 1939, Serial No. 249,460

material of a contrasting color mounted on said sheet of rubber. The marker further consists of a member adapted to be driven into the ground and provided with means whereby it will not turn in the ground, and a resilient element interposed 5 betweenthe frame and the. portion driven into the ground.

I have shown in the drawing a generally rectangular frame formed from a piece of relatively light flexible wire l6. As best seen in Figure 3, the wire is is surrounded by a relatively soft rubber element H which may be formed as indicated at l2 to hold the sheet rubber member IS. The numerals l4 and I5 may be painted directly upon the member l3 or they may consist of strips of rubber or the like adhesively fastened thereto. The ends of the member ID are downwardly turned in parallel relation as indicated at Ma and are fixed into a plug member best seen in Figure 2, and generally indicated at I6.

The other portion of my marker comprises a tightly coiled, relative heavy spring member I! having a relatively long straight end which may be flattened as indicated at I8, and be provided with a bend as shown, so that when it is driven into the ground it will resist twisting or turning movement. It will be noted that preferably the member I 8 is driven into the ground to the point where a spring member I! at its lower end almost rests upon the ground. The device is assembled by simply screwing the plug l6 into the coil spring I l which will result in a very tight fit so that it is substantially impossible to unscrew the member I6 from, the spring 11.

When a tightly wound spring such as is indicated at I I is bent while one end thereof is fixed,

a slight untwisting rotation will be noted at the other end. I avail myself of this phenomenon in connection with the present invention so that if by chance the marker were hit almost directly from the right or left, as seen in Figure 1, it will twist slightly so that if the player should fall upon it, it will tend to fall fiat on the ground rather than fall on its own plane and hit the ground upon the corner of the marker. Thus not only is injury to the player prevented but damage to the marker is also eliminated.

While the spring member may be a simple helical spring tightly wound and the plug !5 may be provided with a simple helical thread, I prefer, as will be clear from a close study of Figure 2, to distort the spring slightly in an axial direction, as for example, by exerting pressure along the lines indicated by the arrows A and B, so that the convolutions of the spring on one side will be steeper than they would ordinarily be. I also prefer to distort the thread in the plug IS. A casual study of Figure 2 would indicate that the member I6 is provided with a double thread, but this is not the case. side, the thread would be relatively flat since there is but one single continuous thread.

I have found that if the spring is thus distorted so that it is not truly helical and if the thread on the plug is likewise formed in a distorted manner the advantages of my marker will be more apparent. Its twisting action comes about more easily and I find, furthermore, that when the marker is not being stressed in any way it tends to remain more solidly in its upright position. It

will be understood, however, that the advantages are obtained in a considerable degree with a simple helical tightly wound spring and a plug having a simple helical thread.

It will be understood that modifications may be made in the construction of my marker and that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular material from which the parts are made and that the padding of the frame l may be accomplished in a number of ways. Likewise the numerals may be applied to the marker in a wide variety of ways.

Viewed from the reverse Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A marker composed of two parts, one com prising a member bearing indicia and terminating in an externally threaded plug and the other comprising a tightly wound coil spring having a relatively long axial extension adapted to be driven into the ground, said two parts being assembled by screwing said plug into said spring.

2. A marker composed of two parts, one of said parts comprising a relatively light wire frame, said frame being padded and carrying an indicia bearing sheet of material, the two ends of the wire'from which said frame is made terminating in an externally threaded plug.

3. A marker according to claim 1 in which said coil spring member is axially distorted so that the convolutions thereof on one side are more steeply disposed than on the other and in which the thread on said plug is similarly distorted.

4. A marker according to claim 1 in which said spring is a tightly wound helical spring and in which said plug has a corresponding helical thread.

MITCHELL MENACHOF.