WO1993011834A2

WO1993011834A2 - Device fixed to a tennis racket for picking up tennis balls

Info

Publication number: WO1993011834A2
Application number: PCT/FR1992/001222
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claude Bes; Agnès MALARDEAU
Original assignee: Claude Bes; Malardeau Agnes
Priority date: 1991-12-13
Filing date: 1992-12-10
Publication date: 1993-06-24
Also published as: AU3357393A; FR2684883A1; WO1993011834A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for picking up tennis balls, which is intended to be mounted on a racket frame and comprising a surface provided with a plurality of small hooks capable of gripping the fibers covering the tennis balls in order to pick them up. According to the invention, the disclosed device is configured like a flexible bracelet comprising a housing (1) intended to receive a pad provided with said hooks and two branches (3) and (5) surrounding the frame of the racket, the extremity of the branch (5) being housed in the loop (4) belonging to the branch (3), the locking being provided by teeth (9), said device being arranged in the medial area of the front frame of the racket, the bottom of the housing (1) bearing on the external face of the frame.

Description

DEVICE FOR PICKING UP TENNIS BALLS FIXED ON A RACKET

The invention relates to a device for collecting balls' ^• * tennis intended to be fixed on the middle part of the front part of a racket of the kind comprising a tablet provided with a plurality of small hooks, preferably of metal , suitable for hanging, by simple contact, the fibers covering the tennis balls, and an intermediate support, advantageously made of plastic, directly in contact with the frame of the racket, on which is fixed, generally by gluing, said pastille.

The various known solutions for fixing the device in question 10 to a racket have been analyzed one by one. They essentially consist of:

- for the first: to fix, by gluing, a patch on the end of the handle of the racket (patent FR-2594037): this solution is not practical because the player must let go of the handle and take the racket by the

15 frame and rope;

- for the second: to fix two pads, one against the other, by sandwiching the strings of the racket in the front area of the string (patent US-3874666): this solution has the disadvantage of placing said device in the ball use area (technical drawback

20 pic and psychological);

- for the third: to fix, by gluing, a strip on the external face of the front frame of the racket (patent FR-2594037): this solution has the disadvantage of requiring different types of glues depending on the composition of the constituent material the racket frame; in addition, some

25 short rackets include coatings on which the glues known have no effect; in addition, the flattened ovoid shapes of current racket frames, which include rope grooves, are difficult to use for direct bonding;

- for the fourth: to be fixed, also by gluing, on the lateral face 30 of the frame, by means of a sheath, a strip provided with hooks

(US Pat. No. 3,874,666): this solution has the drawback of being encom¬ brante and of not being able to adapt to any type of racket frame, in particular on current rackets which, at more than 90%, have flattened ovoid section frames with rope groove. All commercially available products based on plastic hooks, do not hook the fibers of tennis balls satisfactorily: deformation, loss of elastic properties, premature wear when rubbing on the ground, which does not This is not the case with the special metal hooks used in the context of the invention which also have shape and elasticity memory.

The research undertaken consisted in overcoming the problems linked to bonding (creation of an intermediate support), to the shape and dimensions of the racket frames (implementation of a quick-attach device adjustable in length) , mainly with the current use of frames with flattened ovoid section and string groove, and also to use a product specially adapted to the hanging of fibers covering tennis balls.

The product specially adapted for hooking the fibers of tenis balls comes in the form of a pellet, cut from a continuous strip, comprising a face provided with small metal hooks, omnidirectional, particularly well suited to the attachment of fibers (used or not) of tennis balls and obtained by weaving a metal wire on a textile fiber support, said woven wire being then cut, at each loop, and oriented to obtain hooks to the desired shape.

The product intended to overcome the problems associated with bonding and the shape and dimensions of the racket frames is in the form of a bracelet comprising an enlarged portion intended to receive the patch and provided with a peripheral rim surrounding this the latter so as to protect its edges against any accidental tearing or premature wear, said bracelet being fixed on the front of the racket frame in its middle part by an adjustable device of the quick coupler type.

Thus produced, the device according to the invention overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks and is characterized by its efficiency, its small size and its ease of installation on any type of commercial racket. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the patch is oval and measures 20 x 25 π-m for a total weight (bracelet included) of 1.4 grams.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention given by way of example only and shown in the accompanying drawings. In these drawings:

- Figure 1 is a view of the support alone;

- Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the support, the pad and the frame of the racket; - Figure 3 is a partial detail view of the patch;

- Figure 4 is a partial elevational view of the frame equipped with the device according to the invention.

According to FIG. 1, the support is in the form of a flexible bracelet comprising an enlarged zone (1), intended to rest exclusively on the external face (the least curved) of the front middle part of the frame of the racket, composed a flat bottom (favoring the support) against which the pastille is stuck and a peripheral rim (2) surrounding the lateral edge of the latter (for better protection of its periphery from any damage during use). Said bracelet comprises a first branch (5) provided for example with a series of small teeth (9) and a second branch (3) provided for example with a loop (4) in which the end of the first branch to be self-locked by means of said teeth, any other type of closure that can be envisaged. Said bracelet can advantageously be produced by injection molding of plastic material.

According to Figure 2, the support (3,5), carrying the pad (6) placed, for example by gluing, in the housing (2), is fixed to the front frame (7) of the racket, in its part median, the patch and its support resting on the external face of said frame and the bracelet surrounding said frame to be locked on its internal face between the two consé¬ cut strings (8) placed on either side of the axis of symmetry snowshoeing, (see also Figure 4).

According to Figure 3, the patch, which is cut from a strip, has small hooks (10), omnidirectional (metal), obtained by weaving and then by cutting a metal wire on a support (11) of textile fibers .

The device according to the invention can be mounted on any type of tennis racket or the like.

According to a variant of the invention, the patch is placed in a similar compartment belonging to a sheath-type bracelet, mounted on the racket permanently before the stringing operation.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown. Any variant that may be part of the invention.

Claims

1— Device for picking up tennis balls intended to be fixed on the front middle part of the frame of a racket, of the kind comprising a pad provided with a plurality of small hooks, advantageously of metal, suitable for hanging , by simple contact, the fibers covering the tennis balls, and an intermediate support, advantageously made of plastic material, directly in contact with the frame of the racket, on which is fixed, generally by gluing, said pad, characterized in that that the intermediate support has the form of a bracelet which comprises, on the one hand, an enlarged central zone (1) intended to rest exclusively on the external face of the front middle part of the frame of the racket and provided with a cavity formed by a flat bottom (1) against which the pellet (11) sticks and by a peripheral rim (2) surrounding the lateral edge of the latter; and, on the other hand, two arms (5) and (3) intended to surround the frame of the racket and provided, for the first, with a series of small teeth (9), for the second, with a loop (4) into which is inserted the end of the first branch to be locked there, by means of said teeth, in the region of the internal face of the racket frame between the two consecutive strings (8) placed on the side and d 'other of the axis of symmetry of said frame. 2- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the patch is made from a product obtained by weaving a metal wire on a textile fiber support (11), said woven wire being then cut, at level of each loop, and oriented to obtain hooks (10) in the desired shape.

3- Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the bracelet can be permanently mounted on the racket before the stringing operation.