Fluorescent table tennis assembly

• US 3,971,560 A
• Filed: 03/21/1975
• Issued: 07/27/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alpha Nova Development Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alpha Nova Development Corporation
• Inventors: Panosh, James L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pinkham, Richard C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, J.
• Application Number:
  US05/560,691
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• Field of Search: 273/30, 273/101, 273/DIG. 24, 273/186 C, 273/186 A, 273/183 E, 273/183 D, 273/31, 273/176 A, 273/29, 250/336, 250/373, 250/372
• US Class Current: 473/475
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/74 with powered illuminating means, e.g. lights
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/76 with means enabling use in the dark, other than powered illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 67/04 Table games physically beneficial for the human body, modelled on outdoor sports, e.g. table tennis other table games A63F
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 19/06 Apparatus for setting-out or dividing courts
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 273/24 Luminescent, phosphorescent

Abstract

A table tennis assembly including a table having a flat upper surface, a transversely disposed net that divides the surface into two playing areas, a ball, and a pair of paddles that include ball striking surface that is characterized by at least the periphery of the flat upper surface, the net, the ball and the striking surfaces of the paddles having a fluorescent material thereon. The fluorescent material is selected from a group that comprises organic compounds, dyes, and inorganic compounds that emit light visible to the human eye when exposed to electromagnetic radiation in the infra-red or ultra-violet range. When the assembly that includes the fluorescent material is exposed to radiation to which the fluorescent material is responsive, the table, net, ball and paddles are illuminated to the extent that table tennis may be played in the dark. The table tennis assembly may be either originally manufactured to include the fluorescent material, or a kit may be provided to transform a conventional table tennis assembly to one which in combination with a source of black light, preferably ultra-violet radiation, may be used to play table tennis in the dark.

Claims

1. In combination with a source of ultra violet light, a tennis table assembly that may be used in the dark that includes a flat, horizontal, rectangular surface, a transverse vertically extending net that divides said surface into first and second portions, a resilient hollow ball, and a pair of paddles that define striking surfaces thereon, said table tennis assembly being characterized by:

a. first means that outline the outer boundary of said surface, said first means fluorescing and being visible when exposed to said ultra violet light;

b. second means that outline the edges of said net, said second means fluorescing and being visible when exposed to said ultra violet light;

c. third means carried on said ball, said third means fluorescing and being visible when exposed to said ultra violet light; and

d. fourth means that cover said striking surface, said fourth means fluorescing and being visible when exposed to said ultra violet light, and said table tennis assembly capable of being used in the dark when exposed to said ultra violet light due to the boundary of said playing surface, the edges of said net, said ball, and said striking surfaces being visible to the players using said assembly.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 in which said first, second, third and fourth means fluoresce to different colors when exposed to said ultra violet light.