Tennis court ball retainer

• US 9,592,429 B1
• Filed: 04/25/2016
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert W. Wolfe
• Original Assignee: Robert W. Wolfe
• Inventors: Wolfe, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Berdichevsky, Aarti B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Glenn, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US15/137,060
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 473/503, 473/455, 473/183, 473/153
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/02 Tennis
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 47/02 for picking-up or collecting
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 61/00 Tennis nets or accessories for tennis or like games , e.g. volley-ball devices for holding or carrying balls A63B47/00; for table tennis A63B67/04
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/022 Backstops, cages, enclosures or the like, e.g. for spectator protection, for arresting balls

Abstract

A tennis court ball retainer having a horizontally extending ball gutter along the tennis court back wall which has an upwardly facing channel dimensioned to receive and retain tennis balls. An upright flexible upper backdrop curtain coextends directly above and along the ball gutter for engaging tennis balls striking the upper curtain, thereby dampening the tennis ball impact and directing the engaged tennis balls to fall into the ball gutter for retention. A tennis court floor surface ball retainer is also provided and coextends with and under the ball gutter. The ball gutter extends a uniform distance above the tennis court floor surface and includes an upright flexible lower backdrop curtain coextending below and along the ball gutter for engaging and trapping tennis balls striking this lower curtain by rolling or skidding on the tennis court floor surface. The lower curtain is draped to provide a sagging horizontal droop therein which is positioned a predetermined distance above the tennis court floor surface wherein this distance is dimensioned for thereby capturing and retaining tennis balls between the droop and the tennis court floor surface.

Claims

1. A tennis court ball retainer comprising:

a horizontally extending ball gutter having an upwardly facing channel dimensioned to receive and retain tennis balls;

an upright flexible upper backdrop curtain coextending directly above and along said ball gutter for engaging tennis balls striking said upper curtain and thereby dampening the tennis ball impact and directing the engaged tennis balls into said ball gutter for retention; and

a tennis court floor surface ball retainer coextending with and under said ball gutter, said ball gutter extending a uniform distance above a tennis court floor surface, and including an upright flexible lower backdrop curtain coextending below and along said ball gutter for engaging and trapping tennis balls striking said lower curtain by rolling on said tennis court floor surface, said lower curtain draped to provide a downwardly sagging horizontal droop therein, said droop positioned under and along said gutter and positioned a predetermined distance above the tennis court floor surface wherein said predetermined distance is dimensioned to be less than the diameter of a tennis ball for thereby capturing and retaining tennis balls between said droop and the tennis court floor surface.

2. The tennis court ball retainer of claim 1, wherein said upper backdrop curtain draped to provide a horizontal droop extending downwardly along a bottom edge of said upper curtain and outwardly over a portion of said gutter for assisting the guidance of tennis balls falling downwardly along said upper curtain into said gutter.

3. The tennis court ball retainer of claim 1, wherein said lower curtain droop is positioned in front of a backdrop ball stop with an upwardly facing surface contoured to deflect balls upward into said lower curtain droop.

4. The tennis court ball retainer of claim 1, including a vertical panel positioned at a right angle to said upper backdrop curtain along a side edge of said upper backdrop curtain for deflecting tennis balls.