SPORTS BALL COLLECTOR AND DISPENSER APPARATUS
A sporting ball collector and apparatus is provided to overcome undesirable issues in the existing ball-collector apparatuses. The disclosed apparatus is structured and configured to achieve, among many other advantages, a realizing of the pick-and-use type of ease to use, an obviating of any need for bending down when it comes to ball-collecting, and a rendering of the dispensing process easy and defined and the emptying process easy and controlled. The disclosed apparatus comprises a receptacle-collector part, a multi-purpose tray part and a handle-bracket part.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of Provisional Patent Application No. 62/129,013, filed Mar. 5, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a sports ball collector apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a light-weight and durable sports ball collector apparatus which is easy-to-operate and pretty much stress-and-discomfort-free when it comes to collecting sports balls scattered on a ground or floor as the apparatus does not require a user to bend the user's back during the collecting operation, and which can be quickly, easily and conveniently turned into a ball-dispenser or ball-emptier without any need for the user to go through steps that may incur stress, difficulty or inconvenience.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are quite a few different types of sports ball collector apparatuses that have been on the market or have been invented.
As used herein, “sports ball” and “ball” may be used interchangeably to refer to a sports ball of a limited size and weight which may be easily scattered around a ground-level or floor-level area (e.g., a floor, a ground, a field, a course, and etc.) during a playing session of a corresponding sport. Examples of a sports ball include a table-tennis ball (which may also be called “ping-pong ball”), a golf ball, a tennis ball, and etc. As used herein, a floor, a ground, a field, a course, and other similar terms, may be used interchangeably to refer to a ground-level or floor-level area of a size considered limited with respect to the corresponding sport in which a sports ball is used or featured during a playing session thereof.
First, Bulatao's ball-collector apparatus uses an elongated bar handle that laterally extends away from the ball-collector frame. This causes Bulatao's apparatus to be not capable of standing alone with its elongated bar handle disposed and extended in its upright direction, since this elongated bar handle design, when paired with its away-situated ball-collector frame, simply lacks a center of gravity to support the elongated bar handle to stand in its upright direction. In fact, even if there is a wall or column which the elongated bar handle can lean against in its upright direction, the leaning is largely unreliable and unstable, causing the elongated bar handle to eventually fall from its upright direction to its natural generally lateral direction. As such, bending down is still mostly required to pick up Bulatao's ball-collector apparatus (as the ball-collector apparatus usually ends up resting on the floor in its natural lateral resting position with the ball-collector frame sitting on the floor and the elongated bar handle extending laterally away from the ball-collector frame). Such a bending down to pick up the ball-collector apparatus, when repeated times after times, can, as discussed above in connection with the ball collectors shown in
Second, Bulatao's elongated bar handle design, when paired with its away-situated ball-collector frame, may present some safety challenges. Briefly, its elongated bar handle extending away from the ball-collector frame essentially causes the elongated bar handle to protrude across the floor at a relatively low height, which can easily cause a passer-by (not aware of the handle situated beneath him/her) to be tripped when a Bulatao's apparatus is resting on the floor in its natural resting position of its ball-collector frame resting on the floor.
Third, when it comes to collecting balls scattered on the floor, Bulatao's elongated bar handle design, when paired with its away-situated ball-collector frame, requires an excretion of additional force or pressure from the user via the elongated bar handle, when compared to a ball-collector apparatus with a same or similar bottom-level ball-collector frame but with a handle immediately and directly elevated above the ball-collector frame, due to apparent physics principles, thereby making the capturing of scattered balls with its ball-collector frame more difficult and less efficient for a user. Also, the use of its elongated bar handle requires lowering of a user's hands, and therefore body frame, which causes more stress and discomfort onto the user.
Fourth, when it comes to dispensing or emptying collected balls (contained in the ball-container receptacle above the elastic-members-based ball-collector frame), due to its tapered and relatively narrow dispensing end, a user has to squeeze on the dispensing end to make collected balls to be dispensed one ball at a time, especially causing the operation of getting the last few contained balls to become rather difficult and inconvenient. In addition, due to its tapered and relatively narrow dispensing end, it is also difficult for a user to reach a ball contained inside the ball-container receptacle, a characteristics which makes a Bulatao's apparatus unsuitable to be a serve practice buddy. Further, Bulatao's apparatus simply lacks a rather smooth and fast way of emptying collected balls (contained in the ball-container receptacle) into a container lying beneath the apparatus.
First, Beavin's design still requires some transformation before the handle (for exerting downward force or pressure on the ball-collector frame) can be formed. As such, Beavin's apparatus is not a “pick-and-use” type of conveniently accessible ball-collector apparatus. Second, Beavin's apparatus requires a relatively oversize design, since the apparatus is designed to transform a collector apparatus into a seat where an adult user of a reasonable weight can sit. As such, Beavin's apparatus most likely requires a steel frame, and is inevitably relatively bigger and heavier (compared to a typical ball-collector apparatus), which is not convenient and optimal for a user to carry the apparatus as the user moves around to collect balls scattered on the floor, ground or field. Third, the handle, when not used for exerting downward force or pressure on the ball-collector frame to collect scattered balls, is designed to be also used as two legs in the seating mode, which can weaken and wear out the handle (formed of the two legs) over a relatively shorter passage of time (compared to a ball-collector apparatus which does not require such a dual use of the grabbing handle). Fourth, when it comes to the process of emptying the collected balls into a container (typically lying underneath its ball-container receptacle), Beavin's apparatus requires the user to go through a series of transformation steps, such as, e.g., retracting the two legs (which can be doubly used to form the grabbing handle for ball-collecting). Besides, there is no defined path way for the otherwise retained balls (retained in the ball-container receptacle) to exit the ball-container receptacle, and as a result, the retained balls may flow out of the receptacle scattered without order, which, similar to the emptying process of the net-scooper apparatus shown in
Thus, there is a need to have a lightweight and durable ball collector and dispenser apparatus which can overcome the above-discussed undesirable issues in the existing ball-collector apparatuses, an apparatus which can achieve, among many other advantages, a realizing of the pick-and-use type of ease to use, an obviating of any need for bending down when it comes to ball-collecting, a rendering of the dispensing process easy and defined (controlled) and the emptying process easy and controlled (defined).
BRIEF SUMMARYThe present disclosure provides a lightweight and durable ball collector and dispenser apparatus which overcomes the above-discussed undesirable issues in the existing ball-collector apparatuses, The disclosed apparatus is structured and configured to achieve, among many other advantages, a realizing of the pick-and-use type of ease to use, an obviating of any need for bending down when it comes to ball-collecting, and a rendering of the dispensing process easy and defined (controlled) and the emptying process easy and controlled (defined).
The above summary contains simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail and is not intended as a comprehensive description of the claimed subject matter but, rather, is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the functionality associated therewith. Other systems, methods, functionality, features and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed written description.
The description of the illustrative embodiments can be read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements. Embodiments incorporating teachings of the present disclosure are shown and described with respect to the figures presented herein, in which:
In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, specific exemplary embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosed embodiments. For example, specific details such as specific method orders, structures, elements, and connections have been presented herein. However, it is to be understood that the specific details presented need not be utilized to practice embodiments of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
References within the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “embodiments”, and “one or more embodiments” are intended to indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The appearance of such phrases in various places within the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Further, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not other embodiments.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, “or” includes “and/or,” and reference to a numerical value includes at least that value, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another.
Within the descriptions of the different views of the figures, the use of the same reference numerals and/or symbols in different drawings indicates identical, similar, or close related items, and similar or closely related elements can be provided similar names, reference numerals, and reference alpha-numerals throughout the figures. If a reference numeral is once used to refer to a plurality of like elements, unless required otherwise by context, the reference numeral may refer to any, a subset of, or all of, the like elements in the figures bearing that reference numeral. Thus, for example, if reference numeral “20” is once referred to a fastening means or device or any element of the fastening means or device, reference numeral “20” may then also refer to any, a subset of, or all of, the elements of the fastening means or device, or the fastening means or device in its entirety, and reference alpha-numeral “20A” may then refer to one implementation or one portion of the fastening means or device, or any, a subset of, or all of the elements of that implementation or that portion. The specific identifiers/names, reference numerals and reference alpha-numerals assigned to the elements are provided solely to aid in the description and are not meant to imply any limitations (structural or functional or otherwise) on the described embodiments.
In the description, relative terms such as “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “upper,” “lower,” “top” and “bottom” as well as any derivatives thereof (e.g., “top portion,” “bottom plate,” etc.) should be construed to refer to the logical orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing figure under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and are not intended to convey any limitation with regard to a particular orientation.
As used herein, the term “fastening means” refers to any suitable known or future fastening mechanism, or any combination of suitable known or future fastening mechanisms (including but are not limited to fastening screws, fastening rivets, fastening bolts, mounting brackets, fastening holes, fastening pegs, fastening hooks, flanges provided for fastening purposes, pressure fitting mechanisms, and so on). As used herein, terms such as “fastening”, “locking”, “securing”, “fastened”, “locked”, “secured”, and so on, may be used interchangeably to refer to securely joining one component to another component, or one component being securely joined to another component.
Referring now to the detailed description of the disclosed sports ball collector and dispenser apparatus, the disclosed apparatus 10 may generally comprise a receptacle-collector part 100, a multi-purpose tray part 200, and a bracket-handle part 300. With reference now to the figures, and beginning with
Referring to
Receptacle frame 101 is generally configured to form a containment space 105 where collected sports balls (e.g., collected using ball-collector device 110) are stored or otherwise contained. Bottom portion 101 is configured to be integrally joined to ball-collector device 110. Thus, receptacle frame 101 generally comprises a bottom portion 102 and a top portion 103 and an enclosure wall there-between. As illustrated, in this exemplary embodiment, receptacle frame 101 is an upside-down “bucket-like” circular frame, with bottom portion 102 having a bigger diameter than top portion 103 such that the bottom portion 102 tapers towards top portion 103. In one implementation, as illustrated, bottom portion 102 is fastened to an above-discussed elastic-members-based ball-collector device 110 with fastening means 103. In one implementation, top portion 102 and controlled-dispenser device 120 are part of one-cast mold pre-cast together. In another implementation, top portion 102 may be fastened to controlled-dispenser device 120 with one or more known fastening means. A skilled artisan readily appreciate that receptacle frame 101 can be of any suitable shape for its horizontal cross sections, and does not have to be of a circular shape.
Ball-collector device 110—which, when fastened to bottom portion 102, is at ground level (floor level)—is configured to capture one or multiple sports balls (scattered on a ground or floor) when being pushed downward there-against and retain the captured sports balls there-above. Such a ball-collector device is well known in the art. Typically, such a ball-collector device comprises spaced-apart elastic members each biased to its respective original position with adjacent elastic members spaced slightly smaller than the diameter of a sports ball of a targeted type (such as a table-tennis ball). As such, when a downward force is exerted on ball-collector device 110 while ball-collector device 110 is over one or multiple sports balls, elastic members expand to make respective spaces there-between larger than the diameter of the sports balls (against which ball-collector device 110 are pushed), thus allowing the sports balls to be retained above the elastic members of ball-collector device 110.
In this exemplary embodiment, referring to
Controlled-dispenser device 120 is configured on one hand to provide an opening for retained sports balls (retained inside receptacle chamber 105 through an aforementioned collecting operation) to exit receptacle chamber 105. Controlled-dispenser device 120 is configured on another hand to cause the exiting of retained sports balls to be conducted in a controlled (defined) manner so that retained sports balls are prevented from exiting receptacle chamber 105 in an unorderly manner (as is the case for the Tucker's seating device). In this embodiment, controlled-dispenser device 120 comprises opening 122 and blocking member 121, with blocking member 121 blocking any potential flow of retained sports balls and opening 122 providing an exit for any potential flow of retained sports balls to exit receptacle chamber 105.
Referring to
Multi-purpose tray part 200 may comprise an elongated tray-shaped body 201. That is, elongated body 201 extends between a generally proximal end 218 (having a convex-shaped interior contour) and a generally distal end 219 (having a convex-shaped interior contour). Elongated body 201 comprises an elongated flat portion 215, two elongated raised rims (edges) 211 (relative to elongated flat portion 215 when elongated flat portion 215 is laid down on a flat surface), and elongated wall portion erected (formed) between elongated flat portion 215 and the two elongated raised rims 211. Elongated flat portion 215, both elongated raised rims (edges) 211, and elongated wall portion form an elongated open-ended chamber 202. A portion of the interior contour of proximal end 218 of elongated body 201 may match or substantially match a portion of the exterior contour of top portion 103, such that proximal end 218 of elongated body 201 is fastened to top portion 103 of receptacle frame 101 along their respective matching portions of contours through known fastening means 20. In particular, opening 122 of controlled-dispenser device 120 (which is integrally joined to top portion 103) is so configured that after proximal 218 is fastened to top portion 103 of receptacle frame 101, at least a portion of opening 122 opens to, and therefore is in communication with, the elongated open-ended chamber 202 of multi-purpose tray part 200.
Referring to
Bracket-handle part 300 may comprise handle 301 and a bracket 302 having two opposing ends and a convex-shaped contour of interior surface between the two opposing ends. A portion of the exterior contour of bracket 302 may match or substantially match a corresponding portion of the interior contour of distal end 219 (or a cross section along elongated body 201 substantially parallel to the plane defined by distal end 219), such that bracket 302 may be laterally fastened to distal end 219 (or a horizontal cross section along elongated body 201) with respect to their respective matching contours using known fastening means 22. Handle 301 is laterally disposed and fastened between the two opposing ends of bracket 302 using known fastening means 303. Referring to
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The disclosed apparatus 10 may be manufactured through a one cast mold. With its limited number of elements, that its components are not subject to heavy weight (which causes excess wear and tear), and the use of lightweight and durable materials to construct it, the disclose apparatus 10 should be of lightweight and very durable.
As such, the present disclosure provides a lightweight and durable ball collector and dispenser apparatus which overcomes the above-discussed undesirable issues in the existing ball-collector apparatuses, The disclosed apparatus is structured and configured to achieve, among many other advantages, a realizing of the pick-and-use type of ease to use, an obviating of any need for bending down when it comes to ball-collecting, and a rendering of the dispensing process easy and defined (controlled) and the emptying process easy and controlled (defined).
While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art, and it is clearly demonstrated through the second embodiment, that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular system, device or component thereof to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof.
Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A sports ball collector and dispenser apparatus, comprising:
- a receptacle-collector part;
- a multi-purpose tray part; and
- a bracket-handle part.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 7, 2016
Publication Date: Sep 8, 2016
Inventors: Mossa Barandao (Washington, DC), Miin-Jy Tsai (Fairfax, VA)
Application Number: 15/063,508