Bubble Emitting Basketball Goal Stand

Abstract

A basketball goal stand that utilizes a bubble generating device that is housed within an upper portion of a basketball backboard to emit soap bubbles from the upper perimeter of the backboard when a basketball goal is made. It utilizes a tractor fed belt that is passed through a soap mixture filled vessel, and a dynamic air source that dispels air bubbles from loaded soap bubble orifices on the tractor fed belt. Optionally, it may use a bubble venture nozzle to created the bubbles that are emitted fro the backboard. A second embodiment utilizes a floating platform for use in a pool that supports a toroidal ring that houses the bubble generating components. There is no backboard utilized in the pool version.

Description

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to children's toys, and more particularly to sporting goods related toys.

BACKGROUND

As with all sports, practice makes perfect. What separates good athletes from great athletes is generally their amount of practice, which in turn is related to the number of years the athlete has been playing that sport. Getting young athletes to focus on building their skills by repetitive engagement with the basic drills of a sport is hard. Children's focus is short. Studies have shown that by making repetitive drill engagement, such as route memorization of multiplication tables, into a fun game, children are able to concentrate both harder and spend more time with it. The same theory is applicable to repetitive sports drills, such as free throw shooting for basketball.

Getting young children to spend more time and effort in sports drills at such an early age has benefits both in their eye to hand coordination and their ability in that sport. Often, it is the ability to excel early in an endeavor over their peers, that shapes a child's perception of themselves and also how the rest of the world sees them. Simply stated, getting a child to practice a little more may change their entire life.

Thus, a device to entice children to increase the time and focus they spend practicing a sport such as basketball, would be a welcome tool for the arsenal of a sports coach, parent or teacher. Such a solution is provided by the embodiments set forth below.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance with various embodiments, an apparatus for automatically ejecting a stream of airborne soap bubbles as a reward for passing a basketball through a basketball hoop is provided.

In one aspect, a basketball hoop and supporting structure (basketball goal stand) with an automated soap bubble emitting system that is triggered as a response for successfully making a shot is provided.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments having different combination of features and embodiments that do not include all of the above described features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particular embodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similar components. When reference is made to a reference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a land embodiment of a bubble emitting basketball goal stand after emitting a burst of soap bubbles;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a land embodiment of the the bubble emitting basketball goal stand;

FIG. 3 is a representative view of the first embodiment bubble making device housed within the basketball goal stand;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the tractor feed bubble belt;

FIG. 5 is a partial cutaway front view of the backboard and hoop utilizing the first embodiment bubble making device;

FIG. 6 is a representative view of the second embodiment bubble making device;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the bubble ejector of the second embodiment buddle generating device;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the bubble ejector of the second embodiment buddle making device;

FIG. 9 is a partial cutaway front view of the backboard and hoop utilizing the second embodiment bubble generating device;

FIG. 10 is a representative view of the second embodiment bubble making device housed within the basketball goal stand; and

FIG. 11 is an exploded front view of the land embodiment basketball goal stand supporting structure.

FIG. 12 is a front view of the pool embodiment of basketball goal stand supporting structure, and

FIG. 13 is an exploded front view of the pool embodiment of basketball goal stand supporting structure,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few exemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no single feature or features of any described embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers herein used to express quantities, dimensions, and so forth, should be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considered non-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components comprising one unit and elements and components that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically stated otherwise.

The present invention relates to a novel design for a bubble emitting basketball goal stand. It signals the player that a basketball has passed through the hoop by emitting a plethora of soap bubble from the perimeter of the backboard body. To young children, who are often amazed by bubbles, this feedback signal serves to reinforce their success and encourage them to participate longer, thereby seeking further success. The goal stand may be used on both land and water, depending what supporting structure is utilized.

As used herein, the land “basketball goal stand” refers to a supporting post structure that is affixed to a backboard body with a hoop extending normally therefrom. The backboard body is not a solid planar substrate as in conventional basketball goals. Rather it has a front planar face, and a rear face held in a generally parallel configuration by a contiguous perimeter side wall so as to create a depth for a cavity there between for the housing of the bubble generating components of the preferred or alternate embodiment.

As used herein the pool “basketball goal stand” refers to a floating circular structure that has a hollow toroidal ring with an internal cavity for the housing of the bubble generating components of the alternate embodiment. It has no backboard.

Looking at FIGS. 1 and 11 the basic bubble goal stand structure 2 and assembly can best be seen. The bubble goal stand 2 is comprised of a weighted/weightable moveable base body 4 having an axle 6 upon which a pair of wheels 8 are mounted. The base body 4 may be a hollow polymer shell fillable with a liquid, a hardenable material such a concrete, or a fine shot for the ballast of the overall structure. There is a recess 10 formed in the base body 4 to matingly receive and horizontally secure post 12 and its inner peg 14 at a distal end of the post.

To the proximal end of the post 12 is affixed a backboard assembly, comprised of an upper backboard 20 and a lower backboard 14. The generally planar lower backboard 14 has an outer sleeve 16 and an inner sleeve 18 housed concentrically in the outer sleeve 16. Each sleeve extends vertically from the lower backboard 14. The inner sleeve 18 matingly engages the inner surface of the hollow peg 14 and the outer sleeve 16 matingly engages the outer surface of the hollow peg 14 and the inner surface of the post 12. When assembled, there is a solid, contiguous tubular wall mass from the outside of the post 12 to the inside of the inner sleeve 18. This dual sleeved design ensures lateral stability for the post 12 and the upper backboard 20. This lateral strength is critical so that the entire structure is able to continually withstand the horizontal forces of a basketball striking the upper backboard 20. The lower backboard 14 also has an inner cavity as the upper backboard 20, that is defined by the thickness of its perimeter side wall.

The upper backboard 20 has a hoop 22 and an activation arm 24 extending normally therefrom in the horizontal lane. The upper backboard 20 is mechanically affixed to the lower backboard 14 such that their planar front faces lie in the same vertical plane. The upper backboard 20 has a rigid front planar face and a substantially parallel back face separated by an outer perimeter side wall. This creates an inner cavity in the upper backboard 20. There is a series of backboard bubble orifices 26 about much of the outer perimeter of the upper backboard 20 to allow the passage of soap bubbles 28 from the inside cavity of the upper backboard 20 to the outside atmosphere. In some embodiments, these orifices may be of varying sizes to accommodate different sized bubbles as determined by the embodiment of bubble generator employed. The upper backboard 20 and lower backboard 14 have a thickness suitable to accommodate and house the bubble generator and or additional supplies.

The preferred embodiment of the bubble generator 30 (FIG. 3) is contained in the upper backboard 20. It has a tractor feed linear bubble generator bubble belt 32 (FIG. 4) that is pulled around a series of tractor feed pulleys 34 that submerge the bubble belt 32 horizontally into a vessel 38 filled with a liquid soap mixture 36. The tractor feed pulleys 34 have a pair of toothed wheels that engage a series of feed orifices 33 that run in rows adjacent the linear edge of the bubble belt. The feed rate of the bubble belt 32 through the soap mixture is sufficient to allow the bubble load orifice 40 in the bubble belt 32 to retain a horizontal soap film across the diameter of the bubble orifice 40. The bubble load orifice 40 is now “bubble loaded.” (It is to be noted that while FIG. 4 depicts the bubble belt 32 as having uniform sized and spaced bubble orifices 40, the size of the bubble load orifices 40 and their spacing may vary considerably to allow for the creation of various sized bubbles that are ejected at various spacings.)

The tractor feed pulleys need not all be motor driven. The power and torque available from each motor as well as the physical dimensions of the motor available and the length of the bubble belt 32, will dictate the number of tractor feed pulleys 34 and the number of pulleys that need to be driven.

The bubble belt 32 traverses a serpentine route wherein the bubble load orifice 40 when bubble loaded, passes between a dynamic air nozzle 42 and the backboard bubble orifice 26. A fan 44 provides a dynamic air source and channels it to the various air nozzles 42 about the inner perimeter of the upper backboard 20 via a series of air tubes 46. The air nozzles 42 are positioned in direct alignment with the backboard bubble orifice 26 such that when there is a stream or burst of air emitted from the air nozzle 42 it will traverse across the bubble load orifice 40 forming the soap film into a bubble and projecting it out of the upper backboard through the bubble orifice 26.

There is a control circuit that operates the bubble generator comprised of a power supply 48, an activation switch 52 and a timer 50. The fan's power to develop the air stream is initiated by the downward movement of the activation arm 24 when a basketball is passed downward through the hoop. The activation arm 24 is operationally connected to the activation switch 52. (Although the activation arm 24 is depicted as a vertically movable arm it is known that it may be any of a multitude of electronic sensors could also be utilized as would be known by one skilled in the art.) A power supply (DC or AC) 48 provides power to one side of the activation switch 52 that allows electricity to flow through a timer 50 and to the fan 44 and the powered tractor feed pulleys 34. The bubble belt 32 is driven as the fan 44 starts up, with the bubbles being created and disbursed as discussed above. The timer 50 allows power to flow to the fan 44 and tractor feed pulleys 34 for a preset period of time after the activation arm 24 has been operated to conserve power and liquid soap mixture.

The alternate embodiment bubble generator 54 (FIG. 6) utilizes many of the components of the preferred embodiment bubble generator including the fan 44, activation switch 52, the timer 50 and the power supply 48 as well as a series of air tubes 46 and a liquid soap mixture vessel 38 and the liquid soap mixture 36. The initiation of the fan operation remains identical in both embodiments. The alternate embodiment uses a bubble venturi nozzle 58 which receives a dynamic air stream from the air tubes 46 to its air inlet port 60 and a flow of liquid soap mixture 36 to its soap inlet port 62 that is pumped at a suitable flow rate from the soap pump 60 through soap tubes 64. Because of the parabolic shape of the venture nozzle 58 and the flow rates of both the air and the liquid soap mixture, a bubble is generated and propelled out the bubble outlet port 66 which is positioned in alignment with the bubble orifices 26 of the upper backboard 20. This provides an array of airborn bubbles disbursing from the perimeter of the upper backboard 20. The amount and size of the bubbles generated may be varied by adjustment of the air flow, the soap mixture flow and the composition soap mixture itself

Electrically, the alternate embodiment bubble generator 58 operation differs from the preferred embodiment only in that when a basketball is passed downward through the hoop, the power supply 48 provides power to one side of the activation switch 52 that allows electricity to flow through a timer circuit 50, to the fan 44 and to the soap pump 60. The meeting of the soap mixture from the soap tubes 64 and the fan's stream of air from air tubes 26 the at the venture nozzle, results in the creation and ejection of soap bubbles from the bubble outlet port 66 into the atmosphere. Again, the timer circuit allows power to flow to the fan 44 and the soap pump 60 for a preset period of time after the activation arm 24 has been operated to conserve power and liquid soap mixture.

Operation is simple. The soap mixture is prepared. While in the simplest version this is but liquid soap and water, additional chemicals may be added to increase color, surface tension and other bubble generating related properties. The bubble generator is powered (AC or DC) and the vessel is filled with the soap mixture. Then the players play the sport as desired wherein bubbles are emitted upon depression of the activation arm 24 when a basketball is passed though the hoop 22.

It is known that the basketball goal stand 2 sees a plethora of shock waves throughout its life as the backboard is continually bombarded by basketball. For this reason the components of the bubble generator that are housed in the cavity of the upper basketball backboard are shock mounted to minimize the vibrational damage from repeated vibrations. For a similar reason, to reduce the movement of the upper backboard, there is a dual sleeve design in the upright vertical sections of the post, a heavily weighted base and an extremely rigid upper backboard.

FIG. 12 illustrates the pool version of the basketball goal stand 80. This is a floating circular structure that has a hollow toroidal ring 82 with an internal cavity for the housing of the alternate embodiment bubble generator 54. A float base 84 maintains the structure above the surface of a pool of water. From the top face of the float base 84 extend upward a series of arms which support the ring 82 from the float base 84 generally parallel to the surface of the pool. About the upper perimeter of the ring 82 are a series of bubble orifices 26 from which the bubbles 28 are emitted. On the exterior of the ring is mounted the activation arm 24 as it has no backboard.

From FIG. 13 it can be seen that the ring 82 is separable into a top half 88 and a bottom half 90. In the cavity created between these two halves reside the components of the alternate embodiment bubble generator 54. The two ring halves matingly engage to make a generally watertight cavity for their housing. This may be by threaded engagement between the halves although there are a host of mechanical methods to accomplish this.

With the exception of the backboard, the pool version functions the same as the land version, generating a burst of bubbles when a basketball passes through the hoop and triggers the activation arm.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods and processes described herein may be implemented using hardware components, software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while various methods and processes described herein may be described with respect to particular structural and/or functional components for ease of description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limited to any particular structural and/or functional architecture, but instead can be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware, and/or software configuration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed to certain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionality can be distributed among various other system components in accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes described herein are described in a particular order for ease of description, unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments. Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or process may be incorporated within other described methods or processes; likewise, system components described according to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect to one system may be organized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease of description and to illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the various components and/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodiment can be substituted, added, and/or subtracted from among other described embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A sports training apparatus comprising:

a weightable base;

a vertical post having a distal end and a proximal end, wherein said distal end is affixed to said base;

a backboard assembly affixed to said proximal end of said post, wherein said backboard assembly has an internal cavity;

a bubble generating device housed within said internal cavity of said backboard assembly;

a series of orifices in said backboard assembly for the passage of bubbles from said bubble generating device.

2. The sports training apparatus of claim 1 wherein said backboard assembly has an upper backboard with a rigid, planar first front face and a lower backboard with a rigid, planar second front face, said upper backboard and said lower backboard affixed together such that said first and second front faces reside in a same vertical plane.

3. The sports training apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bubble generating device comprises:

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a series of tractor feed pulleys;

at least one of said tractor feed pulleys is a motor driven tractor feed pulley;

a tractor fed linear belt with a series of bubble orifices formed therethrough said belt, said belt residing contigously about said series of tractor feed pulleys; and

a control circuit;

wherein said control circuit activates said at least one motor driven tractor feed pulley so as to pass said belt around said series of tractor feed pulleys and through said liquid soap mixture and to activate said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air that passes through said bubble orifices.

4. The sports training apparatus of claim 2 wherein said bubble generating device comprises:

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a series of tractor feed pulleys;

at least one of said tractor feed pulleys is a motor driven tractor feed pulley;

a tractor fed linear belt with a series of bubble orifices formed therethrough said belt, said belt residing contigously about said series of tractor feed pulleys; and

a control circuit;

wherein said control circuit activates said at least one motor driven tractor feed pulley so as to pass said belt around said series of tractor feed pulleys and through said liquid soap mixture and to activate said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air that passes through said bubble orifices.

5. The sports training apparatus of claim 2 wherein control circuit has a power supply, an activation switch and a timer.

6. The sports training apparatus of claim 5 wherein said upper backboard has an activation arm and a hoop extending normally from said first front face.

7. The sports training apparatus of claim 6 wherein said dynamic air source is a fan that develops a moving stream of air that passes from said fan through at least one a series of air tubes.

8. The sport training apparatus of claim 7 wherein said activation arm is operationally connected to said activation switch.

9. The sport training apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bubble generating device comprises:

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a soap pump;

a bubble generating venture having a soap inlet port, an air inlet port and a venturi nozzle; and

a control circuit;

wherein said control circuit activates said soap pump to provide said soap mixture to said soap inlet port of said bubble generating venturi, and activates said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air to said air inlet port of said bubble generating venturi so as to provide a stream of bubbles that passes through said venturi nozzle.

10. The sport training apparatus of claim 2 wherein said bubble generating device comprises:

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a soap pump;

a bubble generating venture having a soap inlet port, an air inlet port and a venturi nozzle; and

a control circuit;

wherein said control circuit activates said soap pump to provide said soap mixture to said soap inlet port of said bubble generating venturi, and activates said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air to said air inlet port of said bubble generating venturi so as to provide a stream of bubbles that passes through said venturi nozzle.

11. The sports training apparatus of claim 9 wherein control circuit has a power supply, an activation switch and a timer.

12. The sports training apparatus of claim 11 wherein said upper backboard has an activation arm and a hoop extending normally from said first front face.

13. The sports training apparatus of claim 12 wherein said dynamic air source is a fan that develops a moving stream of air that passes from said fan to said air inlet port through at least one a series of air tubes.

14. The sport training apparatus of claim 13 wherein said soap pump provides said soap mixture to said soap inlet port of said bubble generating venture by a soap tube.

15. The sport training apparatus of claim 14 wherein said activation arm is operationally connected to said activation switch.

16. A bubble emitting basketball backboard assembly comprising:

an upper backboard with a rigid, planar first front face;

a lower backboard with a rigid, planar second front face, said upper backboard and said lower backboard affixed together such that said first and second front faces reside in a same vertical plane;

a power source;

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a soap pump;

a bubble generating venture having a soap inlet port, an air inlet port and a venturi nozzle; and

a control circuit in operation connection with said power source;

wherein said control circuit activates said soap pump to provide said soap mixture to said soap inlet port of said bubble generating venturi, and activates said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air to said air inlet port of said bubble generating venturi so as to provide a stream of bubbles that passes through said venturi nozzle.

17. A bubble emitting sports training apparatus comprising:

an upper toroidal ring with an activation arm extending therefrom, said ring having a series of bubble orifices formed through a top surface thereof;

a lower floating base held in a spaced configuration from said upper toroidal ring by a series of supports affixed there between;

a power source;

a dynamic air source;

a vessel filled with a liquid soap mixture;

a soap pump;

a bubble generating venture having a soap inlet port, an air inlet port and a venturi nozzle; and

a control circuit in operable connection with said power source;

wherein upon depression of said activation arm, said control circuit activates said soap pump to provide said soap mixture to said soap inlet port of said bubble generating venturi, and activates said dynamic air source to provide a stream of air to said air inlet port of said bubble generating venturi so as to provide a stream of bubbles that passes through said venturi nozzle and past said bubble orifices; and

wherein said control circuit, said power source, said bubble generating venture, said vessel with sop mixture and said soap pump are housed within said toroidal ring.