Towable/Rollable Baseball Batting Cage

Abstract

A baseball batting cage, steadied and stabilized by a mechanical framework of struts, stiffening tubes, braces and clamps so as to be towable and rollable in use, with reduced chance of undesirable collapse.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

A Provisional Patent Application covering the invention described herein was filed on Nov. 25, 2015, and assigned Ser. No. 62/259,977.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

NOT APPLICABLE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to baseball batting cages, in general, and to towable/rollable ones, in particular.

Description of the Related Art

As will be appreciated, baseball batting cages are available in a variety of sizes, shapes, manufactures and pricings. As will also be appreciated, those installed for college and semi-professional baseball use are of a greater, or better, quality than those employed for junior league baseball—or even, just for softball players—for practicing their batting skills. For professional baseball teams, on the other hand, the designs are improved further, so that the batting cage will be more safely and easily assemblable and disassemblable; besides being more safely and easily connectable to receive and thereafter release their nettings at the sides, tops and rears to additionally protect those outside and surrounding the cage and to keep loose balls within a certain range so that they are easy to pick up and are not lost. When the batting cage also needs to be shifted from place to place at a field or stadium—and ultimately brought to a storage location—the batting cage additionally needs to be safely and easily moved, as by towing on a roller system. And this remains all the more so even though the batting cage might only be broken down for storage once or twice a year.

Proposed types of towable/rollable baseball batting cages offered on the market to meet these requirements have been found to be wanting—and primarily because their lack of sturdiness and stability allows them to undesirably collapse at times during use.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention, therefore, to enhance towable/rollable baseball batting cage performance by addressing such limitations in a new and improved towable/rollable manufacturing manner to provide an optimal operational utilization.

It is another object of the invention to provide a towable/rollable baseball batting cage in which adjustments can readily be made in its configuration to vary, where desired, the degrees of protection offered by its nettings to coaches and players observing a practice from just outside the enclosed cage area to begin with.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As will be clear from the following description, the towable/rollable baseball batting cage of the invention employs a mechanical framework for the batting cage utilizing a series of braces and clamps in a fabrication which locks its implemented strut and tubing component parts in position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying Drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A-1C are pictorial illustrations of the commonly employed towable/rollable baseball batting cage typifying the prior art;

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate various component parts of the invention which when joined together, provide a safe and easy operation and utilization of a quality towable/rollable baseball batting cage; and

FIGS. 3A-3E are helpful in understanding the connections together of such component parts in structuring the towable/rollable batting cage of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The prior art towable/rollable baseball batting cage of FIG. 1A includes five struts 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18, with the struts 12, 14 and 16 being hinged together at 20 and 22—with those hinges then being fixed together with the strut 10, at 24, 26. Further hinges at 28, 30 couple the struts 10 and 12, with the strut 10 then joined with the strut 18 as at 32, 34 (if not constructed merely as an extension of it). Three wheels 36, 38 and 40 are employed in constructed cradles for rolling the cage 100 about, with the cage 100 employing a coupling assembly 42 adjacent the wheel 40 for also towing the cage about, either by human or mechanical effort.

Prior to assembly, the prior art struts (as so far described) are rotated downwardly atop or adjacent and above one another, as shown by the arrows A₁, A₂, and A₃—with the strut 18 being above the strut 16, with the strut 16 being over the strut 14, and with the strut 14 being rotatable to rest above the strut 12. In common installations, the struts typically are composed of tubular inter-coupled curved sections 70 and straight sections 71 in satisfying needed size requirements.

Then, in readying the typical cage for use via a counter rotation movement of the struts, a pair of linear stiffening tubes 60, 61 are added to join with the struts 12 and 14, and a second pair of linear stiffening tubes 62, 63 are added to join with the struts 14 and 16. Lastly, a third pair of linear stiffening tubes 64, 65 are added to join with the struts 16 and 18. With appropriate nettings connected with the struts and tubes, the cage structure is formed. FIG. 1B in this respect illustrates claw-type clasps 72, 73 at the opposing ends of each linear stiffening tube and FIG. 1C illustrates how the clasps 72, 73 grasp onto the various sections of the struts. As such, the clasps commonly grasp onto the straight sections 71 of the various struts.

Experience has shown, however, that the couplings of these clawed-ended clasp stiffening tubes with the tubular struts as rods do not provide a sturdiness of the cage once assembled, nor a stability of the cage as it is moved about. Such lack of sturdiness and stability will be appreciated by the skilled artisan as allowing individual ones of the linear stiffening tubes 60-65 to slide outwardly, and undesirably shift to the curved sections of the struts. This can lead to a collapse of the nettings connected in forming the cage enclosure—and especially when the cage is towed or rolled from one location to another as the claw clasps 72, 73 slide down towards the curved strut sections.

FIG. 2A illustrates a towable/rollable batting cage according to the invention, with the stiffening tubes 60-65 removed—while FIG. 2B illustrates a different designed tube for joining with the struts 12, 14, 16 and 18. Specifically, the claw-type clasps 72, 73 of the prior art linear stiffening tubes are replaced by U-shaped clamp ends 80, 81 (FIG. 2B), with holes 82, 83 to receive a locking pin to be described below. Additionally, rings 84 and 85 are welded onto the curved section 70 of each strut 12, 14, 16 and 18 at their left and right ends, just outside their couplings with the straight sections 71. FIG. 2C also illustrates the coupling assembly 42 as it would appear locked in place by a slider 43.

With respect to the towable/rollable batting cage of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3A with the redesigned, replacement linear stiffening tubes in place—while retaining the same reference numbers 60-65 as those of the prior art batting cage of FIG. 1A—, the following will be noted:

a) As to the tubes 64 and 65, the U-shaped clamp at their upper ends are fitted between the 2 rings welded on the left and right sides of the strut 18, as at 90, 91;

b) As to the tubes 60 and 61, the U-shaped clamp at their lower ends are fitted between the 2 welded rings on the left and right sides of the strut 12, as at 92, 93;

c) As to the tubes 62 and 63, the U-shaped clamp at their upper ends are fitted inwardly of the 2 welded rings on the left and right sides of the strut 16, as at 94, 95;

d) Also with respect to the tubes 62 and 63, the U-shaped clamp at their lower ends are fitted inwardly of the 2 welded rings on the left and right sides of the strut 14, as at 96, 97;

e) As to the tubes 64 and 65, once again, the U-shaped clamp at their lower ends are fitted between the 2 welded rings on the left and right sides of the strut 16, as at 98, 99; and

f) As to the tubes 60 and 61, the U-shaped clamp at their upper ends are each fitted between the 2 welded rings on the left and right sides of the strut 14, as at 100, 101.

FIG. 3B in this respect illustrates the arrangement for the lower end of the tube 65 and the upper end of the tube 63, with the straight section of the strut 16 being shown at 71, and the curved section of the strut 16 being shown at 70. The 2 welded rings 84, 85 on the curved section 70 are shown, along with locking pins 50, 51 fitted through the holes 82, 83 of each U-shaped clamp. To facilitate an assembling of the components together, the locking pins 50 and 51 are joined by wire cablings 52, 53 to openings on the tubes to assist in retaining them in place as the cage is being erected. In such manner, the lower end of the tube 65 is cradled or locked in place between the rings welded to the curved sections of the strut, while the upper end of the tube 63 is braced against the inside welded ring. Similar analysis will be seen to apply with the lower end of the tube 64 and the upper ends of the tubes 60 and 61 being cradled between the spaced apart welded rings and the bracing of the lower ends of the tubes 62 and 63, along with the upper end of the tube 62 against the inside welded ring. For those alignments, the illustration of FIG. 3B will be understood to be re-oriented, so that the cradling or locking is at the location closer to the curved section of the strut and the bracing is inside of that. Thus, for example, the illustration of FIG. 3C represents a mirror image of the arrangement of the lower end of the tube 64 with the upper end of the tube 62—wherein the lower end of the tube 64 is cradled between the welded rings and the upper end of the tube 62 is braced inside against the rings. In such manner, the sturdiness and stability of the framework and its attached netting is maintained. FIG. 3D repeats the assembly locking of FIG. 2C, and FIG. 3C repeats the U-shaped clamps of the tube of FIG. 3B.

In assembling the towable/rollable baseball cage of the invention, two persons are involved in its setting up, and subsequent knocking down. First, the lower ends of the tube modifications 60 and 61 according to FIG. 2B are pushed in place onto the strut 12 and fitted between the welded rings on the struts 12 and 14 secured by the locking pins. Starting with the struts 14, 16 and 18 initially rotated downwardly above the strut 12, the strut 18 is next rotated outwardly and upwardly. Netting is then stretched along its length and the upper ends of tube modifications 64 and 65 of FIG. 2B, which are then to be set in place by pushing them into position on the strut 18. The locking pin and wire cablings are then placed to hold the tube modifications 64 and 65 while the strut 16 is itself rotated upwardly to receive the lower ends of the tube modifications 64 and 65, where similar locking pins are inserted into the holes provided there to secure the two modifications in place while tube modifications 64 and 65 are pushed onto the strut 16. At that time, the netting can be stretched to join with the struts 16 along its length. The process is then repeated with the tube modifications 62 and 63 by inserting their upper clamp ends onto the strut 16. The same is followed for the lower ends of the modifications 62 and 63, and the upper ends of the modified tubes 60 and 61. And each time the section is secured, the netting is then attached to it. As will be appreciated, the curvature of strut 18 defines the front or opening of the cage. And, as will be understood, the knock down of the cage follows a reverse process from the setting up so that those knocking down the cage begin with the netting between the struts 18 and 16, and work their way down from there.

While there have been described what are considered to be a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. Thus, whereas a welding of the clamps and braces to the curved sections 70 of the struts 12,14, 16 and 18 of the above-described batting cage have provided beneficial results, other manners of their securement might be utilized instead. Also, one might attempt to proceed with the assembly and disassembly of the towable/rollable batting cage without the employment of locking pins to temporarily secure the linear stiffening tubes 60-65 in place while the cage is being set up or broken down. But such manners of proceeding might lead to the possibility of the assembler experiencing difficulty in retaining everything in proper position in so doing. As a reasoned analysis will show, such elimination of those components very well could result in a decrease of the rigidity and sturdiness of the cage of the preferred embodiment, and in a manner which decreases the availability of its safe and easy transportation about, especially when the cage is to be towed, or is being towed by a mechanical means instead of by a manual activity. And, as will be appreciated, the strut 18 defines the front opening of the batting cage, while the strut 14 defines the rear closure of the cage.

In similar manner, to even further strengthen the sturdiness and stability of the invention, additional rings may be welded to the straight sections 71 of the struts 14 and 16 to receive the upper end of the modified tubes 62 and 63 of FIG. 2B between them—as by making the 2-welded ring configuration at the locations 94, 95 and 96, 97 into a 3-welded ring alignment, to cradle and lock not only the modified tubes 64 and 65, and the modified tubes 60 and 61, but the modified tubes 62 and 63 at the same time. And, besides being able to also secure the clamps and braces of the linear stiffening tubes to the straight sections 71 of the struts (although with somewhat less of of a beneficial result), it will further be understood that a series of screws, bolts or like impediments could be configured along the struts other than welded rings to limit any outward sliding or shifting of the stiffening tubes in a direction to collapse the framework of the batting cage. For at least such reasons, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto defining the invention.

Claims

1. In a towable/rollable baseball batting cage, the combination

a plurality of hinged struts, a first one of which defines a front opening of the cage and a second one of which defines a rear closure of the cage;

first and second pairs of inside and outside spaced-apart rings secured to said first strut and to said second strut, respectively;

and a plurality of linear stiffening tubes, first individual ones of which are cradled between the spaced-apart rings of each pair, and second individual ones of which are braced against the inside rings of said pair.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said struts include intercoupled inner straight sections and outer curved sections, and wherein said pairs of rings are welded to said outer curved sections.

3. The combination of claim 1, including U-shaped clamps on upper and lower ends of said linear stiffening tubes.

4. The combination of claim 1 including:

first, second, third and fourth struts;

first and second pairs of spaced-apart rings welded to said first strut;

third and fourth pairs of spaced-apart rings welded to said second strut;

fifth and sixth pairs of spaced-apart rings welded to said third strut; and

seventh and eighth pairs of spaced-apart rings welded to said fourth strut;

first and second linear stiffening tubes having upper clamps connected between said first and second pairs of said spaced-apart rings on said first strut and lower clamps connected between said third and fourth pairs of spaced-apart rings on said second strut;

third and fourth linear stiffening tubes having lower clamps connected between said seventh and eighth pairs of spaced-apart rings on said fourth strut and upper clamps connected between said fifth and sixth pairs of spaced-apart rings on said third strut; and

fifth and sixth linear stiffening tubes having upper clamps braced against inside rings of said third and fourth pairs of spaced-apart rings on said second strut and lower clamps braced against inside rings of said fifth and sixth pairs of spaced-apart rings on said third strut.

5. The combination of claim 4 including netting stretched along substantially the entire length of said first, second, third and fourth struts.

6. The combination of claim 5 including means coupled to said first strut for rolling said batting cage.

7. The combination of claim 6 including means coupled to said second strut for towing said batting cage.

8. In a towable/rollable baseball batting cage, the combination comprising:

a plurality of struts having interlocking straight and curved sections defining a framework for the cage;

individual pairs of stops predeterminedly placed along said struts; and

a plurality of linear tubes between adjacent struts for stiffening said framework, said tubes incorporating clamps at opposite ends thereof, with outside ones of said plurality of linear tubes cradled to fit between individual stops of said pairs of stops, and with inside ones of said plurality of linear tubes braced against individual stops of said pair of stops.

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein said pairs of stops include rings welded onto said struts.

10. The combination of claim 8 wherein said pairs of stops are predeterminedly placed on said curved sections of said struts, adjacent to said interlocking straight sections of said struts.

11. The combination of claim 8 wherein said pairs of stops include rings welded on said curved sections of said struts, adjacent to said interlocking straight sections of said struts.

12. The combination of claim 11 including U-shaped clamps on upper and lower ends of said plurality of linear tubes.