United States Patent [191 ,
[111
Falitz
[451 Apr. 16, 1974
[54] TENNIS BALL RETRIEVER
[76] Inventor: Leonard Falitz, 35-26 Prince St.,
Bayside, NY. 11354
[22] Filed:
Dec. 7, 1972
[21] Appl. No.: 312,800
3,227,298
l/l966
US. Cl. ............................. .. 294/19 A, 214/356
[51]
Int. Cl .....................................
[58]
Field of Search ............... .. 294/19 A; 56/328 R;
'
V [56] 7
B65f 3/00
214/356
References Cited
UNITED STATES PATENTS
3,215,293
ll/l965
Kelly et al.., ................. .. 294/19 A X
Shoemaker ................. .. 294/19 A X
Primary Examiner-Evon C. Blunk.
Assistant Examiner—-Johnny D. Cherry
Attorney, Agent, or Firm--Norman Blumenkopf
[5 7 ]
[52]
3,804,449
ABSTRACT
A tennis ball retriever having a handle in the form of
a yoke and a pair of second engaging rings intercon
nected by spaced bars, one of which is removable to
provide for access of tennis balls picked up through
the spaced bars ‘after rolling action of the rings along
the ground.
7
1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures
1
3,804,449
2
TENNIS BALL RETRIEVER
FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view showing the
manner in which a tennis ball is picked up;
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional detailed view showing
the construction of the removable bar; and
This invention relates to a tennis ball retriever and 5
FIG. 6 is a sectional detailed view looking in the di-'
more particularly to a device for retrieving tennis balls
rection of plane of line 6——6 in FIG. 5.
1. Field of the Invention
by rolling a mechanism along the ground. During the
playing of tennis and especially during practice and
With continuing reference to the accompanying
drawing wherein like reference numerals designate
teaching sessions, numerous tennis balls are used for
demonstration and practice strokes. The picking up of
these tennis balls by hand usually requires excessive
bending, which will tire the player and make learning
or instructing tennis more fatiguing and less rewarding.
similar parts throughout various views, reference nu
meral 10‘ generally designates a tennis ball retriever
constructed in accordance with the concept of the
present invention. The tennis ball retriever 10 includes
a handle 12‘ in the form of a yoke 14 having a rectangu
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
.
' Various devices have in the past been developed as
thereto. The yoke includes a pair of parallel legs 18 and
lar extension‘ 16 bolted as at 17 or otherwise secured
20 which“ have a pair of discs“ 22 and 24 rotatably at
tached thereto as‘ by stub shafts 26“, 28‘ or the like. A
pair of spaced rings‘ 30 and 32 are provided and are rig
idly connected to the‘dis‘cs' 22 and 24‘ by radius rods 34‘
tennis ball retrievers. In the Stap. US. Pat. No.
3,371,950‘, there is‘ disclosed‘ at_tennis ball retriever‘
which requires the successive pressing down- of the re
ceptacle over the tennis balls‘. This-has‘ two great disadé
vantages, one of which‘ is that the device still requires
a stooping and bending operation. The second disad
vantage is that the Stap device requires a variety of rods
and 36 which have concentric rings 38, 40 and 42, 44
attached thereto. The rings‘ 38, 40‘ are spaced‘ from
each other and from the ring 30 a distance less than the
diameter of‘a‘ tennis ball, and likewise the rings 42 and
which are pressed over the ball and which‘in actual use
44‘ are spaced from each‘ other and from‘ the ring‘ 32 a
generally through‘ the tiltingof the receptacle‘ until an 25 distance less‘ than the diameter of a tennis‘ ball so that
edge‘th‘er‘eof strikes the tennis court causes‘the‘m‘arring
no tennis ball can pass therebetween.
of the surface thereof‘ to an undesired degree. Retriev
ers for various‘ ball shaped objects‘ such‘ as‘ shown in‘
US. Pat. Nos; 3,485,398‘, 3,227,298‘? and 3,215,293
have also been‘ide‘vised‘b‘ut have likewise proved‘unsat
isfactory because of the excessive weight of these‘ de~
vices as compared to the‘ surface‘ of‘a‘ tennis court,
which would cause m‘arring of the surface of the court.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages
A‘ plurality of spaced bars 50 are welded to the inner
surfaces of the rings 30‘ and 32 and extend therebe~
tween. In this manner the bars‘ 50, which can be best
seen‘ in‘ FIG. 4, are spaced upwardly from the surface‘
of the ground‘G when the tennis ball retriever is rolled‘
along the ground. The bars 50 and 52‘ are spaced from
each‘other a distance L which is‘slightly less than the
diameter of a tennis‘ ball T. The tennis‘ball T is slightly
35
squeezed as the tennis ball retriever is passed along the
ground and passes into the interior of the tennis ball re
of‘the prior art devicesby-providingan‘extremely light
weight tennis ball‘ retriever which is arranged to keep
spaced bars through which the tennis balls are
squeezed above the surface of the ground‘, with the only‘
contact with the groundlibeing‘ by way of a pair of
spaced‘ rings. The‘construction of this invention fea
tures a yoke-shapedxhandle havingsmall discs rotatably
attachedthereto which discs have spaced rings concen 45
trically disposed‘thereabove and mounted thereon; A‘
plurality of spaced‘bars are attached‘ to‘the inner pe
riphery of the rings so as‘ to be spaced‘ from the ground
withrone of the bars beinggremovable.
triever.
.
In order to permit‘access‘into the interior of the ten
nis ball retriever, a bar 607is provided which is remov
able. In order‘ to carry this out, two lugs 62 and 64 are
provided which are weldedv inwardly of the rings 30 and
32‘and which have recesses 66 and 68‘therein‘. The bar
60 ishollow in‘ construction and‘a pair of springs 70 are
provided therein which press on detents 72 and 74
urging them‘into recesses 66 and 681 The bar 60 has
slots 76‘therein through which actuators 78‘extend,
which‘actuators‘ when moved in the direction of arrow
A to the position as shown in dotted lines in ‘FIG. 5, will ‘
release the detents 72 and ‘74 from within ‘the recesses
It is therefore an object of the present‘invention to 50 66‘and" 68 to thereby permit removal of the bar 60.
provide a tennis ball retriever that is-lig'ht‘in‘weight and
simple of construction; capable of ‘being ‘manufactured ‘ ‘
out of readily available materialsand which "is efficient
In use, the tennis ball retriever is rolled along the
ground, picking up balls by squeezing them through the
adjacent bars 50. When it is desired to remove the balls
from the retriever, the bar 60 may be removed and all
These, together with the various ancillary objects and 55 of the balls‘dumped into any convenient receptacle as
features of the invention which will become apparent‘
desired.
in use.
as‘the following‘description proceeds, are attained by
this‘tennis ball retriever, a preferred‘embodiment‘of
which has been shown in the accom‘panying‘drawingby
way of example only, wherein: ‘
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF’ THE DRAWINGS‘
FIG. 1 Ba perspective view of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a side‘elevatio‘nal view of the‘ tennis‘ball ‘re
triever;
_
FIG. 3 is an ‘enlarged front elevational view thereof;
A latitude of modi?cation, substitution and change‘is
intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some in‘
stances‘some‘ features of the invention will be employed
without a corresponding use of other features.
I claim:
1. A tennis ball retriever comprising a yoke, a pair of
spaced mounting discs‘ rotatably attached to said yoke,
a pair of spaced rings concentrically disposed about
each of said discs, each of said pair of said‘ rings being
spaced from‘ each other a distance less than the diame
ter of a tennis ball mounting means connecting said
3
3,804,449
4
rings to said discs, a plurality of bars extending between
said pairs of rings extending inwardly from the periph
and interconnecting said rings, said bars being inwardly
spaced from the outer periphery of the outermost of
each pair of spaced rings, said bars being spaced from
each other less than the diameter of a tennis ball, one 5
of said bars being removable, lugs on the outermost of
25
30
35
45
50
55
65
ery thereof, said lugs having recesses therein, said one
bar being hollow, detents movably disposed in said one
bar, and springsiin said bar urging said detents into said
I‘GCeSSCS.
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