Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to apparatus for storing sport equipment and
more
particularly the present invention is directed to a sports equipment holder
that is portable,
easily assembled, and disassembled, and is especially well suited for holding
sports
equipment such as baseball gloves, baseball bats, safety helmets, gloves, etc.
The present invention pertains to a portable sports equipment holder for
temporary
storage of baseball equipment and other sports equipment during competitive
games as well
as practice sessions. This particular sports equipment holder is designed to
be hung on to a
chain link fence and is adapted for holding balls, bats, gloves, helmets,
shoes, and any other
sports equipment that a player may bring to a playing site. Equipment when not
in use at a
playing site is often times strewn along the side lines of the playing field.
Such
disorganization is undesirable for a variety of reasons including misplacing
of equipment and
potential damage to the equipment.
The present invention contemplates a holder to temporarily store items of
sports
equipment at the playing or practice site. For example, when a softball or
baseball team
assembles to play a game, a lot of equipment is required including at least
one fielding glove
for each player, a number of batting helmets of different sizes, a large
number of bats of
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various sizes, and a number of balls. Most amateur ball parks do not have
adequate facilities
for temporary and convenient storage of such during games. Further, it is
essential that such
storage facility be capable of keeping equipment in an organized and orderly
fashion so that
the players can quickly find the piece of equipment they require. It is also
very important that
any such storage system can be readily assembled and disassembled or taken
down because
another team is usually ready to take the field for another game as soon as
one game has
concluded. The teams that have just finished a game must leave the field and
the dug-out
area as quickly as possible.
The present invention can also be used with other outdoor field sports such as
soccer
or cricket which requires an outdoor playing field, and normally has chain
link fences in the
vicinity.
Different systems of shelves racking and the like have been developed in the
past
including some directed to this or a similar problem. Some of the patents
issued in this art
are listed below:
US Patent 5,626,244 titled Bat Rack For Chain Link Fence invented by Larry
DeMezna et al. and issued May 6, 1997.
US Patent 5,294,005 titled Portable Modular Sports Equipment Rack Specially
Suited
For Use At Games invented by Robert S. Hedges and issued March 15, 1994.
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US Patent 4,629,065 titled Baseball Equipment Holder issued to Donald L.
Braaten
on December 16, 1986.
US Patent 4,193,495 titled Portable Sports Equipment Organizer invented by
Ronald
Keeley and issued on March 18, 1980.
The use of a rod, pole or the like to suspend a variety of hooks has naturally
been used
and disclosed on some of the above references mentioned.
Not shown in the references and discussed here is a Portable Sports Equipment
Holder
Specially Adapted to be easily set up and taken down and put into convenient
storage if
desired. In addition, the prior art is expensive to manufacture, difficult to
assemble, and not
convenient enough to use and to set up at a particular playing site.
The present invention a sports equipment holder comprises
a) a flexible bag for placement of sports equipment therein; and
b) a means for releasably attaching said flexible bag to a chain link fence.
Preferably said attaching means includes at least one hanger connected to said
flexible bag
for releasably latching said sports equipment holder onto a chain link fence.
2o Preferably said attaching means includes two hangers connected to said
flexible bag for
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releasably latching said sports equipment holder onto a chain link fence.
Preferably said hangers including a top hooked portion for engagement with a
chain link
fence.
Preferably said flexible bag including a left edge and a right edge and said
hooks connected
to said bag proximate said left and right edges.
Preferably said flexible bag having a bag opening proximate a top edge for
placing of articles
there through.
Preferably said flexible bag further including a means for closing said bag
opening.
Preferably said closing means includes a flap for closing said bag opening.
Preferably said hooks further including a bottom hook portion projecting from
a bottom edge
of said bag, for hooking of sports equipment thereon.
Preferably further including a rack spanning across and mounted on said bottom
hooks.
Preferably said rack including apertures for co-operatively receiving said
bottom hooks there
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through thereby said rack being supported by said bottom hooks of said
hangers.
Preferably said rack including means for releasably fastening sports equipment
items thereon.
Preferably said fastening means includes flexible ties connected to said rack
for temporarily
and releasably tying off sports equipment items.
The invention will now be described by way of example only with references to
the
following drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a top plan view of the present invention a Sports Equipment Holder
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2 is a side plan view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 is a front plan view of the Sports Equipment Holder.
Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown in Figure
3.
Figure 5 is a front perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown the
flap
in the open position.
Figure 6 is a rear perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown with
the
flap in the open position.
Figure 7 is the side plan view of the hanging member shown in Figure 9.
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Figure 8 is a top plan view of the hanging member shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9 is a front plan view of the hanging member.
Figure 10 is a side plan view of the hanging member shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11 is a side plan view of the hanging member.
Figure 12 is a bottom plan view of the hanging member shown in Figure 12.
Figure 13 is a perspective view of the hanging member.
Figure 14 is a perspective view of the hanging member.
Figure 15 is a front perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown
together
with the hanging members.
Figure 16 is a rear perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown
together
with the hanging members.
Figure 17 is a perspective view of the Equipment Rack.
Figure 18 is a front perspective view of the entire Sports Equipment Holder
assembled together including the hanging members and the equipment rack.
Figure 19 is a perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder shown together
deployed on a chain link fence and holding some baseball bats.
Figure 20 is a front perspective view of the Sports Equipment Holder deployed
on a
chain link fence shown with the flap partially closed, a logo imprinted on the
front of
the equipment holder bag, and two baseball bats shown on the equipment rack.
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Definitions:
"Sports equipment" items include but are not limited to: bats, sport gloves,
sport
shoes, mits, sport socks, sport shirts, helmets and the like.
The present invention, a Sports Equipment Holder, shown generally as 30 in
Figure 18 includes the following major components: flexible bag 32, hangers
34, and
rack 3 6.
Flexible bag 32 has a front cover 40, a rear cover 42, and VelcroTM tabs 44
attached
to both front cover 40 and rear cover 42 in approximate locations as shown in
Figure 18. In
addition, front cover 40 and rear cover 42 also have eyelets 46 defining
apertures through
front cover 40 and rear cover 42 as shown in Figure 18.
Flexible bag 32 has a right edge 48, a left edge 50, a bottom edge 52, and a
top
edge 54 as shown in Figure 18. Flexible bag 32 has an opening along top edge
54 designated
as bag opening 56 wherein articles can be placed where they are disposed
between front
cover 40 and rear cover 42 within flexible bag 32.
In addition, flexible bag 32 has a flap 58 which in effect is an extension of
rear cover
42 beyond top edge 54 such that flap 58 can be curled over and VelcroTM tabs
44, located on
rear cover 42, can then make contact with VelcroTM tabs 44 on front cover 40
thereby locking
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in place flap 58 over bag opening 56.
Hangers 34 include an upper curved section shown as top hook 60 and a lower
curved
section shown as bottom hook 62. Hangers 34 are received through hanger
pockets 70 as
best shown in Figure 16 to removably fasten hangers 34 to flexible bag 32.
Hanger pockets
70 are preferably made of the same flexible material as bag 32. Hanger pockets
70 are strips
of material fastened along each of the longitudinal edges 75 to define
longitudinal channels
71 running parallel and along right edge 48 and left edge 50 of bag 32.
Increasing the width
73 of hanger pockets 70 increases the width of the longitudinal channel 71
defined by the
hanger pocket 70.
Sports equipment holder 30 fiuther includes rack 36 which has defined therein
hook
apertures 64 for receiving there through bottom hooks 62. In addition, rack 36
also has
apertures 67 for receiving there through ties 66 which have tie locks 68
mounted thereon for
tying off ties 66.
In use, sports equipment holder 30 is removably attached to a chain link fence
82
which is best shown in Figures 19 and 20.
In Figure 19, for example, sports equipment holder 30 is shown in use in an
environment whereby top hooks 60 of hanger 34 are shown hooked onto a chain
link
fence 82 which is commonly found at sports playing sites. Figure 19 shows a
bat 80 attached
using ties 66 and tie locks 68 for attaching bats 80 to rack 36. In this way
items are
conveniently stored on the sports equipment holder 30 for use at some future
time. Ties 66,
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which can be any material known in the art for this type of tie such as
braided nylon, cotton
Dacron, or hemp roping, can be suitably used for ties 66. Tie lock 68 are the
type known in
the art which have a spring biasing mechanism for locking off and preventing
the movement
of tie 66 through tie lock 68.
Referring now to Figure 20, chain link fence 82 is shown in dashed lines to
indicate
to the reader that sports equipment holder 30 is preferably mounted to a chain
link fence 82
as shown in Figures 19 and 20. Once a player has arrived at a playing site and
has mounted
his sports equipment holder 30 via top hook 60 of hanger 34 to an existing
chain link
fence 82 at a playing site, flap 58 can be opened in order to allow access
through bag
opening 56 to storage compartment 90. Storage compartment 90 is defined on the
front side
by front cover 40 and on the rear side by rear cover 42. Preferably, flexible
bag 32 is made
of a flexible cloth like material such as nylon, polyester, canvas, or cotton
and is made from
a single rectangular sheet of material which is folded over at bottom edge 52
as shown in
Figure 18, and is stitched andlor glued andlor otherwise fastened together at
right edge 48
and left edge 50.
Along top edge 54 the front cover 40 and the rear cover 42 are not attached
together
allowing the flexible bag 32 to be opened to provide for bag opening 56 which
allows
placements of articles into the storage compartment 90. For example,
baseballs, snacks,
glasses, safety glasses, lunches, and any other articles which a player brings
to playing site
can be stored within storage compartment 90.
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Storage compartment 90 is closed off by folding down flap 58 over onto front
cover 40 such that VelcroTM tabs 44 on rear cover 42 mate with VelcroTM tabs
44 on front
cover 40 in a male/female fashion thereby locking and closing off bag opening
56. In
addition, ties 66, passing through eyelets 46 in rear cover 42 and front cover
40, can be used
with a tie lock 68 for additional closing action of flap 58 over front cover
40.
As shown in Figure 20, a team logo 84 can be displayed on the front cover 40
of
flexible bag 32 and other logos such as sponsors logos and/or other graphics
can be displayed
on front cover 40 as well as rear cover 42.
In addition to bats 80, being releasably attached to and stored on rack 36,
other items
such as gloves, helmets, and other articles can be releasably attached to rack
36 either by
using ties 66 as shown in Figure 20 and Figure 19, or using bottom hooks 62 to
temporarily
hook a safety helmet thereon, for example.
Further, by using flexible material for flexible bag 32, the sports equipment
holder 30
when not in use can be collapsed to a very small size by removing rack 36 from
bottom
hooks 62, thereby enabling one to completely collapse or partially fold-up
sports equipment
holder 30 by simply rolling flexible bag 32 into a small roll shape.
The user of sports equipment holder 30 can collapse sports equipment holder 30
in
stages, namely: one can leave hanger 34 positioned through hanger pockets 70
and only
remove rack 36 thereby collapsing sports equipment holder 30, leaving hangers
34 in place
and/or one can completely remove hangers 34 from hanger pocket 70 and also
remove
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rack 36 from bottom hook 62, and therefore, collapse and disassemble sports
equipment
holder 30 into four discrete components, namely: two hangers, one rack, and
one flexible
bag.
It should be apparent to persons skilled in the art that various modifications
and
adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure
from the spirit of
the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.
