Games using tangible projectile – Playing field or court game; game element or accessory... – Practice or training device
Patent
1997-12-16
1998-11-03
Grieb, William H.
Games using tangible projectile
Playing field or court game; game element or accessory...
Practice or training device
473447, A63B 6900
Patent
active
058300880
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to the practice of basketball shots. It returns the ball to the shooter whether he was successful or not, no matter where he is in the square place. In addition it counts how many balls were shot and how many of them were successful. Thus, the player that practices shoots can make more shoots in a given period of time, because the time he used to spend getting the ball after the shoots is now saved. It can be easily installed in whatever basketball backboard and hoop. When disassembled, it can be carried only with one hand.
The basketball shooting practice can happens in many ways: sometimes the player stays in a position of the square, shoots a given quantity of times from a determinate position of the square, then moves to another place and starts shooting again the same quantity of times. Some players like to practice shooting the ball only one time from each position, or even they use to kick the ball from one position to another before the shoot. What these different ways of practicing have in common is that the shooting player needs a fellow player to retrieve the ball to him, if not, the player spends much more time retrieving the ball than practicing shoots.
Until now, some efforts have already been made to develop an apparatus to do this job. Among the patents related with this subject we have Filewich U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,009, Kington U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,577 and Metz U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,292. The Filewich patent consists in a support member, a backboard mounted on the support member, and a hoop mounted on the backboard. The backboard is mounted on the support member for rotation with respect thereto, wherein the backboard is located in selected angular positions with respect to a predetermined location that is disposed remote from the support member and the backboard mounted thereon. In addition, it also counts and records the number of shoots and successful shoots. Although the apparatus can be compacted it has an concept that doesn't enables the player to easily carry it to different places to practice the shoots.
The Metz patent is highly suited for the practice of free throws and other perpendicular direct shoots. It interferes in the perpendicular indirect shoot. It has an upper ring that supports a net that catches the unsuccessful shots. His upper ring can get in the way of the ball's trajectory. The Kington patent has similar problems. Because of the upper ring it is recommended for shoots from the three point line.
As a reference there are other granted patens as listed below, but, again, none of them has the concept of the present invention: Caveney U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,506; Jakobs U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,431; Woodall U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,549; Joseph U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,875; Sweeney U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,648; Koss U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,189; Oliver U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,099. There are other patents related with this subject but most of them are able to retrieve the balls that successfully passed through the basketball hoop. In addition most of the patents are big enough to prevent the player to kick the ball in wherever place of the square before shooting .
The present invention has been developed with the aim of solving all the problems mentioned above and other that hadn't been thought yet. With its new concept, the basketball player can practice shoots wherever he wants and with the advantage of easy mounting (it can be carried with one hand, when disassembled) and installation, as will be explained below. In addition it counts how many balls have been successfully shot and the total of shoots. Still, it has more advantages than the existing patents: the player can shoot directly or indirectly, when installed in the existing backboard/hoop and the floor is let free for him. It doesn't interfere on the ball trajectory due to its adjustable net supported by mobile arms. The arms are adjusted automatically depending on the direction that the retrieval device is set The retrieval direction can be adjusted by distance. It is disassembled in such a way that it can be carried
REFERENCES:
patent: 3901506 (1975-08-01), Caveney
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patent: 4913431 (1990-04-01), Jakobs
patent: 4936577 (1990-06-01), Kington et al.
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patent: 5354048 (1994-10-01), Winesberry, Jr.
patent: 5368292 (1994-11-01), Metz
patent: 5409211 (1995-04-01), Adamek
patent: 5443258 (1995-08-01), Kinsella
patent: 5540428 (1996-07-01), Joseph
patent: 5746668 (1998-05-01), Ochs
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