Games using tangible projectile – Playing field or court game; game element or accessory... – Means removably supporting projectile in position to be...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-30
2001-10-30
Chapman, Jeanette (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Playing field or court game; game element or accessory...
Means removably supporting projectile in position to be...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06309316
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a football tee with onside kick ball support. For deep kickoffs, place kickers prefer a football tee that elevates the bottom tip of football by the highest possible elevation. The kicker strikes the ball on the sweet spot at a location diametrically opposite to the laces of the ball, driving the ball down field, preferably with a lazy backward end-over-end spin. Currently, for colleges and high schools, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) rules are uniform with one another, allowing a tee of any height so long as the height does not exceed two (2) inches. In the National Football League (NFL), the rules are more strict, requiring the tee to support the ball at precisely an elevation of one (1) inch off the ground surface.
Occasionally, a team trailing on the scoreboard has just scored and is about to take advantage of the opportunity to kick the ball down field. The rules of the NFL, the NCCA and the NFHS are uniform concerning the concept of an “onside kick”. From the spot of the kick, once the ball has traveled ten (10) yards down field, anyone on either team may recover the ball and obtain possession. This rule allows the trailing team to take advantage of an opportunity to recover their kickoff and catch up on the scoreboard with the other team.
The onside kick has become an art form in the game of football. As the onside kick is normally carried out, the kicker attempts to kick the football opposite the laces on the top half of the ball so that the ball leaves the kicker's foot with a rapid forward end-over-end spin. Where the technique is properly accomplished, the ball may hop forward a couple of times and then approximately eight to nine yards from the spot of the kick may hop upwardly above the reach of players on the receiving team, thereby making the ball difficult for the receiving team to recover and providing the possibility that the kicking team will recover it.
As the onside kick technique has evolved, kickers have grown to prefer supporting the ball on one of its tips directly on the ground surface itself. However, this technique often fails because no tee has ever been made that has a side surface designed to accommodate such support. The kicker is often required to either use a holder (a teammate holding the ball on the ground) or to support the ball on a tee elevated off the ground making successful onside kicks more difficult to accomplish.
Accordingly, a need has developed for a football tee that includes an outer peripheral surface specifically designed to allow support of a football on a ground surface using a peripheral edge of the tee for such support.
Applicant is co-inventor of the football tee disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,453, granted on Apr. 7, 1987, and is the sole inventor of the football tees disclosed and claimed in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No.
Date of Patent
4,657,252
April 14, 1987
D 305,448
January 9, 1990
D 291,714
September 1, 1987
D 392,705
March 24, 1998
D 372,062
July 23, 1996
D 383,816
September 16, 1997
D 383,817
September 16, 1997
D 391,275
February 24, 1998
5,961,402
October 5, 1999.
None of these patents teaches or suggests a football tee having an outer peripheral surface designed to support a football on a ground surface.
The present invention constitutes an improvement over the tee disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D 383,816. Versions of this tee have been marketed under the Trademark TOE-TAL® and GROUND ZERO® and are becoming more and more popular in high schools and colleges throughout the United States. In the National Football League, in the 1999-2000 season, of 31 teams, 28 used the GROUND ZERO® tee.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a football tee with onside kick ball support. The present invention includes the following interrelated objects, aspects and features:
(1) In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present invention constitutes an improvement over a tee marketed by Applicant's company PREMIUM PRODUCTS, INC. via an exclusive distributor, which tee is known as the GROUND ZERO® tee. The GROUND ZERO® tee is sold in two versions, each of which is a one-piece molded rubber tee. The GROUND ZERO® 1 tee elevates the football one inch off the ground and the GROUND ZERO® 2 tee elevates the football two inches off the ground. The present invention actually improves upon the GROUND ZERO® 1 tee.
(2) The GROUND ZERO® 1 tee includes peripheral ramp surfaces leading up to a top surface in which are provided two adjacent recesses, one of which supports the tip of a football and the other of which permits the tip of the football to leave the first-mentioned recess when kicked. This configuration of recesses is disclosed in the prior art listed above. The present invention is equally usable with a football tee having a different manner of ball support than the two recess structure. Tees using prongs or other means for ball support could also be improved by the present invention.
(3) The present invention preferably consists of providing two cut-outs in the peripheral surface of the tee, one to the left of a centerline of the tee and the other symmetrically to the right of the centerline. Each cut-out is shaped to resemble an outer surface of a football adjacent the tip thereof. At minimum, the top edge of each cut-out should mimic the outer periphery of a football at that elevation off the ground so that the football can be supported with, at minimum, a line contact along that top surface. The rest of the cut-out can be made either in conformance with the outer surface of a football or relieved from that configuration so as to avoid obstructing the position of the football adjacent the tee.
(4) Two cut-outs are provided, in the preferred embodiment, so that the tee may easily be used for onside kicks by kickers who kick with their left or right foot, as the case may be. Of course, if desired, a single recess could be provided, either directly at the forward end of the tee or on one side or the other since the kicker may suitably rotate the tee to aim the ball in the desired direction.
(5) If desired, the cut-outs may be provided in a slab of material that is devoid of any other ball support. However, preferably, the cut-outs are incorporated in a slab having other ball supporting means to increase tee versatility and avoid duplication of items in a kicker's equipment bag.
As such, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a football tee with onside kick ball support.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a football tee in which one or two cut-outs are provided on the periphery of the tee surface permitting the kicker to lean the football against the tee while supporting the football on a ground surface.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide one or two cut-outs on a tee devoid of any other ball support.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a tee with one or two cut-outs where the tee has some other ball supporting means.
These and other objects, aspects and features of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the appended drawing figures.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 275303 (1984-08-01), Box
patent: D. 291714 (1987-09-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 305448 (1990-01-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 372062 (1996-07-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 383816 (1997-09-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 383817 (1997-09-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 391275 (1998-02-01), Spiegel
patent: D. 392705 (1998-03-01), Spiegel
patent: 3309087 (1967-03-01), Cullity
patent: 3481602 (1969-12-01), Tatter
patent: 4655453 (1987-04-01), Spiegel et al.
patent: 4657252 (1987-04-01), Spiegel
patent: 5100135 (1992-03-01), Bourgeois
patent: 5613678 (1997-03-01), McKee et al.
patent: 5961402 (1999-10-01), Spiegel
Chambers M.
Chapman Jeanette
Premium Products, Inc.
Spiegel H. Jay
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