PORTABLE EQUIPMENT FOR THE REALIZATION OF SPORTS NETS DESCRTPTTO

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of sports articles and more precisely to portable equipment for the realization of sports nets and relative support structures, as, for example, for soccer goals, volleyball nets and the like.

Description of the prior art

Sports such as soccer, volley, etcetera are widely practised on improvised playing fields set up on beaches, grassy areas, areas of flat ground and where, in any case, structures for the practice of those sports are not provided for. In the case of the game of soccer, for the realization of the goal, often two stakes, when possible, are driven into the ground at an adequate distance, to represent the posts of a goal without the possibility to delimitate its height with a transversal pole nor much less to apply a net to the goal.

In the case of volleyball, to set up an improvisational playing field, it is necessary to have a net to tie to posts driven into the ground and supported by stay wires in order to maintain the tension in the net . The setting up of a volleyball net outside and without the appropriate structures is often difficult given the unavailability at the site of posts of appropriate height and robustness.

Nevertheless, both in the case of soccer and of volleyball, to set up a playing field in places where no one exists so as to have practices, unofficial tournaments or

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games between groups of friends as often occurs in vacation areas, it is necessary to have available portable equipment to support the nets. According to current technic, the few models of equipment available on the market are cumbersome and not easy to handle, and therefore they cannot always be used by the majority of players.

One object of the present invention is to provide equipment for the realization of sports nets and relative support structures which are of minimum bulk and weight, easily transportable and quick to set up.

A first particular object of the present invention is to provide portable equipment for the realization of a goal for soccer, indoor soccer and similar sports.

A second particular object of the present invention is to provide portable equipment for the realization of a volleyball net and the relative support posts.

Summary of the invention

These and other objects are accomplished by the equipment according to the present invention characterized in that the support structure of the net is made of substantially tubular, inflatable chambers which engage with fastening means comprising rigid bases fixable to the ground. Means for connecting the net to the support structure and means for fastening the bases of the structure to the ground are provided for. The deflated chambers, the net and the fastening and connecting means can be replaced in an easily transportable case which, advantageously, is obtained by the union of the bases, preferably comprising two rigid shells which can be attached to one another. Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the equipment according to the present invention will be made more apparent in the description which follows of two of its

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possible embodiments, given as examples, but not limitative, with reference to the above-mentioned drawings, in which:

- figure 1 is a perspective view of a soccer goal accomplished with the equipment according to the present invention;

- figure 2 is a perspective view of a case for the transport of the equipment according to the invention;

- figure 3 is a perspective view of a volleyball net accomplished by a different embodiment of the equipment according to the present invention;

- figure 4 is a partial, longitudinal, sectional view of one of the fastening bases for the posts of the support structure of a soccer or volleyball net;

- figure 5 is an elevational side view of the step of inflating the support structure of the soccer goal of figure

1;

- figures 6, 7 and 8 are partial perspective views of some of the steps in the mounting of the soccer goal of figure 1; - figure 9 is a sectional view of the connecting means between two components of the support structure of the goal of figure 1;

- figures 10, 11 and 12 are partial perspective views of steps in the mounting of the volleyball net of figure 3. Description of the referred embodiment

With reference to figure 1, in a first embodiment of the equipment according to the present invention, it is possible to set up a soccer goal comprising a support structure 1 for a net 2. The structure 1 is accomplished by means of substantially tubular, inflatable chambers in the form of a first U-shaped chamber indicated with 3 comprising a horizontal portion 3a and two uprights 3b the lower ends 3c of which engage in fastening bases 4 that are fixed to

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the ground. The U-shaped support chamber 3 is supported anteriorly by oblique support chambers 5, with their lower ends 5c fixed to the bases 4, and with their upper ends 5b fixed to the uprights 3b. The fastening bases 4, as shown in figure 7, are fixable to the ground by means of pickets 6, for example of the type already used for camping tents that are both very light and resistent.

With reference to figure 5, according to the invention, the supports 3 and 5 are inflatable by means of air inlets 7 provided for in their walls. Preferably the supports 3 and 5 are made of fabric-finish tubes, for example of the type used for the construction of light weight boats such as canoes, rafts, etcetera. The inflation can be carried out by means of a normal air pump 8 of a known type that is also very light and easy to transport.

As can be seen from figure 4, the lower end 3c of the support 3 engages in the base 4 so that its walls, due to the swell following inflation, press against the circular edge of a hole 9 provided for in the base 4 itself. The lower end 3c that enters inside the bases 4, through a hole 9, has a greater thickness in order to keep the support 3 from disengaging from the bases 4, although the diameter of the hole 9 is already smaller than the diameter of the lower end 3c of the support 3 when the support is completely inflated.

With reference to figure 6, the lower ends 5c of the oblique supports 5 have a connection 10 fixable, from inside the bases 4, in a hole 11 provided in the bases by means of a screw 12 and a nut 13. To favor that connection, the bases 4 have at one end a semi-cylindrical seat 14 which wraps around the walls of the lower ends 5c of the oblique support 5 once connected, distributing the contact forces

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between the bases 4 and the support 5 on a greater surface than that around the connection 10.

With reference to figures 1 and 8, the net 2 is connected to the transversal portion 3a and to the oblique supports 5 by connection means 15 (not visible in figure 1) . As shown in figure 8, those connections 15 comprise two tabs 16 side by side, facing one another and extending parallel to a plate 17 which adheres directly to the surfaces of the tubular chambers 3a or 5. The fastening of the net 2 is accomplished by placing it between the tabs 16 and the plate 17.

With reference to figures 5 and 9, the supports 5 have upper ends 5b fixed to the uprights 3b of the supports 3 by means of screws 18 and nuts 18a which connect the tubular connections 19 and 20 protruding respectively from the uprights 3b and from the ends 5b of the supports 5.

As illustrated in figure 2, and with reference also to figures 5 and 7, the bases 4 are preferably formed by internally hollow shells which can be attached to one another. Inside the case 20 formed by the union of the bases 4, it is possible to place the supports 3 and 5 after they have been deflated, the pickets 6 and a hammer 35 to drive them into the ground with, the net 2, the air pump 8, and a ball 21 partially protruding from holes 9. The two shells of the bases 4 are fixed to one another by belts 22 and the case 20 can be transported by means of handles 23 provided for on one of the two bases 4.

With reference to figure 3, according to a variation in the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to accomplish a volleyball net by means of the bases 4 fixed to the ground, as described above and illustrated in figure 4, with holes 9 in which the lower ends 25c of the uprights 25 for the support of the volleyball net 26 engage. The

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uprights 25 are also tubular and inflatable, and are fixable to the ground by means of stay wires 27 and pickets 6, the stay wires being connected to rigid annular strips 28 provided coaxially on the uprights 25 in a middle position 25b. As shown also in figure 12, in correspondence with the upper end 25a of the uprights 25, a connection 29 is provided for in which the end 31a of a support wire 31 of the net 26 can engage.

Since the uprights 25 are not able to hold up against the force necessary to stretch sufficiently the wire 31 so that the net 26 is perfectly horizontal, coaxial to the wire 31 itself, tubular sticks are used, as shown in figure 10. These sticks have an end 32a, of a diameter smaller than the rest of the stick, which engages in the opposite end 32b of the stick next to it to form a single tubular rod able to support the axial forces created by the tension in the wire 31.

For the tension of the wire 31, a hollow screw 30 is provided for on the top 25a of each vertical portion which engages in the connection 29 and in which the wire 31 is inserted with its end 31a pressing against it. Rotating the hollow screws 30 in the direction that tends to distance the ends 31a, the tension of the wire 31 and the compression of the sticks 32 are obtained so that the sticks are thus able to support the net 26.

In the step of mounting the volleyball net 26, as in the case of the support 3 for the soccer goal 1, the ends 25c of the uprights 25, not yet inflated, are introduced in holes 9 after having introduced the wire 31 with the sticks 32 into the folded border 26a of the net 26, as shown in figure 11. After this, the uprights 25 are inflated through air inlets 7 by means of the air pump 8 not shown and fixed

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to the ground by means of stay wires 27 and pickets 6 (not shown in figure 11) .

The net 26 of figure 3 can be further fixed to the uprights 25 in more than one point by means of small hooks of a known type, and therefore not illustrated in detail for the sake of simplicity, to allow for a correct adjustment of the tension while ^" preventing the movement of the lower edge 26b of the net 26.

As in the case of the soccer goal, also for the equipment for the volleyball net, the bases 4 are coupled with one another, as shown in figure 2, in order to realize a case 20 in which to hold, besides the ball 21, the uprights 25, the stay wires 27, the pickets 6, and the net 26 together with the sticks 32, the wire 31, the air pump 8 and a hammer 35 to drive the pickets 6 into the ground.

According to the invention it is therefore possible to set up a net for soccer or volleyball which a person can easily transport to the playing area by means of a case 20, and which is easily mountable by simple inflation of the support of the net and fastening of the bases and supports to the ground by means of pickets. Clearly it is possible also to realize nets for handball, hockey, indoor soccer and water polo reducing the dimensions of the supports 3 and 5 and the net 2 of the soccer goal of figure 1 or, otherwise, realize a tennis net by varying the proportions between uprights 25 and the net 26 of figure 3.

Alternatively, in less expensive embodiments, the bases 4, rather than being formed by shells which also function as half-cases, can have an even simpler structure, fixable to the ground to which the supports for the net can be connected. In this case, all the equipment must be contained in a bag of a type that is different than that shown in figure 2, but equally compact and easily

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transportable. The bases 4 in this case can simply be of rigid sticks with two connections at the ends analogous to the connection 10 of figure 6, or to the connections 19 and 20 of figure 9.

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