Collapsible, weighted tee ball stand

Abstract

A tee ball stand with a ball holder fitted to a two-piece adjustable stanchion received by a flex sleeve supported from a base hub. Weighted legs formed from hexagonal tubing are fitted at right angles into hex sockets of the base hub to prevent twisting. The outer ends of the legs are closed with an end cap having a ground engaging spur to resist sliding on the ground.

Claims

1. A tee ball stand to be supported on the ground when in use, said tee ball stand comprising: an upright, elongate stanchion having upper and lower ends and comprising two tubular sections adjustably telescoping together with a locking nut on one of said tubular sections to secure said tubular sections at a preselected length and, when in use, said stanchion having an intended orientation substantially perpendicular to said ground, a ball supporting member removably installed by friction fit on the upper end of said stanchion; a flexible sleeve connection removably installed by friction fit on the lower end of said stanchion and having a portion thereof adapted to arcuately flex with respect to said stanchion; a base hub having an upright stub on which said flexible sleeve connection is removably installed by friction fit, and having a plurality of horizontally oriented sockets beneath said upright stub; and a plurality of support legs removably installed by friction fit in said horizontally oriented sockets of said base hub; wherein said stanchion, ball supporting member, flexible sleeve connection, base hub, and support legs can be readily disassembled by hand without the aid of a tool and positioned for extremely compact storage.

2. The tee ball stand as in claim 1, wherein each support leg comprises a hollow tube filled with weighting material and being sealed at both ends.

3. The tee ball stand as in claim 2 including a plurality of end caps attached to the ends of said support legs with each said end cap having a downwardly oriented ground engaging spur in order to resist sliding of said tee ball stand on the ground.

4. The tee ball stand as in claim 1, wherein each support leg comprises a hollow tube shaped as a regular polygon in cross section, and each said horizontally oriented socket of said base hub is interiorly shaped as a regular polygon complementary to said regular polygon shape of said support leg whereby each said support leg may be removably installed by friction fit into a horizontally oriented socket of said base hub so as to prevent rotation or twisting of said support leg with respect to said horizontally oriented socket.

5. The tee ball stand as in claim 4, wherein each support leg comprises a hollow tube filled with weighting material and being sealed at both ends.

6. The tee ball stand as in claim 5 including a plurality of end caps attached to the ends of said support legs with each said end cap having a downwardly oriented ground engaging spur aligned to register with a flat surface of the regular polygon shape of said hollow tube to thereby resist sliding of said tee ball stand on the ground.

7. The tee ball stand as in claim 4, wherein each support leg comprises a hollow tube shaped as a regular hexagon in cross section, and each said horizontally oriented socket of said base hub is interiorly shaped as a regular hexagon complementary to said regular hexagon shape of said support leg whereby each said support leg may be removably installed by friction fit into a horizontally oriented socket of said base hub so as to prevent rotation or twisting of said support leg with respect to said horizontally oriented socket.

8. The tee ball stand as in claim 7, wherein each support leg comprises a hollow tube filled with weighting material and being sealed at both ends.

9. The tee ball stand as in claim 8 including a plurality of end caps attached to the ends of said support legs with each said end cap having a downwardly oriented ground engaging spur aligned to register with a flat surface of the regular hexagon shape of said hollow tube to thereby resist sliding of said tee ball stand on the ground.

10. The tee ball stand as in claim 1 wherein said base hub has four horizontally oriented sockets arranged at right angles to each other.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following description of the drawings, in which like reference numerals are employed to indicate like parts in the various views:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tee ball stand constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the tee ball stand shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate the component parts of the assembly;

(4) FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the base hub fitted with a flex sleeve and showing fragmentary views of the base legs and stanchion with the flex sleeve slightly tilted as if hit by an errant bat swing;

(5) FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevational view of the base hub similar to FIG. 3 but showing the middle base leg and middle hub socket in section to illustrate the interconnection of these parts; and

(6) FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of a base leg of the tee ball stand as weighted with sand, gravel, or the like.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(7) Referring to the drawings in greater detail, the tee ball stand 10 includes a conical ball holder 12 adapted to support a ball 14 such as a baseball, softball, or similarly sized training ball. The ball holder 12 is removably installed by friction fit on the end of telescoping, upper stanchion tube 16. Tube 16 is cylindrical and sized with an outside diameter to slidably fit within the inside diameter of the cylindrical, lower stanchion tube 18. The overall height of the stanchion tubes 16 & 18 can be adjustably fixed by tightening the locking nut 20 on the uppermost end of the lower stanchion tube 18 in a manner commonly used in tee ball stands previously known in this art.

(8) The lower stanchion tube 18 is removably installed by friction fit to a flex sleeve 22 having a corrugated portion 22a to permit slight flexure as shown in FIG. 3 when the ball holder 12, or stanchion tubes 16 or 18 are inadvertently struck with a bat. The flex sleeve 22, in turn, is removably installed by friction fit to a transition fitting 24 which may be a separate piece as illustrated or part of the base hub 26.

(9) The base hub 26 has an upright socket 26a which receives the transition fitting 24 by friction fit or permanently joined thereto. The base hub 26 also includes four horizontal sockets 26b arranged at right angles to each other. Braces 26c are joined between the upright socket 26a and the horizontal sockets 26b. Interiorly, the horizontal sockets 26b are hexagonal in cross sectional shape as shown in FIG. 4.

(10) Each horizontal socket 26b of the base hub 26 removably receives by friction fit a base leg 28. The base legs 28 are hexagonal in cross sectional shape (see FIG. 4) so as to prevent twisting or rotation when installed in the socket 26b of hub 26.

(11) As shown in FIG. 5, each leg 28 includes a hexagonal tube 28a closed at each end with a plug 28b. Weighting material 28c, such as sand, gravel, lead shot, or the like, fills the interior of the tube 28a between the end plugs 28b.

(12) The outer end of each leg 28 is fitted with an end cap 30 having a ground engaging spur 30a which registers with one of the flat hexagonal surfaces of the leg 28. It is intended that the leg 28 be inserted into a socket 26b of the hub 26 such that the spur 30a of the end cap 30 is oriented downwardly to engage the ground when the tee ball stand 10 is fully assembled. This prevents the tee ball stand 10 from sliding along the ground.

(13) The tubular parts of the tee ball stand 10—namely, upper stanchion tube 16, lower stanchion tube 18, and base legs 28—are all of comparable lengths. When disassembled, either for original merchandise packaging or for storage, this permits extremely compact positioning of the component parts. Assembly of the components is easily accomplished since all may be friction fitted together by hand without the need for installation tools. Disassembly is equally easy by simply reversing the assembly process and pulling the components apart for separation and storage.

(14) From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects hereinabove set forth, together with the other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the invention.

(15) It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.

(16) Since many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.