Grooming attachment for reconditioning the playing surface of a tennis court

A grooming attachment particularly adapted to reconditioning the playing surface of tennis courts. The attachment is adapted to be drawn by a motorized vehicle capable of travelling over the entire surface of the court and comprising a plurality of brush elements pivotally mounted on a suitable support connected to a conventional hitch which are capable of being manually moved from an operative brushing position to an elevated position whereby the brushes are capable of being brought into an upright position when it is desired to move the attachment from one place to another and particularly through the entrance gate of a court, the width being of a conventional area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The playing surfaces of tennis courts may consist of a concrete surface, an 
asphalt surface or most commonly used, a clay surface. 
A clay surface comprises a mixture of clay having a number of small pebbles 
interspersed in the clay so as to provide a tractive surface for the 
court. This is the most commonly used surface for tennis courts. However, 
a clay surface court must, from time to time, be reconditioned so as to 
present a smooth surface for the playing area. 
As can be appreciated, following use of the court by the players, the upper 
surface of the court is disturbed by the players in that a small number of 
the pebbles in the clay are caused to be dislodged above the playing 
surface of the court and when this occurs, it then becomes necessary to 
recondition the playing surface and to re-embed the pebbles into the clay 
so as to again present a smooth yet tractive playing surface. 
Thus, with the above in mind, it is one of the primary objects of the 
invention to provide a means whereby the playing area of the court may be 
reconditioned following play thereon so as to redistribute the pebbles and 
subsequently force the pebbles back into the clay. Subsequently, the 
playing surface is watered and the court rolled with a rolling drum or the 
like. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a motorized vehicle of a 
width consistent with the width of the pivoted brooms when in upright 
position so as to permit the vehicle and brooms to enter the entrance gate 
of a tennis court. 
Another object of the invention is to provide for an easy accessible 
operating handle for the operator of the vehicle whereby the brushes may 
be caused to be elevated or lowered onto or from the playing surface of 
the court. Following reconditioning of the court with the brushes, the 
same may be elevated and the towing vehicle moved to a next location. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a vehicle-drawn set of 
brushes which operate through a series of cables and pulleys whereby the 
operator of the vehicle, can, without removing himself from the operator's 
seat, manually effect the raising or lowering of the brushes. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a series of pivotally mounted 
brushes whereby the brushes, in their travel over the playing surface of a 
tennis court, will redistribute the pebbles over the surface area and thus 
ensure a smooth and level surface for the playing area of the court. 
While the design and construction of the invention, as illustrated are 
deemed preferable, it is obvious that the invention may be susceptible of 
changes and the right to these changes is claimed provided they are within 
the limits of the claims as set forth herewith.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters are 
employed to denote like parts throughout the several views, numeral 1 
denotes a towing vehicle for the attachment which may be a motorized golf 
cart of conventional construction. 
Secured in any known manner to the rear area of the vehicle 1 is a 
framework 2 comprising a pair of upright members 3 and a cross bar 4 
provided at the upper portion of the upright members 3. A like cross bar 5 
is provided at the lower portion of the upright 3. A central vertically 
extending upright bar 6 is provided between the aforesaid uprights 3. This 
constitutes a framework which may be secured in any known manner to the 
rear portion of the towing vehicle 1. 
Secured in any known manner to the rear portion of the towing vehicle 1 is 
a V-shaped drawbar 7 which has mounted thereon a pair of pulleys 8 through 
which extends a pair of cables 9, one end of each being securely fastened 
to a pair of stationary anchors 10 mounted on pivoted brush sections 11 
which extend on either side of a centrally located brush section 12. Brush 
sections 11 are hingedly connected to center brush 12 as at hinge 13. 
As seen in FIG. 1 of the drawings, cables 9 extend from the anchors 10 
through pulleys 8, thence through pulleys 14, secured to the framework 2, 
thence through pulleys 15, and then through pulleys 16 mounted on the 
vertical bar 6 and then extend to a stationary anchor 17, mounted on an 
operating handle 18, pivoted as at 19 to one of the upright members 3. 
The brush sections 11, 12, are of conventional construction, the bristles 
thereof being of sufficient stiffness to redistribute the pebbles over the 
entire surface of the court. p As is well known, tennis courts are usually 
enclosed on all sides and access thereto is usually through a gateway of 
rather restricted dimension. Thus, to permit access to and from the 
playing area of the court the vehicle must be of such dimension as to 
permit the access to and from the court through the restrictive gateway. A 
conventional motorized golf cart has been found to be ideal for propelling 
the attachment over the playing surface of the court and since a golf cart 
is of rather narrow dimension, the vehicle can easily enter into and out 
of the playing surface of the court. 
In use, the brush sections extend in a substantially horizontal plane as 
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings. When it is desired to exit to or 
from the playing surface of the court, the operator of the vehicle 
manually actuates the operating handle to a position shown in dotted lines 
in FIG. 1 of the drawings to effect a swinging of the brushes from a 
horizontal position to a vertical position as shown by the arrows in FIG. 
1 of the drawings. With the brushes in a upright or vertical position, the 
motorized vehicle can readily be driven onto the playing surface of the 
court through the restricted entrance area. 
While the foregoing description sets forth the invention in specific terms, 
it is to be understood that numerous changes may be resorted to without 
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed hereafter.