Abstract:
The improved billiard rack is an invention that allows a user to quickly and easily rack or position a set of billiard balls without the inconvenience or necessity of actuating an auxiliary ball positioning device. The rack includes NEOPRENE or the like compressible members that cause a compressive load to be placed upon a group of billiard balls when the rack is positioned on a set of balls which further causes the group of balls to be tightly and properly grouped or racked. The rack further includes angled walls that provide for removal of the rack from a group of balls without the walls colliding with the balls. The rack further includes feet upon which the rack may be rotatingly removed from a set of balls by rotating the rack in an upwards rearwards rotation motion away from the group of balls. The feet preferably include alignment marks that may be aligned with corresponding marks on a playing surface so as to properly, accurately, and consistently position the rack.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to racks and like devices for use in “racking” or position balls such as billiard balls into a proper formation such as a triangular formation in preparation to initiate a game such as a game of billiards. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   In playing the game of billiards or pool or the like, it is important to achieve “tight rack” of balls or balls that have been tightly racked, so that when breaking the rack of balls such as with a cue ball, the balls will efficiently transmit energy into surrounding balls and such that a good break is achieved. A good break would for instance be defined as significant separation and movement of the balls upon impact of at least one previously racked ball by a cue ball. A poor break would for instance be defined as little separation and movement of the balls upon impact of at least one previously racked ball by a cue ball. Such a poor break is often due to a loosely or improperly racked set of balls. A loosely or improperly racked set of balls may be due to a combination of factors including dimensional variation among the balls to be racked, inexperience of the user of the rack, and a rack that is not adapted to providing a properly and tightly racked set of balls. The disclosed invention seeks to overcome the noted problems with racking balls. 
   Many improvements to racks or rack like devices have been devised to improve the racking of balls. For instance, the following list of US patents and applications all disclose inventions related to billiard type racks and are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 916,193, 1,052,461, 2,405,677, 2,422,939, 3,253,826, 3,672,671, 3,992,005, 4,005,861, 4,307,881, 4,452,450, 4,476,781, 4,903,965, 5,376,054, 5,556,341, 5,601,495, 5,735,750, 5,916,032, 5,997,404, 6,312,342, 6,595,862, 7,166,033, 20010044343, 20050009614, and 20050159230. However, the inventive concepts disclosed in the preceding list of patents include several deficiencies. Problems with the prior art include for instance complicated racks having moving parts, racks requiring the user to manually actuate a rack mechanism once a rack is placed on a set of balls to tighten the rack of balls, racks having tightening or compression members of inferior, non-resilient, or low elasticity materials, and racks being void of handles for use in removal of the rack from the racked set of balls. Furthermore, a rack that overcomes all of the above cited problems in a single product is heretofore unknown. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention has been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the rack devices that were described to be lacking in the art. Accordingly, the present invention is an improved rack that comprises a substantially triangular shaped billiard ball rack having inwardly canted walls to facilitate removal of the rack from racked balls without disturbing the racked balls, resilient compression members for causing a compression load to be induced into balls to cause balls to become tightly packed or racked, handles to facilitate manipulation of the rack, feet for use in rotating removal of the rack from racked balls, and locating notches for use in locating and aligning the rack. The rack is adapted such that without any moving parts (other than the compression movement of the compression members), the rack is usable in tightly and properly racking a set of billiard balls or the like. Such proper racking is accomplished by placing the rack over a predetermined number of balls (such as for instance fifteen balls or nine balls), in reaction to contact between the balls and the compression members causing the compression members to compression and causing the balls to tightly pack or “rack”, locating the rack in a proper location on a billiard table like playing surface by aligning the alignment notches of the rack with corresponding alignment marks on the playing surface, and rotatinginly removing the rack from the racked balls by rotating the rack upon the feet of the rack to thus remove the rack from the racked balls without disturbing the racked balls. It is noted that racking a set of billiard balls in the disclosed method causes the balls to be tightly and properly racked in a proper predetermined location quickly and with minimal effort on the part of the user. 
   Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may necessarily be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment. 
   Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention. 
   These features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     In order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a first embodiment of the rack; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded isometric view of a first embodiment of the rack; 
       FIG. 3  is a plan view of a first embodiment of the rack, billiard balls are shown for reference in the rack; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the rack taken substantially at the location indicated in  FIG. 3  by the view indication arrows associated with  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the rack taken substantially at the location indicated in  FIG. 3  by the view indication arrows associated with  FIG. 5 , with  FIG. 5  being rotated such that the view is shown in a vertical orientation; 
       FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the rack taken substantially at the location indicated in  FIG. 3  by the view indication arrows associated with  FIG. 6 , with  FIG. 6  being rotated such that the view is shown in a vertical orientation, and; 
       FIG. 7  is a side view of a first embodiment of the rack depicting the rack in various stages of removal so as to illustrate the rack removal method. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment. 
   Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are included to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention. 
   The invention is an improved rack for tightly racking billiard or pool balls. The invention preferably includes tapered walls, resilient compression members, handles, feet, and locating notches. In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention in reviewing the drawings accompanying the specification, a feature list is provided below. It is noted that like features are like numbered throughout all of the figures. 
   
     
       
             
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               FEATURE TABLE 
             
             
                 
             
             
               # 
               Feature 
             
             
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
               10 
               Rack 
             
             
               20 
               Frame 
             
             
               22 
               Frame left wall 
             
             
               23 
               Left wall internal surface 
             
             
               24 
               Left wall external surface 
             
             
               25 
               Left wall slot 
             
             
               26 
               Frame right wall 
             
             
               27 
               Right wall internal surface 
             
             
               28 
               Right wall external surface 
             
             
               29 
               Right wall slot 
             
             
               30 
               Frame rear wall 
             
             
               31 
               Rear wall internal surface 
             
             
               32 
               Rear wall external surface 
             
             
               33 
               Rear wall slot 
             
             
               34 
               Frame left corner 
             
             
               36 
               Frame right corner 
             
             
               38 
               Frame front corner 
             
             
               39 
               Frame fastening holes 
             
             
               40 
               Left retaining plate 
             
             
               41 
               Left retaining plate body 
             
             
               42 
               Left retaining plate handle 
             
             
               44 
               Left retaining plate fastening holes 
             
             
               50 
               Right retaining plate 
             
             
               51 
               Right retaining plate body 
             
             
               52 
               Right retaining plate handle 
             
             
               54 
               Right retaining plate fastening holes 
             
             
               60 
               Rear retaining plate 
             
             
               61 
               Rear retaining plate body 
             
             
               62 
               Rear retaining plate fastening holes 
             
             
               64 
               Rear retaining plate left foot 
             
             
               66 
               Rear retaining plate left locating notch 
             
             
               68 
               Rear retaining plate right foot 
             
             
               70 
               Rear retaining plate right locating notch 
             
             
               80 
               Left compression member 
             
             
               82 
               Left compression member bulbous portion 
             
             
               84 
               Left compression member retaining flange 
             
             
               90 
               Right compression member 
             
             
               92 
               Right compression member bulbous portion 
             
             
               94 
               Right compression member retaining flange 
             
             
               100 
               Rear compression member 
             
             
               102 
               Rear compression member bulbous portion 
             
             
               104 
               Rear compression member retaining flange 
             
             
               110 
               Fastener 
             
             
               120 
               Billiard Ball 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Referring now to the drawings and in particular to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a first embodiment of the invention is a rack  10  for use in tightly positioning or “racking” a set of billiard balls  120  or the like comprising a frame  20 , a left retaining plate  40 , a right retaining plate  50 , a rear retaining plate  60 , a left compression member  80 , a right compression member  90 , a rear compression member  100 , and a plurality of fasteners  110 . 
   Frame  20  defines a substantially rigid open triangular shaped frame preferably adapted to substantially enclose a group of fifteen billiard balls  120 . Frame  20  further comprises a frame left wall  22  having a left wall slot  25 , a frame right wall  26  having a right wall slot  29 , a frame rear wall  30  having a rear wall slot  33 . Left frame wall  22  is connected to right frame wall  26  on a first end of left wall  22  and to rear frame wall  30  on a second end of left wall  22 . Further, right frame wall  26  is connected to rear frame wall  30  on a second end of right wall  26 . The intersection of left wall  22  and rear wall  30  forms a substantially rounded left corner  34 . The intersection of right wall  26  and rear wall  30  forms a substantially rounded right corner  36 . And the intersection of left wall  22  and right wall  26  forms a substantially rounded front corner  38 . Left wall  22  further defines an internal wall surface  23  and an external wall surface  24 . As can be seen in  FIG. 5 , left wall  22  forms a substantially angled wall such that the upper end of wall  22  angles inward towards the center of rack  22 . Right wall  26  further defines an internal wall surface  27  and an external wall surface  28 . As can be seen in  FIG. 6 , right wall  26  forms a substantially angled wall such that the upper end of wall  26  angles inward towards the center of rack  22 . Rear wall  30  further defines an internal wall surface  31  and an external wall surface  32 . As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , rear wall  30  forms a substantially angled wall such that the upper end of wall  30  angles inward towards the center of rack  22 . It is noted that as opposed to strait or non-angled walls, such canted or angled walls facilitate the removal of the rack  10  from racked balls  120  without disturbing or moving racked balls  120  due to a collision of rack balls  120  by one or more of walls  22 ,  26 , and  30 . Additionally, each of walls  22 ,  26 , and  30  include a plurality of fastening holes  39  to accommodate the reception of fasteners  110 . It is noted that frame  20  may be constructed of aluminum such as a machined aluminum frame or plastic such as an injection molded frame or of other suitable materials. 
   Left retaining plate  40  defines a retaining plate having a substantially elongated plate like body member  41  having a fin like member projecting normally from body  41  to define a handle  42 . It is noted that in addition to providing a handle for rack  10 , handle  42  provides increased stiffness to retaining plate  40 . Body  41  is adapted to fit to rack external surface  24  and includes a plurality of fastening holes  44  located in body  41  to accommodate the reception of fasteners  110 . It is noted that retaining plate  40  may be constructed of aluminum such as a machined aluminum retaining plate or plastic such as an injection molded retaining plate or of other suitable materials. 
   Right retaining plate  50  defines a retaining plate having a substantially elongated plate like body member  51  having a fin like member projecting normally from body  51  to define a handle  52 . It is noted that in addition to providing a handle for rack  10 , handle  52  provides increased stiffness to retaining plate  50 . Body  51  is adapted to fit to rack external surface  28  and includes a plurality of fastening holes  54  located in body  51  to accommodate the reception of fasteners  110 . It is noted that retaining plate  50  may be constructed of aluminum such as a machined aluminum retaining plate or plastic such as an injection molded retaining plate or of other suitable materials. 
   Rear retaining plate  60  defines a retaining plate having a substantially elongated plate like body member  61  having a left foot  64  and a right foot  68  extending downward from body  61  and curving outward from body  61 . Left foot  64  further includes a left locating notch  66  and right foot  68  further includes a right locating notch  70 . Locating notches  66  and  70  provide a location and alignment indication marks for use in properly positioning rack  10  on a billiard playing surface or the like having corresponding alignment marks. Body  61  is adapted to fit to rack external surface  32  and includes a plurality of fastening holes  62  located in body  61  to accommodate the reception of fasteners  110 . It is noted that retaining plate  60  may be constructed of aluminum such as a machined aluminum retaining plate or plastic such as an injection molded retaining plate or of other suitable materials. 
   Left compression member  80  defines a substantially elongated compression member having a bulbous portion  82  connected to at least one retention flange  84 . Compression member  80  is formed of a substrate of resilient material such as an elastomer, foam, a closed cell foam, a microcellular urethane foam, a natural rubber, or synthetic rubber that maintains a reaction load when compressed. Compression member  80  further preferably includes a skin or thin film type covering having a coefficient of friction that is less than the coefficient of friction of the base substrate of the compressible member. Specifically, the substrate of compression member  80  is preferably formed of a synthetic rubber such as NEOPRENE which is commercially available from the DuPont Corporation or such as PORON which is commercially available from the Rogers Corporation. Further, the outer skin of compression member  80  is preferably formed of polyester film preferably having a napped finish and sometimes know in the trade as “doe skin”. 
   Right compression member  90  defines a substantially elongated compression member having a bulbous portion  92  connected to at least one retention flange  94 . Compression member  90  is formed of a substrate of resilient material such as an elastomer, a foam, a closed cell foam, a microcellular urethane foam, a natural rubber, or synthetic rubber that maintains a reaction load when compressed. Compression member  80  further preferably includes a skin or thin film type covering having a coefficient of friction that is less than the coefficient of friction of the base substrate of the compressible member. Specifically, the substrate of compression member  90  is preferably formed of a synthetic rubber such as NEOPRENE which is commercially available from the DuPont Corporation or such as PORON which is commercially available from the Rogers Corporation. Further, the outer skin of compression member  90  is preferably formed of polyester film preferably having a napped finish and sometimes know in the trade as “doe skin”. 
   Rear compression member  100  defines a substantially elongated compression member having a bulbous portion  102  connected to at least one retention flange  104 . Compression member  100  is formed of a substrate of resilient material such as an elastomer, a foam, a closed cell foam, a microcellular urethane foam, a natural rubber, or synthetic rubber that maintains a reaction load when compressed. Compression member  80  further preferably includes a skin or thin film type covering having a coefficient of friction that is less than the coefficient of friction of the base substrate of the compressible member. Specifically, the substrate of compression member  100  is preferably formed of a synthetic rubber such as NEOPRENE which is commercially available from the DuPont Corporation or such as PORON which is commercially available from the Rogers Corporation. Further, the outer skin of compression member  100  is preferably formed of polyester film preferably having a napped finish and sometimes know in the trade as “doe skin”. 
   Fastener  110  defines a common mechanical type fastener as is common to the fastening industry. Specifically, fastener  100  preferably defines a #10 sheet metal screw as is common to the fastening industry. Fastener  100  may of course alternately define a different type of fastener. Fastener  100  is used in assembling compression members  80 ,  90 , and  100  and retaining plates  40 ,  50 , and  60  respectively to frame  20 . Alternatively, retaining plates  40 ,  50 , and  60  may be bonded or adhered to frame  20  or retaining plates  40 ,  50 , and  60  and frame  20  may be manufactured as a single integral structure. 
   Billiard ball  120 , while not a part of rack  10 , defines an standard billiard ball or the like such as are widely commercially available and are commonly used in playing games of billiards and pool. It is noted that such billiard balls inherently include variation in size and shape from one ball to another ball due to the manufacturing process employed in fabricating such billiard balls. 
   Rack  10  is assembled such that bulbous portion  82  of left compression member  80  is pressed into and through slot  25  of left wall  22  of frame  20 , bulbous portion  92  of right compression member  90  is pressed into and through slot  29  of right wall  26  of frame  20 , and bulbous portion  102  of rear compression member  100  is pressed into and through slot  33  of rear wall  30  of frame  20 . Rack  10  is further assembled such that left retaining plate  40  is fastened to external wall surface  24  of left wall  22  of frame  20  by means of fasteners  110  being retentatively inserted into fastening holes  39  and  44  so as to “sandwich” left compression member  80  between left retaining plate  40  and frame left wall  22 , right retaining plate  50  is fastened to external wall surface  28  of right wall  26  of frame  20  by means of fasteners  110  being retentatively inserted into fastening holes  39  and  54  so as to “sandwich” right compression member  90  between right retaining plate  50  and frame right wall  26 , and rear retaining plate  60  is fastened to external wall surface  32  of rear wall  30  of frame  20  by means of fasteners  110  being retentatively inserted into fastening holes  39  and  62  so as to “sandwich” rear compression member  100  between rear retaining plate  60  and frame rear wall  30 . 
   In practice, assembled rack  10  is placed upon a group of billiard balls  120  that are resting on a playing surface as shown in  FIG. 3 . Rack  10  is preferably lowered on balls  120  until feet  64  and  68  and front corner  38  come nearly into contact with the playing surface. Such positioning of rack  10  causes balls  120  to be tightly forced together or properly racked by means of compression members  80 ,  90 , and  100  being compressed and correspondingly inducing a compressive load into balls  120  as shown in  FIGS. 4 ,  5 , and  6 . Rack  10  may then be positioned as needed on the playing surface by aligning locating notches  66  and  70  with corresponding marks on the playing surface. It is noted that conventional rack location practice requires the user of a conventional rack to guess if the conventional rack is properly located due to a conventional billiard system causing the conventional location spot to be covered by the conventional rack and balls. Once positioned to a desired location, rack  10  is removed from balls  120  by grasping handles  42  and  52 , and rotating rack  10  upwards about a theoretical axis near feet  64  and  68  as shown in  FIG. 7  such that rack  10  is removed from balls  120  without disturbing balls  120 . It is noted that upon removal of rack  10  from balls  120  that the compression members  80 , 90 , and  100  begin to return to their original, uncompressed, or equilibrium state such that rack  10  is readied for additional use. It is further noted that due to the angle of walls, as opposed to straight vertical walls, the ease of removal of rack  10  without disturbing balls  120  is substantially increased. 
   The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.