Abstract:
The present invention relates to a sports goal and provides for attaching the mesh or net of the goal to the frame using ties instead of a sleeve attached to the mesh.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to sport goals and, more particularly, to portable sport goals useful for soccer and hockey.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Sports using goals, such as hockey, soccer (or football), lacrosse, and many others are becoming more popular. With the increase in popularity, a need is developing for portable goals to allow individual to the flexibility to play these sports in, for example, backyards and fields.  
           [0003]    [0003]FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a portable goal  10  useful for hockey. The goal comprises a frame  12  and a mesh  14 . The frame  12  generally comprises a tubular material, such as plastic or aluminum tubing. The mesh  14  generally comprises webbing made out of cloth, nylon or the like. As one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize, however, the frame and mesh can be made out of multiple materials.  
           [0004]    To attach mesh  14  to frame  12 , a sleeve  16  is attached to the mesh  14 . The sleeves can be stitched or otherwise attached to mesh  14  and generally has a diameter sufficient to encircle the corresponding portion of frame  12  and allow the frame  12  parts to slide within the sleeve.  
           [0005]    To assemble and dissemble the goal  10 , the parts of frame  12  must be inserted and removed from the sleeve  16 . As can be appreciated, this can be a time consuming process and risks damaging the mesh  14 .  
           [0006]    As an alternative to the sleeve, frame  12  is sometimes weaved through the mesh  14  of the net. This provides similar difficulties to the sleeve as well as the additional difficulty associated with weaving the mesh netting with the frame. Instead of the sleeve or weave method, non-elastic straps, such as Velcro, have been used. However, the non-elastic straps are difficult to attach and allow the net to sag over time.  
           [0007]    Thus, it would be desirous to provide apparatuses and methods to allow releasably attaching the mesh to the frame without using sleeves or weaving in such a manner that is simple and prevents the net from sagging over time.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The foregoing and other features, utilities and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Further, the advantages and purpose of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.  
           [0009]    To attain the advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a sports goal using a tie to attach the mesh to the frame is provided. The sports goal comprises a frame and a mesh. Elastic ties are provided to attach the mesh to the frame by threading the ties through holes in the mesh such that sleeves around the frame do not need to be used. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles thereof. Like items in the drawings are referred to using the same numerical reference.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 shows a prior art sport goal having a sleeve to attach the mesh to the frame;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 shows attaching a mesh to the frame in a manner consistent with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a tie  26 ;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a tie  26  attaching mesh  24  to frame  22 ; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a tie  26 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]    Some embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4. While the present invention is described in relation to a conventional hockey goal, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the present invention could be used in any type of sport goal attaching a mesh or net to a frame, such as a soccer goal and a lacrosse goal.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a hockey goal  20 . Hockey goal  20  comprises a frame  22  made of tubular plastic, but can be almost any material tubular or not. Attached to the frame  22  is a mesh  24  forming the net. Mesh  24  can be made out of a plastic or cloth material. Attaching mesh  24  to frame  22  exists a plurality of ties  26 .  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of one tie  26 . Tie  26  includes an elastic portion  32  and a base  34 . In this case, the elastic portion  32  has a first  36  end and a second end  38  attached to the base  34 , which is shown as a ball. With first end  36  and second end  38  attached to the base  34 , the elastic portion  32  forms a loop  40 . FIG. 4 shows tie  26  with elastic portion  32  threaded through a hole  42  of the mesh  24  and around the frame  22 . The loop  40  of the elastic portion  32  is slipped over base  34  attaching the mesh  24  to the frame  22 . As shown, the elastic cord  32 , which could be a BUNGEE® cord, runs from the ball  34  through a hole  42  (or gap) in the mesh  24  around the frame  22  and loops over the base  34 . The elastic portion  32  attempts to contract and is hindered by the loop  40  over the base  34 . While the elastic cord is shown having a first end  36  and a second end  38  attached to the base  34  to form a loop  40 , it is possible to use an elastic portion with a first end connected to the base and the second end connected to a loop or hook that can attach to the base  34 . Furthermore, multiple elastic portions could be used. Further, instead of a ball the cord could have some other type of releasable connection, such as a snap lock, which is shown in FIG. 5. In this case, for example, the first end  52  of the elastic cord  50  could be attached to one part of the snap lock  54  and the second end  56  of the elastic cord  50  could be attached to the corresponding part of the snap lock  58 , such that the elastic cord  50  is threaded through a hole  42  and around frame and the snap lock  54  and  58  are releasably attached causing the mesh  24  to be attached to the frame  22 . Alternatively, the first and second ends could be attached to one part of the snap lock and the loop could be attached to the corresponding part of the snap lock. Further, while the tie has been described with one end releasably attached to a base (i.e. ball  34 ), both ends can be releasably attached.  
         [0019]    While not shown, it would be possible to notch the base  34  so that the loop  40  of elastic cord  32  fits into the notch in the base assisting to keep the loop in place while under compressive force.  
         [0020]    While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to some embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in the form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.