Abstract:
A sports pole mounting structure for supporting sports equipment in a pool environment capable of repeated assembly and removal. The mounting structure includes a bracket and a collar securely engaging existing in-ground sleeves traditionally found around pool environments and supporting sports equipment for use in a pool. The bracket is configured such that the sports pole is prohibited from rotating in the in-ground sleeve and the combination of the bracket and collar is capable of use with in-ground sleeves of varying size and shape.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to a sports pole mounting structure, and more particularly to an in-ground system for engaging and supporting a sports pole. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The sport of swimming has made pools an integral element of school sporting structures, recreational centers, and exercise gyms. Likewise, spending time in the water for exercise, relaxation, and play has made the pool extremely popular for the backyard or home. Recreational pool users play all manner of sports and games in the water and in addition to games like tag, many traditionally land based games are now played in a water environment. In particular, both volleyball and basketball have become popular sports to play while enjoying friendly company and the pool environment. 
   Unfortunately, sports poles, not a typical feature of a pool, are required to support the necessary equipment for both basketball and volleyball. Traditionally, sports pole mounting structures consisted of a pole permanently anchored in the ground using concrete or another such suitable material. While the traditionally anchored sports pole provided a safe sturdy goal or net, a permanent sports goal does not fit well with the general multipurpose pools of the modern home or backyard. Particularly for pools used for entertaining, a permanent sports pole would be a serious obstruction, both unpleasant to the eye and difficult to maneuver around during parties or social events. 
   In-ground sleeve mountings have attempted to solve this problem of permanent sports pole mounting. However, most sleeve mounting structures do not work with existing in-ground sleeves and more importantly may require expensive and specially shaped and designed sports poles to engage the sleeves. 
   Movable sport structures allow a person to move a sports pole from one place to another without the need of in-ground support. A popular example of a movable sport structure is the rolling basketball goals. Unfortunately, the rolling basketball goals are usually big and bulky and require significant ballast in the base structure to stabilize the sports pole. Their difficulty of movement and size has made the movable sport structure problematic for use in tight spaces or areas with little available room for ballast behind the sports pole, a typical scenario surrounding a pool. 
   Therefore, the pool environment presents a sports pole with some special problems. The traditionally anchored sports pole provides a safe sturdy pole but is unpleasant to the eye and difficult to maneuver around. The movable basketball goal provides the possibility of relocation during social events but the danger of a movable sports structure rolling into the pool during use or relocation presents a special concern for swimmers. Furthermore, movable sport structures are useless around pools surrounded by limited space or uneven terrain. 
   In light of the forgoing, there is a need for a sports pole mounting structure for use around a pool that is economic, secure and removable. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a sports pole mounting structure that substantially obviates one or more of the problems arising from the limitations and disadvantages of the related art. 
   The object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure for removably supporting a sports pole. 
   Another object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure capable of utilizing inexpensive and easily designed sports poles. 
   Another object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure capable of using existing in-ground sleeves. 
   Another object and purpose of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure for enabling insertion and removal of varying size poles. 
   Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description as follows, and in part will be apparent from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the methods and apparatus particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof together with the appended drawings. 
   To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described, the invention is a sports pole mounting structure that includes an in-ground sleeve with a support member and a bracket attached to a sports pole. Upon inserting the sports pole and the bracket into the in-ground sleeve, the bracket removably engages the support member of the in-ground sleeve such that the sports pole is supported and inhibited from rotating in the in-ground sleeve. A collar is positioned on the sports pole above the bracket and engages the in-ground sleeve such that the sports pole is substantially centered in the in-ground sleeve. 
   It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
   The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the sports pole mounting structure; 
       FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of the sports pole mounting structure focusing on the in-ground sleeve and support bracket; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the sports pole mounting structure; 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the sports pole, the collar and the bracket; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the first piece and second piece of the bracket; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the collar and a cut-away view of the collar; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an alternative collar; 
       FIG. 7  is a cut-away view of the collar of  FIG. 6 ; 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of another alternative collar; 
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the collar of  FIG. 8 ; and 
       FIG. 10  is a cut-away view of the collar of  FIG. 9 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The preferred embodiment is a sports pole mounting structure supporting a sports pole and a basketball goal over a pool. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the sports pole of the description is of a representative nature and that the sports pole mounting structure disclosed in this invention applies to supporting volleyball nets and other sports equipment. 
   In the preferred embodiment, the sports pole mounting structure is shown in  FIG. 1 , and is designated generally by reference numeral  10 . The sports pole  20  supports an attachment  21  for attaching a sporting goal. The sports pole  20  includes a curvature  22  designed to suspend the attachment  21  over the base of the sports pole  20 . Note that the attachment  21  and the curvature  22  are only representative. The attachment  21  is designed to support a basketball goal but could easily be designed to support volleyball nets or any other sports apparatus. Likewise, the curvature  22  could be of any shape or even absent in order to support the desired sports apparatus properly. 
   In the preferred embodiment, the bracket  50  supports the sports pole  20  and the support member  40 , which is supported by the in-ground sleeve  30 , supports the bracket  50 . The collar  60  engages both the sports pole  20  and the in-ground sleeve  30 . Note that in the preferred embodiment the sports pole  20  has a circular cross section but sports poles with other cross sectional shapes would also work. By changing the cross section of the sports pole  20 , the bracket  50  and the collar  60  would also be correspondingly changed to properly engage the sports pole  20 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , the sports pole  20  is inserted into the in-ground sleeve  30  such that the bracket  50  rests on the support member  40 . The collar  60  encircles the sports pole  20  and secures to the top of the in-ground sleeve  30 . The collar  60  holds the sports pole  20  in the substantial center of the in-ground sleeve  30 . 
   Note that in the preferred embodiment the cross sectional shape of the in-ground sleeve  30  matches the sports pole  20 . However, so long as the sports pole  20  can be inserted into the in-ground sleeve  30  and the collar  60  can engage the in-ground sleeve  30 , there is no requirement that the in-ground sleeve  30  and the sports pole  20  have the same cross sectional shape. 
     FIG. 1A  illustrates the support member  40  supported by the in-ground sleeve  30  and engaged to the bracket  50 . The bracket  50  is shown secured around the sports pole  20  and supporting the sports pole  20  by engaging and resting on the support member  40 . The bracket  50  inhibits the rotation of the sports pole  20  by engaging the support member  40  such that the support member  40  is received within the space  55  shown in  FIG. 4 . In the preferred embodiment, the support member  40  is shown as a cylindrical member spanning the interior of the in-ground sleeve  20  but any cross sectional shape of the support member  40  would be sufficient provided that the support member  40  engages the space  55 . 
     FIG. 2  shows the sports pole  20  removed from the in-ground sleeve  30 . Upon inserting the sports pole  20  into the in-ground sleeve  30 , the bracket  50  must be aligned with the support member  40  in order to engage the support member  40  in the described manner. 
     FIG. 3  illustrates the assembly of the sports pole  20 , the collar  60 , and the bracket  50 . The collar  60  is positioned on the sports pole  20  above the bracket  50 , which is secured around the bottom of the sports pole  20  by fastening the first piece  51  to the second piece  52  of the bracket  50 . 
     FIG. 4  illustrates the details of the first piece  51  and the second piece  52  of the bracket  50 . The first piece  51  and the second piece  52  each include a band section  56  for encircling the sports pole  20 . Note that in the preferred embodiment, the band section  56  is shaped to engage a sports pole  20  with a circular cross section but the band section  56  could be shaped to engage any cross section shape of the sports pole  20 . 
   Preferably, the sports pole  20  does not extend below the bottom of the band section  56  once the bracket  50  has been secured around the sports pole  20 . In order to secure the first piece  51  and the second piece  52  together, fastener holes  57  have been provided. It will be obvious to one or ordinary skill the art to fasten the first piece  51  to the second piece  52  by any number of different fasteners. 
   Each of the first piece  51  and the second piece  52  includes an engagement member  53  extending below the band section  56 . This extension provides that the engagement member  53  engages and rests on the support member  40  rather than the sports pole  20  resting on the support member  40 . Preferably, the engagement member  53  includes a first protrusion  54  and a second protrusion  54 , which are separated to create a space  55 . The space  55  receives the support member  40  between the first protrusion  54  and the second protrusion  54 . 
     FIG. 5  illustrates the details of the collar  60 . The collar  60  has an aperture  61  for securely receiving the sports pole  20  and the inner lip  64 , which extends downward from the upper surface  65 , creates the aperture  61 . The collar  60  also has a middle lip  63  and an outer lip  62 , both of which also extend downward from the upper surface  65  of the collar  60 . 
   In the preferred embodiment, the collar  60  receives the sports pole  20  through the aperture  61  and also engages the in-ground sleeve  30  by receiving the top of the in-ground sleeve  30  between the middle lip  63  and the outer lip  62  of the collar  60 . While the collar  60  covers the in-ground sleeve  30  and keeps out debris, the collar  60  could be but is not designed to be water tight in the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  illustrate an alternative collar  70 , which is engageable with three different sized ground sleeves. The collar  70  has an aperture  71  and three outer lips  72 ,  73 , and  74  as shown in the cross-section view of collar  70  in  FIG. 7 . The aperture  71  receives the sports pole  20  and lip  72  is engageable with a ground sleeve sized such that the lip  72  securely fits over the top of the ground sleeve. By using the other outer lips  73  and  74  in the same manner, the collar  70  can be used with several standard-size existing ground sleeves. 
     FIG. 8 ,  FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10  illustrate another alternative collar  80 , which engages two different sized ground sleeves and is reversible. The collar  80  has an aperture  81  for securely receiving the sports pole  20 . The collar  80  also has an inner lip  82  and an outer lip  83  on opposite sides of the collar  80  as shown in the cross-section view in  FIG. 10 . By reversing the collar  80  on the sports pole  20 , the alternative collar  80  can engage two different standard-size ground sleeves. Although  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  illustrate two alternatives to the collar  60  and show how the collar can engage different sized ground sleeves, the designs of collars  70  and  80  are in no way intended to be limiting. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to accommodate different sized ground sleeves by any number of collar designs. 
   Note that in the preferred embodiment the collar  60  engages circular cross sections in both the sports pole  20  and the in-ground sleeve  30 , the aperture  61 , the outer lip  62  and the middle lip  63  could be shaped to accommodate any cross sectional shape of both the sports pole  20  and the in-ground sleeve  30 . 
   In practice, the sports pole  20  is inserted into the in-ground sleeve  30  and the bracket  50  engages the support member  40  such that the sports pole  20  is rotationally inhibited with respect to the support member  40 . The collar  60  provides lateral support between the sports pole  20  and the in-ground sleeve  30  and centers the sports pole  20  substantially in the in-ground sleeve  30 . In the preferred embodiment, the first protrusion  54  and the second protrusion  54  on each of the engagement members  53  inhibit the rotation of the sports pole by engaging the support member  40  within the space  55  on each engagement member  53  as shown in  FIG. 1A . 
   In the preferred embodiment, four protrusions  54  are used to inhibit the rotation of the sports pole  20 . However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to inhibit the rotation of the sports pole  20  using only two or three protrusions. 
   It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the sports pole mounting structure of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.