Improvements in Apparatus for Holding and Adjusting Lawn Tennis Nets.
Year: 1888

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Holding and Adjusting Lawn
Tennis Nets.
I. JOHN OSMOND of Clifton, Blackheath Park in the County of Kent, Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
According to my invention I connect the ends of the top cord of a lawn tennis
net to a screw adjustment which is connected to the top of the pole or support by
catching with lugs or trunnions against notches or shoulders on the support, and
which is then tightened up by rotating the screw by a crank handle.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings shews an elevation and Fig. 2 a plan of the
arrangement which I prefer to employ.
A metal tube A has fixed to its one end a screwed bush B through which screws a
screw spindle C, while at its other end it has a small pulley D over which the end of
the rope E of the tennis net is passed, the cord being then threaded through a hole in
the bottom of the tube and formed into a knot so as to secure it.
The screw passes loosely through a socket F and has a crank handle G fixed to it,
by which it can be rotated in the socket so as to screw in and out of the tube A. The
socket F has two luga or trunnions. H that catch into notches formed in lugs I on the
top of the pole J. Thus for attaching the net to the pole it is only necessary to pull
the screw with its socket outwards until the trunnions can catch into the notches at I,
and then, by giving a few turns to the crank handle, the tube A is drawn outwards
by the screw sufficiently to strain the net rope to the required degree. On turning
the crank handle in the contrary direction the rope is slackened, and the socket can
then be readily detached from the post again. The tube A is by preference formed
with a projecting finger K, to which the end of the binding at the top of the net is
attached, and which prevents the tube from revolving with the screw spindle, when
this is turned.
The trunnions H of the socket are rounded and the socket fits with sufficient
vertical play between the lugs I to allow of its assuming a slight angular position due
to the curve of the net cord.

page_text: Instead of securing the socket F to the post by trunnions taking into lugs on the
post as described, the socket may have a hook at bottom as at H Fig. 3, taking into
a slot in the top of the post.
According to another modification the socket F is dispensed with by forming the
lug of the post with a slotted recess as shewn at L Figs. 4 and 5, into which the boss
of the crank handle fits, the screw spindle being first passed down through the slot.
The arrangement of the screw spindle and its nut might also be reversed, the screw
spindle having its one end attached to the net rope and its other end screwed through
the boss of the crank handle, but I prefer to employ the first described arrangement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The use for holding and adjusting lawn tennis nets, of a screw spindle and nut
adjustment with crank handle one part of which device is connected to the rope net
while the other is held by trunnions or equivalent devices in notches or recesses in
lugs on the top of the post, so that the net is first connected to the post by causing
the trunnions or their equivalent to take into the notches or recesses on the post and
is then tightened by rotating the screw or nut by the crank handle, substantially as
herein described.
2. For holding and adjusting lawn tennis nets, the combination of a tube A having
an attachment, for the net rope at one end and a screw nut or bush B at the other
end a screw spindle C with crank handle G, and a socket F with trunnions H or
equivalent devices for taking into notches recesses or slots on the top of the tennis
pole or support, substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of
the drawing.
3. For holding and adjusting lawn tennis nets the combination of a tube A having
an attachment for the net rope at one end, and a screw nut or bush B at the other
end, a screw spindle C with crank handle G adapted to fit into a slotted recess on the
top of the tennis post, substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5
of the drawings.