Patent ID: 7740143

Claim:
A portable equipment rack supporting and organizing sports equipment, comprising: first and second equipment supporting sections, each equipment supporting section including a top wall, a bottom wall vertically spaced from the top wall, and a rear wall extending between the top and bottom walls, the top and bottom walls each having rear and end edges, respectively; the rear wall having top, bottom and end edges; the rear wall further being connected to the rear edges of the top and bottom walls; each equipment supporting section further including two end walls extending between the top and bottom walls and along the end edges of the rear wall and connected to respective ones of the end edges of the top and bottom walls; at least one of the bottom walls of the first and second equipment supporting sections having at least one handle receiving structure disposed along a front edge region thereof, the at least one of the bottom walls further having an equipment receiving surface disposed between the handle receiving structure, and the rear edge of the at least one of the bottom walls; wherein the end walls of each of said first and second equipment supporting sections are affixed to and support the respective top wall of each of said first and second equipment supporting sections, in vertically spaced relation to the respective bottom wall of each of said first and second equipment supporting sections; a hinge, mounted to adjacent end edge regions of the respective bottom walls of the first and second equipment supporting sections, so that an end wall of each equipment supporting section is disposed proximate the hinge and the other end wall of each supporting section is disposed distal to the hinge, the hinge further having an axis of pivoting that extends parallel to adjacent ones of the end edges of the respective bottom walls of the first and second equipment supporting sections, for enabling the first and second equipment supporting sections to be pivoted between a deployed configuration, in which the first and second equipment supporting sections are disposed end-to-end, and a stowed configuration, in which the first and second equipment supporting sections are pivoted such that the respective bottom walls are juxtaposed parallel and adjacent one another, the positioning of the hinge being such that when the equipment rack is supported by its ends in the deployed configuration, the weight of the respective first and second equipment supporting sections will tend to prompt the first and second equipment supporting sections toward pivoting upwardly relative to one another, prompting adjacent ones of the end edges of the top walls toward one another, into abutment, without attachment therebetween, to maintain the equipment rack in its deployed configuration.