CA2817991C - Portable table tennis trainer and the methods of using thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable table tennis trainer and the methods of using thereof, consisting of a standard tennis ball immovable attached to a springing rod, supported by the adjustable horizontal bracket arrangement, mounted on the base, for facilitating training process of the table tennis players and teaching proper techniques and footwork.

Description

Portable Table Tennis Trainer And The Methods Of Using Thereof Description This invention belongs to the field of sport training equipment, and mainly serves for the purpose of training for the table tennis.
There are known many types of the table tennis trainers, in particular the one described in the Chinese Patent CN 201949595 U.
One of the main disadvantages of the above patent is the flow in the mounting of the ball to the holding rod.
In a real game, a tennis ball doesn't absorb the whole strength of the impact by a racket, and instead transfers this impact into the movement parts of trainer. However, in a tennis trainer, it has to absorb the most of the impact, which is causing switching to a modified tennis ball, with a thicker wall, or even the one made of a solid material. Another option is to hold the ball from the outside, which seriously limits the range of possible training strokes.
In particular, Patent CN 201949595 U is using either a ball with the increased thickness of the walls, or a solid ball. This helps to mount ball on a rod without breaking under the impact.
The mass of these types of balls considerably exceeds the mass of a standard tennis ball which increases the stiffness of the holding rod and creates an additional load to the wrist of a player, and increases the damping time before the next stroke, which in turn, affects the whole training process.
Another disadvantage of Patent CN 201949595 U is the fact that the ball is mounted on the bearings, serving for it to be rotated by the racket strike of player. Since the direction of the rotation of the ball is exactly opposite than the directions during the real game, this will cause a player to learn a wrong set of skills in handing the ball.
Another disadvantage is the way the ball is mounted, which always obscures the ball from one side, preventing learning sets and combinations of strokes from the sides and the top of the ball, like it often happens in a real game.
In addition, the mounting of the device far above, or below the table surface will require making the holder rod either longer, or telescopic, to change its shape and mass.
Also, visually the ball attachment looks much more massive than in a real game.
For the above mentioned reasons, trainer described in the Chinese Patent CN
201949595 U as well as other existing trainers do not provide natural sense of real standard tennis ball within a game. In fact, they can be harmful by teaching the wrong set of skills, opposite to what will be required in a real life game. There is no way to adjust the device to allow a player to strike from any position of the game area.
Another trainer is presented in the Japanese Patent 3183345 by Okamura.
In this patent, parts of it and the whole assembly don't have the sufficient functionality for the effective coaching of the player.
In particular, the fastening of the ball to the springing rod is done outside of the ball. This created the possibility of the hitting the holding wire, rather than the ball, which distorts the sense of the ball for the player.
The actual look of the ball/wire assembly considerably differs from the look of the tennis ball.
Due to the eccentric mounting of the ball within the holding wire assembly , the direction of the strike differs from the strike in a real game.
In addition, the weight of the holding wire considerably increases frequency of the oscillation of the ball after its being hit by the player, due to the increased mass of the assembly. For this reason, it is impossible to train and improve necessary high frequency strikes as in a real game.
Also, mounting of the ball by the holding wire is done in two points, which causes considerable concentration of stresses on the ball within the points, preventing it to withstand considerable holding

2 from the constant hitting. The springing rod also can't withstand high frequency of the strikes by the player. It can't provide the stability of the position of the ball from strike to strike. It can't allow the ball to deflect bigger distance than the distance of the contact between the racket and the ball.
All these shortcomings are mutually interconnected and are compromised mainly because the diameter of the holding wire is not chosen to optimize the design, but rather to facilitate it being bent around the ball to implement the holding of the ball.
Springing rod constructed from such a thin wire (0.5-1,5 mm), doesn't allow the sufficient rigidity of the assembly to dump the oscillations of the ball fast enough. The game applies even if the distance between the rod and the ball decreased, which prevents the sufficient deflection of the ball after the racket strike.
Lastly, the height of the assembly doesn't allow to train for the low flying tennis ball due to the fact, that the total height includes the holding bottle and the ball, which can't be adjusted down.
The distance between the ball and the holding bottle can be changed only by deforming the holding wire, which eventually will cause its breakage.
The design of the above trainer doesn't allow the ball to be placed above the table surface and outside of the limits of the table, on the sides and below of the level of the table surface. Basically, the ball can't be installed in any desirable position of the table to allow to train for different strokes and the sequence of the strokes.
The purpose of present invention is to overcome the described disadvantages of the existing table tennis trainers and to create a portable, small and light weight device, which is would allow utilizing several trainers at the same time to maximize the effect of the emulation of the real game and the sense of a real standard table tennis ball.
In addition, present invention allows using trainers in each desirable point or zone of the game space.
Also it will allow to learn and improve different strokes and footwork in a sense of a real game.

3 The invention will help to train combinations of strokes at the same time, by placing several trainers on the table surface with the different adjustment of the position of the ball, for example, one ball can be placed below the surface of the table, another ¨ outside on the side, third ¨ near the net and etc.
This will allow to train for the combination of different strokes in an efficient manner.
The general view of the trainer is illustrated by the Fig. I.
Fig.2 illustrates the mounting of the tennis ball on a springing rod.
Fig.3 illustrates some possible ways of mounting and adjustment of the trainer and its placement.
Imitating ball I is made out of a standard celluloid or plastic tennis ball, which is cut in half. It is glued to a styrofoam ball spacer 7 or filled with a styrofoam or a similar light-weight plastic and immovable attached to the end of the springing rod 2. It is attached in such a way, that the springing rod 2 cuts through a hole in the imitating tennis ball 1 in one central point. One end of the springing rod 2 is made in a curved shape to allow the secure mounting of the styrofoam ball spacer 7 into it, which is done concentrically. The diameter of the ball spacer 7 equals internal dimension of the ball 1. After the insertion, both sides of the ball are securely glued into it.
This will allow for a reliable load bearing capacity of the device, due to the fact that the ball spacer 7 will provide reliable mounting of the ball 1 towards the springing rod 2.
This kind of the attachment will allow for an acceptable mass and strength of the assembly, where springing qualities of the rod will match 2.7 grams' weight of the standard table tennis ball. Springing rod 2 is made of a round springing steel wire and is held within the hole of the holder 3 by the threated clamp. The outward length of the springing rod 2 can be changed by releasing the clamp and sliding the rod in or out of the holder 3. It is sufficient to use springing rod with the diameter of the wire of 1.8-2mm, and the length of 250 mm.
The adjustment of the position of the springing rod 2 relative to the ball 1 is provided by the changing

4 of the position of the holder 3 relative to the horizontal bracket 4 by the way of swiveling joint between them. There is no limitation of the range of the adjustment (see Fig.! and Fig.3).
Horizontal bracket 4 can be moved along the vertical rod 5 and turned around it access point, if needed, and can be attached to it by it's another end, if necessary.
Mounting base 6 is made sturdy enough to absorb striking forces on the ball and to hold the device itself in a stable position (see Fig.1 and Fig.3). Preferably, it is made out of steel with the diameter of 150 mm and the height of 15 mm, weighting 2 kg. If being installed near the edge of the table, it can be attached by the clamp for the additional security.
Mounting base 6 has a central through hole for the mounting of the vertical rod 5 upward and a peripheral through hole for it mounting downward of the table tennis surface (see Fig.1 and Fig.3).
The trainer can be placed at any point and zone of the table top to facilitate the training needs, improve skills for any types of strokes, their combinations at the same time, and implement variety of the footwork exercises (see Fig.3). If required several trainers can be utilized simultaneously, being located in the different zones and points of the table top.
The trainer works in the following way:
The player adjusts the length of the springing rod 2 with the threaded clamp and the angle of the holder 3 according to the requirements of the training task. Then the user installs the trainer at the required point of the tabletop and adjusts the position of the horizontal bracket 4 on the vertical rod 5 to locate the ball 1 at the required point of the game space. Then he starts training by striking the ball with his racket and imitating real game response.
In addition, player can install several trainers, each at the different point of the game space, which will allow to train for the combination of strokes and footwork.
The offered embodiment of the device is most preferable, but can be varied without changing the nature and the main features of the invention.

Claims (5)

Claims The Embodiment Of The Inventions In Which Exclusive Property Or Privilege Is Claimed Are Defined As Follows:

1. Portable table tennis trainer consisting of an imitating table tennis ball, a springing rod, a holder for the springing rod, a horizontal bracket for the holder, a vertical rod, which supports the horizontal bracket, and a mounting base, to which attached the vertical rod, wherein said imitating tennis ball is made out of two halves of a real standard table tennis ball, immovable attached to the springing rod by the means of internal ball spacer. made out of a styrofoam or similar light-weight plastic.

2. The portable table tennis trainer defined in Claim 1, wherein for unhindered strikes with the racket the spacial position of the said springing rod, in relation to the imitating tennis ball and to the direction of the strikes with the racket, can be adjusted by the means of swiveling joint between the holder and the horizontal bracket.

3. The portable table tennis trainer defined in Claim 1, wherein the spacial position of the said imitating tennis ball can be adjusted by the means of the vertical rod which has a round cylindrical shape, the position of the vertical rod, with the horizontal bracket and the holder, can be either vertically upward or downward, the mounting base made in a shape of a flat body, out of steel, with a through hole in a center for mounting the vertical rod upward and a through hole on a periphery for it mounting downward of the tennis table surface.

4. A method of using the portable table tennis trainer according to any one of Claims 1 or 2 or 3, the method comprising the steps of setting the desired height of the imitating tennis ball at any point of the game space, of adjusting the spacial position of the springing rod relatively to the position of the imitating tennis ball and to the directions of different strokes and their combinations, and of practicing strokes and combinations of strokes by hitting the surface of the trainer's ball with racket.

5. A method of using the portable table tennis trainer according to any one of Claims 1 or 2 or 3 and of using the method of Claim 4, comprising the steps of placing several trainers on the surface of the table, with the ball of each trainer located at the different any points of the game space, adjusting the position of every springing rod for unhindered strokes with the racket as in a real game, practicing combination of strokes and foot work by hitting each ball separately for the desired sequence.