Tennis racquet equipped with a tennis ball retriever

[0010]In each of these situations, the prior art teaches that the tangential contact and use of such a retainer fails to provide a sufficient number of hooks so as to effectively grasp and retain the tennis ball. The applicant desired to utilize a hooked fabric attachment which could be removably attached to the flat or convex surfaces of the tennis racquet and allow for retrieval of the tennis ball simply by tangential contact of the tennis ball therewith. Unexpectedly, the applicant has discovered that a very narrow range of hooked fabric materials which, when attached to the tennis racquet, possess unexpectedly superior ball-retrieving efficacy notwithstanding making only tangential contact between the hooked material and the tennis ball nap. The discovery permits a lightweight, adhesively and removable ball retrieving element to be placed upon the tennis racquet head without adversely affecting the player's use of the racquet. The retriever is light in weight and does not alter the balance of the tennis racquet. When it is desired to retrieve a courted ball, the tennis player merely extends the retrieving head so as to tangentially contact the surface of the tennis ball with the retriever and tangentially hook onto the nap of the ball with the retrieving hooks and lift the tennis ball therewith The retrieving device exhibits extraordinary hooking and lifting efficacy. Simply tangential contact results in a surprisingly superior engagement efficacy upon initial contact with the tennis ball. The retrieving device has been effective upon all of the major brands of tennis balls.

[0011]It has been discovered that a highly specialized hook type of fabric derived from hook and loop fasteners, when attached to a tennis racquet, will effectively tangentially hook and lift all major brands of tennis balls. Prior hooked fabric fasteners required substantial surface area contact with tennis ball pile in order to hook and lift a tennis ball. The specialized hooks uniquely penetrate the tennis ball nap or pile, effectively hook a sufficient number of pile threads and tenaciously retain the threads in a hooking relationship while the tennis ball is lifted off the ground. The tennis player merely detaches or unfastens the tennis ball from the hook fastener, thus eliminating the need to bend over and manually retrieve the ball from the ground.

[0012]Unlike the conventional cup-shaped tennis ball retrieving attachments, the unique hooked material may be adhesively attached to a shoulder of a tennis racquet and used to tangentially contact, lift a hooked tennis ball pile and the tennis ball from the ground. Almost all hooked materials of a hook and loop fastener combination will fail to possess this unique functionality. An industrial hook fastener strap sold and distributed by the 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. under the Scotchmate™ brand, when attached to tennis racquet shoulders and used as a ball retriever, exhibits unexpectedly superior efficacy in retrieving grounded tennis balls. Unlike most other hooked fabric attachments typically of a cup shape, the present hooked fabrics, when attached to a shoulder, will hook and lift a tennis ball upon tangential contact.

[0013]Merely tangentially contacting the tennis ball pile with the hooked fabric permits all major brands of tennis balls to be retrieved from the ground. A particularly effective tennis racquet attachment contains thicker monofilament hooks (e.g. 8.5 mm diameter) pre-shrunk to provide dimensional stability and flatness so as to tenaciously retain the hooked fibrous pile of tennis ball and permit it to be lifted from the ground. The individual hooks of the fastener are further characterized as having an average hook depth deeper in depth than most fastener hooks (e.g. 0.71 mm vs. 0.61 mm or less) to permit deeper penetration of the hooks so as to more tenaciously retain fibrous pile hooked by the hooks. Similarly, the average hook width is wider (e.g. 1.13 mm) so as to allow more space for the pile fibers hooked by the hooks. The average height of the hooks is also greater (e.g. 1.91 mm) than other hooks tested which reflects in more deeper penetration into the pile of tennis ball and greater quantum of fibrous pile to be potentially hooked and retained by the hooks. The hooked material also contains a sufficient number of individual hooks so as to effectively hook and lift all major brands of tennis balls.

Almost all hooked materials of a hook and loop fastener combination will fail to possess this unique functionality.