US20050277490A1 - Shuffleboard court surface having multiple pimples for sliding a disc - Google Patents

Abstract

A molded polymeric shuffleboard court has multiple closely spaced apart primary squares containing multiple secondary squares having open center portions to form a top surface for movement of a sliding disc. The secondary squares have an upwardly directed pimple at each corner to reduce friction caused by the sliding disc.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• The invention relates to a shuffleboard court. More particularly, it refers to a shuffleboard court having a top surface containing upwardly directed pimples for enhancing the speed of discs moving over the top surface.
• Shuffleboard courts have existed for many years to provide enjoyment for players at both indoor and outdoor sites as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,692. As a disc slides over a shuffleboard court, a bottom surface of the disc is in frictional engagement with the top surface of the shuffleboard court. Previously, the top surface of shuffleboard courts have been waxed or have contained small holes or perforations to reduce friction and enhance the ability of elderly players to easily slide a disc from the start line to the scoring triangle. Although friction is reduced by waxing and manufacturing small perforations in the top surface, a disc still exerts considerable friction in moving over the shuffleboard court surface. Currently, the International Shuffleboard Association has not approved any polymeric shuffleboard courts for tournament play because of the friction problem. A need exists for a still further reduction in such friction in order for a shuffleboard polymeric court to be approved by the International Shuffleboard Association for tournament play.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• This invention provides a reduced friction shuffleboard court top surface. The shuffleboard court is made from a molded polymeric material, preferably, polypropylene. The top surface has multiple primary geometric squares closely spaced apart. Included within the primary squares are multiple secondary squares having open centers and four corners. Each corner has a molded upwardly directed pimple to create a slightly raised surface for the shuffleboard court.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The invention can be best understood by those having ordinary skill in the art of shuffleboard courts by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shuffleboard court typically employed with the subject invention.
• FIG. 2 is a broken off portion of a shuffleboard court showing the pimples on the top surface.
• FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the shuffleboard court containing the pimples on various surface pieces.
• FIG. 4 is a top perspective view of the shuffleboard court surface containing the pimples.
• FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the shuffleboard court.
• FIG. 6 is a sectional side elevation along line6-6 inFIG. 4.
• FIG. 6A is an enlarged view of a portion ofFIG. 6.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
• Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures.
• Referring first toFIG. 1, theshuffleboard court10 has right12 and left14 side edges and raisedfront edge16 andback edge18. The shuffleboard courttop surface20 has afront22 and back24 indicia representing scoring triangles. The major portion ofsurface20 is made up of multipleprimary square sections26.
• Referring toFIGS. 2-3, the shuffleboard courttop surface20 is made up of theprimary square sections26 spaced apart bygroove42 andside edge sections28. Eachtop surface20 is formed from multiple contiguous secondary smallersquare portions30 within thelarger sections26 or28. Each of the four corners ofsecondary square portion30 contain a raisedpimple32 shown more clearly inFIG. 6.
• A group ofsections26 shown inFIGS. 2-4 make up the predominant part ofshuffleboard court10 shown inFIG. 1. Edges ofsections26 containlatches34 which connect withopenings36 inother sections26 so that the various sections are retained juxtaposed together. Theunderside38 shown inFIG. 5 containspegs40 which support theplaying surface20.
• Theprimary sections26 snap together by insertinglatches34 incorresponding openings36. The completedpolymeric shuffleboard court10 as seen inFIG. 1 has reduced friction generated by a disc sliding oversurface20 containing thepimples32.
• Equivalent elements can be substituted for the elements disclosed above to provide substantially the same results in substantially the same way.

Claims (7)

1. In a molded polymeric shuffleboard court having a top surface configured as a grid, the grid structure consisting of multiple closely spaced apart primary squares, each primary square consisting of multiple juxtaposed secondary squares, each secondary square having four corners with an open center portion, the improvement comprising molding a raised pimple at all four corners of each secondary square whereby there is decreased friction generated by a disc sliding over the top surface.

2. The molded polymeric shuffleboard court improvement according toclaim 1 wherein the polymer is polypropylene.

3. The molded polymeric shuffleboard court improvement according toclaim 1 wherein there are 81 secondary squares within each primary square.

4. A molded polymeric shuffleboard court top surface comprising:

a grid structure having multiple geometric configurations and multiple upwardly raised pimples at a juncture of the geometric configurations throughout the shuffleboard court top surface to reduce friction generated by a disc sliding over the top surface.

5. The molded polymeric shuffleboard court top surface according toclaim 4 wherein the grid structure consists of multiple closely spaced apart primary squares, each primary square consisting of multiple juxtaposed secondary squares, each secondary square having four corners with each secondary square having an open center portion, the upwardly raised pimples located at the four corners of the secondary squares.

6. The molded polymeric shuffleboard court top surface according toclaim 4 wherein the polymer is polypropylene.

7. The molded polymeric shuffleboard court top surface according toclaim 5 wherein there are 81 secondary squares within each primary square.

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