Table tennis game

Table tennis game and practice equipment for use with a table tennis table comprising a rigid substantially upstanding, and substantially rectangular ball-return board having a width substantially less than the width of a standard size table tennis table, said board having at its rear adjustable downwardly and rearwardly inclined support means to provide for variation in the inclination of the board from the vertical, said board and its support means being freely movable to different positions on the table top, soft energy absorbing and friction feet on the lower edge of said board and on the lower part of said support means, said board having a first opening therethrough of a size substantially larger than a table tennis ball and spaced substantially from its lower edge, a second opening adjacent the lower edge of said board, guide means at the rear of said board shaped to guide a ball projected through said first opening to said second opening to expel the ball forwardly therefrom to roll along the table top to return it to a player, and net means mounted on said board to extend laterally from both side edges, upwardly from the top edge, and upwardly and outwardly from the corners thereof, said net means comprising net supporting posts projecting laterally from the bottom of the side edges of the board, and upwardly and outwardly extending net supporting posts at the upper corners of the board, mounting sockets associated with the board for receiving the inner ends of the net support posts, said net being tensioned to provide for resilient return of balls projected against the net and to urge the upwardly and outwardly extending posts inwardly of their sockets and to frictionally lock the laterally extending posts in their sockets, said guide means comprising a thin walled shell having a continuously curved outer wall extending from just above said upper opening to just below said lower opening provided with inwardly extending spaced projections formed from the thin wall material of said shell and engageable with a ball passing through said guide means at the velocity required to bat the ball through said upper opening to produce an audible sound upon engagement with a ball.

Table tennis game and practice equipment for use with a table tennis table comprising a rigid ball-return board having a width substantially less than the width of the table, said board having at its rear adjustable downwardly and rearwardly inclined support means to provide for variation in the inclination of the board from the vertical, said board and its support means being freely movable to different positions on the table top, soft energy absorbing and friction feet on the lower edge of said board and on the lower part of said support means, said board having a first opening therethrough of a size substantially larger than a table tennis ball and spaced substantially from its lower edge, a second opening adjacent the lower edge of said board, guide means at the rear of said board shaped to guide a ball projected through said first opening to said second opening to expel the ball forwardly therefrom to roll along the table top to return it to a player, and net means mounted on said board to extend laterally from both side edges, upwardly from the top edge, and upwardly and outwardly from the corners thereof, said first opening having a shallow recess surrounding the opening at the front of the board, an insert ring having a through opening smaller than the board opening and dimensioned to fit within the board opening, said insert having a radial flange shaped to fit within said recess, the forward face of said insert including said flange being flat and coplanar with the front surface of said board when the insert is mounted in said first opening.