Tennis racquet and ball carrier for bicycles

#I. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to a tennis racquet press and, in particular, to a tennis racquet press designed to carrying not only a tennis racquet, but also a can of tennis balls. Further, it relates to a tennis racquet press designed to be attached to the frame of a bicycle wheel in such a manner as to not interfere with the pedal or wheel motion of the moving bicycle.

#II. Description of the Prior Art

#The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

#FIG. 1 is a perspective frontal view of one example of the present invention in the form of tennis racquet press mounted to the steering column of conventional bicycle;

#FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the tennis racquet press with the fork of the bicycle steering column, illustrated in phantom lines;

#Referring now to the drawing and, in particular, to FIG. 1 wherein there is illustrated one example of the present invention in the form of a tennis racquet press 10 which is used in the conventional manner for holding a tennis racquet 12 and which is mounted in a manner to be described hereinafter in greater detail to the leg 14 of the steering column fork 16 of a conventionaltype bicycle 18. The press 10, in addition to providing support for the tennis racquet 12, is provided with a holder 20 which functions to carry a tennis ball container 22, all of which will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

#The tennis racquet press 10 is comprised of two trapezoidally-shaped press members 24 and 26 which are interconnected at their corners by a plurality of threaded fasteners or screws 28 which have their head portion 30 (FIGS. 2 and 5) adjacent to the outside surface 32 of the press member 24 while the posts 34 of each threaded fastener 28 extends through suitable apertures 35 in the press members 24 and 26 for threaded engagement with wing nuts 36 (FIG. 1) disposed on the outside surface 38 of the press member 26. The opposing inner surfaces 40 and 42, respectively, of the press members 24 and 26 are maintained apart by means of coil-type springs 44 that circumscribe the posts 34 of each of the screws 28. The head portion 30 of each screw 28 is provided with a square-shaped configuration 46 which is received within a complementary shaped squareshaped aperture (unnumbered) formed in the outside surface 32 of the press member 24 such that the wing nuts 36 may be turned while the posts 34 are maintained in a stationary position with respect to the press members whereby the inner surfaces 40 and 42, respectively, of the press members 24 and 26 may be brought under pressure against the tennis racquet 12 to maintain the same in a proper position. The compression of the tennis racquet 12 is conventional and well-known to those skilled in the art of tennis racquet presses.

#As can best be seen in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, each of the press members 24 and 26 is provided with step bores 48 on the large and small bases of the trapezoidally-shaped press members and step bores 50 on each of the legs of the press members. Each of the step bores 48 and 50, as can best be seen in FIG. 4, has a narrowed diametered section 52 which opens on one side to the outside surface 38 of the press member 26 (the inner surface 40 of the press member 24) and a larger diametered bore 54 which, in turn, opens to the inside surface 42 of the press member 26 (the inside surface 32 of the press member 24). The step bores 48 and 50 are so sized as to receive in a snap-lock fashion the elements which are utilized to attach the tennis ball container 20 to the press members and for attaching the press 10 to the bicycle 18, all of which will be described in greater detail hereinafter.