Pickleball Warming Device

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The disclosure relates to sports equipment and more particularly pertains to a new pickleball warming device for heating pickleballs for use in playing in colder temperatures to minimize or prevent cracking and breaking of the pickleballs.

The prior art relates to sports equipment. The prior art, as best understood, does not disclose pickleball warming device for heating pickleballs for use in playing in colder temperatures to minimize or prevent cracking and breaking of the pickleballs.

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above in a pickleball warming device generally comprising a housing, a heating assembly, and a power source. The housing includes a chamber designed to temporarily hold a plurality of pickleballs therein and a cover assembly to open and close the chamber. The heating assembly is positioned in the housing and adjacent the chamber to heat pickleballs in the chamber to a temperature sufficient to minimize damage to pickleballs when playing in colder temperatures. The power source is positioned in the housing and operatively connected to the heating assembly to supply electricity to the heating assembly.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new pickleball warming device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the pickleball warming devicegenerally comprises a housing, a heating assembly, and a power source. The housingincludes a chamberdesigned to temporarily hold a plurality of pickleballstherein and a cover assemblyto open and close the chamber. The heating assemblyis positioned in the housingand adjacent the chamberto heat pickleballsin the chamberto a temperature sufficient to minimize damage to pickleballswhen playing in colder temperatures. The power sourceis positioned in the housingand operatively connected to the heating assemblyto supply electricity to the heating assembly.

The housingis elongated and includes a side walland two end walls. The chamberis cylindrical and has a diameter substantially similar to a diameter of a standard pickleball. The cover assemblyincludes a capremovably attached to and forming one of the two end walls. The capis attachable to the side wallby friction fit or screw threads or similar. The cover assemblyalso includes a slidable doorforming a portion of the side wall, wherein the slidable dooris slidable in a telescoping manner into and out of an adjacent portion of the side wall. The cover assemblycan include only the cap, only the slidable door, or both the capand the slidable dooras shown in.

As shown in, the side wallincludes an outer side wall portionand an inner side wall portionpositioned within and spaced apart from the outer side wall portion, wherein the heating assemblyis positioned in the space between the outer side wall portionand the inner side wall portion. The outer side wall portionincludes an insulating material to retain heat within the housingand the inner side wall portionincludes a thermally conductive material to transfer heat to pickleballsin the chamber.

The heating assemblyincludes a plurality of radiant heating elements. The heating elementsare in the form of coils surrounding the chamber, or possibly elongated wires running along the length of the chamber.

The power sourceincludes a rechargeable batteryand a charging port or power port, as well as a switchpositioned on an exterior surface of the housingto turn the power sourceon and off.shows a diagram of the relationship between these components. A power cord can be inserted into the charging portfor charging the battery.

shows an alternative embodiment in which the pickleball warming devicefurther includes a support ringpivotably attached to an outer surface of the housing.

The pickleball warming deviceis used when playing pickleball in colder temperatures. Cold or colder temperatures can make a pickleball brittle and susceptible to cracking or breaking during play. In order to minimize or prevent such damage, the user inserts one or more pickleballsinto the chamber. The user can access the chamberby removing the capor sliding the slidable door, depending on the design of the housing. In the embodiment shown in, the user can remove the capand drop or insert pickleballsinto the chamber. The slidable doorallows the user to easily gain access to the pickleballsto remove them from the chamber. While the pickleballsare stored, the user presses the switch and turns on the power source, which in turn causes the heating elementsto heat up and warm the pickleballsto a temperature suitable for play.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.