A flooring for sports grounds, in particular for tennis courts

Abstract

 A carpet (3) made in elastomer material or the like is laid on a level upper surface (20) of a support layer (2), which in turn rests on a base (1). The carpet (3), exhibiting a grill or net conformation provided with a plurality of through holes (5), is coupled to the upper surface (20). A fine granular material (4) is spread on the carpet (3) in such a quantity as at least to fill the plurality of through holes (5) and create a homogeneous and even playing surface.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to flooring for sports grounds, and in particular for tennis courts.

[0002] Clay courts have been used for a considerable time for tennis court flooring. This type of court comprises an underfloor bearing a considerably deep top layer of clay, in the form of fine granules obtained from fired and subsequently ground common clays mixed together with binders. Keeping such floorings in good working order calls for considerable maintenance work, with a consequent high work cost. Furthermore, clay courts are very susceptible to climactic conditions, especially atmospheric conditions: in rainy climates, in particular, the courts are impracticable. Also, when left unused and unmaintained for a long period of time, such as the winter season, these courts require considerable and laborious attention.

[0003] As an alternative to clay courts, other types of surfacing are used, namely synthetic with special rubber surfaces well able to withstand external atmospheric factors. Synthetic textile materials, as well as PVC, are also used, principally for indoor courts. Hard courts are also well known, and are made with special porous concrete-based and grit-added mixtures, as are acrylic floorings on top of concrete or tar supports.

[0004] These synthetic floorings all have their own specific characteristics, and are all considerably different from traditional clay courts.

[0005] The present invention, as it is characterized in the claims that follow, provides a flooring which allows a granular surface to be achieved on top of any level support type.

[0006] A further aim of the present invention is to realize a granular material flooring which can also be removed easily and substituted by a different flooring type.

[0007] Further advantages offered by the present invention are the ease and simplicity with which it can be laid and removed, as well as the almost total absence of maintenance needed.

[0008] A still further advantage of the present invention is constituted by its intrinsic property of enabling a practically uniform covering over all of its surface extension.

[0009] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will better emerge from the detailed description that follows, of an embodiment of the invention, illustrated in the form of a non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows a schematic section made according to a vertical plane;

figure 2 is a schematic section shown in perspective view of part of a constituent element of the invention.

[0010] With reference to the figures, 1 denotes a specially-prepared gravel base on which a support layer 2 constituted for example by a cement or asphalt mix is laid. This support layer 2 is thick enough to render it highly stable and undeformable. When laid outdoors, the support layer 2 must also have good drainage properties.

[0011] The support layer 2 exhibits a level upper surface 20 which constitutes the rest base for an elastomer (or like material) carpet 3, having a grill or net conformation and therefore exhibiting a plurality of regularly and uniformly distributed through holes 5. In particular, the elastomer carpet 3 is made in vulcanized rubber and contains a predetermined percentage of aggregates.

[0012] The bottom surface of the elastomer carpet 3 is predisposed to be coupled on contact with the upper surface 20 of the support layer 2.

[0013] The elastomer carpet 3 exhibits a uniform and constant thickness and can be simply rested on the underlying support layer 2, or can be glued thereon.

[0014] When the elastomer carpet 3 has been laid on the upper surface 20 of the support layer 2, a fine granular material 4 is distributed evenly over all of the resulting surface. For surfaces destined for use as tennis courts, this material will usually be clay.

[0015] This "filling" of the net-configured elastomer carpet 3 with the fine granular material 4 is carried out in such a way that the through-holes 5 are filled to at least equal to (and even a few millimetres above) the top surface of the elastomer carpet 3, so that a flat and homogeneous playing surface results.

[0016] Normal watering and levelling operations can now be carried out as for a usual clay court: no further local level adjustment will be necessary, as the stability of the surface now depends entirely on the stability of the upper surface 20 of the support layer 2.

[0017] After the above watering and levelling operations have been carried out, the court is ready for use. Subsitution of the playing surface is very simple: it is sufficient to remove the clay by normal aspiration methods, and then remove the support layer 2.

[0018] Numerous other advantages are obtained by the invention, in addition to its simplicity of maintenance; not the least being that the the playing surface remains homogeneous, as no hard crusts or potholes can form locally.

Claims

1. A flooring for sports grounds, in particular for tennis courts, characterized in that it comprises:
a base (1);
a support layer (2) bearing a level upper surface (20); said support layer (2) exhibiting good stability and undeformability characteristics;
a carpet (3) made of an elastomer or like material, exhibiting a grill or net conformation and provided with a plurality of through-holes (5); said carpet (3) exhibiting a constant thickness and at least one lower surface couplable with the upper surface (20) of the support layer (2);
characterized in that after said carpet (3) has been laid on the upper surface (20) of the support layer (2), a fine granular material (4) is spread thereupon in such a quantity as at least to fill said plurality of through holes (5) and thus to create a homogeneous playing surface.

2. A flooring as in claim 1, characterized in that said carpet (3) is realized in rubber containing aggregates.

3. A flooring as in claim 1, characterized in that said fine granular material (4) is constituted by clay.

Drawing