Impact Screen for Golf Simulator Bay

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

In recent years, it has become common for golf clubs and other places where golf practiced and taught to provide indoor golf practice and teaching facilities comprising spaces (“bays”) that are equipped with certain electronic equipment-including launch monitors and associated golf simulator hardware and software, such as those available commercially under the brand TRACKMAN.

The subject of this patent application is an improved impact screen for use in a golf simulator bay, which we will describe in detail below.

NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY

It is common in the golf simulator industry to call the end of the simulator bay that the golfer hits toward the “front” of the bay, and to call the opposite end of the bay the “back” or “rear” of the bay. Paradoxically, it is also common in the industry to call the side of the impact screen into which golf balls are hit the “front side” of the screen (even though that side of the screen faces towards the rear end of the bay when the screen is installed in the bay), and to call the side of the impact screen that balls are not hit into the “back side” of the screen (even though that side of the screen faces towards the front end of the bay when the screen is installed in the bay). We will use these terms and conventions in this patent application.

We use the term “hook-and-loop fastener” in this patent application to denote the well-known, fastening system comprising a strip or patch comprising a plurality of small hook-like features and a complementary strip or patch comprising a plurality of small loops-like features that are adapted to cooperate to fasten two items together. This type of fastening system is also commonly known by the genericized (formerly a trademark) term “velcro”.

When this application is speaking specifically of a strip or patch comprising a plurality of small hook-like features, we use the terms “hook component” or a “hook fastener” to describe such a strip or patch.

When this application is speaking specifically of a strip or patch comprising a plurality of small loop-like features, we use the terms “loop component” or “loop fastener” to describe such a strip or patch.

STATE OF THE ART

Typical Golf Simulator Bay

A typical indoor golf simulator bay measures about fifteen to twenty feet from front to back, and about twelve to sixteen feet from side to side. A typical bay ceiling height is at least about ten feet from floor to ceiling.

A typical indoor golf simulator bay is bounded to the left and right by one or more vertically-extending walls or safety nets.

A typical indoor golf simulator bay houses the following items: a frame for supporting an impact screen; an impact screen suspended from the frame; a hitting station; a launch monitor; at least one video camera; a video projector; and a keypad or touchscreen panel.

The frame, typically constructed of metal, is commonly installed at the front of the bay so that a conventional impact screen can be suspended from the frame across the front end of the bay.

The hitting station typically comprises a floor mat of artificial turf upon which the golfer takes a stance, swings a golf club, to hit a regulation golf ball towards the impact screen. It is common that the hitting station is constructed equidistantly from the side walls (or side netting) of the bay and about ten to twelve feet from the impact screen, so as to accommodate both right-handed and left-handed golfers.

The launch monitor is an electronic device, typically radar-based, that detects the path, orientation, and speed of the head of a golf club as it is swung through a “hitting zone” (typically comprising a small distance on either side of the point where the club head impacts the golf ball). The launch monitor also detects the flight path, spin, and speed of the ball after it has been hit by the club head.

A launch monitor is typically positioned on the floor of the bay about six to nine feet behind, and in line with, the hitting station. (Both the hitting station and the launch monitor are positioned generally along the centerline of the bay that runs from the front to the rear of the bay.)

One or more video cameras are arranged in the bay to capture video images of each of the golfer's swings from one or more viewpoints or angles (typically, an overhead viewpoint and a “down-the-line” viewpoint).

The video projector is arrangement in the bay so that it can project background images, animated virtual ball flight video images, and other information onto the impact screen.

Typically, at least one video camera and the video projector are suspended from the ceiling of the bay at a position that is above and behind the hitting station.

Conventional Unitary Impact Screen

An impact screen has to be suspended in place on a frame in a golf simulator bay in such a manner that it can absorb the impact of a golf ball that is hit into it-often at speeds well in excess of 100 miles per hour—and gently drop the ball to the floor of the bay, not only for the convenience of the golfer that is practicing in the bay, but also for the safety of that golfer and of other persons that may be in or behind the bay or in adjacent bays.

An impact screen also has to be suspended in such a manner that it maintains a relatively tight, undistorted, and flat surface, so that the video images that are projected onto the screen are bright and not distorted.

To accomplish these purposes, conventional impact screens are commonly made of a woven synthetic fabric (e.g., woven polyester fibers), of suitable color. They may comprise one or more plies of fabric, but the plies are arranged together as a single, unitary screen.

The suspension frame commonly comprises left and right, vertically-extending, support members and a top, horizontally-extending, support member that is supported by, and extends between, the left and right vertical support members.

For mounting of a conventional, unitary impact screen to the frame, it is common for the screen to be provided with regularly-spaced (for example, about every twelve or so inches) grommets or rings that are placed in, or otherwise attached along the top, left, and right edges (as installed) of the screen. It is also common for the frame to be provided with rings, carabiners, or similar suspension hardware devices, that are regularly-spaced along each vertical support member and across the horizontal top support member.

Elastic cords (e.g., bungee cords) are strung through the grommets/rings of the screen and the rings/carabiners/straps/etc. of the frame to flexibly mount and adjustably tension the screen. In some arrangements, long, continuous cords are laced back and forth through the grommets/rings of the screen and the lacing hardware of the frame. In other arrangements, short cords are used to connect each grommet/ring of the screen with a corresponding ring/carabiner/or the like of the frame.

Another common practice is to hold the bottom portion of the conventional unitary impact screen to the floor of the bay, so as to prevent, or at least to minimize, the passage of golf balls under the screen.

This screen hold-down practice is often done by making the height dimension of the screen greater than the distance from its suspended upper edge to the floor, (which is a common practice because bay heights and/or screen mounting frame heights are not uniform, and making the screen height dimension greater than most commonly-encountered bay heights minimizes screen customization) and laying the bottom portion of such a screen along the floor so that it extends towards the front of the bay. A weighted and padded hold-down chain is then laid over that bottom portion of the screen so that the padded chain extends across the full width of that bottom portion of screen that rests on the floor. If desirable, the chain can be mechanically secured to the floor, directly or indirectly, by various means, and the loose bottom edge of the screen also can be secured by elastic cords to a front wall of the bay, or to a securing bar that is installed at floor level across the front end of the bay.

A less common method for holding down the bottom portion of the screen (usually in a customized screen arrangement) is to provide a sleeve secured along the bottom edge of screen, and threading a tie-down through the sleeve from end to end. The ends of the cord then can be mechanically secured to the floor in a fashion that permits the cord to be tensioned. In the examples of this hold-down practice of which we are aware, the sleeve is formed of fabric, is sewn to the bottom edge of the screen, and extends continuously along the bottom edge of the screen from the left edge of the screen to the right edge of the screen.

It is also a common practice to provide drapes and/or padding to hide and protect the suspension frame and the screen-mounting paraphernalia. The drapes and/or padding components are commonly detachably affixed (e.g., via hook-and-loop fasteners) to the top, left, and right edge portions of the front side of the screen so as to cover the suspension frame and the screen-mounting paraphernalia. Generally, the hook components of the hook-and-loop fasteners are placed on the front side of the screen, and corresponding loop components are placed on the drapes and/or padding components for this purpose.

With repeated hitting, an impact screen commonly begins to show signs of wear. The surface of the front side of the screen will begin to fray and deteriorate. This deterioration will bleed through to the back side of the screen, and the screen will eventually tear from the repeated impact of golf balls, necessitating replacement of the screen.

In the conventional unitary screen arrangement, screen replacement requires complete dismounting of the screen from the frame, which means removing all of the protective drapes and padding components, then unstringing the supporting cords, undoing the bottom tie-down arrangement, removing the worn screen, and then reversing the process to install the new screen. it is both expensive and tedious to replace a worn conventional unitary screen with a new unitary screen.

Prior Art Two-Ply Impact Screen

South Korean Patent No. 10-0970676 (“KR '676”) discloses what we call a “two-piece” or “tear-off” impact screen arrangement. The arrangement, in its installed configuration, is generally shown in FIG. 2 of that patent, which is reproduced as our FIG. 1.

The two-piece impact screen arrangement of KR '676 comprises a conventionally-suspended unitary screen 40 that serves as a backing screen, and separate, “tear-off” facing screen 50 that is releasably secured to the backing screen by hook-and-loop fasteners.

KR '676's backing screen 40 includes the conventional grommets and associated paraphernalia for installing the screen to a frame that has been erected in the simulator bay. The front of the backing screen 40 includes peripherally-located strips of either the hook component or the loop component of a hook-and-loop fastener (KR '676 doesn't specify which). The back of the facing screen 50 includes peripherally-located strips of the complementary component of the hook-and-loop fastener, that cooperate with the fastener components on the backing screen to releasably install the facing screen 50 on the backing screen 40. When the facing screen wears out, it can be “torn off” of the backing screen and replaced with a new facing screen, without the necessity of dismounting and remounting the backing screen.

KR '676 FIG. 2 only shows a partial view of the fastener strips that are provided along the top and right edges the backing screen 40 and the facing screen 50, and, while it is clear that the fastener strips must extend beyond what is shown in the partial view of KR '676 FIG. 2, the patent specification (at least in our machine translation) is silent as to the full extents of the fasteners. Nevertheless, we believe that those of skill in the art would understand KR '676 as teaching that these fastener strips extend the full lengths of the top and right edges of both screens, and also extend the full lengths of the left edge of both screens. Fasteners are not needed along the bottom edges of the screens to prevent drooping or sagging of the bottom edge portion of the facing screen, and, for this reason, we believe that those of skill in the art would understand KR '676 as teaching that bottom edge fasteners are not provided on either the backing screen or the facing screen.

KR '676 notes that this two-piece screen arrangement provides substantial cushioning of the impact force of golf balls—enough so, apparently, that the hassle of having to replace the conventionally-installed unitary backing screen 40 is eliminated.

In addition to alleviating the hassle associated with replacing a conventionally-installed backing screen, it should also be noted that the facing screen is, itself, less costly than a conventional-style one-ply screen, due to the lack of reinforced edgings with their many stringing grommets or eyelets. And, eliminating the hassle of the conventional replacement procedure also translates to cost savings.

For these reasons, the TRACKMAN company, and others that offer golf simulator packages, have recently introduced such two-piece, “tear-off” impact screen arrangements. The TRACKMAN two-piece impact screen arrangement can be viewed on a TRACKMAN video entitled, “Replacing a Velcro Impact Screen in Your TrackMan Simulator”, that can be found on the website support.trackman.com. This video is one of several instructional videos listed in the “Impact Screen” menu on the “Simulator Set Up” page of the site. Clicking on the menu listing opens the video.

The TRACKMAN “ . . . Velcro Impact Screen . . . ” video shows that the conventionally-mounted backing screen component of the TRACKMAN two-piece impact screen arrangement has fastener strips of hook components along the top, left, and right edges of its front face of the backing screen, and that its facing screen component has corresponding fastener strips of loop components along the top, left, and right edges of its rear face. The backing screen shown in the TRACKMAN video does not have any fasteners along the bottom edge of its front face, and the facing screen shown in the video does not have any fasteners along the bottom edge of its rear face. As is also shown in the video, the TRACKMAN facing screen has fastener strips of hook components along the top, left, and right edges of the front face of the facing screen to cooperate with fastener strips of loop components on the safety draping and padding components of the bay.

SUMMARY OF OUR IMPROVED TWO-PIECE, TEAR-OFF IMPACT SCREEN INVENTION

We have improved upon the facing screen of the prior art two-piece impact screen arrangement of the type shown in KR '676 and in the TRACKMAN “ . . . Velcro Impact Screen . . . ” video in several respects.

First, we have adapted our facing screen, which comprises a first side and an opposed second side, so that both the first side and the second side of the screen can serve as the front side of the installed screen.

Second, we have adapted our facing screen, which comprises four quadrants, so that each of the four different quadrants of the facing screen can be positioned to serve as the upper right quadrant of the front side of the installed facing screen.

We accomplish these objectives by providing suitable fastening mechanisms all around the peripheral edges of both of the first and second sides of our facing screen so that those fastening mechanisms can cooperate with corresponding fastening mechanisms located on the front side of the backing screen.

In our preferred embodiment of our facing screen, which is in the shape of an oblong rectangle where each of the long edges can serve as either the top or bottom edge of the screen in use and each of the short edges can serve as either the left or right edge of the screen in use, we use loop fastener strips along all four edges of both sides of the screen to cooperate with the hook fastener strips that are commonly provided on the top, left, and right edges of the front side of the conventionally suspended backing screens that are in wide-spread use.

By virtue of these two adaptations, after the initially presented upper right quadrant of the screen shows signs of wear, our screen can be easily dismounted (torn off), reoriented, and remounted to the backing screen so as to reposition a substantially unused quadrant of the screen as the upper right quadrant of the remounted facing screen. This step can be repeated three times before all four quadrants of our facing screen are spent.

This is significant. Most golfers are right-handed and, as a consequence, it is in the upper right quadrant of the installed impact screen where most of the golf balls that are struck from the hitting station in the bay strike the impact screen. So it is this quadrant of the screen which wears out.

The facing screen in the prior art two-piece impact screen arrangement of KR '676, and in the commercial versions of that prior art arrangement that I am aware of, is also an oblong rectangle and, as such, has four corner quadrants. However, in this prior art two-piece impact screen arrangement, only one of the quadrants is ever usable as the upper right quadrant of the facing screen. In other words, our improved screen has four times the useful life of the prior art facing screens, by virtue of the two adaptations noted above that we have made.

We also provide a detachable “sleeve” that makes use of the fastener strips that runs along each side of the bottom (as installed) edge of our facing screen. The sleeve is configured to encase a hold-down cord running along the bottom edge of the facing screen. Optionally, the sleeve may also be configured to present a protective padding component that rests on the floor of the bay along the bottom edge of the facing screen.

In general, a facing screen to be installed on a front side of a backing screen in a two-piece golf simulator impact screen arrangement is provided. The facing screen comprises first side X and opposed second side Y, wherein the facing screen is adapted to be releasably and operably installed on said front side of the backing screen in a first orientation in which the first side X of the facing screen comprises a front side of the facing screen, and further wherein the facing screen is also adapted to be releasably and operably installed on said front side of the backing screen in a second orientation in which the second side Y of the facing screen comprises the front side of the facing screen.

In examples, the facing screen comprises first, second, third and fourth quadrants, and the facing screen is adapted to be releasably and operably installed on said front side of the backing screen (a) in said first orientation with the first quadrant presenting as the upper right sector of the front side of the facing screen, (b) in said first orientation with the third quadrant presenting as the upper right sector of the front side of the facing screen, (c) in the second orientation with the second quadrant presenting as the upper right sector of the front side of the facing screen, and (d) in the second orientation with the fourth quadrant presenting as the upper right sector of the front side of the facing screen.

Preferably, the facing screen is of an oblong rectangular shape, and comprises four edges, wherein a first and a second edge are opposed and parallel long edges and a third and a fourth edge are opposed and parallel short edges.

In some arrangements, the facing screen is adapted to be releasably and operably installed on the backing screen in each of the orientations and presentations described by means of either a hook component or a loop component of a hook-and-loop fastener affixed on each of the opposed first and second sides of the facing screen.

Some example embodiments further comprise a hold-down component that is secured (preferably, releasably secured) along the one of said edges that extends across the bottom of the installed facing screen.

In some embodiments, the hold-down component comprises a protective padding component.

In one or more arrangements, the hold-down component is configured and arranged to secure (preferably, releasably secure) a tie-down cord to the one of said edges that extends across the bottom of the installed facing screen.

In some systems, the hold-down component comprises either of a hook component or a loop component of a hook-and-loop fastener to releasably secure the hold-down component along the one of said edges that extends across the bottom of the installed facing screen.

In some examples, the hold-down component comprises first and second strips of either a hook component or a loop component of a hook-and-loop fastener secured to a pliable backing material and arranged so that one of said strips releasably engages a complementary fastener component hook on the first side of the facing screen and the other of said strips releasably engages a complementary fastener component on the second side of the facing screen.

A variety of examples of desirable product features or methods are set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practicing various aspects of this disclosure. The aspects of the disclosure may relate to individual features as well as combinations of features. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only, and are not restrictive of the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of a prior art impact screen;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a facing screen, constructed in accordance with principles of this disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the facing screen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of loop fastener edging, used with the facing screen of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the loop fastener edging of FIG. 4 attached to the screen of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 6 is a schematic depiction of the facing screen of FIGS. 2 and 3, with the quadrants labeled;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a bottom edge hold-down and finishing component;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the bottom edge hold-down and finishing component of FIG. 7, used with a tie-down cord;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing two sides of the hold-down component of FIG. 7, folded up and secured, on each of the facing screen, to create a cord-holding pocket between the two sides;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a modification of the hold-down component of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the front and back of padding component, with loop fastener on its back; and

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing outwardly the padding component secured to the front side of the facing screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF OUR PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Many different impact screen fabrics are commercially available. Our invention is not dependent upon any particular composition or configuration of the fabric. Our improved facing screen 10 can by formed of any suitable fabric to serve the purpose. Currently, our preferred screen fabric is sourced from Changsu Mfg. Co, a Chinese manufacturer, who describes the fabric as a “3D air mash fabric” and also as a “4 mm thickened three-layer structure polyester” comprising a “close knit polyester impact netting”.

Preferably, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, our improved facing screen 10 is of an oblong rectangular shape comprising two parallel and opposed long edges, A and B, that are adapted to extend substantially horizontally when installed in the bay, and two parallel and opposed short edges, C and D, that are adapted to extend substantially vertically between edges A and B when installed in the bay.

Preferably, the common length of edges A and B, which may be, for example on the order of twelve to sixteen feet, and is greater than the common length of edges C and D, which may be, for example, on the order of eight to ten feet.

Preferably, when laid out horizontally on a floor, or suspended vertically in a golf simulator bay, our improved facing screen comprises a first, generally planar, side X and an opposed, generally planar, second side Y. Preferably, and disregarding the thicknesses of the fastener strips, our facing screen has a thickness of about four millimeters.

Preferably, a peripheral loop fastener strip 12 is affixed, for example by sewing, around the perimeter of each of the faces X and Y of the screen 10. (Rather than loops, these peripheral strips could comprise hooks, but we prefer using loop fastener components here.)

Preferably, the peripheral loop fastener strip 12 is about two inches wide on each side of screen 10, and it extends continuously along each edge portion of each side of the sheet, essentially from end to end of each edge. Optionally, fastener strip 12 could extend discontinuously along each edge portion of facing screen 10.

The peripheral loop fastener strip 12 may be formed by affixing discrete, two inch wide loop fastener strips to each face of the sheet—that is, continuous, individual strips along each of the edge portions A, B, C, and D of side X, and continuous, individual strips along each of the edges portions A, B, C, and D of side Y.

At each of the corners of sides X and Y, the ends of the strips may be butted, overlapped, or mitered, or otherwise configured so as to fit into and cover the corners of the screen on each side.

In our preferred embodiment, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, we form the loop fastener edging for each edge portion of the sheet from a strip of material that is about 4½ inches wide and comprises two 2 inch wide strips of loop fastener material that are separated by a gap of about ½ inch. This 4½ inches wide strip may comprise a separate backing material to which the two loop component strips are affixed by, for example, stitching, or it may comprise an integral backing component upon which each of the loop components is integrally formed. In either configuration, the strip is sufficiently flexible in the region of the gap so that it can be folded over on itself along its length, so as to form two back-to-back 2-inch wide portions with the loops of each portion facing outwardly. The folded 4-inch strip then fits over its corresponding edge portion of the sheet and is sewn to the sheet to present a 2-inch strip 12 of loop fastener running along the corresponding edge portions of each of sides X and Y of screen 10, as shown in FIG. 5, with appropriate fitting of the strips at the corners.

As described previously, our improved facing screen 10 is adapted to be releasably mounted to a backing screen of a conventionally-installed unitary impact screen that is suspended in the bay by conventional means (that is, typically, by means of elastic cables (e.g., bungee cords)).

Such conventional unitary impact screens are commonly provided with a hook fastener strip extending along each of the vertical (as installed) edges and across the upper horizontal (as installed) edge of the screen on the front side of the screen. In a conventional unitary impact screen arrangement, these hook fastener strips are used to secure safety padding components that cover edges of the screen and the surrounding frame to prevent struck golf balls from moving over or around the screen and/or from bouncing off of the frame or adjacent walls or ceiling and endangering the golfers and other persons in our near the simulator bay. The padding components are commonly provided with complementary loop fastener patches or strips that latch on to the hook fastener strips on the screen to secure the pads along the vertically-extending side edges and the horizontally-extending top edge of the side/face of the screen that faces the hitting station in the bay.)

We use the left edge, right edge, and top edge hook fastener strips that are on the front face of a conventional unitary impact screen to mount our facing screen to the conventional unitary screen (which becomes the backing screen in our two-piece screen arrangement).

In our preferred embodiment, both the X and Y sides of our facing screen 10, including the associated peripheral edge loop fastener strips 12, are identical. So our facing screen can be installed with either of edge A or edge B as the top edge or bottom edge of the installed facing screen, and either of edge C or edge D as the right or left edge of the installed facing screen, and either of side X or side Y as the front or back side of the installed facing screen.

Regardless of the orientation of the facing screen, when the facing screen is installed, the standard hook fasteners on the front side of the conventionally-mounted unitary backing screen are not available for use in mounting the standard safety padding components. Nor can the exposed loop fasteners on the installed front face of our screen typically be used to secure the safety padding, because, typically, the safety padding is also fitted with loop fasteners. For this reason, we provide three double-sided hook fastener strips-one to releasably engage each of the top, left, and right edge loop fastener strips on the installed front face of our screen. When each of these double-sided hook fastener strips is installed, the safety pads can be secured to the X face of our improved screen. (Of course, if the safety pads are fitted with hook fasteners, such double-sided hook strips would not be necessary.)

Because most golfers are right-handed, it is the upper right quadrant of an impact screen that is most susceptible to wear and tear from struck golf balls.

In FIG. 6, we have labeled the quadrants of our facing screen 10 with reference numbers 1-4. As illustrated in FIG. 5, our placement of loop fastener strips along all four edges of both sides of the screen, facilitates use of our screen in four different useful orientations in the golf simulator bay—with each orientation presenting a different corner/quadrant of the screen to the upper right position, thereby substantially extending the useful life of the screen.

In addition to being suitable for use in combination with a conventional unitary screen constructed from a projection-suitable fabric, our facing screen could also be used with a conventionally-installed backing screen constructed from a fabric that is not projection-suitable, such as, for example, a net material, so long as the backing screen is suitably fitted with appropriate fastening means (e.g., velcro fasteners as described above) for releasably securing our facing screen to it.

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate our improved bottom edge hold-down and finishing component 14.

Preferably, and as illustrated in FIG. 7, we form our bottom (as installed) edge hold-down component 14 from two 2-inch wide strip portions 16 of hook fastener material, both facing up, that are adhered to a flexible backing 20 that is about five inches wide so as to create about a one inch gap between the strip portions of hook fastener material. The gap is configured to accept a tie-down cord 22, preferably comprising elastic cord (e.g. bungee cord) that is placed in and along the gap between the hook strips, as shown in FIG. 8. (Alternatively, the five inch wide strip can be folded in two along its centerline to create to 2½ inch strips. The two sides of the component 14 are then folded up and secured, one hook strip portion 16 to the corresponding loop strip portion 12 on each of the X side and Y side of the screen, as illustrated in FIG. 9, to create the cord-holding pocket between the two sides.

Preferably, the backing 20 is white in color, so that the hold-down component 14 visually blends in with the screen, and an uninterrupted appearance of projected images on the screen all the way down to the floor of the bay.

We have illustrated a modification of our hold-down component 14a in FIGS. 10 and 11. In this modification, the component comprises two gapped strips of double-sided hook fasteners 18. When the sides of this modified hold-down component are folded up around cord 22 and secured to the loop fasteners 12 on the lower edge of the impact screen, the outwardly facing hook fasteners can be used to secure a padding component 24 to the front side of facing screen 10, as shown in FIG. 11.

Our padding component 24 is preferably covered with the fabric used in the construction of screen 10, and is provided on its back side with a loop fastener strip 26.

Preferably, our hold-down component extends continuously for the entire width of the screen. Tie-down cord 22 is also preferably continuous from its end to end and is somewhat longer than the screen is wide.

The ends of the tie-down cord 22 are appropriately secured (for example, by tying the ends off to posts fixed into the floor adjacent to each of the left and right edges of the screen) so as to tension the cord and to keep the lower edge of the screen secured to the floor during use of the screen. Optionally, the left and right edges of screen 10 can be provided with a grommet near each corner of the screen 10 that can serve as an additional location to use bungee cord to tie down the bottom edge of the screen.

If our improved facing impact screen, comprising loop fasteners positioned along the A and B edges of both of the X and Y sides of the screen, is taken down and rotated to a new orientation where, for example, whichever of the edges A and B that was the lower edge of the mounted screen becomes the upper edge of the remounted screen, the lower edge hold-down component can be removed from the original lower edge (A, in this example) and refitted to and along the new lower edge (B, in this example).

Methods of use are also within the scope of our invention, and use the components and assembly techniques described above.

Improved Backing Screen

We have also conceived of an improved backing screen, with which our improved facing screen can also be used.

Our improved backing screen comprises a single, unitary ply of the screen fabric that we have described above in connection with our improved facing screen. We reinforce the left, right, and top edges of the screen with a three inch wide strip of hook-and-loop fastener material (preferably, hook fasteners strips) affixed on both sides of the screen. We install spaced grommets through these three reinforced edges. Finally, we install a two inch wide strip of hook-and-loop loop material (preferably loop fastener material) along both sides of the bottom edge of the screen.

The grommets are placed through the fastener strips and the screen at about one inch from the left, right, and top edges of the screen, and serve for suspending the backing screen to the frame with bungee cords. This grommet placement leaves about two inches of the wide fastener strips on the left, right, and top edges of the screen serve to releasably secure the facing screen to the backing screen. The fastener strips on the bottom edge serve to releasably secure the tie-down sleeve to the back side of the backing screen and to the front side of the facing screen. The placement of the fastener strips on both sides of this backing screen allow it to be unlaced from the frame and rotated left for right (which also has the effect of rotating the X and Y sides of the screen from front side to back side), which extends the useful life of this backing screen over that of the conventional backing screen.

The above disclosure includes example principles. Many embodiments can be made using these principles.