Structure of basketball rim hoop ring

Claim 1

A basketball hoop comprising, a) a circular ring shaped rim having an inverted U-shape in lateral cross section at each point about the rim, said inverted U-shape defining a convex upper rim surface formed by the bail of the U-shape and a pair of downwardly extending space apart legs defined by the sides of the U-shape, and forming a downwardly opening groove under the upper surface and between the legs, said groove having a first width and depth, b) a plurality of pairs of transversely space apart, opposed, inwardly facing protrusions on the inner sides of each leg adjacent the lower edges of the legs, said pairs of protrusions being generally uniformly circumferentially spaced from each other about the rim and defining between the protrusions of each pair a gap having a second width, c) means secured to said rim for mounting said rim to a backboard, d) a circular ring having a narrow gap extending transversely therethrough at one point in its circumference for passing portions of a backetball net therethrough for mounting such net to the ring, said ring having a maximum width in transverse cross section smaller than said first width and slightly greater than second width and a maximum height no greater than the depth of the groove, e) said rim and said ring having the same median diameter, whereby a net may be mounted on said ring and said ring may be snapped between said protrusions into said groove to secure said net to said rim.