The increased popularity of ice skating in cold weather areas has led to great competition for the limited resources of the public and private ice skating venues presently available. As a result, the costs of using private ice skating facilities has increased dramatically and public rinks must generally maintain long hours to accommodate the large numbers of hockey teams, figure skaters and the desires of the general public for time on the ice. Often times a hockey club or those practicing for competitive figure skating will be forced to accept practice time in the very late evenings or very early morning hours.
Traditionally, skaters have used a frozen lake or pond on which to skate in the winter time. Where a lake or pond is not available a field has been flooded and allowed to freeze-up to provide a skating surface. This is done by flooding an area with water until the ground is saturated and the local water table rises above ground level and allowing the water to freeze. However, because of variable weather conditions in the winter months, skating on frozen ponds and lakes is extremely dangerous and the ice on flooded fields may melt causing a loss of all of the water poured onto the field.
Presently, the method used to make an outdoor skating rink is to create some sort of perimeter, place a liner in the perimeter, fill it with water and let it freeze. The perimeters have generally been constructed by driving dimensional lumber, such as two-by-twos or two-by-fours, part way into the ground, as a structure, and then attaching plywood, using nails or screws, to the structure to form the perimeter. On flat fields such a system, while requiring a great deal of labor to construct, works well. However, where there is a slope to the ground, as in most areas, the perimeter must be made so that the walls on the downward part of the slope are high enough to contain the deepest portion of the water. Often times during construction of the rink structure, because a field will often look more level than it is, the height of the water is not taken into account until water is poured into the rink. After the water is poured into the rink it is difficult to remove a section, or entire wall, of plywood and/or to drive more or larger dimensional lumber into the ground for support.
Also, such construction generally must begin early in the season while the ground is still soft enough to drive dimensional lumber into the ground. Because of the variability of weather, it has often been found that the effort of constructing such a rink is lost because a winter season is not cold enough to allow skating often enough or long enough to justify the effort of such construction. As a result, owners of these rinks are discouraged from exerting the effort to construct such rinks in future years. Also, driving large pieces of lumber into the ground, to construct the structure of the rinks, causes considerable damage to a field, or back yard, which must be repaired in the summer time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an ice skating rink structure that is easy and quick to construct.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ice skating rink structure that can be easily used on level or sloped ground.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ice skating rink structure that can easily accommodate various sizes of plywood, or other boards, and that can allow the easy removal and replacement of boards.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ice skating rink structure which can be easily constructed at any time during the winter season without regard to the condition of the soil.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a skating rink structure that can be installed and removed without causing great damage to a field or lawn.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.