How old is the tennis ball hopper?

Answer 1

The term 'tennis ball hopper' is pretty broad, covering a variety of different tennis court equipment.

Tennis ball tubes can be used to pick up balls and as a dispenser you hang on the fence. They generally hold about 15-18 balls and are great for individuals who don't hit more than a couple of dozen balls in a session.

Another type of tennis ball hopper is a ball basket. You typically use these to pick up balls by pushing the bottom of the basket on the ball and squeezing it into the storage bin. Many of these models allow you to flip the handles so that the basket can be used like a stand that you can easily grab balls out of.

Another type of tennis ball hoppers are the ball carts. These look somewhat like grocery carts. You can't use them to pick up balls, but they can hold about 200-350 balls. One model in particular has collapsible legs that allow it to fit in the trunk of a car.

Finally, there are the ball mowers. These are designed to quickly gather large numbers of balls into a container. You push them like a lawn mower and the mechanism inside the mower feeds the ball into a storage unit. Some models of mowers can double as stands or allow you to set up the storage unit like a stand.

Answer 2

According to the 8/26/12 NY Times Magazine article, Jake Stap a Wisconsin gym teacher and tennis instructor invented the tennis ball hopper in the 1960s. In 1968, he patented it and founded Ball Hopper Inc.