Patent Application
20210077885
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The disclosure relates to indicator devices and more particularly pertains to a new indicator device for displaying a first down mark on an American football field in real time.
The prior art relates to indicator devices.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a cart that is rollable along a sideline of an American football field. A pair of laser units is each of the laser units is coupled to the cart. Each of the laser units emits a location beam outwardly onto the American football field. The laser units are spaced 10.0 yards apart from each other thereby facilitating officials to determine when a first down is achieved by a football team. An American football visibly renders the location beam from a respective one of the laser units when a football team achieves the first down. A display unit is coupled to the cart thereby facilitating the display unit to be visible to players on the American football field. The display unit displays a variety of indicia for indicating information relating the American football.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A cart 18 is rollable along a sideline 20 of an American football field 22. The cart 18 has a top side 24, a bottom side 26, a first end 28 and a second end 30, and the cart 18 is elongated between the first end 28 and the second end 30. The top side 24 has a plurality of teeth 32 each extending upwardly therefrom. The teeth 32 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed along a line extending between the first end 28 and the second end 30. Additionally, the plurality of teeth 32 is centrally positioned between the first end 28 and the second end 30. A plurality of rollers 34 is each rotatably coupled to the cart 18 for rolling along the sideline 20. Each of the rollers 34 is positioned on the bottom side 26 and each of the rollers 34 is aligned with a respective one of four corners of the bottom side 26.
A pair of laser units 36 is provided and each of the laser units 36 is coupled to and extends laterally away from the cart 18. Each of the laser units 36 emits a location beam 38 outwardly onto the American football field 22. Moreover, the laser units 36 are spaced 10.0 yards apart from each other thereby facilitating officials to determine when a first down is achieved by a football team. The blackened portion 16 of the American football 12 visibly renders the location beam 38 from a respective one of the laser units 36 when the football team achieves the first down. In this way the laser units 36 enhance the official's ability to accurately determine when the first down is achieved. The pair of laser units 36 includes a first laser unit 40 and a second laser unit 42.
Each of the laser units 36 is positioned on a respective one of the first end 28 or the second end 30 of the cart 18. Each of the laser units 36 is oriented to extend along a horizontal axis. Additionally, each of the laser units 36 has a transmitter 44 that is distally positioned with respect to the respective first end 28 or the second end 30. The transmitter 44 on each of the laser units 36 emits the location beam 38 along a horizontal axis that is oriented perpendicular to an axis extending through the first end 28 and the second end 30 of the cart 18. In this way the transmitter 44 emits the location beam 38 extending across each sideline 20 of the American football field 22. Additionally, the transmitter 44 on each of the laser units 36 may comprise a laser diode that has an operational power output of less than 5.0 mW.
A display unit 46 is coupled to the cart 18 thereby facilitating the display unit 46 to be visible to players on the American football field 22. The display unit 46 displays a variety of indicia for indicating the number of yards remaining for a first down, the current down and other information relating the American football 12. The display unit 46 is in electrical communication with each of the laser units 36.
The display unit 46 comprises a housing 48 that has a bottom wall 50, a front wall 52, a first lateral wall 54 and a second lateral wall 56. The bottom wall 50 has a plurality of engagement points 58 that is each recessed into the bottom wall 50. Each of the engagement points 58 receives a respective one of the teeth 32 on the top side 24 of the cart 18 for retaining the housing 48 on the cart 18. The front wall 52 is directed toward the sideline 20 of the American football field 22.
A pair of handles 60 is provided and each of the handles 60 is pivotally coupled to a respective one of the first lateral wall 54 or the second lateral wall 56 of the housing 48. Each of the handles 60 is positionable in a stored position having the handles 60 extending upwardly along the respective first lateral wall 54 or the second lateral wall 56 of the housing 48. Each of the handles 60 is positionable in a deployed position having the handles 60 extending laterally away from the respective first lateral wall 54 or the second lateral wall 56 of the housing 48 for moving the cart 18 along the sideline 20. Each of the handles 60 may include a rod 62 having a distal end 64 with respect to the housing 48 and a grip 66 that is coupled to and oriented transverse to the distal end 64 of the rod 62.
A lock 67 is movably coupled to the housing 48 and the lock 67 is in mechanical communication with a respective one of the handles 60. The lock 67 is engages a respective one of the rollers 34 when the respective handle 60 is positioned in the stored position. In this way the cart 18 is inhibited from rolling. The lock 67 disengages the respective roller 34 when the respective handle 60 is positioned in the deployed position for rolling the cart 18. The display unit 46 includes a control circuit 68 that is coupled to the housing 48. The transmitter 44 on each of the laser units 36 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. A receiver 70 is coupled to the housing 48 and the receiver 70 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The receiver 70 may comprise a radio frequency receiver or the like.
A primary display 72 is coupled to the front wall 52 of the housing 48 and the primary display 72 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The primary display 72 displays logo indicia 74 comprising an image of the American football team that is currently playing offense. The primary display 72 may comprise an LED or other electronic display. A down display 76 is coupled to the front wall 52 of the housing 48 and the down display 76 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The down display 76 displays down indicia 78 comprising numbers to indicate the current down. The down display 76 may comprise an LED or other electronic display.
A yardage display 80 is coupled to the front wall 52 of the housing 48 and the yardage display 80 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The yardage display 80 displays yardage indicia 82 comprising numbers to indicate yards to go for a first down. The yardage display 80 may comprise an LED or other electronic display. A position display 84 is coupled to the front wall 52 of the housing 48 and the position display 84 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The position display 84 displays position indicia 86 comprising numbers to indicate the current position of the American football team playing offense with respect to yardage on the American football field 22. The position display 84 may comprise an LED or other electronic display.
A control panel 88 is coupled to the housing 48 and the control panel 88 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68. The control panel 88 has a plurality of buttons 90 thereon and each of the buttons 90 controls operational parameters of the primary display 72, the down display 76, the yardage display 80 and the position display 84. A power supply 92 is positioned in the housing 48, the power supply 92 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 68 and the power supply 92 comprises at least one rechargeable battery.
A remote control 94 is provided that can be carried by an operator. The remote control 94 is in wireless communication with the display unit 46. The remote control 94 controls operational parameters of the display unit 46 with respect to the variety of indicia that is displayed on the display unit 46. The remote control 94 includes a transmitter 96 that is in wireless communication with the receiver 70. Additionally, the remote control 96 has a plurality of control buttons 98 thereon. Each of the control buttons 98 on the remote control 94 controls operational parameters of each of the primary display 72, the down display 76, the yardage display 80 and the position display 84.
In use, the cart 18 is positioned next to the sideline 20 of the American football field 22 such that each of the laser units 36 emits the location beam 38 across the American football field 22. The location beam 38 emitted by the first laser unit 40 is aligned with the American football 12 when the American football 12 is placed to indicate first down. In this way the location beam 38 emitted by the second laser unit 42 indicates the location the American football 12 must reach for a subsequent first down. The blackened portion 16 of on the American Football 12 will display the location beam 38 emitted by the second laser unit 42 when the officials place the American football 12 on the field to determine if the subsequent first down has been achieved. Additionally, either the remote control 94 or the control panel 88 are manipulated to display the required variety of indicia on the display unit 46 so players on the field can keep track of the remaining yardage required for the subsequent first down and other information.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
