Patent Application
20240009543
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The disclosure relates to football training devices and more particularly pertains to a new football training device for training a player to receive snaps from center. The present invention discloses a football training device for training players to receive snapped footballs.
The prior art relates to football training devices, which may comprise snap simulators for training lineman but which do not snap footballs, center snap devices comprising having swinging arms, launch tubes, electrically powered long snap devices, and the like. What is lacking in the prior art is a football training device comprising a spring loaded swing arm attached to a base, wherein the swing arm grips a football and is released by actuating a trigger to snap the football to a player.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a base, which is configured to be positioned upon a substantially horizontal surface and upon which a user can stand. A bracket is attached to and extends upwardly from the base. A swing arm, which is spring loaded, is rotationally attached to the bracket. A gripping element is attached to the swing arm distal from the bracket and is configured to selectively grip a football that is positioned on the base. An actuator is attached to the base and is operationally engaged to the gripping element to retain the swing arm in a tensioned configuration. A trigger is attached to the base and is operationally engaged to the actuator. The trigger is configured to be triggered by a foot of the user to release the swing arm. The swing arm is configured to swing so that the football is snapped to the user.
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 bracket 14 is attached to and extends upwardly from the base 12. The bracket 14 may simply comprise a post 16, which is positioned proximate to a first side 18 of the base 12 proximate to a first end 20 of the base 12. The bracket 14 also may comprise A-frames, plates, and the like.
A swing arm 22, which is spring loaded, is rotationally attached to the bracket 14. The swing arm 22 comprises a first rod 24, a second rod 26, a tube 28, and a spring 30. The first rod 24 is attached to the post 16 distal from the base 12 and extends substantially perpendicularly from the post 16 toward a second side 32 of the base 12. The tube 28 is positioned around the first rod 24. The spring 30 is positioned around and attached by a first endpoint 34 to the first rod 24. A second endpoint 36 of the spring 30 is attached to the tube 28. The second rod 26 is attached to and extends from the tube 28.
A gripping element 38 is attached to the swing arm 22 distal from the bracket 14 and is configured to selectively grip a football 40 that is positioned on the base 12. As shown in
An actuator 46 is attached to the base 12 and is operationally engaged to the gripping element 38 to retain the swing arm 22 in a tensioned configuration, as shown in
As shown in
The football snap receiving training device 10 also may comprise a guide arm 54, which is attached to and which extends from the base 12. The guide arm 54 is positioned between the swing arm 22 and the trigger 48, proximate to the first side 18 of the base 12. The guide arm 54 is configured to indicate proper positioning of hands of the user for receiving the football 40, as shown in
The guide arm 54 comprises a first piece 56, a second piece 58, and a plate 60. The first piece 56 is attached to and extends substantially perpendicularly from the base 12. The first piece 56 comprises a plurality of nested sections 62 so that the first piece 56 is selectively extensible. The first piece 56 being selectively extensible allows the guide arm 54 to be adjusted for players of varying heights. The second piece 58 is attached to the first piece 56 distal from the base 12 and extends substantially perpendicularly from the first piece 56 toward the second side 32 of the base 12. The plate 60 is hingedly attached to the second piece 58.
The football snap receiving training device 10 enables method of training a football player to receive a snapped football 64. The method 64 comprises a first step 66 of providing a football snap receiving training device 10 according to the specification above. A second step 68 of the method 64 is positioning the base 12 upon a substantially horizontal surface. A third step 70 of the method 64 is tensioning the swing arm 22. A fourth step 72 of the method 64 is engaging the actuator 46 to the gripping element 38. A fifth step 74 of the method 64 is positioning a football 40 such that it is gripped by the gripping element 38. A sixth step 76 of the method 64 is standing in a position to receive the football 40. A seventh step 78 of the method 64 is triggering the trigger 48 and catching the football 40.
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.
