Interactive Precision Ball Throwing Apparatus

Abstract

The present invention includes programs, devices and methods for a ball throwing machine that is able to consistently throw balls to the same preset position at the moment a user demands it by manually pressing a button, by user defined time interval, or by trigger events using sensing technologies. The user demands are sent and received by a wired or wireless connection. The present invention includes sensing method(s) to detect a user's motion and/or voice command, and throw balls to the preset position in a timely manner—at exactly the moment when the command is received, or with a pre-programmed delay. The trigger events includes a player's position, moving speed, and/or body position.

Description

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to the field of sports training equipment, specifically equipment for delivering balls to ball players for training purposes.

Description of the Related Art

Many current ball throwing apparatuses for sports training use one or two rotating wheels pressing on the ball, and the friction force accelerates and throws the ball; other ball throwing apparatus use compressed gas to accelerate and throw the ball out through a tube pneumatically; other ball throwing apparatuses use a spring loaded moving object to hit balls out by direct impact.

SUMMARY

This invention provides a way to directly throw a subject such as a ball, with neither largely deforming the subject by compression to create friction, nor by applying impact on the ball to transfer momentum. The invented method uses a linear solenoid as the actuator; it does not require the mechanism to accumulate and store mechanical energy before it starts transfer energy to the ball being thrown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A ball throwing apparatus (10) comprises: a linear solenoid assembly (1), a lever bar (2), which is connected by a hinge (3) at one end to the base plate (4) and fixed with the ball cup (8) on the other end, a link (5) connecting the plunger (7) of solenoid assembly (1) and the lever bar (2). The linear motion of the plunger (7) uses the link apparatus (5) to make the lever bar (2) rotate around hinge (3) to throw the ball; the solenoid assembly (1) is fixed on the base plate (4) through mounting plates (9), and the hinge (3) is also fixed on the base plate (4)

The ball throwing apparatus (10) also comprises: a single track (12) in one embodiment or a double track (11) in another embodiment, for storing and feeding balls; a battery pack (13); a cover case (14); a control panel for a user to turn on/off the circuit and adjust electronic control settings.

FIG. 1 shows the internal ball throwing mechanism. The ball (6) is loaded on the ball cup (8), which is called the ready position for throwing action, and the plunger (7) of solenoid assembly (1) is at extended position with partially outside the coil (15) of solenoid (1), which is ready to be pulled up by a magnetic force when the coil (15) is energized

FIG. 2 shows the internal ball throwing mechanism at the end of ball throwing action—the plunger (7) of solenoid assembly (1) is pulled into the solenoid by the magnetic force generated by the activated coil (15) of the solenoid assembly (1), the plunger (7) pulls the lever (2) up through the link (5). The ball (6) is accelerated upward and ready to leave the ball cup (8)

FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment with a single track (12) for ball feeding and storage; the balls are lined up on the track, and come down into the ball cup (8) one by one driven by gravity.

FIG. 4 shows the second embodiment of the invention which has double tracks for ball storage and feeding. A ball storage area (17) is connected to double tracks (11) through the splitting area (16), where the balls are then lined up on either track, and roll down into the leveled area (18) with a recess (19), which is called the waiting position for the balls. The recess (19) helps to keep the ball being maintained and centered at the leveled area (18). Balls come down to the leveled area (18) one by one driven by gravity, then will be driven onto the cup (8) by the ball selection bar (20).

FIG. 5 shows the ball selection and handling mechanism for the second embodiment of the invention. The ball selection bar (20) has three functions: 1. act as a gate for both tracks which ensures in each operation, the ball selection bar (20) allows only one ball on one of the two tracks to roll into the leveled area (18) and stay in its recess (19), and prevent the ball on the other track from rolling into the leveled area (18); 2. Act as a track selector that goes back and forth to open and close each of the two tracks alternatively; 3. Act as an actuator to push the ball in leveled area (18) out of recess (19) into the cup (8) for throwing readiness.

FIG. 6 shows the drive mechanism of the ball selection and handling mechanism with the ball selection bar (20). This said mechanism comprises a single spring loaded solenoid (21), a link apparatus (22), a rotation apparatus (23) with a fix pin (25), and a cam-follower mechanism comprises the fix pin (25) as the cam and the slot (24) on ball selection bar as the follower. The ball selection bar (20) is supported by two leaf springs (26) which provide support with one degree of freedom. When the solenoid is energized, the spring loaded plunger will retract into the solenoid, which compresses the spring and pulls the link apparatus (22) therefore spin the rotation apparatus (23) with the fixed pin (25), which therefore move with the slot (24), pushing the ball selection bar (20) moving from one side to another. When the solenoid plunger reaches the bottom of the solenoid, the electric power is cut off, the loaded spring start pushes the plunger out of the solenoid, and the momentum of the rotation apparatus (23) keeps the motion toward the other side, with the loaded spring pushing from behind until the ball selection bar reaches the side limit of the opposite side. Each time the solenoid (21) operates, the ball selection bar (20) with move from one side to another alternatively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Background

The present ball throwing apparatuses focus on providing simulation of the ball traveling trajectory, speed, direction, and position as in a real ball game. Due to the current ball throwing apparatus's lack of detectable hint of action, a user can only judge the timing and position of the ball after the ball is thrown out. Therefore, the user's preparation can only start after the ball is thrown out. However, this invention focuses on throwing the ball in a consistent and predictable manner with preparation signals to the user, then precisely controlling when and where the ball will be thrown. By giving users early signals and full control of the timing of the throwing, it is made possible for player to start preparation actions before the ball is thrown. The precision of ball delivery position is achieved by making the ball serving position independent to ball size, material, surface finish, and inflation pressure or hardness.

Objects and Advantages

The principal object of the invention is to provide a ball throwing apparatus that throws balls to the user with early signals and in a consistent and predictable way. Unlike with existing state of art, the ball in the invented apparatus is held and thrown in its free form without being deformed by compression or impact, such as being squeezed through a narrow gap between two spinning wheels or being hit by a rigid bar; therefore, the ball size, elasticity, surface condition and shape of the ball will not affect the ball launching velocity, height, angle, and distance; balls in different size, shape and firmness, such as but not limited to: different age group tennis balls, regular tennis balls, waffle balls, foam balls, rigid balls, or even objects in none-circular shape can be launched by this apparatus with consistency.

Another object of the invention is the ball throwing apparatus can serve balls with accurately controlled timing. This is achieved by two improvements from the current state of arts: 1. The ball throwing apparatus is always standing by at ready position with the ball staying loaded, no ball feeding process is needed for the start of throwing action. This is unlike in current state of art, for example, in a double wheel ball machine, the ball cannot stay steady in between the two spinning wheels, instead, when state the ball throwing, a ball has to be fed into the gap between two spinning wheels, which is an extra step that takes time, and the variation of feed time makes the timing inaccurate; 2. The invented ball throwing apparatus always has readily available energy to start the throwing action. Unlike in existing state of art, this invention does not have a process to accumulate and store mechanical energy before transferring the energy to the thrown subject. For example, some current states of art use electric motor(s) to accelerate the spinning wheel(s) to needed speed, others wind coil spring to needed preload. However, in this invention, the solenoid is always ready to be activated by electrical power. For above reasons, with this invention, the subject throwing interval or timing can be precisely controlled with no compromises.

Another object of the invention is to provide ball throwing apparatuses that is not affected by the size, shape, material, and finish of the object it's throwing. The ball throwing apparatus is rest a ready position with the ball staying loaded in its free form, and the ball is thrown out with little compression, friction, and impact. Because the ball is held and thrown by a cup, the size and shape are also none factors to the velocity, height, angle, and distance of the throwing.

Another object of the invention is to provide ball throwing apparatuses that can interact with the user. The capability of throwing balls with accurate timing makes it possible to use remote controls or sensing devices to trigger the throwing action without noticeable delay. The remote control provides a way for the user to self-feed or for another individual such as a coach to feed a student on command. At what time to throw out a ball is no longer determined by the ball throwing apparatus's interval setup or the readiness of the ball throwing apparatus but by the command of the user; the sensing devices provide a way for users to interact with the ball throwing apparatus with other commands such as but not limited to: voices, body motions or body positions.

An object of the second embodiment is to use a track selection mechanism to manage two tracks to feed into one ball throwing mechanism. This object is achieved by a single ball selection bar (20). The bar (20) is driven by a single spring loaded solenoid. The ball selection bar (20) has three functions: 1. act as a gate for both tracks which ensures in each operation, the ball selection bar (20) allows only one ball on one of the two tracks to roll into the leveled area (18) and stay in its recess (19), and prevent the ball on the other track from rolling into its leveled area (18); 2. Act as a track selector that does back and forth to open and close each of the two tracks alternatively; 3. Act as an actuator to push the ball in leveled area (18) out of the recess (19) into the cup (8) for throwing readiness.

Claims

1. A ball throwing apparatus comprises essentially of a ball delivery unit with a single solenoid actuator. The pulling action of the said solenoid activates a lever system which is used to magnify the solenoid displacement and speed; the said lever system swings in a vertical plane and throws the ball.

2. The said ball throwing apparatus also comprises ball storage area and feeding mechanism. For the second embodiment, the said ball storage area comprises a ball dump-in area which also serves as a ball container. The said ball dump-in area is broad enough to hold at least 2 columns and two rows of balls. The said ball dump-in area is for users to dump balls instead of loading balls to the rails individually. The said ball dump-in area has a constant or increasing width along the ball feeding direction in order to avoid jamming, and it connects to a splitting area which leads to the two single-row ball tracks.

3. The second embodiment of said ball throwing apparatus comprises of two tracks that both store and transfer balls. The said embodiment has a track selection and ball loading mechanism that is designed for alternating between tracks so balls on only one of the two tracks are allowed to come toward the end of track by their own gravity at each feeding operation. The said track selection and ball loading mechanism comprises a single solenoid actuator and a ball selection bar. At each time of electrical activating the said solenoid actuator will move the ball selection bar from current side to the other side and stays there until next activation. By switching side alternatively, the ball selection bar achieves three functions: 1. load one ball from the current side waiting position of one track onto the ready position; 2. prevent other balls on the same track rolling into the waiting position; 3. allow one ball from the other track rolling into the waiting position. Therefore, at each time of the electrical activation the said solenoid loads one ball from the current track on to the ready position, and switch the current track to the other track.

4. The said ball throwing apparatus also has a ball delivery control system which is essentially a micro controller to control the main drive solenoid and the ball feeding mechanism. The said control system also gives audio and visual signals to the user before the ball is thrown; The said control system also receives and responds to user command such as but not limit to: pressing a button on a remote control connected to the control system with a wire or wirelessly. The said control system also has user interface allows users to set ball throwing parameters such as height, distance, interval, and delay constant after the throwing command. The said control system can also receive signals from sensors. The said control system can be set in auto mode, manual mode, or interactive mode. In the auto mode, the ball throwing apparatus will serve balls at a preset interval, with accuracy within a few milliseconds; in the manual mode, the ball throwing apparatus will serve a ball upon the user pressing a wired or wireless remote control button, or by a voice command; in the interactive mode, the ball throwing apparatus will use sensor(s) to detect a user's body motion and/or position to determine if and when the ball should be thrown for the user. The sensors used for interactive mode can be but not limited to: light sensing devices; proximity sensors with infrared, ultraviolet, and/or visible light detection, ultrasonic object and distance sensors, and mechanical switches. The sensors can be connected to the control system either by wire or in a wireless way. The remote control can be either held by the user, put on any user's finger as a ring, put on any user's wrist as a wrist band, or attached to other sports equipment such as but not limited to a racquet or a bat.

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