EP0423321A1 - Baseball batting practice method and apparatus - Google Patents
Baseball batting practice method and apparatusInfo
- Publication number
- EP0423321A1 EP0423321A1 EP19900907825 EP90907825A EP0423321A1 EP 0423321 A1 EP0423321 A1 EP 0423321A1 EP 19900907825 EP19900907825 EP 19900907825 EP 90907825 A EP90907825 A EP 90907825A EP 0423321 A1 EP0423321 A1 EP 0423321A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- screen
- baseball
- pitcher
- passage
- ball
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
- A63B69/00—Training appliances or apparatus for special sports
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
- A63B69/00—Training appliances or apparatus for special sports
- A63B69/0002—Training appliances or apparatus for special sports for baseball
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
- A63B69/00—Training appliances or apparatus for special sports
- A63B69/40—Stationarily-arranged devices for projecting balls or other bodies
- A63B69/406—Stationarily-arranged devices for projecting balls or other bodies with rotating discs, wheels or pulleys gripping and propelling the balls or bodies by friction
Definitions
- TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates generally to sports training, and particularly to methods and apparatuses for use in practicing baseball batting.
- pitching machines have been developed and employed.
- One type of pitching machine that has been used has a rotating pitching arm which slings a baseball toward home plate.
- Another type of pitching machine has a pair of counter-rotating, resilient wheels into which a 5 ba ⁇ teball is introduced. The resilient rapidly spinning wheels grip the baseball and propel it at a high rate of speed. While pitching machines of the type just described provide distinct savings over the use of professional baseball players and coaches, they provide
- a baseball or softball .batting practice apparatus comprises a screen f ''25 .having a passage therethrough and means for propelling balls in succession through the screen passage.
- _-- are provided for displaying a moving image of a baseball
- Means are ais ⁇ provided for synchronizing the ball propelling means
- A appear to be thrown by the pitcher.
- FIG. 1 is a partially cut away, perspective illustration of a baseball batting practice apparatus that embodies principles of the present invention in a preferred form.
- Figs. 2a - 2d are perspective views of a portion of the apparatus of Fig. 1 with images of a baseball pitcher shown thereon during a wind up and delivery sequence.
- a baseball batting practice apparatus 10 according to the present invention.
- the apparatus includes a large rectangular projection screen 11 and a projector 12 positioned to project moving images onto the screen.
- the projector is preferably of the type that generates and projects images from a video cassette although it may directly project images from motion picture film.
- the projection screen is preferably large enough to allow life-size images of baseball pitchers to be shown thereon. It has a centrally located passage 13 therethrough which is large enough to allow baseballs to pass easily through the screen.
- a pitching machine 16 such as that made by Jugs Manufacturing Company, Inc., is positioned behind the projection screen 11. It has a pair of counter-rotating friction wheels 17 and 18 located closely adjacent the passage 13. Baseballs B, are deliverable in succession to the-rotating friction wheels by means of a conveyor 5 system * 20.
- the conveyor system comprises an endless conveyor . belt 21, resilient push plates 22, adjustably mounted to the conveyor belt 21, and a constant speed driving motor 23.
- the conveyor belt 21 has a series of unshown evenly spaced markings thereon.
- a conveyor drum 24 is spaced from the pitching machine 16 and a similar unshown drum is located near the resilient wheels 17 and 18 with the conveyor belt extending about the two drums.
- the motor 23 is coupled
- the push-plates are mounted to the conveyor belt 21 by unshown fasteners.
- the push-plates are roughly one-half . as tall as the diameters of the baseballs B to allow them to present the baseballs to the friction wheels without the plates contacting the wheels. This is made possible
- a hopper 26 is positioned adjacent the drum 24 from which baseballs B may be , sequentially fed onto the belt 21 through a delivery?* conduit 27.
- a synchronization control unit 30 is provided for synchronizing projector operations with
- the start and stop switches are electrically coupled to both the driving motor 23 and the projector 12 by electrical lines 33 and 34, respectively.
- the baseball batting practice apparatus may be prepared J
- a recording is prepared of a particular pitcher to be practiced against to include a series of pitching wind-ups and deliveries. The elapsed
- time from the beginning of the recording medium, preferably a video tape, to the recorded delivery of the first pitch is determined as are time intervals between succeeding recorded pitches.
- the video cassette is inserted into a playback unit in the projector 12 and indexed to its beginning.
- An operator adjusts the positions of the push-plates 22 upon the conveyor belt 21 to correspond to the time intervals between the recorded pitches.
- a baseball B is placed against each of the push-plates located on the upper run of the conveyor belt. As the conveyor belt is driven by the motor at a constant rate of speed, the markings on the belt are easily used to establish the time between pitches executed by the machine.
- the conveyor belt 21 is manually advanced until the push-plate 22 for the first ball is set back from the friction wheels 17 and 18 a distance so that the baseball placed in front of it will move into engagement with the friction wheels in an elapsed time which corresponds to the time interval from the beginning of the video cassette to the projection of the first recorded pitch release.
- the operator then turns on the pitching machine 16 which causes friction wheels 17 and 18 to rotate.
- the conveyor system 20 now in its initially indexed position, and with the spacing of the push-plates 22 corresponding to the time intervals between the various recorded pitches, and the video cassette in the projector 12, the operator simultaneously activates both the conveyor 20 and, the projector 12 by means of the synchronization control unit 30.
- the stop switch 32 is depressed which simultaneously halts advancement of the video cassette tape in the projector 12 and advancement of the conveyor belt.
- apparatus may enable baseball batters to practice batting against a particular pitcher and allow the batter to learn that particular pitcher's pitching motion.
- a pitcher can do in the manner of his delivery of the pitch to make the pitch more difficult to hit. For instance, many pitchers attempt to keep the baseball hidden from sight until the last possible moment before ball release.
- the baseball batting practice apparatus enables the batter to become familiar with the pitcher's release to be better able to time the beginning of his swing relative to the release of the ball.
- model and previously unknown pitchers may also be displayed.
- Other methods of synchronizing the delivery of balls with the on-screen image of a pitcher delivery may be employed. For instance, a queue of baseballs held within a conduit located adjacent the rotating wheels 17 and 18 may be used to deliver balls to the rotating wheels.
- the conduit may include means for ejecting one baseball at a time out of the conduit and into the spinning wheels in response to signals that an on-screen image of a pitcher is about to release a pitch.
- These signals may be generated by the use of optical codes on the video cassette tape in positions in the sequence of the images of the deliveries of pitches.
- detectors are used to detect the codes and to generate electric signals that control pitching machine operations.
Abstract
Un appareil (10) d'entraînement au maniement de la batte de base-ball comprend un écran de projection (11), un dispositif de projection (12), une machine de lancement de balles et un système convoyeur (20). L'écran (11) possède un passage traversant (13). La machine de lancement (16) est positionnée adjacente au passage. Le système transporteur possède des plaques poussoirs (22) montées de manière réglable sur une bande transporteuse (21). Une image vidéo mobile d'un lanceur lançant des balles de base-ball est projetée sur l'écran (11) de manière que l'image du lâcher de la balle se produise lorsque l'image de la main du lanceur traverse le passage (13). Le lancement des balles de base-ball par la machine de lancement (16) est synchronisé avec les images sur écran par placements des plaques poussoirs (22) sur la bande transporteuse.An apparatus (10) for training in baseball bat handling includes a projection screen (11), a projection device (12), a ball throwing machine and a conveyor system (20). The screen (11) has a through passage (13). The launching machine (16) is positioned adjacent to the passage. The conveyor system has push plates (22) mounted in an adjustable manner on a conveyor belt (21). A moving video image of a pitcher throwing baseballs is projected on the screen (11) so that the image of the release of the ball occurs when the image of the pitcher's hand crosses the pass ( 13). The launching of baseballs by the throwing machine (16) is synchronized with the images on screen by placing the push plates (22) on the conveyor belt.
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US341546 | 1982-01-26 | ||
US34154689A | 1989-04-21 | 1989-04-21 |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0423321A1 true EP0423321A1 (en) | 1991-04-24 |
EP0423321A4 EP0423321A4 (en) | 1991-10-16 |
Family
ID=23338040
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP19900907825 Withdrawn EP0423321A4 (en) | 1989-04-21 | 1990-04-20 | Baseball batting practice method and apparatus |
Country Status (6)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0423321A4 (en) |
JP (1) | JPH03505540A (en) |
KR (1) | KR920700055A (en) |
AU (1) | AU5566290A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2031493A1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO1990012621A2 (en) |
Families Citing this family (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5573239A (en) * | 1995-04-07 | 1996-11-12 | Ryker; Kenneth H. | Apparatus to catch, determine accuracy and throw back a ball |
US6776732B2 (en) * | 2001-01-19 | 2004-08-17 | Paul Parkinson | Simulated tennis ball trajectory & delivery system |
JP6448240B2 (en) * | 2014-07-16 | 2019-01-09 | 共和技研株式会社 | Ball launcher using air pressure |
USD842401S1 (en) | 2017-11-02 | 2019-03-05 | Daniel J. Mueller | Baseball |
Family Cites Families (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3203696A (en) * | 1962-05-10 | 1965-08-31 | Alfredo Salazar | Game apparatus |
US3306613A (en) * | 1964-07-29 | 1967-02-28 | Artez F Mainers | Baseball batting practice range with ball return means |
US3580380A (en) * | 1968-09-11 | 1971-05-25 | Reynolds Metals Co | Method of and apparatus for orienting indicia bearing cylindrical objects |
US3531116A (en) * | 1968-09-17 | 1970-09-29 | Joseph J Trzesniewski | Electric baseball batting game |
US3724437A (en) * | 1970-11-23 | 1973-04-03 | Tru Pitch Inc | Ball throwing machine |
DE3216602A1 (en) * | 1982-05-04 | 1983-11-10 | Peter 5024 Pulheim Klippel | SYSTEM FOR PROGRAM-CONTROLLED BALL THROWING MACHINE |
-
1990
- 1990-04-20 EP EP19900907825 patent/EP0423321A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1990-04-20 CA CA002031493A patent/CA2031493A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1990-04-20 JP JP2507091A patent/JPH03505540A/en active Pending
- 1990-04-20 AU AU55662/90A patent/AU5566290A/en not_active Abandoned
- 1990-04-20 WO PCT/US1990/002168 patent/WO1990012621A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1990-04-20 KR KR1019900702659A patent/KR920700055A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
---|
No further relevant documents have been disclosed. * |
See also references of WO9012621A2 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CA2031493A1 (en) | 1990-10-22 |
AU5566290A (en) | 1990-11-16 |
EP0423321A4 (en) | 1991-10-16 |
WO1990012621A2 (en) | 1990-11-01 |
KR920700055A (en) | 1992-02-19 |
JPH03505540A (en) | 1991-12-05 |
WO1990012621A3 (en) | 1991-01-24 |
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Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
PUAI | Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012 |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A1 Designated state(s): AT BE CH DE DK ES FR GB IT LI LU NL SE |
|
DIN1 | Information on inventor provided before grant (deleted) | ||
RAP1 | Party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred) |
Owner name: VIDEO BASEBALL OF AMERICA, INC. |
|
RIN1 | Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected) |
Inventor name: HALL, MICKEY A. |
|
17P | Request for examination filed |
Effective date: 19910705 |
|
A4 | Supplementary search report drawn up and despatched |
Effective date: 19910823 |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A4 Designated state(s): AT BE CH DE DK ES FR GB IT LI LU NL SE |
|
STAA | Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent |
Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN |
|
18D | Application deemed to be withdrawn |
Effective date: 19921103 |