GB2029239A - Ball launcher - Google Patents

Abstract

Football practice shooting apparatus includes a ball container, means for transferring balls one at a time to a shooting station, 14, 15 a striking bar 6 and position selection means to select the point of impact of the striking force against the ball. The shooting station and/or the transfer means 4 are pivotally mounted and the arrangement is such that the trajectory of the ball can be adjusted by means of, for example, lever 12. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for the projecting of footballs and the like The invention relates to apparatus for the projecting or shooting of footballs and the like and is an improvement on my earlier invention which is the subject of published German Patent Specification OLS 2,651,335 and co-pending British Patent Application No. 51050/76. The improvement invention as described herein calls for an understanding of my earlier invention and the claims for the improvement invention will refer to those of my co-pending application. Forthese reasons it appears essential to quote extensively from my co-pending application.

An embodiment of my earlier invention (herein for convenience referred to as my earlier construction) will now be described with reference to sheets 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a general representation of a ball shooting apparatus substantially in diagrammatic form, Fig. 2 shows a section on the line ll-ll of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a plan view as seen along the line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 shows a section taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 shows the position of the striking shoe relatively to the ball for a horizontal shot or toe kick, Fig. 6 shows a shooting position for a cross shot at the beginning, and Fig. 7 the position wherein the football is leaving the striking shoe, Fig. 8 is a plan view as seen along the line VIII-VIII of Fig. land Fig. 9 shows the cam disc on a larger scale.

Reference will be made first of all to Fig. 1.The complete ball shooting apparatus comprises basically a frame 1 and a ball container 2. The unit is mounted for movement on wheels 3. But to simplify the drawings only one wheel has been shown.

The shooting or projecting station 4 is at the lower right in the illustration, only slightly above the ground level line 5. The striking means 6 includes the following main elements: a motor 7, a transmission 8 which is infinitely variable by adjustment by means of a hand wheel 9, a belt pulley 10, a belt 11 and a belt pulley 12 preferably constructed as a flywheel.

The belt pulley 12 is connected rigidly by way of a shaft 13 to a cam disc 14. The cam disc 14 is preceded by a circular idler element 15. In the constructional form described, a good impact effect is obtained if the cam disc is provided with an external, approximately radially projecting surface portion 16 which is for the optimum effect within the range of angle designated as 17 (in Fig. 9). The principal main element of the striking means 6 is a striking bar 20 which at its external upper end portion is mounted on a horizontal shaft 21. The striking bar itself comprises a wooden leg portion 22 and a metal holder 23 and hence is of insubstantial mass and of some resiliency. The leg can of course be made of other materials such as plastics material or light metal, but it should avoid the presence of excessively large hammer-like masses at the external end of the striking bar 20.At the lower end, the striking bar 20 has a striking shoe 24 which is preferably made of relatively hard rubber. Overall the striking bar 20 is about 85 cm in length.

Secured on the upper portion of the striking bar 20 is a roller 25 (Fig. 4). When the striking bar 20 is not in action it is pushed outwards (it is shown in the inner position in Fig. 4) so that the roller 25 rolls directly on the idler element 15 while motor 7 and transmission 8 drive the shaft 13, and a return spring 26 holds the striking bar in this inoperative position.

The shaft 21 is held in the external position in Fig.

4 by a compression spring 27. When the circuit of an electromagnet 28 is closed at the switch 29 the shaft 21 is drawn with the striking bar 20 and the roller 25 inwards into the rotational circle of the cam disc 14 so that the cam initiates a shooting operation when the cam disc 14 rotates.

When the striking bar 20, or striking shoe 24, has already pivoted beyond the vertical position it strikes against the football and follows the football for some distance depending on the strength of the impact or the rotational speed of the cam disc 14. On the one hand the striking bar is stopped by a damping element 30 and prevented from jumping back directly by a catch 31 which can be moved in and out by its associated electro magnetic means. The catch 31 is withdrawn again only when the striking bar with the shaft 21 is pushed again into the outer position and the roller 25 has been brought into the rotational circle of the idler element 15. But of course it is also possible to control all the sequences so that they merge into one another.Instead of the catch it is also possible to arrange an electrical control button adapted to be operated by the striking bar and controlling the pushing of the shaft 21 to the outer position. Both the switch 29 and also the electrically operated catch 31 are connected to a control unit 32 which regulates the individual sequences of operation. Naturally it is also possible for the rotational speed adjustment of the transmission 8 to be carried out purely electrically and to provide for adjustment by a suitable control element at the control unit 32. It is simply a question of convenience whether or not a cable is even connected from the control unit 32 for remote operation by the player so that the player can himself adjust the ball deliveries for example as regards strength of shot and frequency, so that he does not have to leave his practice station.The frequency of the shots can also be controlled by a clockwork mechanism and subjected to individual control, for example delayed action. Of course the shooting station 4 can also be adjusted in the vertical direction by motor means and thus also remote controlled.

In the illustrated constructional example the shooting station 4 can be adjusted by means of a draw rod 33 by means of a toothed wheel 34 with crank 35, so that the shooting angle can be adjusted.

Fig. 5 shows approximately the lowest position for the football relatively to the striking shoe 24 for a horizontal shot.

Fig. 6 shows the football raised a few centimetres as compared with Fig. 5. Already when the striking shoe 24 strikes the ball, the striking force is directed obliquely upwards by an angle a. The striking force in this case strikes through the ball centre point at an angle p of about 30 relatively to the horizontal.

Fig. 7 shows the outermost position of the striking shoe 24 of Fig. 6 in which the ball leaves the striking shoe 24. The angle at which the ball is shot in the illustrated example is not quite the same as the angley of the direction of the striking force, but rather an angle ô somewhat smaller than y since very many infiuencing factors such as the elasticity of the ball, the elasticity of the striking bar 20 etc.

also come into play. However very high consistency of aim was achieved with a first prototype ball shooting apparatus and it was found that adjustment values obtained by trial and error are quite sufficientfor practical use.

The ball container 2 is made from thin iron section members 40 and has a capacity for a large number of footballs, for example 20-50 footballs. However the ball shooting apparatus can be used e.g. with as few as four or five balls. But this simply is a question of convenience to avoid the need for another person constantly to replace balls.

As Fig. 8 shows, a rotating 5-armed star-shaped element 41 is arranged in the ball container 2. It is mounted a short distance above the floor of the container. Directly above an opening 42 several guard rails 43 are mounted so that a football pushed by the star-shaped element 41 mechanically to in front of the opening 42 is not blocked by footballs situated above, and can fall without hindrance through the opening 42 into the connecting tube 44 situated below. The upper portion of the connecting tube 44 is formed by rods so that from a distance it is possible to see when the last ball has been taken from the ball container 2.

The star-shaped element 41 is controlled by means of a drive 45 which is preferably controlled only intermittently in step with the other operations by the control unit 32.

The connecting tube 44 as is shown in Fig. 2 comprises at its lower mouth 46 a ball placing device 47.

In the illustrated construction a simple solution has been found very advantageous. From the connecting tube 44 the footballs are let down individually, also under control of the control unit 32, by lifting a holding arm 54 for a short space of time, namely being let down into the shooting station 4 which is constructed as a channel 53. The channel 53 comprises two side walls 48 which are inclined at about 45" and which provide two supporting points 49 and 50 for the football. The third supporting point 51 which is also below the ball centre is provided by the plate 52 welded-on obliquely on the side wall 48. As Fig. 1 shows, the channel 53 is inclined slightly towards the rear.An individual ball released by the holding arm 54 rolls into the channel 53 and very quickly rests on the three supporting points 49,50 and 51 and in this way is positioned very accurately for the striking shoe 24. For shots at a high rate of frequency, the ball placing device can be constructed with a mechanism whereby the ball is placed by jaws directly on the supporting points. In this way bouncing of the ball is prevented.

The holding arm 54 is operated at the desired rate by means of a link 56 secured to a common pivot 55, the link being actuated by way of a connecting rod 57 from an electromagnet 58. The rate is synchronised with the other movements by the control unit 32.

As Fig. 1 shows, the entire ball shooting apparatus is constructed as a carriage which can be pushed by a handle 60 and can also be turned in any desired direction. In actual use, most frequently the carriage will be placed in a position which is appropriate to the desired target and after adjusting the necessary striking force, by adjusting the rotational speed of the transmission 8,the shot angle by vertical adjustment of the shooting station 4, one or two test shots will be delivered. Usually small subsequent corrections will be required, and then the series of practice shots can be played through by manual triggering with a simple apparatus.

If a relatively long series of very hard shots is required, it may be necessary to anchor the ball shooting apparatus to the ground. The carriage is preferably constructed as a three-wheeler with the single wheel steerable.

In Fig. 9 the cam disc is shown on a larger scale.

Good results can be obtained if the cam disc 14 is given a simple form as is shown by the broken line E.

But particularly good shots are obtained if the operative parts of the cam disc 14 have an acceleration cam portion A and an actual striking cam portion C.

Depending on particular conditions, the cam disc can be adjusted relatively to the striking bar 20 so that the end of the acceleration cam portion A coincides with the striking of the striking baragainstthe ball. But a stronger shot is obtained if the transition portion B is in engagement with the roller 25 already before the striking bar strikes against the ball, so that when the striking shoe 24 hits against the ball the striking force can already be profitably used, and a more sustained impact produced.

It has been found very advantageous more particularlyfor powerful shots if the striking shoefollows the football by a distance equivalent to about the length of a shoe or even more in order to maintain the impact on the ball over this distance. The acceleration path of the striking bar 20 or the striking shoe 24 in the construction illustrated in Fig. 1 amount to more than a foot length.

In actual practice it is of great advantage to arrange all the control elements at the side of the ball shooting apparatus remote from the shooting direction, so that an operator can immediately see the result of the shot and can correctthe setting.

The foregoing description is of an embodiment of my earlier invention. The Claims of my co-pending application (for convenience referred to herein as my earlier claims) include the following: 10. Apparatus for shooting of footballs and the like comprising a ball container adapted to contain a plurality of balls, a ball shooting station, transfer means for the transfer of balls one at a time from the container to the shooting station, a striking means adapted to strike the ball, adjustment means for adjusting the strength of the force with which the striking means strikes the ball and position selection means for selecting the position of the point of impact of the striking force against the ball.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 having a central control means having controls in close proximity to each other for releasing a ball to go to the shooting station and for initiating a shot by the striking means.

12. Apparatus according to claim 10 or claim 11 wherein the striking means includes a mechanically driven striking bar.

13. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 12 wherein the shooting station is movable in the vertical direction relatively to the striking means for selecting the point of impact of the striking means against a ball.

14. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 13 wherein the shooting station has three support points which determine the position of the ball at the shooting station and which are all disposed below a horizontal plane passing through the centre point of the ball (as seen when a ball is at the shooting station).

15. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the shooting station has two walls forming a generally V-shaped channel downwardly inclined towards the striking means.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the V-shaped channel can be displaced or pivoted about a vertical axis at least to some extent.

17. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 16 wherein the striking bar is made of a material of inconsiderable mass, for example wood or the like.

18. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 16 wherein the striking bar is made of a resilient material such as wood or the like.

19. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 18 wherein the striking means includes a striking bar which has a striking shoe at its external end rounded as seen in vertical elevation towards the point of impact.

20. Apparatus according to any of claims 12 to 19 wherein the length of the striking bar is within the range of 40 cm to 100 cm.

21. Apparatus according to claim 19 or claim 20 wherein the striking shoe is disposed at its external or lower end of the striking bar and the shooting station is disposed so as to be only a short distance above the ground.

22. Apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the striking bar is mounted for pivoting movement near its upper end at a horizontal pivot.

23. Apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the striking bar is mounted at its inner end for pivoting movement about a vertical or nearly vertical axis.

24. Apparatus according to any of claims 12 to 23 wherein the striking means includes a motor-driven cam which can be brought into engagement with the striking bar to initiate a shot.

25. Apparatus according to claim 24 wherein the striking bar has a roller secured to it and the cam can be brought into engagement with the striking bar by way of the roller.

26. Apparatus according to claim 24 or claim 25 wherein the cam is a disc having a first cam portion for accelerating the striking bar and a second cam portion the operative surface of which is substantially straight and projects preferably substantially radially from the cam disc and is operative during the actual impact and during an after-impact followthrough effect on the ball.

27. Apparatus according to claim 26 wherein the operative surface of the second cam portion deviates less than about 10-15 from the radial direction.

28. Apparatus according to any of claims 24 to 27 wherein the pivoting axis of the striking bar and the rotational axis of the cam are parallel and the cam and striking bar can be displaced axially relatively to one another whereby when the cam disc is continuously rotated, displacement such that the striking bar (or its roller) is in the turning circle of the cam initiates a shot.

29. Apparatus according to any of claims 24 to 28 wherein the speed of rotation of the cam can be varied, to produce different rates of acceleration of the striking bar and hence shots of different strength.

30. Apparatus according to claim 29 wherein the said speed is steplessly variable.

31. Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 30 wherein the ball container is disposed above the shooting station, the transfer means between the ball container and the shooting station being in the form of a connecting tube.

32. Apparatus according to claim 31 wherein the ball container has a flatfloorwith an opening therein leading to the connecting tube, and a rotary feeder element above the floor to feed the balls towards the opening.

33. Apparatus according to claim 32 wherein the rotary feeder has an intermittent drive.

The present invention provides an improvement on my earlier invention as defined in my earlier Claim 10.

According to the present invention, apparatus according to my earlier Claim 10 has the ball shooting station and/or the transfer means secured to a pivotable lever, and the arrangement is such that the position of the striking means can be adjusted relatively to the ball by pivoting of the lever.

This, it has been found, leads to better control or quality of the shot.

In an advantageous feature, the lever and the shooting station are constructed to constitute a joint adjustable unit and more particularly with the preferred embodiment of the parent patent the striking bar is pivotably attached to the lever and the pivoting axis of the lever is situated to be at least approximately axially in alignment with the axis of the roller fixed to the striking bar in the condition of rest thereof or the starting position for a shot.

The great advantage of this further development resides in the fact that the travel of the striking bar until there is an impact against the ball remains constant and thus the "kick" is completely reproducible, and not the least advantage of this is that the target can be indicated by suitable mechanical means in a more easily predetermined way or present A preferred embodiment will now be described by way of example with reference to sheets 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the parts composing the unit as seen in the position of rest; Figure 2 shows a section along the line ll-ll of Figure 1, Figure 3 shows in diagrammatic mannerthe striking bar when the ball is struck, and Figure 4 corresponds to Figure 3 but the entire unit is adjusted to deliver a long-range shot.

Reference will first be made to Figures 1 and 2.

The complete unit 1 is secured on a frame part 3 of the ball shooting apparatus so as to be pivotable, in other words adjustable, by means of a pivot pin 2.

The unit comprises a pivotable lever 4, a shooting station 5, these being rigidly connected to one another, and a striking bar 6. In Figure 1 the striking bar is shown in the position of rest into which it is drawn by a spring 7 hung on the frame part 3.

A cam disc 8 which can be driven as indicated in my earlier construction, is in engagement with a roller 9 arranged on the striking bar 6.

The striking bar 6 is secured on the lever 4 by means of a pin 10 in pendulum fashion. The pin 10 is adapted to be displaced axially by a controllable magnet 11 with the striking bar 6 and in such a manner that the roller secured on the striking bar can be brought into the circle of action of the cam disc and moved out of the said circle.

Figure 2 also shows that the roller 9 in the position of rest, or the starting position of the striking bar 6 for a shot, comes to be situated axially in alignment with the pivot pin 2, which is shown symbolically by means of a centre line 20 showing the axis identity in this position.

The complete unit 1 is pivoted about the pivot pin 2 by means of a manual adjusting lever 12 which is connected buy a connecting rod 13 to the lever4.

Thus the lever 4 with the shooting station 5 and the striking bar 6 move together consequent on the manual adjustment. Hence the geometric relationships between cam disc 8 and roller 9 vary only to an insignificant extent, but those of the striking bar and the ball are modified to the extent that the point of impact of the striking bar on the ball relatively to a horizontal plane through the centre point of the ball, and also the direction in which the striking force acts on the ball, are modified. In this way, however, it is possible with great precision to predetermine the shooting angle or trajectory of the ball, which allows reliable control of the discharge of the ball when adjusting the force of the impact at the same time, for example in accordance with a preselected rotational speed for the cam disc 8.

Figure 3 shows the complete unit for a relatively low-angle shot, and Figure 4 shows the unit for a relatively steep-angle shot which can travel over an appropriately long distance with suitable striking force adjustment.

In Figure 3 the point of impact of the striking bar 6 is near the horizontal through the centre point of the ball and thus the angle a for the action of the striking force is small. In Figure 4 the point of impact is considerably below the centre, and correspondingly the angle p for the action of the striking force is a large angle.

Although, as indicated in Figure 1, the ball placing apparatus 14 has to be made, by means of suitably mobile guides 15, to follow up the shooting station 5, which is adjustable manually or for example by motor means, and also other relatively small components such as the latch 16 etc. must be adapted to the displacement of the said unit, it has been found that the cost involved is similar to that of the simple vertical adjustment proposed in my earlier construction and may possibly even cost less.

However, the new solution increases the ease of operating the apparatus, and hitting reliability and reproducibility are further improved.

The selected setting for the unit can be indicated by suitable means, for example a lever mechanism, and/or made visible in the manner of a sight for example of the type used in firearms.

Claims (7)

1. Apparatusforshooting of footballs and the like, being apparatus according to my earlier Claim 10 and having the ball shooting station and/orthe transfer means secured to a pivotable lever, and the arrangement is such that the position of the striking means can be adjusted relatively to the ball by pivoting of the lever.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the striking means is a striking bar pivotably attached to the pivotable lever, and the striking bar the pivotable lever and the shooting station together form a joint unit that is adjustable in position.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 2 wherein the striking bar has a roller secured to it and the pivoting axis of the pivotable lever is at least approximately in axial alignment with the axis of the roller when the striking bar is in its position of rest or in its starting position for a shot.

4. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the setting of the pivotable lever is indicated on a scale.

5. Apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the setting of the pivotable lever is indicated by and linked to the setting of a sight.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in combination with any of my earlier Claims 11 to 33.

7. Apparatus for shooting of footballs and the like substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of sheets 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.