JP3005855B2 - Throwing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pitching apparatus for use in baseball or softball games, toss batting practice, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hitherto known pitching apparatus includes:
A launching means for launching the ball in a fixed direction outside from a launch window of the case body, and a linear shooter for stocking the ball and sequentially feeding the ball into the case body having the launching means, It is mainly used for batting centers and toss practice in baseball. The case body of these pitching devices is provided with a sound or optical notice means and switches for displaying in advance the timing of firing the ball by the firing means.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional pitching apparatus, a sound or an optical warning means for displaying the timing of firing the ball in advance is easily visually recognized by the batter. When the batter hits the ball shot from the ball throwing device from the place provided on the front surface of the ball throwing device as much as possible, the hit ball often hits the ball throwing device. As a result, sound such as an electronic buzzer provided on the front side of the pitching apparatus or optical warning means such as an LED light-emitting element and switches are often destroyed by the impact, and the practice must be interrupted each time. In addition, it is difficult to use it for actual baseball and softball games.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned various problems in the prior art, eliminates damage and destruction of display means and the like when hit with a hit ball, and uses it in practice baseball. Specifically, a case body having a launch window on the front side, and a launch unit for launching a ball forward from the launch window, and A shooter for sequentially supplying balls into the case body, and a warning means, a buzzer, or switches for displaying in advance the timing of firing the ball by the firing means is attached to the front side of the case body. In addition, these surfaces are provided in recesses that are recessed in the case body so that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball to be fired does not reach. On the sphere apparatus.

Further, in the present invention, the depth of the recess provided with the notice means and the switches and the like is set such that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball in a sufficiently bent state does not reach in consideration of the bending of the ball. The curvature that connects the shortest diameter of the opening of the recess and the surface of the warning means, buzzer, switches, etc., with the depth being recessed in the case body when the diameter is smaller than the radius of the ball. > A pitching apparatus characterized in that the ball is set to have a spherical curvature.

[0006] When the switch is turned on to operate the pitching device and a large number of balls are placed on the shooter,
The balls sequentially roll on the shooter, enter the case body one by one, and wait for firing. The pitcher presses the start switch on the front of the case main body to activate the firing means, or the pitcher or the coacher has a separate transmitting device and fires a pitching instruction signal toward the case main body when necessary, so that the inside of the case main body is Immediately after the receiving device receives this, the launching means is activated, and immediately or immediately before the pitch, one or more buzzer sounds or an optical notice means such as lighting of one or a plurality of pilot lamps is directed to the outside. The displayed ball is displayed, and immediately after a lapse of a predetermined time from the final notice, the waiting ball is fired forward and outward from the front firing window of the pitching apparatus.

[0007] In this case, even if the batter hits the shot ball and the hit ball collides with a mounting portion of a warning means or a switch on the front surface of the pitching device, these hit the ball in a recess formed in the case body. The spherical surface of the ball is received by the concave opening because the radius of curvature between the shortest diameter of the concave opening and the surface of the notice means, switches, etc. is set to be greater than the spherical curvature of the ball. Since the warning means and the switches are not directly touched, the warning means and the switches are not damaged by the impact of the ball.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The specific contents of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiment shown in the drawings. , A receiving device mounted in the case body 1, a notification means 17, and a shooter 19 for sequentially supplying the balls B into the case body 1. The case main body 1 is made of a synthetic resin such as metal or plastic or other relatively hard material, and has the emission window 2 opened on the front side.
A ball guide plate 7 slightly curved toward the launch window 2 is provided inside, and a ball supply port 3 for supplying a ball B onto the ball guide plate 7 is provided on the left side of the case body 1. Is formed. Reference numeral 4 denotes a lower cover surrounding the ball supply port 3.

Further, a circular projection 13 is formed at an upper portion in the case body 1 so as to protrude horizontally from one wall surface to the other wall surface, and a handle portion 5 is provided at an upper end portion of the case body 1. Further, a screw-type height adjusting device 18 is attached to the bottom of the case body 1 near the front.
The firing means 6 is formed by folding a metal spring round bar in a U-shape with a slight interval (about 1.5 to 2.8 cm) on the side approaching the ball guide plate 7 to form two parallel pieces. The eccentric cam 9 is used to operate the pitch spring 8 and a reduction gear 10 coaxial with the eccentric cam 9.

Further, the pitching spring 8 has a coil spring portion 11 wound in a coil shape on each of the above-mentioned two parallel metal spring round bars in the base direction thereof, and has a length longer than the coil spring portion 11. A support shaft of the roller 12 is mounted at a position near the center in the direction to support the roller 12, and the roller 12 is rotatably held between two left and right metal spring round bars.

The pitch spring 8 has a base end fixed to an upper portion of the case body 1 and a coil spring 11 held by a projection 13 projecting inward from the case body. When receiving a biasing force from the front side toward the back from the front side, the front end is substantially along the ball guide plate 7 against the elastic force with the projection 13 as a fulcrum, and the back (back of the case body 1). , And is constantly urged so that its tip is located in the direction of the emission window 2.

The eccentric cam 9 has a small diameter portion a when a specific position (0 degree) of the rotation direction angle is defined as a small diameter portion a around a rotation shaft having both ends supported on the side wall surface of the case body 1. The diameter gradually increases gradually from the part a toward the circumferential direction, and the rotation direction angle 3
The position at 60 degrees is the largest diameter portion b having the largest diameter, and the portions at the rotation angles of 0 degree and 360 degrees are connected by a falling wall c.

The eccentric cam 9 is mounted at a position where it can come into contact with the roller 12 of the pitching spring 8 as shown in FIG. 2, and a reduction gear 10 coaxially and integrally mounted therewith. The drive gear G meshing with the reduction gear 10 allows the reduction gear 10 and the eccentric cam 9 to rotate at a constant speed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The receiving device 14 is mounted in the case body 1 and has a built-in receiver and an antenna 15.
An antenna 15 receives a transmission signal from an external transmission device (not shown), and the receiver of the reception device 14 senses the signal, and activates the above-mentioned emission means 6 by the reception signal of the receiver.

The shooter 19 integrally has an upper cover 20 having a bottom surface opened at the base end thereof, and this upper cover 20 is provided at the upper end opening of the lower cover 4 for covering the ball supply port 3 formed on one side surface of the case body 1. (Not shown), and is gradually curved from the lower cover 4 in a direction surrounding the rear portion of the case body 1 while gradually increasing the height from the grounding surface, and is formed along the opposite side surface of the case body 1. The front end is located near the front side opposite to the case body 1 while being made to constitute a shooter 19 having a substantially U-shape as a whole.

In the case of the present embodiment, the notice means 17 comprises three kinds of optical LED lamps of a red pilot lamp L1, a yellow pilot lamp L2 and a blue pilot lamp L3, and a sound by a buzzer BZ attached to the case body 1. The pilot lamps L1 to L3 are sequentially turned on in accordance with the movement of the eccentric cam 9 in the above-mentioned firing means 6, and the buzzer BZ has a built-in known time switch and the pilot lamp described above. L1, L2, L3
Each time is turned on, a sound is generated for a fixed period (about one second).

Further, all of these notice means 17 are located on the front side of the case body 1 and their respective surfaces are located within the case body 1 to such an extent that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball B to be shot cannot reach. The recess 16 is provided in the recess 16. Specifically, each of the recesses 16 (H1 to H4) is smaller in diameter than the radius of the ball B, and the depth recessed in the case body determines the shortest diameter of the recess opening and the surface of the notice means 17. It is necessary to set the curvature to be connected so that the spherical curvature of the ball B is greater than the curvature of the ball B.

In this case, the case where the notice means 17 is provided on the front side of the case body 1 has been described.
In addition to this, it is preferable that the launching means for the launching means be provided so as to be recessed in the recess. In consideration of the bending of the ball B, it is more preferable that the depth of each of the concave portions 16 is further depressed in the case main body so that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball B in a sufficiently bent state cannot reach. Further, in this case, the notifying means 17 is configured to emit sound or emit light one or more times before the ball B is fired, and to emit a plurality of light-emitting elements having different colors at regular intervals before the ball B is fired. They are lit sequentially.

In the above configuration, when the ball B is placed on the shooter 19, the ball B
To roll the lower cover 4 from inside the upper cover 20 at the base end.
And falls on the ball guide plate 7 in the case main body 1 from the ball supply port 3 one by one, and stands by while being supported by the tip of the pitching spring 8. On the other hand, when either the pitcher or the coacher behind the pitching device has a transmitting device (not shown) and emits a firing signal to the case body 1 by remote control when necessary, the receiving device 14 in the case body 1 The motor M is driven by a power source of a battery (not shown) built in the case body 1, and the pitching spring 8 is repelled by the driving gear G via the reduction gear 10 and the eccentric cam 9. To the back of the case body 1 with the ball B at the tip
Is deformed as indicated by a chain line in FIG.

After that, as the roller 12 falls to the small diameter portion a along the falling wall c of the eccentric cam 10, the original elastic force of the pitching spring 8 restores vigorously toward the firing window 2 by the original elastic force. The ball B located at the chain line position in FIG. 2 is sent out along the ball guide plate 7, and is fired forward from the firing window 2. At predetermined time intervals immediately before the above-mentioned pitching of the ball B, the optical or audio display means 17 of the notifying means 17 is activated, and the pitching of the ball B is predicted by each display means 17, and the timing of hitting is adjusted accordingly. Measure. Even when the batter hits the thrown ball B and the hit ball hits a mounting portion of the display means 17 provided on the front of the ball throwing device, each display means 17 has such an extent that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball B cannot reach. Since it is provided in the recess 16 recessed in the case body 1, it does not receive the impact of the hit ball directly.

[0020]

As described above, the present invention has a case body having a launch window on the front side and internally provided with launch means for launching a ball forward from the launch window, and a ball inside the case body. On the front side of the case body, a notifying means and switches for displaying in advance the timing of firing the ball by the firing means are attached, and these surfaces are fired. Even if the hit ball hits the mounting portion of the display means provided on the front of the ball throwing device, each indication is displayed because it is provided in the concave portion recessed in the case body to the extent that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball does not reach. The means does not receive the impact of the hit ball directly and can improve the durability, so that there is almost no problem such as interruption of the game due to damage, so the field Use as and softball combat for becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire pitching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the inside of a case main body in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 2 Launch window 3 Ball supply port 4 Lower cover 5 Handle 6 Launching means 7 Ball guide plate 8 Throw spring 9 Eccentric cam a Small diameter b Large diameter c Drop wall 10 Reduction gear 11 Coil spring section 12 Roller 13 Projection Part 14 Receiving device 15 Antenna 16 Concave portion 17 Notice means 18 Height adjusting device 19 Shooter 20 Upper cover M Motor G Drive gear B Ball

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-308416 (JP, A) JP-A-60-48764 (JP, A) JP-A-9-38266 (JP, A) JP-A-6-230623 (JP) , A) Japanese Utility Model Showa 62-149377 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 64-10982 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63B 69/40

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A case body having a launch window on the front side and internally provided with a launching means for launching a ball forward from the launch window, and a shooter for sequentially supplying balls into the case body. On the front side of the case body, a notifying means and switches for displaying the timing of firing the ball by the firing means in advance are attached, and these surfaces are arranged such that the outer protruding spherical surface of the ball to be fired reaches. A ball throwing device characterized in that it is provided in a recess formed in the case main body to an extent less than that. 2. The depth of the recess provided with the notifying means and the switches is determined by taking into consideration the bending of the ball, so that the outside protruding spherical surface of the ball in a sufficiently bent state does not reach the inside of the case body. The pitching device according to claim 1, wherein the pitching device is provided. 3. The recess provided with the notifying means and the switches is smaller in diameter than the radius of the ball, and the depth recessed in the case body is the shortest diameter of the opening of the recess and the notifying means and the switches. 2. The pitching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the curvature is set so as to satisfy a relation of curvature of the surface of the ball> spherical curvature of the ball. 4. The warning means according to claim 1, wherein said notifying means for displaying in advance the timing at which the ball is fired by the firing means is sound or optical, and sounds or emits light once or a plurality of times before the ball is fired. Throwing equipment. 5. A warning means for displaying in advance the timing at which the ball is fired by the firing means is optical, and a plurality of light emitting elements having different colors are sequentially turned on at regular intervals before the ball is fired. The pitching apparatus according to claim 1.