JPH08141129A - Pitching machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily install a pitching machine, to make the pitching machine pitch relatively silently with its pitching force not decreased, and to make its pitching speed readily adjustable by constructing a quick rotary drive means from a circular motor which consists of both a rotor attached to a rotating shaft and a stator. CONSTITUTION: A pitching arm 25 which is turned at a constant speed of e.g. 10rpm by an epicyclic drive 30 is supplied with a ball Z at a ball receiving position A, at a ball receiver 27 located at the end of the pitching arm. A rotor 47 connected to the pitching arm 25 via a rotating shaft 20 is driven by a drive means 40 at a driving position B to make an approach run of about 260rpm, and is forced into the stator 48 of a quick rotary drive means 45 up to a position C. When the rotor is quickly driven and rotated by the stator 48 that starts to work at the driving position B, the pin and protrusion of the epicyclic drive 30 are separated from each other at the driving position B and then the pitching arm 25 is swung at a very high speed. Then the ball Z is exerted with a centrifugal force at a pitching position D and pitched.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pitching machine used for hitting practice of baseball and softball, practice of various ball games such as tennis and soccer, and more particularly to improvement of a driving source of the pitching machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional pitching machine capable of throwing a high-speed ball is designed so that a pitching arm stretched by a strong spring is rotationally driven by a torque motor of a circumferential drive device via a release pin. After the ball is received by the ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm, the spring is further tensioned with the rotation of the pitching arm, and then the release pin is released at the pitching position so that the accumulated strong spring force is used to pitch the ball. There is.

[0003]

In the conventional pitching machine as described above, one end of the spring is attached to the machine frame and the other end is attached to the pitching arm.
If you pull a strong spring strongly when increasing the ball speed, a strong spring force will also act on the machine frame, a strong machine frame and a mounting foundation are required, and the sound of the spring at the time of pitching also becomes loud, The spring also has problems in terms of installation, environment, and performance, such as fatigue due to repeated use and the spring force changing.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above, the machine frame does not have to be particularly robust, the installation is simple, the pitch is relatively quiet during pitching, and the pitching force is low. The purpose is to provide a pitching machine that can easily adjust the pitching speed.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a pitching machine according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a rotary shaft rotatably supported by a machine frame through a bearing, and the rotary shaft. And a brake attached to the rotary shaft, and 180 degrees to reach the pitching position of the rotary shaft. Rapid rotation driving means for rapidly rotating over the following partial center angles, ball supplying means for supplying a ball to a ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm before rapid rotation driving, the brake, the rapid rotation driving means, and A control means for controlling the operation of the ball supply means, wherein the rapid rotation drive means is a rotor attached to the rotation shaft,
It is characterized in that it is composed of an arc moter composed of a stator having a coil for generating a rapidly moving magnetic field.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the rotary shaft includes:
Further, a driven body which is rotationally driven by a high speed rotating cam for front driving is attached. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the pitching arm and the rotor are attached so that the attachment angle can be adjusted with respect to the rotation shaft. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the stator is attached to the machine frame via an outer plate so that the attachment angle can be adjusted. According to a fifth aspect, the machine frame is tilt-adjusted in the pitching direction by tilt-adjusting means.

[0007]

In the pitching machine according to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the rotary shaft rotatably supported by the machine frame through the bearing is attached to the rotary shaft and engages only in the pitch rotation direction. A pitching arm that is slowly rotated at a constant speed by the orbiting drive device, a brake attached to the rotary shaft, and the rotary shaft reaching the pitching position.
Rapid rotation driving means for rapidly rotating over a partial center angle equal to or less than 4 degrees, ball supply means for supplying a ball to the ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm before the rapid rotation driving, the brake, the rapid rotation driving means. And a control means for controlling the operation of the ball supply means, and the pitching arm, which is rotationally fed by the circumferential drive device under the control of the control means, has a ball at the tip of the pitching arm at the ball receiving position. After the ball is supplied to the receiver, when it is rapidly rotated by the rapid rotation drive means via the rotary shaft, it is separated from the circumferential drive device and the arm is swung at a super high speed equal to or higher than the conventional spring force. , The ball is thrown by the centrifugal force. After pitching, the pitching arm is decelerated via the rotary shaft by the brake to receive the next ball supply under the control of the control means. The pitching arm that has been decelerated and stopped after being pitched is re-engaged with the circumferential drive device that slowly follows at a constant speed and sent to the ball receiving position, and the next pitching operation as described above is performed.

Since the rapid rotation drive means is composed of an arc motor composed of a rotor mounted on a rotary shaft and a stator having a coil for generating a rapidly moving magnetic field, it is powerful by voltage control of the coil. It is possible to swing the throwing arm at an extremely high speed through the rotor and the rotating shaft by the arc-shaped stator that moves the magnetic field faster and exhibits the force and speed equal to or higher than the conventional spring. Therefore, the machine frame does not have to be particularly robust, it can be installed easily, and it is relatively quiet during pitching.
It has excellent throwing power and durability, and the throwing speed can be easily adjusted.

In the pitching machine according to the second aspect of the present invention, a driven body which is driven to rotate by a high-speed rotating cam for front drive is further attached to the rotary shaft, and the rotor attached to the rotary shaft is provided with a run-up. It can be fed to the stator to assist the rise of the speed of the rapid rotation drive means to further increase the rotation speed of the pitching arm. In the pitching machine according to the third aspect of the invention, the pitching arm and the rotor are mounted so that the mounting angle can be adjusted with respect to the rotation axis, so that the release point of the ball can be easily set. In the pitching machine according to the fourth aspect, the stator is attached to the machine frame via the outer plate so that the attachment angle can be adjusted, and the release point of the ball can be easily set. In the pitching machine according to the fifth aspect, the machine frame is tilt-adjusted in the pitching direction by the tilt adjusting means, so that the height of the ball can be easily adjusted.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a pitching machine of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of embodiments. FIG. 1 is a front view of a pitching machine according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the pitching machine, FIG. 3 is a side view of a high speed rotating cam for front drive and a driven body, and FIG. 4 is a stator and a rotor of an arc motor. FIG. 5 is a side view, FIG. 5 is a side view of the brake disc and the shoe, and FIG. 6 is a rotational velocity diagram of one round of the pitching arm.

1 to 6, an over-throw type throwing machine 1 includes a rotary shaft 20 rotatably and horizontally supported on bearings 11, 11 on a machine frame 10 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and one end thereof. Of the pitching arm 25, which is attached to the rotary shaft 20 and which is rotationally fed at a constant speed by the orbiting drive device 30 which engages only in the rotational direction, the brake 35 attached to the intermediate portion of the rotary shaft 20, and the rotary shaft 20. Front drive means 40 provided at an intermediate portion, and a rapid rotation drive means 45 attached to the other end so as to rapidly rotate the rotary shaft 20 that has been pre-driven by the front drive means 40, Ball supply means 50 for supplying the ball Z to the ball receiver 27 at the tip of the pitching arm before the rapid rotation drive, the brake 35, the front drive means 40, and the rapid rotation. Motion means 45 and the ball supply unit 50
And control means for controlling the operation of.

The orbital drive unit 30 operates, for example, 10 revolutions per minute, that is, 10 r.s. so that one revolution is completed by one revolution when the pitching machine 1 is operated. p. The motor 31 always rotates at a constant speed for m (throwing every 6 seconds), and the motor 31 of about 90 W and the sprocket wheel 3 with a motor output shaft are used.
2A, a sprocket wheel 32B supported by the rotary shaft 20, a chain 32C hung over both sprocket wheels 32A and 32B, and a sprocket wheel 32A protruding so as to push and rotate the throwing arm 25 only in the throwing rotation direction. Pin 33 and the projection 3 provided on the base of the arm 25 so as to be pushed and engaged with the pin 33.
And 4. The pins 33 and the protrusions 34 are provided by the front drive means 40 for pre-running drive to the rapid rotation drive means 45 for rapid rotation drive and after 10 r.
p. They are separated until deceleration to m or less, and the other parts are pushed and engaged.

As shown in FIG. 5, the brake 35 includes an eccentric disc 36 attached to the rotary shaft 20, a shoe 37 pivotally supported at one end of the machine frame 10, and a brake rotated under the control of a control means. It is composed of a cam 38 and is capable of producing a strong braking effect in a short time. As shown in FIG. 3, the front drive means 40 is, for example, 120 r. p. a disk 41 of a high-speed rotating cam that is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) at m, a sleeve 42 of a driven body attached to the rotary shaft 20, and the disk 41 and the sleeve 42 so as to be engaged in the front drive position. Of the rotating shaft 2 and the pins 43A and 43B protruding from each other.
Rotor 47 of the rapid rotation drive means 45 attached to 0
260 times the diameter ratio of about 3 times. p. With a run of m, it is fed to the stator 48 over about 20 degrees so that the rapid rotation drive means 45 can be assisted to further increase the rotation speed of the pitching arm 25.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rapid rotation drive means 45 is an arc motor comprising a rotor 47 mounted on the rotary shaft 20 via an arm 46 and a stator 48 having a coil for generating a rapidly moving magnetic field. (A linear motor is curved in an arc shape over a central angle of 120 degrees, for example), and a rotor 47 and an arm 46 are provided by an arc-shaped stator 48 that moves a strong magnetic field faster by controlling the voltage of the coil. To rotate the rotary shaft 20 and the pitching arm 25 over a central angle of 120 degrees (20 degrees of which are assisted by the run-up) via and to perform pitching arm swing at an extremely high speed. I have to. 180
0r. p. In an arc motor with a center angle of 120 degrees, which is equivalent to a 4-pole induction motor of m. p. Ultra high speed of m can be obtained. The stator 48 is attached to the machine frame 10 via an outer plate 49 so that the attachment angle can be adjusted, and the position of the stator 48 can be remotely changed to adjust the height of the ball for each pitch. It The ball supply means 50 supplies a plurality of balls in the tilt holder to the ball receiver 27 at the tip of the throwing arm which has reached the ball receiving position one by one by opening and closing a known shutter.

The operation of the pitching machine 1 of this embodiment will be described below.
This will be explained together with the explanation of the control means. As shown in FIG. 6, 10 r. p. The pitching arm 25, which is constantly rotated at a constant speed at m, receives the supply of the ball Z to the ball receiver 27 at the tip of the pitching arm at the ball receiving position A, and then the rotation arm 20 is rotated by the rotation axis 20
The rotor 47 connected via the front drive means 40 in the front drive position B is about 260 r. p. When the stator 48 of the rapid rotation drive means 45 is fed to the position C with a run of m, and is rapidly rotated by the stator 48 that has started to operate at the front drive position B, the circumferential drive device 30 is driven at the front drive position B. After the pin 33 and the protrusion 34 are separated, the pitching arm 25 is swung at an extremely high speed. Then, the ball Z receives a centrifugal force at the pitching position D and is pitched. At the position E after pitching, the pitching arm 25 is decelerated via the rotary shaft 20 by the brake 35 in order to receive the next supply of the ball Z. The pitching arm 25, which has been decelerated and stopped after the pitching, is sent to the ball receiving position A with the pin 33 and the projection 34 of the orbiting rotation driving device 30 re-engaging at the position F, which chases slowly at a constant speed.

In the pitching machine 1, the pitching arm 25
The rotor 47 and the rotor 47 are attached to the rotary shaft 20 so that the mounting angle can be adjusted. The ball release point (the pitching position D) is changed according to the ball speed to set a certain range of the ball speed and a certain range of the ball. The height of the can be set to the initial setting. The height of the ball for each pitch can be adjusted by adjusting the inclination angle of the machine frame 10 on the machine side or remotely by a known screw jack or the like. Needless to say, the pitching machine 1 can be applied to side throws and underhand throws, and can be applied not only to baseball and softball but also to various ball games such as tennis and soccer. As the brake 35, various brakes such as an electromagnetic type, a hydraulic type and a pneumatic type can be adopted in addition to the cam type.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the pitching machine of the first aspect of the present invention, (1) it is attached to a rotating shaft rotatably supported by a machine frame through a bearing and A pitching arm that slowly feeds at a constant speed by a circumferential drive device that engages only in the pitching rotation direction, a brake attached to the rotation axis, and a partial center angle of 180 degrees or less that reaches the pitching position. To control the operation of the brake, the rapid rotation drive means and the ball supply means, the rapid rotation drive means for rapidly rotating the ball, the ball supply means for supplying the ball to the ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm before the rapid rotation drive. The pitching arm, which receives the supply of the ball to the ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm under the control of the control means, is controlled by the rapid rotation driving means. When rapid rotary drive via a rotary shaft Te ball receives a centrifugal force, a suitable pitching is performed especially over the hand throw.

(2) Since the rapid rotation drive means is composed of an arc motor composed of a rotor attached to the rotary shaft and a stator having a coil for generating a rapidly moving magnetic field, voltage control of the coil is performed. With the arc-shaped stator that moves a strong magnetic field faster and exerts a force and speed equal to or higher than that of a conventional spring, the throwing arm can be swung at an extremely high speed via the rotor and the rotating shaft. Therefore, the machine frame does not have to be particularly robust, and the installation is simple, so the manufacturing cost can be kept low, and the pitch is relatively quiet,
There is no loss of throwing power and the throwing speed can be adjusted easily.

According to another aspect of the pitching machine of the present invention, the rotary shaft is further provided with a driven member which is driven to rotate by a high-speed rotary cam for front drive, and the rotor attached to the rotary shaft is provided with a runner. It is possible to increase the rotational speed of the throwing arm by feeding the electric power to the stator and assisting the rising of the speed of the rapid rotation drive means. According to the pitching machine of the third aspect, the pitching arm and the rotor are mounted so that the mounting angle can be adjusted with respect to the rotating shaft, and the release point of the ball can be easily set. According to the pitching machine of the fourth aspect, the stator is attached to the machine frame via the outer plate so that the attachment angle can be adjusted, and the release point of the ball can be easily set. According to the pitching machine of the fifth aspect, the machine frame is tilt-adjusted in the pitching direction by the tilt adjusting means, and the height of the ball can be easily adjusted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pitching machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the pitching machine.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a high speed rotating cam for front drive and a driven body.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a stator and a rotor of an arc motor.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the brake disc and the shoe.

FIG. 6 is a rotational velocity diagram for one round of the pitching arm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pitching machine 10 Machine frame 11 Bearing 20 Rotating shaft 25 Pitching arm 27 Ball receiving 30 Circular drive device 35 Brake 40 Front drive means 41 High speed rotation cam (disk) 42 Follower (sleeve) 45 Rapid rotation drive means 47 Rotor 48 Stator 49 outer plate 50 ball supply means Z ball

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] February 15, 1995

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG.

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

[Figure 5]

[Figure 4]

[Figure 6]

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rotary shaft rotatably supported by a machine frame via bearings, and a rotary drive device mounted on the rotary shaft and engaged only in a pitching rotation direction, so as to slowly and rotationally feed at a constant speed. A throwing arm to be applied, a brake attached to the rotating shaft, a rapid rotating drive means for rapidly rotating the rotating shaft over a partial center angle of 180 degrees or less to reach the throwing position, and before the rapid rotating drive, In a pitching machine comprising a ball supply means for supplying a ball to a ball receiver at the tip of the pitching arm, and a control means for controlling the operation of the brake, the rapid rotation drive means and the ball supply means, the rapid rotation drive means Is
A pitching machine comprising an arc moter comprising a rotor attached to the rotary shaft and a stator having a coil for generating a rapidly moving magnetic field. 2. The pitching machine according to claim 1, wherein a driven body which is rotationally driven by a high speed rotary cam for front drive is further attached to the rotary shaft. 3. The pitching machine according to claim 1, wherein the pitching arm and the rotor are mounted so that the mounting angle can be adjusted with respect to the rotation shaft. 4. The pitching machine according to claim 1, wherein the stator is attached to the machine frame via an outer plate so that the attachment angle can be adjusted. 5. The pitching machine according to claim 1, wherein the machine frame is tilt-adjusted in a pitching direction by tilt-adjusting means.