JPS61290972A - Ball feed apparatus of hitting exerciser - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a ball feeding device for a batting practice machine for baseball, tennis, etc.

(Background Art) Conventionally, a batting practice machine has been proposed which throws a ball by rotating a pitching arm using a biasing force of a spring or the like. In this type of batting practice machine, for example, a ball feeding device shown in FIG. 11 is used.

That is, the balls of the stocker 304 are sequentially supplied to the ball feed rail 303 by rotating the ball setter 300 consisting of 300 figure 7-shaped leg pieces and 300B. z) It guides the K ball Mm. In addition, 302 is a ball feeding rail, 302' is a ball feeding guide, 3
05 sends a fixed stopper. In this device, from the state shown in FIG. 11, the legs 300 and 300B are rotated in the direction of the arrows, and the next ball Mb is sandwiched between the legs 300 and 3008, and sent sequentially.

However, in this conventional example, the leg pieces 300A, 3
A ball (for example, a softball) with a predetermined length of 00B and a gap between the leg pieces 300A and 300B.
Since it is predetermined assuming that, as shown in FIG. ' is prevented from moving downward by the leg piece 300B, and this ball Mb' and the leg piece 300
A gap Δd is created between the players, and the subsequent standby ball excitation' is supported by the ball Mb' and the upper end of the ball feed rail 302 or the fixed stopper 305.

In this state, as shown in FIG.
When the leg 300B begins to rotate in the direction of the arrow λ', as the ball Mb' rolls downward, the subsequent ball excitation increases between the fixed stopper 305 and the tip of the leg 300 (distance h
) and rolls down into the gap between the ball Mb' and the 300 leg pieces. That is, this is a case where the aforementioned distance is also longer than the diameter d of the ball Mb. Therefore, the ball setter 300 can set two balls Mb' and Mb at once.
”, and these balls Mb'
, Mb'' may become clogged within the opening 306.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been proposed in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide a system for hooking balls one by one even for balls of different sizes such as softballs, softballs, and hardballs. To provide a ball feeding device for a batting practice machine which can feed balls smoothly without any problems.

(Disclosure of the Invention) The present invention will be explained below in accordance with the factors. First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a ball feeding case, and an opening 1a is provided on the top surface of the ball feeding case 1. A removable attachment 24 is attached to the opening 1a as necessary. Further, on the side of the ball feeding case 1, a circular ball feeding port 6a of a right main body cover 6B, which will be described later, is arranged. Inside the goal feeding case 1, a ball feeding rail 1c is formed below the opening 1a, and ball feeding guides 1d are arranged on both sides of the ball feeding rail 1c. Note that Is indicates a ball feed rail consisting of a plurality of inclined lips, and 1f indicates a fixed stopper.

9. In FIG. 1, 3 is a ball setter, and its structure will be explained in detail based on FIG. 2. That is, this ball setter 3 has a first leg piece 3 fixed to the tip of a rotating shaft 3.
The second leg piece 3B is fixed to the rotating shaft 3b which can be opened continuously by a ratchet structure at the tip of the rotating shaft 3a, and a part 3B' of the second leg piece 3B is It is screwed through a connecting holder 3c with a thread formed on its inner surface, and can move forward and backward. Tsumashi, ball setter 3,
By changing the engagement of the 2-chatch lips of the rotation shafts 3a and 3b, the opening angle of the almost V-shaped leg pieces 3m and 3B can be changed.
Also, by moving part 3B' of leg piece 3B forward and backward, leg piece 3B
The overall length can be made variable. The rotation shafts 3a and 3b are fixed to a ball set arm 4 inserted therein by split pins 5.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pole set arm 4 is rotatably supported by a boss portion 6b on the inner surface of the right body cover 6B, and is always urged in the F direction by a set arm spring 7. There is. Also, pole set arm 4
The tip of the screw is engaged with the boss portion 1gK of the feed case l.

Next, the overall structure of a batting practice machine to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. In these figures, the main body case 6 is divided at the center into six left main body covers and a right main body cover 68, and is provided with a front cover 6C. The main body case 6 has a ball throwing opening 8 on the front and a goal feeding opening 6a on the side. A pair of parallel guide rails 9 are provided inside the main body case 6 to receive the ball M sent from the ball feeding port 6a, and a ball pitching arm 10. ! : The pole set arm 4 and their drive mechanism are housed together with a U-shaped frame (not shown). A first ball stocker 11 made of pipe material is connected to the ball feed case 1, and a second ball stocker 12 is connected to the first pole stocker 11 as shown in FIG. . Moreover, 13 indicates a leg.

Next, the driving means for the pitching arm IO will be explained.

This pitching arm 10 is made of a wire spring and is deflected by the rotation of the cam 140, and when it comes off from the cam 14, the tip rotates by the elastic force of the deflection and throws out the ball M. Specifically, the pitching arm 10 consists of two parallel leg pieces, each of which has a torsion coil spring portion 15 integrally extending from the base end thereof to serve as a spring for pitching. Further, the pitching arm 10 has a ball holding portion tOa at the tip. As shown in FIG.
The cam follower shaft 17, on which the cam follower shaft 17 is rotatably mounted, is fixed. Note that the cam follower 16 is a member against which the pitching arm IO is pressed. The pitching arm 10 is supported by a torsion coil spring portion 15 rotatably fitted onto a pipe-shaped arm support shaft 18.
An engaging portion provided at the tip of the frame engages with the frame. The arm support shaft 18 is attached to the frame. The cam follower 16 is in rolling contact with the cam 14.

The diameter of the cam 14 gradually increases in the rotational direction, and becomes discontinuously small along the way. The cam 14 is driven by a guard motor 19 together with the ball set arm 4. Furthermore, in addition to the cam shaft to which the cam 14 is attached, the cam 14
A large gear 21 having a protrusion 21m for operating the pole set arm 4 is fitted therein in a freely rotating manner. Further, the upper end of the pole set arm 4 is connected to the protrusion 21 of the large gear 21.
It is engaged with m.

A power switch 22 is disposed at the upper end of the left and right body covers 6B so as to be sandwiched therebetween.

On the other hand, the guide rail 9 is formed in a substantially circular arc shape along the rotation locus of the ball holding portion 10m of the pitching arm 1o, and gradually moves toward the front of the ball holding portion 10m in the pitching direction.
The shape is such that it deviates outward from the rotation locus of m.

A single fixed leg is integrally formed in the lower part of the main body case 6, and adjustment rubber feet 26 are fixed via an angle adjustment fitting 24 and a pair of angle adjustment screws 25 screwed into the nut portion thereof. The angle adjustment fitting 24 is fixed to the main body case 6. That is, by turning the angle adjustment screw 25, the set angle of the main body r-seat 6 relative to the ground can be varied, and the throwing angle of the ball can be changed arbitrarily.

This operation will be explained below.

When the power switch 22 is turned on, the guard motor 19
rotates, and the cam 14 rotates via the large gear 21. As a result, the pitching arm 10 is moved, and the ball setter 3 is also moved by the projection 21m of the large gear 21 via the υ ball set arm 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the waiting ball M1 is sent to the ball setter 3.
The three legs of the player sink down to the ball feed rail IC 11, and the other leg pieces 3Bb and 3B' push the ball ll/i1, so the ball M moves to the ball feed rail I as shown in FIG.
Move up s. At this time, the ball M moves while being supported at three points by the ball feed rail 1c and the ball feed guide 1d. The balls moved onto the ball feed rail l stand smoothly move through the ball feed inlet 6a because the town ball feed rail le itself is composed of a lip that is perpendicular and inclined to the ball feed inlet 61. The ball passes through the ball and moves onto the ball holding portion tOa at the tip of the pitching arm IO.

Here, the distance between the bent part at the tip of part 3B' of leg piece 3B of ball setter 3 and fixed stopper if is:
Let D be the diameter of the ball M, (M2), so that D>h, and send only the one ball M that was between the leg pieces 3A and 38, so that two balls do not enter at the same time. . Therefore, the subsequent waiting ball M2 is prevented from flowing in between the fixed stopper 1f and the part 3B' of the leg piece 3B as shown in FIG. When the ball returns to the position shown in FIG. 7, it is sent to the position shown in FIG.

Note that when the ball setter 3 rotates as shown in FIG. 8 and the standby beer M2 is stopped by the fixed stopper 1f, the ball M2 hits the supply side leg piece 3 of the pole setter 3.
If part B is placed on the bent part 3B', it will not fall onto the ball feed rail 1 if the length t of the bent part is made sufficient. Moreover, by extending this bent portion in the circumferential direction along the center of rotation of the ball setter 30, when the pole setter 3 returns and rotates (in the direction of arrow A'), the leg piece 3B
Also, the rotation of the part 3B' is not blocked by the standby ball M2, and the return operation is performed smoothly.

Next, balls M, which are also smaller in diameter than the previous balls M, , M2, etc.
, '1M2'..., adjust the connection holder 30 of the pole setter 3 and attach the part 3B of the leg piece 3B.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, the distance h' from the inner edge of the opening 2a of the attachment 2 to the tip of the part 3B' of the leg 3B is equal to Also, as shown in Figure 9, both leg pieces 3 should be short.
Rotate the rotation axis 3& so that the angle change β of A, 3B is smaller than the case (angle α) in Fig. 7.

Set by adjusting the ratchet part 3b. By doing this, as shown in FIG. 10, only one small-diameter ball M2' is sent to both leg pieces 3A and 3B with a relatively narrow opening angle, and the subsequent ball M3' has D'>h'. Due to the relationship, the ball will not be sent in the direction of ball movement. Therefore,
The balls M,' to M4' are sequentially sent one by one by the pole setter 3. Here, the attachment 2 has the effect of preventing the ball from shifting by making its opening 2 smaller than the original opening 1m of the passage.

To explain the pitching operation, when the cam follower 16 comes off the maximum radius part of the cam 14, the energy stored in the threaded spring part 15 of the pitching arm 10 is used to release the pitching arm 1.
0 is kicked out while holding the ball for 3 points. The pitching arm 10 that has moved while holding the ball is moved by the damper 2.
7 (see FIG. 4), the motion suddenly stops and only the beer is thrown out with an initial velocity accelerated by the energy of the torsion coil spring section 15.

(9. Effect of Light) As described above, according to the present invention, a fixed stopper is provided opposite to the guide for supplying the ball, and a pair of ball supporting devices are provided in front and behind each other in the ball movement direction with respect to the fixed stopper. are provided to be rotatable in the movement direction, the length of one of the legs on the upper side in the ball movement direction is variable, and the opening angle between the pair of legs is variable. Since it is formed to be variable, even if there are a plurality of 411 types of balls of different sizes, it is possible to smoothly supply each ball support one by one without getting caught.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, Fig. 2 (a) is a perspective view of the main part, Fig. 2 (b) is an exploded side view, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the main part, and Fig. 4 is a blow to which the present invention is applied. A side view of the training aircraft, FIG. 5 is a front view, FIG. 6 is a perspective view, and FIGS. 7 to 10.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the operation, and FIGS. 11 to 13 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the conventional example. ld...ball feeding guide, If...fixed stopper, 3A, 3B--leg piece, 3B'--part of leg piece,
3a, 3b...Rotation axis, M, M, ~cho 1M,'~M4
'···ball. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 η Figure 6 Figure 13

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A fixed stopper is provided opposite to the guide for supplying the ball, and a pair of ball supporting leg pieces are provided in front and behind each other in the ball movement direction with respect to the fixed stopper so as to be rotatable in the movement direction; A batting practice machine characterized in that the length of one of the leg pieces on the upper side in the ball movement direction is made variable, and the opening angle between the pair of leg pieces is made variable. ball feeding device. (2) The hitting according to claim 1, wherein the area of the opening of the passage between the ball storage stocker for supplying the ball in the direction of one of the legs and one of the legs is variable. Ball feeding device for practice machines. (3) A batting practice machine according to claim 2, wherein the area of the opening of the passage is variable by the opening of a removable attachment disposed in the passage between the stocker and one of the leg pieces. ball feeding device.