JPS6319192B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to ball collecting equipment at golf driving ranges and the like.

Conventionally, at a golf driving range, balls hit from the batter's box are scattered all over the fairway and must be manually picked up afterwards, which is extremely troublesome and time-consuming. In addition, picking up balls may damage the grass on the fairway, as the fairway becomes soft during rain, for example.
It also had drawbacks such as damaging the grass.

An object of the present invention is to provide ball collection equipment at a golf driving range, etc., which can automatically and reliably sweep balls scattered on the fairway toward the batter's seat without damaging the grass of the fairway. It is.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the golf driving range, and FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view. In the figure, a fairway 3 whose outer periphery is surrounded by fences 2 is provided in front of a batting box 1, and this fairway 3 slopes toward the batting box at a downward slope of, for example, about 4%. The fairway 3 also has a ball recovery groove 4, which in this example consists of one central groove 4a and a leaf-shaped technical groove 4a communicating with the central groove 4a.
leads to ball collection box 4c. The groove surface of the recovery groove 4 is made of concrete or plastic sheet so that the balls can smoothly roll down. The fairway 3 is covered with natural (live) grass or artificial grass 3', and the groove edge is covered with the grass 3' so as not to cause damage to the ball (FIG. 3).

Drive devices 5 are disposed on both left and right sides of the fairway 3 and are attached to drive in synchronization. This drive device consists of a driving roller 6 provided on the side closer to the batter's box 1 and a driven roller 7 provided on the side far from the batter's box 1.
An endless transfer wire 8 is wound around the drive roller 6, and a motor 9 is provided on the rotating shaft 6a of the drive roller 6. The rotating shafts of the driving roller 6 and the driven roller 7 are supported by a support 10 via a bearing 10a, as shown in FIG. Moreover, between the driving roller 6 and the driven roller 7, as shown in FIG. prevents loosening. A ball collecting rope 12 is stretched between the transition wires 8, 8 of the left and right driving devices 5, 5 with a slight slack so as to cross the fairway and contact the fairway. A short tubular portion 13 made of vinyl pipe is inserted in a beaded manner over its entire length. Several ball collecting ropes 12 may be attached at arbitrary intervals. As a result, when the drive roller 6 is rotated counterclockwise as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer wire 8 is rotated in the direction of the arrow. That is, the ball collecting rope 12 is pulled by the transition wire 8 that is wrapped around the upper side of the rollers 6 and 7 on the way home, and is pulled by the part of the transition wire 8 that is wrapped around the lower side of the rollers 6 and 7 on the return trip. Since the ball is being towed, during this return trip, the ball collecting rope 12 touches the three fairways and sends the ball into the groove.
Can be returned.

Note that the drive roller 6, driven roller 7, tension roller 11, etc. are provided with a trough 11c on the outer periphery of the inner edge (on the fairway side) so that the ball collecting rope 1
2 automatically moves while entering the trough 11c, thereby facilitating the passage of the ball collection rope 12 (FIG. 6). In addition, by wrapping the rotating surface of the drive roller 6 with cloth or the like to increase the contact resistance with the transfer wire 8, slipping of the transfer wire can be prevented.

As described above, in order to collect the balls scattered on the fairway 3, the ball collecting device of the present invention requires the following steps:
As described above, if the motor is started and the drive roller 6 is rotated, and the transfer wire 8 is thereby rotated in synchronization, when the ball collecting rope 12 is pulled back, the ball collecting rope is moved above the fairway 3. The ball is pushed and rolled, thereby causing the ball to roll down into the technique groove 4b, from where it can be collected into the ball collection box 4c through the central groove 4a. In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, short vinyl pipes 13 are inserted through the ball-collecting rope 12 in a beaded manner over almost the entire length, so that the ball-collecting rope 12 is inserted into the lower half of the ball.
There is no risk that the ball will be left behind by sneaking in.
The ball can be pushed and rolled reliably, and the grass on the fairway 3 is not damaged. Furthermore, since the frictional resistance between the ball collecting rope and the upper surface of the fairway is small, the driving power for the transfer wire 8 can be reduced. Furthermore, since the ball collection rope 12 is flexible, it can be bent freely in response to changes in topography. Therefore, by setting the ball collection rope to be long, it is possible to reliably collect all the balls scattered on the wide, undulating fairway. Further, the driving device 5 may have a sprocket for the driving roller 6 and the driven roller 7, and a chain may be used instead of the transfer wire 8.

As described above, the present invention exhibits the following excellent effects.

[] A fairway is formed on a downward slope toward the batter's box, transition wires or chains are stretched on both sides of the fairway, and a ball collection rope stretched over the transition wire is driven toward the batter's box. Scattered balls can be automatically swept toward the at-bat side.

[] Since short tubular members are inserted into the ball collection rope in the form of beads, the ball can be pushed and rolled reliably, and the grass on the fairway will not be damaged.

[] Since the ball collecting rope inserted through the short tubular member is flexible and makes smooth contact with the upper surface of the fairway, this equipment can be applied to collecting balls on a wide fairway with undulations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a golf driving range equipped with a ball collecting device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side sectional view, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the groove portion, Fig. 4 is a support structure diagram of the driving roller, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the tension roller, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the roller and rope portion, and FIG. 7 is a view of the ball collecting rope. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Batter's seat, 3...Fairway, 4...Recovery groove, 4a...Central groove, 4b...Branch groove, 5...Drive device, 6...Drive roller, 7...Followed roller, 8
... Transition wire, 9 ... Motor, 11 ... Tension roller, 12 ... Ball collection rope.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Rotating wheels arranged on both sides of a fairway that forms a gentle downward slope in the direction of the batting area, and on the side close to the batting area and on the opposite side of each side, and the rotating wheels on each side. a pair of endless transition wires or transition chains that circulate and rotate at the same speed so that the portion that is suspended below the rotating wheel moves toward the direction of the batting box; At least one or more ball collecting ropes are stretched between the pair of transition wires or transition chains with a slight slack so as to make contact with each other, and a large number of short tubular members are inserted into the ball collecting ropes in the form of beads. Ball collection equipment at golf practice ranges, etc., characterized by: