MXPA94006504A - Baseball practice device. - Google Patents

Abstract

A baseball practice device in which a baseball is releasably attached to a "Y" shaped tether system which, in turn, is supported by two horizontal arms arranged in a "Y" shaped configuration. The combination of the horizontal arms and the tether system allows simulation of a pitching environment where the baseball may be presented to the batter with a uniform and repeatable flight path to enhance batting practice.

Description

"DE FOR BASEBALL PRACTICE" INVENTORS AND OWNERS: STEVEN L. SCHER. ROBERT MOSS STEPHEN V. BOCCIERI, JR.

NATIONALITY: NORTH AMERICAN CITIZENS RESIDENCE: 24 IMPERIAL AVENUE, WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT, 06880 E.U.A. P O BOX 486, NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT 06840 E.U.A. 233 ELMWOOD ROAD, SOUTH SALEM, NEW YORK 10590 E.U.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A baseball practice de in which a baseball is freely attached to a "Y" shaped locking system, which in turn is supported by two horizontal arms arranged in a "Y" shaped configuration. " The compilation of the horizontal arms and the locking system allows the simulation of a launching environment where the baseball can be presented to the batter with a uniform and repeated flight path to reinforce the batting practice.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to sports and / or toy training des and, more particularly, to a de for baseball practice suitable for the use of children or adults.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Baseball is a favorite sporting event United States of America, and also has a great popularity in other areas of the world including Japan, Taiwan and South America. There are numerous organizations in the United States of America, and around the world, that function to introduce sports to children, and extensive efforts are employed on a worldwide basis to teach young children the skills necessary to play the game of baseball. of the most important skills required is the ability to hit the ball, which often needs extensive practice, particularly for young players who only learn the sport. A de commonly used to teach young players the bashing skill of a baseball is the "Tee-Ball" approach; in which a baseball is placed on top of a support structure located directly in front of the batting position. The player then turns 1 bat towards the baseball (a fixed target) and then begins to develop the batting skills necessary for success in playing baseball. For a very young player who is lightly learning the game, the Tee-Ball approach has the merit of helping him. The disadvantage < Put the Tee-Ball approach is that the baseball is fixed and therefore does not provide the player with the practice of turning towards a moving object. Hitting an object in motion is critical to success in the baseball game, and the Tee-Ball approach does not provide the practice skills necessary to achieve this result. A current alternative, of course, is for the pitcher to throw the player, but this technique is often unsatisfactory, since it depends on the skill and patience of the pitcher. More important, each throw does not represent a uniform flight path for the ball. of baseball, and therefore, the player, particularly the young player, still has a hard time hitting the ball due to the variation in the path of each thrown flight. A second alternative is the use of mechanical launching des, but these des are extremely expensive, difficult to use, and can be dangerous. for young players because of the speed at which the ball is thrown. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a batting practice de that is economical, that provides a uniform flight path for the ball when the ball is released for batting practice, and that is easy to use. There are several prior patents that attempt to provide a de for batting practice in which the ball is locked or suspended in various ways to simulate a setting environment. One such de is described in U.S. Pat. UU No. 3, 301,556 granted to .M. Hamilton, Jr., et al on January 31, 1967. The device for batting practice described in this patent consists of a structure similar to a hanging cone with mechanisms to hold a ball locked in position to be hit by Jan beats. The ball-holding device holds the ball safely so that the batter can practice the spinning movements to peel the ball, either at rest or moving on a flight path toward a designated position. The structure that holds the ball] is adjustable with respect to height and a front-to-back arrangement as well as adjustable to bring the ball down to a desired elevation above the batting position, A second device is shown in the Patent from the USA No. 3,716,265 issued to John W. Yerkio, Jr., on February 13, 1973. This device consists of an elongated support structure that includes a pair of parallel co-flat arms of the sopearte between which a traversed arm is connected. A lock is suspended from the arm across and the ball of baseball is freely connected to the lock to allow the batter to hit the ball of baseball. Similar devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3, 397, £ 185, 3,454,275, 3,529,823, 3,893,699, 4,830,372, 4,898,385, 5 048 828 and 5,098,094. The problem with all previous hitting devices is that the blocked ball does not return on a uni Eorme flight path to the batter when the ball is raised and released to the batter. These results arise from the fact that the ball is usually suspended from a single lock so that when the ball is released to the batter, the The flight path varies, therefore, making it more difficult for the batter to effectively hit the baseball. It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a device for batting practice that produces a uniform flight path for the ball.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the lock is linked to the device for baseball practice; FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of the baseball practice device of the present invention; FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the manner in which the baseball is releasably linked to the lock; FIG. 5A illustrates a front view of a second embodiment in a manner in which the baseball is linked to the lock; FIG. 5B provides a side view of the second ligation incorporation; Fig. 5C illustrates a plan view of the second ligation incorporation; FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of a second embodiment of the baseball practice device of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to FIG. 1, the device for batting practice of the present invention is shown. The device consists of a base 1, the vertical members 2 and 3, and the horizontal members 6, 7 and 8. The vertical member 2 is fixed to base 1, preferably by a again, preferably a hook and ring securing material 32 is attached to the upper part of the ball 20. The material ¾2 is in turn attached to the tube 31 thereby releasingly binding the ball 20 to the catch 19 The latch 19 is also threaded through a ring 30 in such a manner that the two upper sections 26 and 27 of the lock are both enclosed by the ring 30 and the lower portion 33 of the lock 19 extends vertically-from the part bottom of the ring 30. The ring 30 can be constructed of any suitable material, such as nylon, but the preferred material is the rolled sailboat, which makes the ring 30 easily removable if desired. The ring 30 is vertically movable along the lengths of the sections 26 and 27. By vertically moving the ring 30, the shape Y formed by the lock 19 can be adjusted in size. For example, by moving the ring 30 ha-down to a point just above the tube 31, the length of the upper sections 26 and 217 are maximized and the peyote will follow the flight path through the center of the plate when it is released. . In contrast, if the ring 30 is moved up, the length of the lower cover 33 is increased. By providing a sufficient length of the lower portion 33, the flight path of the ball can be deflected from the center of the plate. The assistant releases the ball from the cen- tre to hold the ball 20 lijberadámente for presentation to the batter. In a preferred embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, the rope 35 can be strung across the bag 37 in a manner that the two portions of the rope 35 act to provide another support for the ball 20. These portions of the rope 35 are strung across the bag through the four inlet holes 38A and are sewn into bag 37 (illustrated in FIG.5C). FIG. 5C illustrates the portion of the sac of the ligating mechanisms and the stringing of the sac. The rope 35 is passed through the holes 38 in the bag 37 in such a way that it is separated into two ends 52 and 53. The ends 52 and 53 are strung inside the bag 37 through the holes 38A and are sewn into each other. the channels 54 and 55 within the pouch 37. The portions 56 and 57 of the cord 35 extend through the remainder of the pouch 37 and are reconnected in the hole 38. The cord 35 and its portions 52-57 act as another support for the ball 20. FIG. 6 illustrates a second embodiment of the device for the batting practice of the present invention. FIG. 6 illustrates the second embodiment in connection with the released ligating mechanisms illustrated in FIG. but it is also possible to use the means of the pouch of FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C to freely bind the ball 20 to the device or any other embodiment to ligate the If necessary, attach a rope to the ball 20, rope which can be linked, for example, to base 1 of the baseball practice device. In this way, as the ball is hit, it can easily be returned by the player simply by pulling the rope to re-start the ball for the replacement of hook and loop ligation points or in the bag for future action . Furthermore, it should be understood that for a sustained practice a plurality of balls 20 would be provided, in such a way that the player can repeatedly link the balls 20 to the Y-shaped suspension mechanism 19 and thus hit a number of peilots successively to then perfect the skill needed for the baseball game. While an embodiment of the invention and modifications of the same have been discovered in detail, it should be understood that other additions and modifications are contemplated by the inventor. For example, the vertical members 4 5 can be replaced with any other type of support mechanism as well as the horizontal members 6, 7, and 8. The key to the present invention is the mechanism »19 in the form of Y, which ensures that ball 20 will always return on the same flight path to give the batter a consistent practice to develop the skill of the baseball game. It is the intention to include all these modifications and additions

Claims (1)

1. said first and second upper portions of said tripping mechanisms unlocked said vertical element. 4. A device for batting practice according to clause 1, wherein a portion of said lower end of said lower portion of said locking mechanisms is enclosed by a tube member, a portion of said tube member is a insurance material; a portion of said ball is covered by an assurance material; and said ball releasably released to said lower end of said lower portion of said locking mechanisms for adding said securing material in said ball to said material]. of hook and ring in said tube. 5. A device for batting practice according to clause 1, in < wherein said ring member is movable vertically along the length of the first and second upper portions of said locking mechanisms, wherein the length of said vertically extended lower portion of said locking mechanisms is adjustable. 6. A device for batting practice according to clause 1, wherein said ball is releasably secured to a lower end of said lower portion of said locking mechanisms by means of a bag. 7. A device for batting practice according to clause 4, wherein the securing material is a hook and ring material. 8. A device for batting practice consisting of: a base element a veriical support element which is fixed to said base element, said vertical element is adjustable in height, a hor- zontal element which is fixed to said upper portion of said base element; vertical eilement, said horizontal element consists of two horizontal arms extended from said upper portion of said vertical element in a "Y" shaped arrangement, locking mechanisms having a first upper portion fixed to one of the horizontal extended arms and a second upper portion fixed to said second horizontal extended arm, said first and second upper portions connected together at a connection point, to which a lower vertically extending portion of said locking mechanisms is then connected, and a ball Liberately secured to a lower end of said lower porcipn of said locking mechanisms. 9. A device for batting practice according to clause 8, in (where the two extended arms are adjustable in length. 10. A device for batting practice according to clause 9, wherein each of said horizontal extended arms includes a plurality of predeterminedly spaced protruding screws on an upper surface of each of said horizontally extending arms and an aperture located at an outer end of each of said two horizontal extended arms. 11. A device for batting practice according to clause 10, wherein the first and second upper portions of said locking mechanisms are inserted within said opening located in each of said horizontal extended arms fixed freely to the selected ones of said protruding screws. 12. A device for batting practice according to clause 11, wherein the first and second portions of said latching mechanisms are of equal length. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I HAVE SIGNED THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION AND THE NOVEMBER CLAIMS OF THE INVENTION, AS ASSENT OF STEVEN L. SCHER. , ROBERT MOSS., AND STEFPHEN V. BOCCIERI, JR. , in Mexico City, Mexican Republic on August 36, 1994. STEVEN L. SCHER. ROBERT MOSS AND STEPHEN V. B0 $ CIERÍ p.p. Li to Sierra, Jr. 09