US2382329A - Baseball game - Google Patents

Description

is a similar series of Patented Aug. 14, 1945 i i A E i Donald HrMunro, Toronto, Ontario, Canada e Application Julie 522;, 194a,?saa 4t1 j eam- 101. 273-129 invention relatestoparlor games and has foritso bjectthe provision of an interesting and amusing gamesimulative of. national baseball and containing .its characteristic features of play in a diversive form. I The invention comprehends aboard having a playing surface provided with two planar surfaces sloping downwardly from fthe mid sectien thereof toward playing ends. forthe operators.

Upon the "playin surface is delineated a baseball diamond upon which the movements of the' team at bat may bepegged, ,A marble serves as the-balland issh'ot toward the catchers box by a projecting device in conjunction with a l ocating" guideway.

. a forwardly disposed fiicking device representing aman at bat so that an operatormayactuate the same with the intent of striking theball. The

flicking device has a swingable arm representing a bat, and skill andjudgment is required for the operation :of this swin'gable arm by its actuating means in order to hit the ball as itreaches the base-plate; otherwise it passes into the pocket and a strike is recorded against theoperat'or.

Upon the playing surface is an devices for catching the ball and representing the field merry Certain of the catching devices face the batman to act as the outfiel'de'rs and are locatedon the planar surface which inclinestoward the remote end of the field so that should the ballbe struck with only suflicient force to drive it to the crest, it will gravitate toward "these T catchingdevices. i The others :face away "from the batman and are vlo'cated on the adjoining planar surface so as 130 serve for the infielders or short p At the head of the playing field is a transverse series of pockets into which the ball will gravitate from the adjacent inclined surface. These are used to indicate a ball, foul strike and a caught foul ball. At the remote end of the playing field. pockets for denoting bases made on a hit; s

The game may be played by two or more players and its novel constructionand arrangement will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top elevation plan of the game in which a ball is shown in the pitcher's guideway ready for play. i

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section takenon line 2-2 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the board showing parts of the end walls broken away to indicate "arrangement of more clearly the handlepieces of the several con-1 trolmechanisms.

Fig. 4 isj'a perspective view of the fragmentary part of the head end ofcthe board.

:F'ig. 5 is fa sectional detail of one of the catchv ing' devices taken on line 5-'-5 of Fig. 1. e i.

Like numerals of reference indicate corre-. sponding parts in each of .the figures'throughout the drawing f the Tinv'entioni The drawing illustrates the ward theends and asfidelineated thereonfas by colour, a playing if dinchiding a baseball diamend Gjthe home'plate of which is located adjacentto thehead end} "and the first andsecond" q bases are located uponthe inclined surface ID that slopes toward this end f Desirablythe diamondhas a line H, extending between the home plateandthe pitchergb'ox l2. h

At the pitchers box is a device for projecting the bal1- l3 along" theline H toward the home plate. "-A' spherical metallic element is desirably used as a ball. Theprojectingdevice comprises ainetal r'od M swingably attached as at l5 tothe underside of the} board and projecting through a slot-I 6 therein for oscillatory movement in a plane longitudinally ther'eof. p p T-heupwardly projecting end of the rod is fitted with a peg l'! representingthe pitcher and the journalled part has anarm "l8 attachedby a link rod 19 toa pull handle' W9 slidably mounted atthe'remote end 0 of the "board for manipula tion :by aplayer. Thero'd' I4 -is normally retained at a rearwardly inclined angle by a spring so that when the handle is pulled it will cause the peg to strike the ball to propel it forwardly; thus simulating a pitcher throwing the ball.

At the front of the peg I! is a locating guideway in which the ball is placed so that it may be positioned for its propulsiontoward the home r plate. The guideway is composed of a pair of diverging rails 2| having their near ends suitably spaced apart to contain the ball and yet allow the peg I 1 to strike it. Each rail is a wire rod member of U-shape formation invertedly arranged with its legs embedded in the board and having its bight or top pieces extending parallel to the playing surface at an elevation slightly greater than the semi-diameter of the ball so that the ball. will fit partly thereunder to preclude its rebounding out or over the guideway which also preferred form of. the inventi'onwwhich comprises an elongated gamefboard A ,h aving ahead end B and a remote end yr ween which ,is a playing surface D bounded by, edge. 'wallsE 1';Ihe playingfsurface slopes'downwardly the mid-section F toserves as a catching device for the pitcher, as will be later more fully explained.

At the head end B and open to the playing field is a pocket 22 constituting a catchers box or cage, of which the mouth or entrance contains the home plate. The pocket is formed by the members 23 and the end wall of the board. A flicking device 24 is disposed at the mouth of the pocket 22 to represent the batter holding a bat for swinging over the base plate as in the real game. This flicking device is comprised of a peg or man 25 mounted on a wire rod 26 swingable about a vertical axis and having a lateral arm portion 21 representing the bat and continued beneath the board to provide a lever 28. The lever is connected bya link rod 29 to a pull handle 30 and spring urged as at 3| to retain it at an angle suitable for swinging forward to hit a pitched ball.

Upon the inclined section of the playing field adjoining the head end B there is provided two catching devices 32 which serve as infielders or short stop men, and upon the other inclined section thereof there is provided a suitable number of distributed catching devices 33 which serve for the outfielders.

The catching devices 32 and 33 are similar in construction to the guideway aforesaid comprised of the rails 2|, and serve to catch and retain the ball. The catching devices 32 are open to a ball travelling toward the head end B, whereas the catching devices 33 are open to a ball travelling toward the remote end C. Deflectors, as at 35. may, if so desired, be used on the playing field for changing the course of the ball.

At one side of the catchers box or case is an inwardly sloping wall 36 having an edge face from which projects a tapering divisional element 31 forming pockets receptive to the ball, one of which bears the legend Foul strike and the other the legend Ball.. At the other side is a similar wall 38 having two divisional elements 39 bearing the legends Ball, Foul ball out and Foul strike. Similarlyat the remote end C there is an inwardly sloping wall 40 having a series of divisional elements as at 4| composing pockets, of which the middle one is-marked Home run and those on either side are marked 3 bases, 2 bases and 1 base to denote runs.

To play the game, the ball is placed uponthe rails 2| of the pitcher's box, as shown in Fig. 1, and the projecting device thereat is actuated by the handle l9 to cause the man -l1'to strike the ball, which propels it along the line I 1 toward the base plate. As the ball is thus put into play by an operator at the remote end .0 of the board;

the handle 30 at the head end is manipulated by another operator representing the team at bat in order to actuate the flicking device 24 so that it will hit the ball. Should the bat 21 be swung too quickly or too slowly the ball will pass between its free end and the adjacent member 23 of the catchers box: a strike is called and the ball is caught in the pocket 22., A record of strikes may be conveniently kept by a peg which may be placed in either of the two holes 42 in an edge wall of the board. The guideway'at the pitcher's box acts as a catching device and should the ball be hit and driven into' it, the ball will be retained 1 therein as if the pitcher had caught it. Therefore the batter is out and this catching device is marked accordingly. The batter is also out if the ballis caught. in any of the catching devices 33 denoting the outfielders or is caught by the devices 32 representing the infielders or short stops and marked Buntf. If the ball fails to pass over the'crest of the playing field it will gravitate toward the head end and enter one of the pockets thereat, provided it is not caught by either of the devices 32. In the event'of its rolling to the remote end ofthe board it will enter one of the pockets thereat signifying the bases made on a hit, which are then indicated on the diamond by inserting a peg 43 in a hole, as at 43', in the appropriate base. The runs for either team are kept by pegging them as by the provision of holes 44 inan edge wall. A record of Balls is similarly pegged, for which purpose holes 45 are supplied.

The construction and operation of the game will be clearly evident from the preceding description, and it will be manifest that such changes and modifications may be resorted to as come within the spirit of the invention.

What I- claim is:

In a baseball game apparatus of the kind described comprising a boardhaving a simulated baseball diamond including a home plate and a pitcher's box; the improvement including means at the pitchers box for projecting a ball toward the home plate, said means including anvelement adapted to be forwardly actuated to strike the ball, said element being of a less width than the ball, a pair of rails flanking said element and forwardly diverging therefrom, the inner ends of the rails being spaced apart to provide a passage to admit said element in its forward movement but prohibiting the ball from passing therethrough,

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