US2474950A

US2474950A - Bowling ball attachment

Info

Publication number: US2474950A
Application number: US785255A
Authority: US
Inventors: Chester M Macchesney
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1947-11-12
Filing date: 1947-11-12
Publication date: 1949-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 1966-07-05

Description

July 5, 1949.

'c. M. accHEsNEY BAT/4,90

BOWLING BALL ATTACHMENT Filed Nov. 12, 1947 INVENTOR.

Cizesr/Y/Vac 0286 the bowler.

Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED STATE T FFICE BOWLING BALL ATTACHMENT Chester M. MacChesney, Chicago, 111.

Application November 12, 1947, Serial No. 785,255

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in bowling ball attachments and its purpose is to provide a device for holding a bowling ball during the act of bowling without the necessity of using the holes which are usually provided in bowling balls to receive the thumb and one or more fingers of The present invention is an improvement on the devices described and claimed in my Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,147,907, dated February 21, 1939, and No. 2,345,205, dated March 28, 1944.

While it has long been the practice to provide bowling balls with two or three holes extending radially inward to receive the thumb and one or two fingers of one hand of the bowler, that method of holding the ball during its delivery has been unsatisfactory because of the tendency of the edges of the holes to make the thumb and fingers sore so that it is difiicult thereafter for the bowler to hold or control the ball. Also the presence of the holes unbalances the ball and destroys its true spherical shape so that it is liable to injure the surfaces of the alley and the pins.

In my prior Letters Patent referred to above,

I furnished the solution for the problems just referred to by providing an auxiliary ball holding device which consisted, broadly speaking, of a handle to be held by the bowler and provided with one or two suction cups adapted to be pressed against the surface of the ball with the result that the ball is held by the cups and may be lifted and swung by the handle, the ball being released at the desired point in the swing by opening to the atmosphere a passage leading through the handle to the cup or cups. While that device has proven entirely satisfactory in use, it has been subject to the limitation that it is not well adapted for delivering a so-called curve or hook ball because the release of the ball by the holding attachment is practically instantaneous and there is no opportunity to impart a twist or spin to the ball at the instant of delivery. The use of the device has therefore been limited largely to the delivery of straight balls.

The principal object of the present invention is to overcome the difliculty just referred to by providinga bowling ball attachment which will effect a delayed release of the ball when the suction passage is opened to the atmosphere so that the bowler can impart a spin to the ball at the time of its delivery to the alley. A further object is to provide a holding device for a bowling ball comprising a handle carrying one or more suction cups and having an internal passage 55 adapted to be controlled by the thumb of the bowler and leading to the interiors of said cups, in combination with one or more smaller auxiliary suction cups, each of which is located within one of the first mentioned cups and has no connection with the air vent passage so that it maintains its grip on the ball momentarily after the grip of the larger cup has been released. The weight and momentum of the ball will release the ball from the auxiliary cups shortly after the ball has been released by the main suction cups but there is a sufiicient interval of time between the two releases to enable the bowler to impart a twist or spin to the ball so that it will follow a curved path on the alley. Other objects of the invention relate to various features of construction arrangement which will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification, taken with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment is illustrated. In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the improved attachment shown in gripping position with respect to a bowling ball;

Fig. 2 shows a top plan view of the bowling ball attachment illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged plan view of one of the main suction cups and its associated auxiliary suction cup embodied in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As illustrated in the drawings, the invention is applied to a bowling ball 10 of the usual size and weight which has an unbroken spherical surface adapted to be engaged by the bowling attachment l which is held in the hand of the bowler. This attachment comprises a metal frame 12 having a body portion 12a forming a handle adapted to be held in the hand of the bowler and this frame is turned downwardly at its ends to provide two transversely extending and slightly converging arms [2b which are secured at their extremities within the annular flanges 65a of the rubber suction cups 15.

These cups 15 are relatively inclined so that they may be fitted into engagement with different portions of the spherical surface of the ball ID, as shown in Fig. 1. The frame l2 has an internal air passage I20 extending continuously through the handle portion IZa and the arms lZband communicating with the interiors of the cups l5 through passages 15b formed therein. This air passage I20 has a port lZd leading to the atmosphere through a tube l6 inserted in the frame at one end of the handle portion I 2a. The port I2d is closed by the thumb of the bowler when the flexible suction cups I5 are pressed into engagement with the ball and during the bowling swing. At the end of the swing, when the bowler wishes to release the ball onto the alley, the thumb is raised, thereby admitting air at atmospheric pressure to the interiors of the cups l5 so that they lose their grip on the ball.

In order to permit the use of this bowling ball attachment for imparting a spin or twist to the ball at the instant of delivery, the cups l5 are provided with integral centrally located auxiliary rubber suction cups I5c each of which has a curved under surface I50! adapted under pressure to conform to the surface of the ball I and to form a continuation of the inner arcuate surface le of the associated main suction cup when the device is applied to the ball as shown in Fig. 1. These auxiliary cups We are adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with the 'ball H] at the same time that the main cups l5 are forced into the gripping engagement shown in Fig. 1, the air being then squeezed out of the auxiliary :cups so that they lie on the ball surface. When the device is detached from the ball, as shown by full lines in Fig. 3, both the main suction cups and the auxiliary suction cups contract somewhat from their ball engaging formations so that their arcuate surfaces l5d and l5e are of greater curvature and the annular slot t5) between each auxiliary cup and its associated main cup is enlarged. But when the cups are applied to the ball as shown by dotted lines at the left of Fig. 3, the surfaces 05d and We are continuous.

Upon delivering the ball in the act of bowling, the bowler raises his thumb from the mouth of the port lZd substantially at the instant when the ball is to be delivered onto the alley, whereupon the main suction cups [5 will lose their grips on the ball but the auxiliary cups I50 will maintain their grips on the ball momentarily and during this instant the bowler can impart a spin to the ball by giving the handle portion I211 an appropriate twist before the weight and momentum of the ball I 0 causes it to tear itself from the relatively small auxiliary cups, thus causing the ball to follow a curved or hooked path on the alley. The extent of this delayed holding action .on the ball may be regulated by adjusting the sizes of the auxiliary cups.

Although one form of the invention has been shown-and described by way of illustration, it will be understood that it may be constructed in various other embodiments which come within the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. The combination with a bowling ball of a handle, a main suction cup carried by said handle and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, and an auxiliary suction cup carried by said handle within said first named cup and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball.

2. The combination with a bowling ball of a handle, a main suction cup carried by said handle and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, means for causing said suction cup to release its grip on said ball during the act of bowling, and an auxiliary suction cup adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball and to maintain its grip on said ball after said ball has been released by said main suction cup.

3. The combination with a bowling ball of a handle, a main suction cup carried by said handle and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, means for causing said suction cup to release its grip on said ball during the act of bowling, and an auxiliary suction cup located withinsaid main suction cup and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball and to maintain its grip on said ball after said ball has been released by said main suction cup.

4. An attachment for a bowling ball comprising a frame. a pair of main suction cups mounted on said frame and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, said frame having air passages'therethrough communicating with the interiors of said cups and having a port leading to the atmosphere but adapted to be closed by the bowler'when said suction cups are pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, and a pair of auxiliary suction cups adapted to pressed into gripping engagement with said )all.

5. An attachment for a bowling ball comprising a frame, a pair of main suction cups mounted on said frame .and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, said frame having air passages therethrough communicating with the interiors of said cups and having a port leading to the atmosphere but adapted to be closed by the bowler when said suction cups are pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, and a pair of auxiliary suction cups each located within oneof said main suction cups and adapted to be pressed into gripping'engagement with said ball when said main suction cups are pressed into engagement with said ball.

5. An attachment for a bowling ball comprising a frame, a suction cup mounted on said frame and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, said frame having an air passage therethrough communicating with the interior of said cup, said passage having a port adapted to be closed by the bowler when said cup is pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, and an auxiliary suction cup located within said first-named cup and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, said auxiliary cup having no connection with said air passage.

CHESTER M. MACCHESNEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,506,778 Senn Sept. 2, 1924 2,345,205 MacChesney Mar. 28, 1944