US2993694A - Football goal post with souvenir projector - Google Patents

Description

July 25, 1961 N. G. FOLEY 2,993,694

FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUVENIR PROJECTOR Filed June 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l III] m ,6

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July 25, 1961 N. G. FOLEY FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUVENIR PROJECTOR Filed June 15, 1959 2 sheet s 2 E O 4 E 0 man J t .Nmu 5i. w X a a w w w i I q H. fifig J M a q, 2

United States Patent 2,993,694 FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUV'ENFR PROJECTOR Norman G. Foley, Rte. 1, Box 14, Matoaka, W. Va. Filed June 15, 1959, Ser. No. 820,520 Claims. (Cl. 273-55) The present invention generally relates to football goal posts and more particularly to such a goal post having a mechanical arrangement for projecting or ejecting souvenirs.

The football goal post will be of the required dimensions as set up by various rules organizations which control high school college and professional football.

It is not an unusual occurrence for enthusastic fans to tear down the goal post after a football game and in fact the goal posts are quite often broken into a number of pieces with the fans retaining the pieces of the goal post as a souvenir of the particular football game. In order to provide such souvenir hunters with a souvenir without having to tear down the goal posts, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a football goal post with a built-in projector which will project or eject a plurality of souvenirs which may generally be in the form of flat disk-like members having various indicia printed thereon including advertising material and other information concerning the particular game involved and the participants or what ever other information is desired.

Another object of the present invent-ion is to provide a football goal post with a souvenir projector which will literally shower souvenir hunters with readily available souvenirs with the projector apparatus being capable of operation immediately after a game has been completed to provide the spectators with a souvenir before they leave the stadium and before they can tear down the football goal post.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide a football goal post with projector apparatus for souvenirs which maintains a simplicity of construction, is long lasting, easy to operate, effective for its particular purpose and generally inexpensive to manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, on a reduced scale, of a goal post employing the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the goal post construction and the mechanism for operating the projector;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the vertical goal post members;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 4--4 of FIGURE 3 illustrating the details of the projecting spring and manner of association of the projector disk therewith;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 illustrating further structural details of the device;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of one of the disks employed in the present invention;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 7-7 of FIGURE 6 illustrating the structure of the disk;

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of the modified form of disk; and

FIGURE 9 is a detail sectional view taken substan- "ice 2 tially upon a plane passing along section line 9-9 of FIGURE 8 illustrating the structural details of this form of the disk.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the football goal post assembly of the present invention which includes a pair of tubular uprights 12 and 14 which are disposed in vertical relation and in parallel spaced relation with the vertical standards 12 and 14 being connected by a hollow cross bar 16 re ceived within a fitting 18 on each of the vertical posts 12 and 14. The lower end of each post '12 and 14 is provided with a padded area 20 for protecting the football players from injury by accidental engagement with the posts 12 and 14.

The lower ends of the posts 12 and 14 are received within mounting flanges 22 supported on the upper surface of an enlarged hollow casing 24. In the casing 24 there is a continuation of the tubular post 12 and 14 and the lower end thereof is supported by the bracket 26 carried by a transverse bracket 28. The bracket 28 has a depending leg 30 carrying an elongated driveshaft 32 which is driven from an electric motor 34 through a V-bel-t drive 36.

The end portions of the shaft 32 are provided with bevel gears 38 which are in mesh engagement with a bevel gear 40 mounted on a shaft 42 which extends longitudinally throughout the length of the tubular members 12 and 14. An elongated compression coil spring 44 is mounted on each shaft 42.

The shaft 42 is of square or polygonal cross-sectional shape as illustrated in FIGURE 5 and a plurality of relatively thin circular plates or disks 46 are mounted on the shaft 42 and each of the disks 46 is provided with an ovalshaped central opening 48 which will fit over the shaft 42 and will be slid'ably engaged therewith but non-rotatably engaged therewith.

FIGURE 8 illustrates a modified form of the invention including a circular disk plate 50 having an oval-shaped opening 52 and a plurality of triangular shaped lugs 54 struck out from one side of the disk 50 thus causing the disk 50 to sail differently from the disk 48 which is in the form of a solid metal sheet except for the opening 48.

Adjacent the lower end of each tubular member 12 and 14 there is provided enlarged diametrically opposed openings 56 through which a fall-out square pin 58 may be thrown upon rotation of the shaft. Removal of the pin 58 will allow expansion of the spring 44 for projecting the disks upwardly and out of the top of the tubular member 12 or 14. The padding will lift up for access to the hole in the upright and the upper end of the spring 44 is also provided with a disk member 60 forming a follower for the spring.

Thus, the motor 34 rotates the shafts 42 about their longitudinal axes and will automatically cause ejection of the pin 58 whereby the spring 44 will eject the disks vertically from the top of the post so that the disks will sail in a well-known manner.

Either type of disk maybe used and various advertising material or other printed indicia may be imprinted on the disk and removable caps may be provided for the upper ends of the post to protect the structure from the weather during periods of non-use,

The number of disks projected may be variable as desired and the size and material from which the disks are constructed may also vary within the limits of the size and shape of the tubular posts 12 and 14.

Wherever required, lubrication bearing facilities may be provided and sections of the casing may be removable for ease of repair, replacement or inspection of component parts such as the electric motor and the like.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous 3 modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A football 'goal post comprising a pair of tubular upright posts, a plurality of disks slidably mounted on each tubular post, and means mounted on each post for ejecting said disks, said means for ejecting the disks including a compression coil spring mounted on each post and'engageable with the bottom of the lowermost disk, and means for retaining said spring compressed, said means including a removable pin engaging the upper end of said spring whereby the compressed spring will eject the disks when the pin is removed each tubular post being provided with a polygonal shaft therein, means connected to each shaft for driving the shaft, each disk having a polygonal opening whereby the disk will be retated when discharged thereby causing the disks to sail and eventually fall to the ground.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said disks is in the form of a circular plate, said opening being oblong for fitting over the polygonal shaft.

3.'The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said disks includes a circular plate, said opening being oblong and said plate having a plurality of triangular shaped projections struck-out therefrom for varying the characteristics of movement of the disks.

" 4'. In a football goal post assembly having tubular uprights and a horizontal crossbar connecting the uprights; that improvemen com ris n sisstqr pparatus 90. cealed within the tubular uprights and comprising an elongated polygonal shafit in each upright, a compression coil spring encircling each shaft, means connected to each shaft for rotatively driving thefshafts, a plurality of disks slidably and non-rotatably disposed on the shaft with the disks being received within the tubular uprights, and removablemeans for holding the springs in compressed condition thereby enabling a multiplicity of disks to be placed on the shaft with the springs ejecting the disks when the spring compression retaining means is released.

5. The-structure as defined in claim 4 wherein said compression retaining means is releasable in response to rotational movement of the shaft thereby imparting a rotational movement to the disks as they are ejected from the shaft, whereby the disks will sail in a generally flat manner whereby air current will cause the disks to move in an irregular pattern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 969,264 Sept. 6, 1910 1,014,953 Davis Jan. 16, 1912 1,133,235 Paprian Mar. 23, 1915 1,213,943 Pecinovsky' Jan. 30, 1917 1,368,176 McMillan Feb. 8, 1921 1,515,314 Petersen Nov. 11, 1924 1,592,749 Smoots July 13, 1926 2,074,125 Lefft et al Mar. 16, 1937 2,751,711 Greenwood June 26, 1956

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